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Chapter Text

Ahem! Today, I'll tell you the story of the lost book of prophecies.

This prophetic book was a mysterious tome full of stories of future events. Of course, many people desired this book, wishing to glimpse their futures. But no person, after obtaining this amazing book, ever found happiness.

The reason? The book held frightful secrets not meant for people's eyes. The book came to be called the Dark Prognosticus and was sealed away.

This... is the tale of the forgotten book's last owner. It's a tale of love, and one you might've heard before...

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Ugh... what the heck happened..? Callie thought to herself, Where am I?

"Bleh heh heh heh heh! Oh, you're awake at last!" A mysterious voice cackled.

"Huh? Who..." Callie's eyes slowly opened as she was trying to process what had happened before. The first thing she noticed was a caped man floating above an altar. She immediately looked around, startled, only to realize that she was in a wedding dress and DJ Octavio was in front of her.

"What the heck?!" She and Octavio both shouted at once.

The two of them turned to the area below the altar and noticed several stairs leading down to a crowd of Octavio's soldiers, who looked just as confused. None of them were familiar to Callie.

"What's going on here?!" Callie asked

"How do you expect me to know?!" Octavio responded, "This wasn't my idea!"

A blue skinned woman with pink hair tied in a bun suddenly appeared next to the caped man. She seemed to be wearing a white blouse, grey pants and a pair of glasses. "Count! Yeah, um, 'K, so preparations are complete." the woman told him. The man smiled menacingly.

"Mmm... then it shall be begun... by Count Bleck!" The man exclaimed. The woman nodded her head and the man, Count Bleck, turned to Octavio, who started to grasp what was going on. Wedding bells started to chime in the background.

"King Octavio, ferocious and fearsome, evil king of the octarians," said Bleck, "Do you take Callie to be your lawfully wedded wife till your games be over?"

Callie was stunned. She was marrying Octavio of all people?

"Yes, of course I'd marry one of my sworn enemies." Octavio replied to Bleck sarcastically, "The answer's no, idiot!"

Bleck didn't seem to be phased by Octavio's refusal. Instead, the count turned to Callie. "Callie, Noble maiden, pure of heart... do you take Octavio to be your lawfully wedded husband 'till your games be over?"

Callie was still shocked at what was going on. "I- you- you mind explaining why I'm marrying Octavio here? Just because he hypnotized me into joining him once... actually a lot... well, it doesn't mean we're a thing now!" she shouted, "I hate to break it to you, but I'm gonna say- ACK!"

Callie stopped talking when what seemed to be a strange red aura surrounded her. She didn't know what was happening, but she almost felt her free will slip away from her.

"What the- GRRAH!" another strange red aura surrounded Octavio.

The blue and pink woman adjusted her glasses. "Yeah, um, being rude to the esteemed count is sort of frowned on, 'k?" she told the couple, "So, yeah, I'm gonna need you two to answer the count now. First off, do you, DJ Octavio, take Callie to be your wedded wife 'till your games be over?"

"I... I... d...do.." Octavio muttered.

"That's better." The woman said, "Now what about Callie?"

"I- ugh... n-no..." Callie was visibly attempting to fight back against the woman's control.

"Gee, you sure are a fighter," The woman told her, "but yeah, no one withstands my super-hypnosis, sorry. 'I do.' Say it now, 'K?"

The aura around Callie grew brighter, and the woman's hypnosis was stronger. She attempted to resist, but it was too strong.

"Oooh....ohh... I...I do...."

The woman adjusted her glasses again and the aura vanished around the unwilling couple. Callie sighed of relief, but then realized what had just happened. "Wait! No no no no! I take it back-"

It was too late. Before she could say anything else, the pedestal in the middle of the altar began to glow.

"What the shell?!" Octavio shouted. A black heart was starting to form out of the altar. Count Bleck cackled.

"BLEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK! Yes, all precisely as written in the dark Prognosticus! Already it is unleashed! The Chaos Heart!"

"Oh, yeah, um, congratulations, Count." The woman told the count in response.

"AYO, DRACULA!"

The group turned to the direction that voice was coming from. On the stairs leading up to the altar, they noticed an inkling girl with a pink hoodie, ripped jeans, and short, white hair that faded into pink.

The count eyed her. "And just who are you... asked Count Bleck?"

"Alright, looks like we're doing this now." The inkling responded. "I'm Pearl, and you're about to get your staff handed to 'ya!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to stop right this second, 'K?" the woman told Pearl, "If you interrupt this now..."

The woman's words meant nothing to Pearl, who immediately super jumped onto the Chaos heart and off of it before grabbing Callie and Octavio.

"We gotta move- NOW!" Pearl shouted, "That thing's gonna blow!"

"What makes you think it's going to explode of all things?" Callie asked.

"I mean, It happened in the dream I had last night, and all of the stuff in said dream actually happened so far, so-"

"Wait, don't tell me you knew this would all happen because of a dream you had!"

"I DUNNO!"

Octavio noticed that the Chaos Heart was glowing much brighter than it was before.

"Hey, Less talk it and more BOOK IT!" He told the others.

Before the group could run away, the Chaos heart's glow filled the room with light.

The wedding hall was now empty.

(End Of Prologue)

Chapter Text

Arowana mall, 30 minutes before the events of the Prologue

"So, what do you think?"

The dark skinned octoling girl exited the changing room. She was wearing a white sleeveless top with short overalls and dark brown shoes. Her signature headphones were just around her neck, and she smiled at the two inkling girls she was waiting for the approval of.

"Wow, Marina..." one of them said, "I don't think I've seen your stomach covered before. I wouldn't be surprised if Pearl has, though. Well, What I'm trying to say is-"

"You look like an Italian plumber." the other one interrupted.

Marina blushed of embarrassment. "PEARLIE!"

Pearl couldn't help but giggle. "Kidding, kidding! You look fine. both of you!" she said. She then eyed the inkling on her right, "Even though Marie still looks like she's in some gothic phase."

"I'm not in a phase!" Marie exclaimed, despite the gray shirt and dark grey and red skirt she was wearing.

"Denial. Always the first step-"

"Can we just pay for our stuff and get to the food court?!"

"Okay, okay, calm down, you guys," Marina said, "I don't want to have to be the mother of the group, but let's just pay and get some lunch. Pearl, you said you were paying for this, right?"

"If they take Bloogil pay, then yeah," Pearl responded, holding up her phone.

10 minutes later, 20 minutes before the events of the prologue

Marie and Pearl were at one of the tables in the food court of the mall they were in. Marina, on the other hand, was waiting in line at one of the fast food places in said food court. Marie was growing impatient, but not because of the line Marina was in.

"Where in cod's name is Callie?" she asked out loud, "She said she'd come with us and was obviously excited for this."

"Beats me." Pearl responded, "Speaking of Cal, I had the craziest dream last night..."

"Okay..." Marie said suspiciously, "Did it involve Callie?"

"Yeah. In the dream, she was getting married to some octopus dude. The pastor, or whatever it's called, was some blue guy with a hat, monocle and cape. And he was floating, somehow? Anyways, neither of the couple wanted to get married, so one of the pastor's minions used freaking hypnosis powers to get them to say 'I do'! Isn't that messed up?! Then some black heart appeared, and then the guy was talking about... Something. Don't remember the details. Next thing I know, the black heart exploded, and that's when I woke up."

Marie remained quiet for a moment. Was this "octopus dude" actually Octavio? she thought, And how would Pearl have dreamt about him when she hasn't even met-

"I got the food!" Marina called. Marie's train of thought stopped as soon as she arrived.

"YES!" Pearl shouted. She grabbed a burger from one of the bags Marina had.

"Actually, that one's-"

Pearl checked the burger. There were pickles in it.

"-mine..." Marina finished. Pearl grumbled as she was given the burger that was actually meant for her.

"Aaanyway, Callie still isn't here," Marie exclaimed, "In fact, I haven't seen her at all today. Kinda suspicious..."

Marina looked to her left, then to her right. Despite the girls' celebrity status, nobody was paying attention. This was a good thing, since Marina didn't want what she was about to ask to fall on to the wrong ears. "Do you think... it was the octarians?" she asked Marie.

"What?! No!" Marie responded, "I broke the shades two weeks ago- there's no way they could be repaired after countless blows from the low tide ink! Well, not in two weeks at least... Then again, those guys are really smart..."

Marie's phone rang after she finished that sentence. "Hold on a sec..." she said as she answered the call, "Hey, Gramps!... Doing well, I'm with Off the Hook right now... I kinda noticed... It could be Octavio... ah, so would this be their first mission?... Sweet, and I think I have an idea of where exactly she might be... Alright, and don't run off again... Stay fresh!"

Marie hung up, and she turned to the left, then the right. "That was Cap'n Cuttlefish. Remember him? Turns out Callie really is missing, and he's having us find her," she said, "Buckle up, you two. You just got dragged into your first mission."

Five minutes later, 15 minutes before the events of the prologue

The girls were running as fast as they could towards Inkopolis square. They knew that if they didn't get to Octo Canyon quick enough, They'd either get noticed or Callie would be gone forever.

"It's that manhole in the square, right?" Pearl asked.

Marie nodded, "And while I would get you two hero suits, I didn't have any prepared... I think your new clothes are hydrophobic, though," she said.

"I mean, the hoodie, yeah, but I don't think these jeans were meant for turfing, yo!" Pearl responded. She was referring to the pastel pink hoodie with yellow sleeves she was wearing and her new ripped jeans.

"Forget that, I see the square!" Marina said enthusiastically. Sure enough, Inkopolis Square was in sight.

The girls moved through the fence via their cephalopod forms and dove through the manhole. Just seconds later, they emerged in Octo Canyon, Marie wielding a Hero Charger, Marina with a Herobrush, and Pearl with a pair of the Hero Dualies.

"I swear, the second I see that Octavi-oh?" Pearl exclaimed. Marie and Marina turned to what she was looking at. Octolings and Octotroopers surrounded Octavio's snow globe- and Octavio himself was still inside. "That's him, isn't it?" asked Pearl. Marie and Marina nodded.

"Yeah, that was the dude in the-" Pearl was cut off by Octavio's glare.

"What do you three want?" He asked in an angry tone.

"Wait wait wait, If you're here and Callie's missing, does that mean you didn't send the octarians to kidnap her?" asked Marie

"What?! No! Of course I didn't!" Octavio responded, "These guys were literally just about to break me out of--"

"GUYS! HELP ME!" A familiar voice called out.

Everyone, even Octavio and his troops, turned to the direction that voice was coming from. all of a sudden, a blinding light shined for a split second, and as it dimmed, the group discovered a shimmering cage floating before them- and Callie floating inside it.

"What the- CALLIE?!" Marie shouted. She, along with the rest of the group, was extremely shocked. Was this real magic they were witnessing? Before they could process what was going on, a caped figure appeared before them. His face was hardly visible considering his hat and monocle, but it was easy to tell his skin was completely blue.

"What the... who are-" Marina tried to say

"YOU!" Pearl interrupted

The figure stared at the group and smiled.

"BLECK!" he shouted, "Your maiden has been taken... by Count Bleck!

"I-You-" Marina was at a loss for words, "W-Wait, who?!"

The man, apparently named Count Bleck, smiled, "By me, Count Bleck!" he replied in what seemed like a combination of an enthusiastic and a menacing tone, "The chosen executor of the Dark Prognosticus... is Count Bleck! The fine fellow prophesied to come to this dimension... is also Count Bleck!"

"The man who doesn't make a lick of sense," Octavio interrupted, "IS ALSO COUNT BLECK!"

Marie prepared her charger. "Alright, that's enough." she said, "Let. Her. Go. I'm armed."

"Count Bleck says never!" Bleck responded, "This maiden is integral to fulfilling the prophecies... she will be brought to Castle Bleck and used to destroy all worlds... by Count Bleck!"

The group was shocked at what they just heard. "I'm sorry, DID YOU JUST SAY YOU'RE GONNA DESTROY ALL WORLDS?!" Pearl shouted, clearly panicked.

Marie didn't care about what Bleck just said. Her charger was fully charged and ready to strike him down.

She fired a blast, but Bleck wasn't phased at all. It was as if a barrier was protecting him. Bleck then waved a staff he had in his hand, which produced a magic attack headed straight for Marie.

"MARIE, LOOK OU-"

Marina rushed towards Marie. Both of them were hit at the same time, and they were out cold within seconds.

"MARIE"

" 'RINA!"

Count Bleck cackled, "These girls deserve ridicule.. weaklings cannot face Count Bleck!" he continued.

Pearl was genuinely nervous, "O-okay, maybe you should just... c-calm down and let her go..."

The Octolings readied their weapons and aimed at Bleck, indicating a threat.

"Bleh heh heh heh..." Count Bleck cackled, "Your maiden will not be returned... by Count Bleck! In fact..." he stared at Pearl, turned to Callie, and then eyed Octavio. He continued, "Count Bleck will take you, too!"

Bleck released Callie from the barrier and she fell to the ground. Before she could say another word, Bleck opened a portal from his cape, and the Octarians, Pearl and Callie were starting to get dragged in.

Bleh heh heh heh! BLECK!

Octavio turned to his troops."MOVE IT!" he shouted. The Octarian soldiers, along with Pearl and Callie, tried to retreat as they were told, but the force of the vortex was too strong.

They all got dragged in, even DJ Octavio.

All except for Marie and Marina, still unconscious.

Octo canyon, present time

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......arina..

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...Marina.......

Marina started to wake up as an unfamiliar voice called her name. She tried to get up, but stopped when she was on her knees. Whatever octolings had for jaws, Marina's dropped.

"Are you awake?" the voice asked. As it turned out, the voice came from what looked to be a rainbow butterfly, with colorful antennae as well.

"Ugh, what the heck happened?" Marie muttered as she slowly woke up, "Marina, are you o- what the-"

Marina was staring at the butterfly. "A fa- a fa- a-"

"If you are about to say fairy," the butterfly said, "I am actually what is known as a pixl. My name is Tippi." Tippi turned to Marina, "Marina... I came to find you."

"I-I think I hit my head or something..." was Marina's only response. After all, this couldn't be real, right?

"Nope. I see it too." Marie answered. She walked closer to Tippi, "Now, how do I know we should trust you?"

"I am no enemy..." said Tippi, "I know you met Count Bleck... and he captured your closest friends, as well as an evil octarian king... is this not so?"

Marina got up on her feet and looked around. Sure enough, she, Marie, and Tippi were the only ones in Octo Canyon. "Apparently..." she responded.

"Then that means Count Bleck is even now beginning to form The Void... We haven't much time... you must come with me." Tippi said. "Although..." She turned to Marie.

"Although you're not mentioned in the prophecy, I see potential in you... I'll have you come as well..." she continued.

Marie and Marina were confused. What did she mean by come with her? What prophecy? Was this what Bleck meant when he said destroy all worlds?

"Yes, if your friends are to be saved," Tippi continued, "you must come..."

Before the two cephalopods could ask another question, Tippi summoned what seemed to be two transparent boxes outlined in black, trapping them.

"Hey, what gives?!" Marina shouted.

"Let us go..." Tippi said.

"What are you- WOAH!" Before Marie could finish her sentence, the thing she was in quickly rotated, and she was gone.

"Marie? ACK!" Marina vanished as well the second she said that. Tippi soon followed...

Octo canyon was completely empty

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"Kyaa!"

Marina fell over as she suddenly appeared on top of what seemed to be a large, white tower. She looked around her, and it was clear that, unless the sky magically turned yellow and white, she wasn't in Octo Canyon anymore.

"Marina, you alright?" Marie asked. Marina got back on her feet, and Tippi appeared next to her.

"Where... are we?" Marina asked.

"Oh ho! Well, well, well... Back so soon, Tippi?"

The girls noticed what looked like some sort of wizard. He was wearing a blue robe, had quite a long, white mustache, and his body looked like half a melon.

"And who might they be?" he asked. The man took a closer look at Marina, who started to get a little weirded out.

"White shirt, blue overalls..." the man continued, "And tentacles for hair! Tippi, you have truly outdone yourself."

"Yes, she matches the description of the hero in the Light Prognosticus perfectly... and her name is Marina." Tippi responded, "The other one is Marie. I know she wasn't mentioned, but I sensed potential". Marina and Marie were still confused.

"Well, prophesied or not, I welcome you two, Marina and Marie!" the man said enthusiastically, "This is the town of Flipside. You have come far from the Inkopolis Square of your dimension..."

"Wait, we're in another dimension?!" Marina asked.

"Oh ho! Our fair Flipside is in no dimension at all! No!" the man Exclaimed, "It is between dimensions!"

"Uh huh, got it..." Marie said, "And you are?"

"My name? Merlon! I am a descendant of the ancients who created this town," the man, apparently named Merlon, continued, "I busy myself studying musty, ancient texts to forestall the end of all worlds!"

"Hold on, hold on," Marina said, "About this 'end of all worlds', c-can you please elaborate?"

"Ah... you want to know about the end of all worlds?" Merlon asked, "What's happening, you ask? So Tippi has not yet told you, I gather. Well then, girls, the answer hangs above you two."

He, Tippi, Marina and Marie looked at the sky. The group noticed a cluster of what looked like black and violet energy in the distance.

"Do you see the gathering darkness in the sky?" Merlon asked, "It is a hole in the very dimensional fabric of space! Such a strange phenomenon... Is it near or far? None know. it may appear small now, but it will only grow. and in the end, it will swallow all existence, all worlds, all dimensions... This void was created by our enemy, Count Bleck, who wields the Dark Prognosticus."

"A fair and lovely maiden, a furious and monstrous king," said Tippi, "The union of these two will call forth the Chaos Heart, the consumer of all worlds, and the Chaos heart will ravage the sky, and so bring forth the void."

Marie realized something. The dream that Pearl had...

"Yes... the passage Tippi just quoted is from the Light Prognosticus of my ancestors." Merlon told the girls, "The book also says this: The void will swallow all. Naught can stop it... unless the one protected by the dark power is destroyed. The hero with the power of eight pure hearts will rise to this task... so it is written"

"Pure... hearts?" Marina couldn't help but ask. She and Marie still had so many questions. Merlon retrieved something from under his robe and held it up before the girls. A large, red heart stood before them, and it looked like there was energy pouring from it.

"This is one of the eight pure hearts," Merlon said, "Marina, you are surely the hero spoken of in the pages of the Light Prognosticus. If Marie truly wishes to accompany you, then that makes you two the only ones who can defeat Count Bleck and save all worlds! Now take this and save all worlds from destruction!"

Marina and Marie stared at each other

"Well, it's either we'll possibly die trying or we'll guaranteed die cowards." Marie told Marina.

"I know." Marina said in response. She turned to Merlon and Tippi. She then smiled.

"We'll do it."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter Text

Marina and Marie were both called upon to save the world... no small task.
Could the two prevent Count Bleck from pulling off his sinister plot? Would they be reunited with Callie and Pearl?
A truly inter-dimensional adventure was about to begin...

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"Ah, the three of you return!" Merlon said enthusiastically.

Tippi fluttered out of the elevator the girls were in, while Marie and Marina just walked. Marina had her herobrush and Marie had her charger.

"Yup! We found the heart pillar and- Oh?" Marina stopped talking as soon as she caught a glance of a red door on the tower they were on, which wasn't there before. "Did the pure heart... do that?"

"Yes, Actually!" said Merlon, "This 'dimensional door' was made to lead the hero to another Pure Heart. Yes, somewhere beyond this door lies one of the seven other Pure Hearts..." He turned to Tippi, "Tippi, you must use your power to help them find this pure heart and return here." he continued.

"Of course." Tippi responded.

"As for you two," Merlon said, turning to Marina and Marie, "I have something to give you that will aid you on your journey." He fetched something else from under his robe. It almost looked like a small, red pipe with white stripes on the rim. He handed it to Marina.

"What's this?" Marina asked.

"It's a return pipe! With it, you will be able to return to Flipside from anywhere in the universe!" Merlon answered, "Use it whenever you feel you must return in a hurry... But before you go, I should mention that the Light Prognosticus foretells that the hero will meet a 'dimension governor', And from him, the hero will learn the dimensional technique..."

"Dimension... governor?" Marie asked...

"Yes, I am almost certain this refers to my friend, the flip wizard, Bestovius." Merlon responded. He gestured to the red door, "So go now through this door and seek out Bestovius!"

"Alright, so we've gotta find Bestovius, learn this 'dimensional technique', find the pure heart, possibly find Callie and/or Pearl, and find the rest of the hearts." Marie said, "I think I got it."

"Well, let's get going..." Tippi said.

Marina opened the mysterious door, and she, Marie, and Tippi went through.

As soon as they walked through the door, the girls found themselves in what seemed to be a vast field with hills, odd looking trees, and strange, floating blocks to boot. The door vanished behind them.

"Wow, so now we're in another dimension?" Marina asked. She was still new to the entire situation, but she was amazed nonetheless.

"We are, in fact..." Tippi responded. She paused for a moment, then continued, "I feel the Pure Heart. But it's still far from here..."

"So, where is... Bes... to...vius? Did I say it right?"

"You did. As for where he is, I'm not quite sure... We better go find him..."

"You sure he doesn't live in that house over there?" Marie asked, Pointing to a small structure in the distance.

"Maybe! Let's check it out!" Marina said cheerfully.

"Oh, and one more thing..." Tippi said. Marie and Marina turned to her. "If you want to learn about anything, just use my power. I know about many things..."

"Alright then, I'll keep that in mind," Marina exclaimed, "Let's go!"

She started walking towards the structure in the distance, Marie and Tippi following her. Barely a couple seconds after they started moving, the group found a line of floating blocks and an octotrooper pacing below them. It had milky white eyes, a spiked bracelet on it's tentacle, and no weapon. None of these features were normal for an octotrooper. It eyed the girls...

"Be careful, you two." Tippi warned them, "I think it sees us as a threat..."

"Don't worry, I've worked with these guys before," Marina reassured her, "They're helpless without a we-"

The octotrooper ran over to Marina and bit her in the leg.

"OW!"

She swung her herobrush at the octotrooper, knocking it out. Marie and Tippi stared at her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Marina told them, "But what's an octotrooper doing in another world?"

"Probably has to do with that Bleck guy," Marie answered, "Tippi, you said you knew a lot of things, right? Can you tell us about the octotrooper?"

Tippi examined the unconscious foe. "Yes, that's an octotrooper. I'm not sure what's with it's strange behavior, though... We should keep moving forward. We may learn more along the way..."

Tippi fluttered towards a large, dark brown stone in front of them, but stopped when she noticed another odd looking octotrooper. "Another one..."

"I've got this!" Marie said. She fired a blast from her charger and splatted the enemy before it could attack.

"Phew... well, I think we're getting closer!" Marina exclaimed before climbing up the stone. She looked onward and saw the house Marie mentioned earlier. It's structure was made of stone and it had a large door made of wood. A red mailbox stood on the left of the house.

Tippi flew up to where Marina was. "Well, what if Bestovius doesn't live there?" she asked.

"Simple; we ask if they know where he really lives." Marina responded. She jumped off the rock, walked over to the house and knocked on the door. Nobody answered.

"Excuse me, is anyone home? We're looking for someone named Bestovius..." She said. Nothing.

Marie rolled her eyes as she walked up to Marina, "let's just go in."

"What? Marie, that's a terrible idea."

"Too bad, cause I'm doing it." Marie opened the door and walked in. The others hesitantly followed. The house was completely empty.

"There's... Nothing here?" Marina asked, confused.

"No, This is not an empty house..." Tippi responded, "There's something in this room, I can feel it... I can also find hidden objects, you know."

"Oh, really? Can you show us?"

"Sure," Tippi flew towards one of the walls in the house. She tapped it with her antenna, and the wall began to glow. Sure enough, a door appeared before the girls.

"Woah..." Marina walked up to the door and slowly opened it. She peeked inside, and saw a strange man standing in the room. He wore a red and gold robe along with a blue, pointy hat. His bottom half looked like that of a cloud.

"E-excuse me, sir, but are you Bestovius, by chance?" Marina asked.

The man turned to the group. "Hmmmmmm? What is this meager.... er... thing... that stands before me?" he asked, "And how does it have the audacity to address my multicolored glory? How did these flimsy tentacles detect my secret door..."

The man, Bestovius, realized something.

"Wait right there! White shirt, conspicuous plum-to-teal hair, Blue overalls... Ha!" he said, "You are garbed in the rich cloth of the hero of the prophecy!"

"Yes..." Marina responded.

"You must be the great..."

"Yes..."

"Hero..."

"Yeeeeessss..."

"...Impersonator!"

"NO!" Marina, Marie and Tippi shouted at once. The two cephalopods had only discovered that magic existed 45 minutes prior to this, but they knew well that Marina was the hero of the prophecy.

"What a costume! You look like you leaped out of the pages of the Prognosticus!" Bestovius laughed.

Marina sighed. "I'm Marina Ida. I know I just learned about this only a few minutes ago, but I know I look like this because I am the hero!"

"So you're Bestovius..." Marie said, "Merlon had us find you. Do you know him?"

"Merlon?!" Bestovius responded, "Only his full-bodied beard rivals my hairy magnificence... If Merlon thinks you are the true hero, you probably are... I think... Well then, as the ancient prophecy foretells, I, Bestovius, will bestow upon you the ancient secrets of dimensional flipping... for a nominal fee of 10,000 coins."

"What?!" The girls were taken aback by that last sentence.

"But that's preposterous!" Tippi shouted, "You can't charge to teach the hero of the prophecy!"

"Why not? Even the great and splendiferous Bestovius has certain... expenditures..." he responded, "Why should the hero get the world delivered to her on a well garnished platter? These heroes think they can get away with shaking people down for free skills! A mere 10,000 coins should be nothing for a hero of the universe. What do you say?"

Marina remembered that Pearl was the one that paid for her stuff back at the mall, and Pearl was nowhere to be seen. Besides, 10,000 coins was quite expensive.

"I... Uhhh.... Don't have any money on me right now..." Marina said nervously.

"I see... So be it." Bestovius responded, "I will settle for just taking all the coins in your pocket. Do we have a deal?"

"What?! I said I don't have any money!"

"Still you refuse?! So be it. Though it makes me ill, I will wave the nominal fee and teach you for free. Do you agree to this?"

Marina knew she couldn't say no. "Deal." She responded.

"Scintillating! Let us begin." Bestovius exclaimed. He retrieved what looked like a strange card from under his robe and approached Marina. The back of the card was white and had a strange symbol in silver, which looked like a diamond with a circle in the middle. He held the card in front of him.

"Flimmidy flammidy flooom! Diggidy daggidy dooom! Zibbidy zabbidy zoom! Shaboom! FLIPPOW!"

The card immediately began to glow after Bestovius finished saying that, and he tossed it at Marina's direction. The card looked like it shattered into a million light particles that danced around her. Those particles quickly flew onto Marina's body, and a blinding light filled the room for a split second before dimming. Everyone was quiet.

"What... Just happened?" Marie asked. She ran up to Marina, "Are you alright?"

"I dunno..." Marina responded, "I kinda feel... different somehow."

"You see," Bestovius said, " I, Bestovius, have granted you, Marina, the ability to flip between dimensions! To do so, well, think of using this power like using a body part. Just concentrate a little and you'll be able to slip between the very fabric of space and flip between 2-D and 3-D! You can use this to find hidden objects and secret paths that are otherwise unseen by the naked eye!"

Marina and Marie were obviously surprised. Did Marina just get superpowers?

"Well, what do you think? Mind blowing, isn't it?" Bestovius continued.

Marina nodded. "So, can I try this flipping thing out?" She asked him. He nodded as well.

"Alright, here goes nothing..." She said to herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Flip between worlds, flip between worlds, flip between- huh?!

Marina opened her eyes and realized that the colors of the area around her became inverted all of a sudden. All except for Tippi.

"You did it... you flipped between dimensions." Tippi told her.

"I... Wow... This is amazing!" Was Marina's only response. She looked around and noticed a green shell laying on the floor, as well as a can with a mushroom on it. She also saw Marie, who looked like she was panicking. It looked like she was talking, but Marina didn't hear a word she said.

"What? Marie, I can't hear you!" Marina shouted.

"I doubt she can hear us, either, let alone see us..." said Tippi. She gestured to the shell and can with her antenna, "You should grab those items and flip back."

Marina became a little nervous after hearing that. She quickly grabbed the objects and managed to flip back.

"So you're saying I can't see her when- GAH!" Marie was startled by Marina's sudden reappearance. "How- what- happened?"

"Well, for one, I think I have superpowers now." Marina responded, "You think we should keep looking for the pure heart now?"

"Y-you know what? Lets go." Marie said, still stunned from what Marina just did. The group headed to the exit.

"Thank you!" Marina said to Bestovius before leaving his house.

As soon as the girls returned to the strange field from earlier, an idea formed in Tippi's mind.

"Marina, do you think you can investigate this area using your new power?" she asked, "Something tells me that stone over there may have something inside..."

"Uh... Sure." Marina responded. She flipped between dimensions like she did before.

Sure enough, she found that the stone was replaced by a red door with a multicolored star in this pocket dimension. She flipped back.

"So you're right about the stone, but there's a problem..." she told the others, "Marie is the only one here who can't flip between worlds. But what if..."

Marina had an idea. She turned to Marie and held out her hand.

"You mind holding my hand? I know this sounds weird, but I wanna try something."

Marie immediately knew what Marina was trying to do. "Alright," She responded, grabbing Marina's hand.

Marina flipped between worlds again, only this time, Marie was taken with her.

"Woah... So this is what it's like?" Marie asked.

"Awesome, right?" Marina said, "Now let's go!"

The girls walked up to the door and went through. This door sent them to another field, only this time, there were tall, green pipes scattered everywhere. Not only that, but those odd looking octotroopers were everywhere, accompanied with similar looking twintacle octotroopers. The girls were flipped back into reality.

"There's so many of them... are you two prepared?" Tippi asked Marie and Marina, who readied their weapons.

The octarians immediately spotted the girls and ran to them. Marie fired a blast with her charger, splatting three of them in one hit, while Marina rushed up to the other four and swung her herobrush at them. Two of the octotroopers were splatted by the impact, but the others got up and attempted to charge at her. Marie fired a blast at them, splatting one of them. The last octotrooper panicked and fled.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're prepared." Marie responded.

"Um, actually..." Marina pointed to a ravine beyond the cluttered area of green pipes.

The girls got closer to it, only to realize it was small enough to jump across.

"N-Nevermind..." Marina said before jumping across. Marie jumped as well, while Tippi just flew. Marina caught a glance at another twintacle, alongside two odd creatures she had never seen before.

"What are-"

"Squiglets." Tippi told Marina, "They inhabit this place. They scurry on all fours and jump up when they see an enemy. aside from that, there isn't much to say about them..."

"So.... Ignore them?" Marie asked.

"You can," Tippi responded, "But that twintacle octotrooper seems like trouble, but i'm sure you can handle it."

Marina attacked the twintacle with her brush before looking ahead and realizing something.

"Okay, now I think we're face-to-face with an uncrossable chasm," She said while staring at what was, indeed, an uncrossable chasm.

"Try flipping again," Tippi said, "I'm sure you'll find a way across if you do..."

Marina nodded. She grabbed Marie's arm and flipped themselves again. Once doing so, she noticed a narrow strip of land that seemed to form a bridge.

"Nailed it!" She said enthusiastically before running across, dragging Marie with her. She flipped back as soon as they were across, and noticed a small set of stone stairs. She let go of Marie's hand, walked up to the top, and noticed a small gap, as well as some squiglets on the other side.

"Hey guys, I think it's safe to get up here!" Marina told the others, who followed her up the stairs. Tippi looked on and realized something about one of the squiglets.

"Wait... those purple ones... those are squigs." She warned Marina and Marie, "They're stronger and can spit out rocks at you as a means of defense... for now, let's just go around them and head to that door as quickly as possible."

Marina and Marie, indeed, leapt down the stairs and ran to the door, which looked similar to the one from earlier. Marina opened it and the girls went through. On the other side, they noticed a large wall made of dirt and stone not far from the door, along with a strange circular platform.

"Ah, a jump platform!" Tippi said, "You'll be able to scale that wall easier now; just jump on the platform."

"Kinda self explanatory, don't you think?" Marie asked. She didn't bother waiting for an answer before she jumped onto said platform, allowing her to leap over the wall with ease. Marina followed, and Tippi fluttered over.

They were already on the other side when they looked on at the amount of squiglets and squigs there were eyeing the girls.

"There's a million of them!" Marie shouted.

"The blocks!" Marina shouted, pointing at a row of floating blocks, "Get up on the blocks!"

Marie and Marina super jumped on top of the blocks, Tippi following them. They noticed yet another large wall was in their path.

"Almost forgot you cephalopods could do that..." Tippi said, "Do you mind doing that again to jump over this wall?"

"I don't see why not." Marina said. She and Marie super jumped over the wall again, and noticed another set of stairs, only this time, they lead to a door.

The girls hopped down the wall, climbed up the stairs and entered the area the door lead them to.

Another area full of green pipes, only this time, there were strange creatures in them that looked like venus flytraps. There was also a large area beyond that full of blocks.

"Before you ask, those are piranha plants," Tippi said, "It's best you go around them; they bite harder than that octotrooper from earlier."

The group went around the piranha plants, but while doing so, Marina asked Tippi something.

"So, what's up with those blocks, anyways?"

"You see, Blocks actually dispense coins when hit. However, the yellow blocks with question marks on them have a chance of having something of great use inside," Tippi responded, "Speaking of, I feel something powerful up ahead, but it's not the pure heart. I think there's a mega star nearby..."

"Mega... Star?" Marie asked.

"Yes. For a few seconds, It grants it's user near immortality and makes them much, much larger and stronger." Tippi told the others, "But as I said, It only lasts for a few seconds." She fluttered to a question-marked block, "I think there's one in here."

Marie and Marina turned to each other. "So since you already have powers, well... Permission to use the mega star?" Marie asked.

"No Problem!" Marina responded. She and Tippi stepped back as Marie hit the yellow block. A blinking yellow star popped out.

"Ah, I was right! Marie, as soon as you grab it, I insist you run towards those blocks up ahead so you can clear us a path..." Tippi told Marie.

"Will do. Now here goes..." Marie said before she grabbed the star.

It immediately vanished on contact. Marie's body started to glow, and within seconds, she was several times larger. She was amazed, yet knew to immediately run towards the cluster of blocks in the group's path.

"Holy carp..." Marina whispered to herself. She ran after Marie, who, after several seconds of running and destroying blocks, shrunk back down to size.

"That. That was awesome." Marie said to herself. Marina and Tippi caught up with her at last.

"Marie... maybe... slow down a little... next time..." Marina said, huffing and puffing, "That... that was awesome, though..."

"Thanks, but I think that's enough gawking about what just happened," Marie said, "We still have a pure heart to find..."

(End of chapter 1)

Chapter Text

And so, Marina came to learn the stupendous ability of flipping between dimensions. But there was no time to celebrate: She still had a pure heart to find. The trail ahead was overrun with savage beasts.

"Follow me," Tippi said, as she flew toward the mountain that loomed ahead. The pure heart was hidden somewhere on the other side.

--------------------------------------

"Hey, Marina, I just realized something," Said Marie, "You always use the splat brella in turf war, so why are you using an octobrush? We should have a hero brella back at Octo Canyon."

"Couldn't find one," Marina answered, "I wonder if one of the other agents were on a mission with it. But I'm also good with the octobrush, you know." Marina turned to Tippi, "Anyway, Tippi, do you think were getting closer to the pure heart?"

"Well, I feel the pure heart is beyond this mountain, but its still far, far away," Tippi responded, "Something tells me you'll need to put that new skill of yours to use."

Marina and Marie looked ahead and noticed not only the tall, rocky areas of the mountain, but also another row of those question marked blocks. Marina had an idea in mind, while Marie stared at the blocks.

"Hey, didn't you say something about those blocks having stuff inside them?" Marie asked Tippi.

"Yes, I did. I don't sense anything powerful, however," Tippi said, "There should be some coins inside the block, though, which may be useful as there's a store back in Flipside."

"You go check out those blocks," Marina told the others, "I'll check this place out a little." Marina flipped between worlds on cue, vanishing from Marie's sight.

"This is definitely going to take some getting used to..." Marie said to herself. She turned back to the row of blocks, approached, and hit one of them. Rather than a few coins, a small, mushroom-like object popped out. She picked it up and stared at it, confused on what it was. Did mushrooms normally have eyes in this world?

"Is that a..."

"Mushroom? Yes. Living being? No. It's also edible and has healing properties..." Tippi told Marie, "Those are pretty common throughout worlds, but i'm assuming you've never seen one."

Marie, still slightly confused, decided to hit the other blocks. This time, coins did come out, but they looked very different from the ones back in Inkopolis. She quickly picked them up, only to realize her hands were starting to get full. Just as she picked up the last coin, Marina appeared out of thin air.

"Hey guys, I found a shortcut!" she said.

Marie jumped, startled. She only further proved that Marina's new powers were, indeed, going to take some getting used to.

"GAH! Don't scare me like that!" She shouted.

"Sorry... but I did find a-" Marina stopped and looked at what Marie was holding.

"It's a mushroom. Don't ask how. Anyway, you mind putting these in your pocket? I don't have any." Marie asked, referring to the coins that came out of the blocks.

"I don't mind, but I think we should stop hitting blocks for now," Marina said as she put the coins in the front pocket of her overalls, "I think we should at least find a bag to hold our stuff first. Anyway, I should show you that shortcut I was talking about."

Marina grabbed Marie's arm and flipped between worlds again. Marie quickly discovered what Marina was talking about- a path that seemed to lead to a cave-like area in the mountains.

"Jackpot." Marie said before the group followed the path to where it lead. The area in question seemed to be located underneath one of the mountains from earlier. The girls noticed another red door with a rainbow star.

"And make it double." Marina said after spotting the door. She flipped herself and Marie back into reality and headed towards the door. She opened it and walked through.

"Hey, I think I see some blocks just above- GYAHHH!!!"

Marina sentence was cut short as she fell to the ground. As it turns out, the door itself was almost ten feet above where it actually lead to.

"Marina! Are you alright?" Tippi asked, clearly worried.

"Yep, I'm fine..." Marina responded as she stood up, "And Marie, you might wanna watch your step."

Marie stood at the entrance and looked down. She hopped down to where Marina was and looked up at the door.

"Ok, I know were in another world and all, but whose idea was that?" She asked.

"Right... It's really easy to forget we're all in another world." Marina said to herself, "And with the fate of every other one on our shoulders... and if we don't-"

"It's best we don't think about that for now..." Tippi assured Marina.

"Guys, I think I found something." Marie called out to the others. Tippi and Marina turned to her direction and noticed a block with a black ladder on top, leading to an area higher up the mountains. It wasn't too high up, though- just a little higher than the door. Marie climbed up the ladder.

"All clear! Just a few more of those question marked blocks." She told the others. Marina climbed up after her, Tippi fluttering after them.

The girls looked onward from the peak they were lead to, and spotted a steeper part of the mountain in the distance. It was barely visible from this far away, but they could tell that another one of those doors was on top. However, there were also what looked like spiked balls rolling down the hill.

"Ok, I think I know where we're supposed to go, but the question is how we're gonna get there." Marina said.

"Well, there are some blocks directly above us," Tippi answered, referring to the question marked blocks and a long row of stone blocks above them, "So I'm sure we can use those to get across and onto the hill. The spiny tromps could be a problem, though. They're practically unbeatable."

"That's.... reassuring..."

Marina and Marie climbed up onto the question marked blocks, Tippi following them. Marie managed to hop up onto the row of stone blocks, but noticed something blocking their path.

"More octarians!" she shouted. She grabbed her charger and fired at one of the two octotroopers, but the row of blocks was wide enough for them to avoid it. One of them ran to Marie and tackled her.

"Marie!" Marina called. As soon as she climbed up to the stone blocks, Marina ran after the octotroopers and swung her octobrush at them, splatting one of them and knocking the other off the path.

Marina walked up to Marie. "You alright?"

"Yeah... Holy carp, those guys are stronger than I remember..." Marie answered. She got up on her feet again and looked on ahead. "Also, if we want to make it up there in one piece, the obvious solution is going around those spiky guys."

Marie walked to the end of the row of blocks, the others following. They looked over from the edge at the spiny tromps rolling down the hill.

"There aren't too many of them. I think they can be avoided easily." Tippi said.

Marie smiled. "Alright then. Shall we?"

Both she and Marina jumped off the platform and ran up the hill as fast as they could. The spiny tromps were almost no problem for the group, as they were, indeed, avoided easily. By the time the girls were at the top, however, Marie and Marina were extremely tired from all of that running.

"Whew... we.... we made it....." Marina said.

Marie walked over to the door, opened it, and signaled the others to follow her through. On the other side, the group noticed a small town...

on the other side of a huge chasm.

"Well... this might not be as easy as i've hoped..." Tippi said to herself.

"Hold on. I wanna check if..." Marina said before flipping between worlds again.
Nothing. Nothing that could help them get across. Marina flipped back.

"- Ask whoever lives over there for- oh hey!" Marie said, "you find anything?"

"Nope." Marina answered, "But what were you saying while I was... well.. Flipped?"

Marie pointed to a red house in the distance on the same side of the chasm as they were.

"I was saying we should ask anyone who lives there for help."

"You're gonna resort to breaking and entering again if no one answers, aren't you?"

"You got any better ideas?"

".... fair enough." Marina answered as the group walked over to the house in the distance.

Once the girls made it to the house, Marina knocked on the door.

"Hello? anyone home?" She asked. Nothing. Again.

"Fine..." Marina sighed. She opened the door and walked in, Marie and Tippi following. The inside of the house had a pinkish-red wallpaper, a red table with matching chairs, a picture of a red apple in a red picture frame, and a red set of stairs. Whoever owned the house clearly loved the color red. The house wasn't empty, unlike last time, but nobody was home.

"I don't feel anything in particular..." Tippi said.

Marina realized something. "Wait... What if..."

Marina flipped between worlds again. Nothing in particular caught her eye, but for some reason, she heard whimpering coming from the upstairs.

I knew it! She thought to herself. She walked up the stairs to investigate where the sound was coming from. She quickly found the source: A mustached human in red clutching a spear and shivering nervously on a bed.

Is that... A human? Marina thought. Well, this is another world, so I guess it makes sense.

"Uh... Sir?" Marina asked out loud, "Are you alright?"

The man's head jerked in Marina's direction, and he quickly got back up on his feet. "Hey! HEY! You can see me!" he shouted.

".... Yes?"

"This is unbelievable! I've been freaking out here for days and finally someone sees me!"

"Days?! What happened?"

"See, a couple mornings ago, I rolled out of the wrong side of bed... and one I got my coffee, I realized I'm stuck in some freaky parallel dimension! I've been hollering and flailing for days, but nobody could hear me, or even see me. But just when I was starting to think i'd be here forever, I see you! You just blipped in here out of thin air!"

"Well, maybe if you grab onto me, I can flip us back to-"

The man ran up to Marina and grabbed her arm. "Heck yes! The whole inverted colors stuff made everything look green! Get me outta here!" he shouted desperately.

"Umm... alright..." Marina said nervously. She flipped back into reality, the man in red being flipped back with her. Marie and Tippi headed up the stairs and noticed the two appear.

"Whuh! We did it! I'm back to normal!" The man exclaimed, "Listen, you really bailed me out there. That 3-D business was freaking me out! The name's Red. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Marina. Likewise!" Marina said.

"Say, uh... any way I can repay you?" Red asked.

"Well, we came here in the first place because we needed advice on how to cross that huge chasm outside."

"So you wanna cross the chasm, huh? Well, you found yourself the right guy! But hey, I've got to warn you guys. You know this place is called Impasse pass, right? I'm only allowed to let a choice few cross the bridge. It's in my job description. I mean, that's why they pay me to stand here. you sure you want to pass?"

"We're sure." Marie answered.

"Well, you did save me from being trapped in a parallel dimension and all," Red continued. He paused for a moment. "Ok! I'm going to ask you a question. Get the right answer and I'll let you guys pass."

"Deal." Marina said.

"Alright. What's the most manly color in the entire universe? Red or green?" Red asked.

Marie turned to Marina. "He's probably gonna kill us if we say green." She whispered.

"I... Uh... Red?" Marina answered.

"Yes! You are SO right! Although, your hair screams otherwise..." Red responded.

Marina and Marie were nervous.

"-But hey. I said manly, not girly. I'll throw down the bridge for you guys." he finished. The girls sighed of relief.

Red walked over to a red lever on the wall and pulled it. From outside, the group noticed a bridge appearing out of thin air, connecting the land once separated by the chasm.

"Alright, you should be good to go. You take it easy!" Red exclaimed.

"Thanks!" Marina said as she, Marie and Tippi left Red's home.

-----------------------------------

"Looks like we're in a small town now." Tippi said.

"Well, looks like getting to the pure heart should be easier from-" Marie paused

"What is it?" Marina asked.

"I can't see it properly, but I think... There's another chasm on the other side of the town."

Tippi flew up higher to get a better look. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. We should probably ask around town for any advice on how to get across..." she said after fluttering back down, "I'm sure we also have time to look around."

Marina remembered the amount of coins she had in her pockets. "You guys mind asking around? I think I should spend some of these coins."

"That doesn't sound like a problem." Marie answered.

"I agree. Marie and I will search town, and you can see if you can buy anything useful..." Tippi said.

Marie and Tippi went on ahead, while Marina walked inside one of the shops in town.

"Gooood day!" The clerk exclaimed upon noticing a customer.

"Umm... Hi!" Marina said, "Say, I'm on this journey of sorts, and my pockets are getting full, so... Do you have any bags by chance?"

"First time in Yold Town, eh? Well, as for bags, we only have drawstring bags in the back, and they're only available in black, brown or grey, but they're real good quality if I do say so myself! They can hold, say, probably a dozen items, give or take. Cost ya about 50 coins."

"Sounds promising! I'll see if I can afford one. If I can, I'll take a grey one."

The clerk went to another room in the store while Marina counted her coins on the counter.

"56!"

The clerk walked back to the counter with a grey drawstring bag. "50 coins, please."

Marina handed him the coins and the clerk handed her the bag in return. She put her stuff in the bag and put it on.

"Thanks for shopping. Stop on by again!" The clerk called.

Marina exited the store, and noticed Tippi and Marie exiting a house near the edge of town. Marina waved her arm to get their attention and ran up to them.

"You got a bag?" Marie asked.

"Yeah. My pockets were getting full..." Marina responded, "Find anything useful?"

"Just the elder of the town. We told him we wanted to pass through, but he wouldn't budge. I told him that I knew the hero and we needed to get across town, but he wouldn't buy it unless he actually saw you with a pixl shaped like a hand. I mean, it's understandable, but where do we find a pixl?"

"Actually," Tippi answered, "I have heard about pixls being held in chests throughout the worlds for the hero to obtain. Perhaps there's one hidden in town..."

"Really?" Marina asked.

"I believe so. We should check the buildings. Maybe there's a chest inside what would seem to be a regular house."

Marina looked at the row of small buildings and houses that made up the town.

"Let's check that one first." Marina said, pointing to what looked like an older house near the shop.

Upon entering the building, the girls spotted some odd red and blue fencing blocking a large, green pipe. Other than that, the house was empty.

"We're gonna have to go down that pipe, aren't we?" Marie asked.

"I believe so..." Tippi answered. She flew down the pipe, and the others hesitantly followed.

The pipe ended up leading the girls to a wide room with odd looking spiked cubes smashing the area below in a straight line.

"Thwomps..." Tippi said.

"Are those things... trying to stop us?" Marie asked, "The room is wide enough for us to walk around those guys."

Marina shrugged as the girls simply walked around the thwomps. Once they reached the end of the hallway, they noticed a door on their left. On the other side of the door, yet another empty room.

"Ok, How many suspiciously empty rooms are we going to run into?" Marie asked.

"Wait... Is that a star on the wall here?" Marina asked. She turned to Tippi, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all..." Tippi responded. She tapped the star with her antenna, and the star glowed and revealed a door.

However, once the girls walked through the door, it slammed shut and iron bars formed, trapping them.

"What? nonononononono! Let us out! Let us out!" Marina cried, frantically pulling at the iron bars.

"Wait!" Tippi interrupted, "I think I sense something in that chest."

The girls turned to a large chest near the door. Marina let go of the iron bars and took a closer look.

"You think it's one of those chests with a pixl inside?" Marie asked.

"Only one way to find out..." Tippi said.

Before the girls could open the chest, however...

The girls stared at the thing that just flew out of the chest. It looked like a floating hand and was about the size of Tippi. Could it possibly be a Pixl? The thing flew closer to Marina.

"Wait a moment... If I have been set free, the legendary hero must've done it!" The pixl exclaimed, "I expressed concern when those ancients stuffed me in that chest 1,500 years ago, but it seems my fears were quite unfounded. The hero has finally arrived!"

"Are you... A pixl?" Tippi asked

"Why, YES! I am indeed a pixl! My name is Thoreau! You are a pixl as well? But you don't look familiar. Are you a newer model?"

"I... well, I.... Um..."

"No matter! Details do bore me! What is important is the fact that I have waited AGES to lend my skill to the hero. And glorious day, here you are! Do take me with you... You simply must!"

Marina paused for a brief moment before remembering what Marie had said earlier. The elder wanted to see the hero and a pixl shaped like a hand.

"I don't see why not, but in return-"

"You will then? SMASHING!" Thoreau interrupted Marina.

"-I was gonna ask if you knew how to get out of here."

"Of course, of course! You see, with me at your side, one may grasp objects with great vigor! Just grab my little... er, 'Tail', and use me like you would with those sticky hand things. You will need my ability to get out of this room. Ready, Steady, GO!"

Marina looked at the area on her right and noticed what looked like a cube. On her left, a blue button with an exclamation point on the ceiling. She thought for a moment, then grabbed Thoreau's tail and threw him at the cube. He grabbed it, returning to her, and Marina threw the cube at the button, pressing it and making the iron bars vanish.

"Glorious day!" Thoreau exclaimed, "Consider me fully at your disposal. Now, to adventure and beyond!"

10 minutes later...

"I got a call from old man Watchitt." the man in green told them, "So you're that hero girl then, huh?"

"And you must be Green." Marina responded.

"Right on! I'll put the bridge across for you straight away!"

Green walked to a lever on the wall and pulled it. Outside, another bridge appeared, connecting the land in a much flashier way than Red.

"There you go! Also, mind if I ask you a question?" Green asked.

"Not at all..." Tippi responded.

"Ok, red or green. What's better?"

Marina already had an idea for what her answer should be.

"Green." Marie and Marina said at once.

"Yes, exactly!" Green exclaimed, "I know we all see eye to eye on- WAIT A MINUTE!"

Green glared at the stripe on the bottom of Marie's skirt.

The red stripe on the bottom of Marie's skirt.

"Don't worry about him, Marie." Tippi said, "The bridge is still there. We should move forward." She turned to Marina, "Also, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I've been through worse." Marina responded, "Heck, I've been through worse than that ten foot drop from earlier... "

Marina got up on her feet again.

"Besides, we should keep going." She continued, "I'm no Pixl, but i'm sure we're getting closer to the pure- puh... huh... HACHOO!"

(End of Chapter 2)

Chapter Text

With a bold quiver of her tentacles, Marina let loose a hearty sneeze. A single grain of sand had flown along the warm wind and tickled the hero's nose.

It wasn't long before Marina, Marie and Tippi found the source of the sand: The Yold desert.

Along the endless, sun-baked expanse, the girls continued their search...

------------------------------------------

"Hey, didn't the elder say something about ruins past here?" Marie asked.

"I think so..." Marina answered.

"The pure heart can't be far now..." Tippi said, "We'd better not waste any time."

Marina turned to the path ahead. The desert was large and vast, with a few rocks, floating blocks, several squiglets roaming the area, and palm trees. Marina didn't want to question why there were palm trees in the desert.

"Ok, I think the obvious move is finding one of those doors," Marie said, "The squiglets seem harmless, so we can ignore them. Anything less than harmless, we attack."

"Agreed. I have a feeling we're going to encounter some powerful foes, though..." Tippi said, "Also, there aren't only squiglets here..."

Tippi gestured at a Squig with her antennea. The squig eyed the girls and prepared to attack. Marina gripped her octobrush, remembering what Tippi had said about squigs earlier.

The squig spat out a rock and Marina hit it with her octobrush. The rock hit a question marked block. The squig spat out another rock, which Marina swung at again, hitting the squig with the rock.

"Huh, I thought you didn't know how to play baseball." Marie said.

"That had something to do with baseball?" Marina asked. Marie facepalmed.

Marina looked at the object that popped out of the block. It looked like a red flower with the minute hand and hour hand of a clock.

"That's a speed flower. It temporarily speeds up time." Tippi told Marina, "It'll activate one you touch it, but vanish upon doing so."

"Okay, I know we're in another world, but how can one flower-"

Marina grabbed the flower before Marie could finish her sentence, activating it immediately.

"-messwiththeveryfabricof- WHATTHE-"

Marie waved her hand in front of her face. It moved almost three times quicker than normal.

"Ijusthadtosaythatoutloud..." she said.

"Wait, Ijustrealisednowwecangotothoseruinsfaster!" Marina said enthusiastically, "Let'sgo!"

Marina ran on ahead, the others following her. Marina hit another question marked block with her hand, and another mushroom like object popped out. Before she could pick it up, though, It turned blue and its jaws were open wide. It immediately chased Marina, and considering the fact that time was sped up, this was a problem.

"WHAT?! Nononononononononono!"

Marina quickly noticed a small river of quicksand a little past those blocks. She jumped over it, and the mushroom sank in the flowing sand.

"Whattheheckwasthat?" Marina asked. Marie jumped over the quicksand, Tippi following.

"Thatwasa zombie shroom. It's a more evil version of you're good old, everyday mushrooms." Tippi answered. Time slowed back down as soon as she said that.

"Well, I guess that's over." Marina turned to a red palm tree behind her, "What the..."

"Don't question it. We're in another world, you know..."

The group once again proceeded down the desert. After another leap of faith over a river of quicksand, It didn't take long for them to spot another door in the distance.

"Ah, another door!" Marina sighed, "You know, I'd say this mission is getting easier, but then we would probably get ambushed by a-"

"JAWBUS!" Tippi Interrupted.

"Huh?" Marina turned around to face a Purple, dragon-like creature twice her size. It's body looked like a spiked ball with a dragon's head and neck attached. "Right on cue!"

Marina jumped back as the jawbus tried to bite her.

"Quick! The door!" Marie shouted. Marina quickly ran to the door, swung it open, and ran through. Marie, Tippi and Thoreau went after her.

On the other side of the door, there was more sandy dunes and mysterious rivers of quicksand. This time, another chasm split the land in two. On the other side, Marina saw a small dragon statue and a sign she couldn't read.

"Hey, Marina-" Marie said before catching a glimpse at the chasm, "OH COME ON!"

"Hold on, I think this might actually work this time." Marina said. She flipped between worlds and looked at the chasm again. She quickly noticed a strip of land that formed a bridge in the chasm. She flipped back.

"Anything?" Marie asked.

"Yup!" Marina responded. The two grabbed each other's hands and Marina flipped again. They went across the chasm and headed to the statue. Marina flipped back.

The girls tried reading the sign, but it seemed to be scrawled in complete gibberish.

"What kind of language is this..." Marina wondered out loud.

Tippi and Thoreau finally caught up with the others.

"Hey, can either of you read what this says?" Marie asked.

The two pixls took a closer look.

"Let's see... It says, 'Find ye the tall red palm tree of fortune...'" Tippi read,

"...'And leapeth under it's branches 10 times.' " Thoreau finished, "I guess old english is hard for you to understand. It's saying to jump under that red palm tree from earlier 10 times."

"No, we literally couldn't read what that said." Marie sighed.

"Well, might as well head back to the palm tree." Marina said.

-------------------------------------------

".... Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Marie stopped counting once Marina jumped for the tenth time under the red palm tree.

"Phew.... Now what?" Marina asked. Right on cue, a door appeared.

"I guess that's what."

The group made their way through the door.

On the other side, there was a wall about 20 feet from the door, blocking their path. In front of the wall, a row of floating blocks and two more blocks above the row. Marina climbed up the first row of blocks, where she quickly spotted a jump pad, just like the one from earlier. staring at the other blocks, she formed an idea.

Marina jumped on to the jump pad, which catapulted her to one of those floating blocks. She immediately super jumped over the wall afterwards. Marie did the same thing, except her super jump landed her on the wall.

She looked down.

"Heh. Callie was always afraid of heights..." Marie said to herself.

Tippi couldn't help but overhear. "Who?"

"Oh, n-nothing. Just talking to myself."

Tippi felt slightly concerned. Marie did look worried about something.

"...She's the maiden mentioned in the prophecy, isn't she?" Tippi asked, "The one Count Bleck kidnapped?"

Marie's body tensed up as soon as she heard that. She sighed.

"I... I think so..." she answered, "Last I saw her, she was in some mystical cage thing that Bleck probably made... I mean, we've been separated several times before, but... this is a dimension traveling...uh... thing we're talking about. Callie could literally be anywhere. To make matters worse, I got knocked out before I could get the simplest clue on where she might be... Heck, Marina's close friend got involved, too, but I don't see her worried sick."

Tippi fluttered closer to Marie.

"Don't worry. We may not know exactly where your friend is-"

"She's my cousin."

"-Where your cousin is, but I'm sure we can find her, and anyone else involved in Count Bleck's prophecy..."

Marina walked up to the wall. "Guys? Are you alright?"

"... I've been better." Marie answered. She hopped down the wall, "What's up with you?"

"Well, I found some more coins in those blocks... and another zombie shroom... and a bridge!"

Marie looked ahead, and saw another river of quicksand, only this time, it was much wider. Too wide to jump across. A bridge was just what they needed.

"Awesome!" Marie said, Marina grabbed her hand and flipped.

As the two were crossing the bridge, however...

"You know, I overheard some of that conversation with Tippi." Marina said.

"Shoot! I-I didn't mean to be rude, what I said about you not-"

"It's fine, it's fine. I'm just saying, I am worried about Pearl. Callie, too... But I'm sure we'll find them at one point. We're on a journey between several dimensions, after all."

"I know, I know. Tippi gave me that same speech."

Marina flipped back, taking Marie with her.

Another wall stood in their way, and it was being guarded by squiglets on top. Marie took a running start and super jumped over the wall and the squiglets.

"All clear!" Marie called, "Just a squiglet down- OW!"

Marina quickly super jumped over the wall after hearing Marie yelp in pain.

"What happened?!"

"I didn't see that squig..."

Marina noticed what exactly Marie was talking about- a squig guarding the multicolored door, and a squig's rock next to Marie's leg.

Marie quickly grabbed her charger and splatted the foe.

Marina took off her bag and grabbed the mushroom shake she left in there. "You need one? It says here it has healing properties."

"I just got hit in the leg by a rock-spitting monster and tackled by an octotrooper before that. Yes, I do..." Marie answered. She opened the drink and drank some of it. She got up soon after.

"Huh. Not bad... for a mushroom flavored milkshake." she said, "And I actually feel better, too."

"Good... Let's continue..." Tippi said.

-----------------------------------------

"GRAH-GOOGLY!" An unfamiliar voice called out as soon as the group went through the door, "So yer the lass stickin' 'er stuff in me boss's business!"

The group paused. Who said that?

They quickly noticed where that voice was coming from- A bearded, muscular human man standing in front of another door. He slugged it with his fist, which somehow made it tip over.

The man laughed, "Yeh shouldn't 'ave crossed the count! Now I'm gonna 'ave teh get chunky on yeh!"

Marina realized something. "The count... Wait, you work with Count Bleck?!" she asked.

The man waved his pointer finger at them. "O'Chunks is me name!" he said, "Yer a smart lass, aren't yeh? I thug for the count o' counts, Count Bleck hisself! One word from me Blecky-boy, an' I come to make yeh feel some hammage!"

"'Hammage'? Uh... Don't you mean 'Damage-'"

"Whatever, then!" O'Chunks interrupted, "Not that it matters a pinch o' stew in a sandstorm. Yer both goners!" O'Chunks cracked his knuckles.

"Do you even know what Count Bleck is trying to do?" Tippi asked.

"DEH!" O'Chunks shouted, "Me boy's usin' powers an' whatnot teh bring back some order teh this 'ere world! An enemy o' Bleck be an enemy o' mine. They all get chunked!"

"This O'Chunks is a lot scarier than the other enemies we've faced so far..." Tippi told the girls.

"Figures..." Marie said.

"Enough is enough already!" O'chunks shouted, "It's time teh thunder down from on high an' deliver a beatin' o' the ages. CHUNK ON IT!"

As soon as he finished his sentence, O'Chunks jumped at the group and tried to ground pound. Marina and Marie ran out of the way.

"Shoot!" Marina cried, "What are we supposed to do?"

"Alright, listen. You're going to have to keep your distance with him. He'll grab and throw you if you're in range. " Tippi instructed.

"Good," Marie said, grabbing her charger, "This thing was meant for- LOOK OUT!"

Marina looked up and realized O'Chunks was about to ground pound on her. She dove out of the way as fast as she could. O'Chunks, on the other hand, bent his arm and prepared to tackle the octoling.

"Jackpot..." Marie whispered under her breath. She fired a blast of low-tide ink from her charger, hitting O'Chunks in the face.

"GRAAH! WHAT IS 'IS STUFF?!" O'Chunks shouted. He quickly rubbed the ink off his face, and was visibly mad.

"Don't panic, Marina!" Marie called, "So far, his attacks seem pretty predictable-"

Just as she said that, O'Chunks grabbed Marie and threw her. She crashed right into Marina.

"ow....."

O'Chunks laughed, "Did ye predict 'at, lass?"

O'Chunks, for some reason, started flexing. Marie and Marina quickly got back on their feet.

"Wait, is he..." Marina muttered.

"Flexing? Yeah." Marie finished. An idea struck. She turned to Thoreau.

"Hey, Thoreau, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Marie asked.

"I hope so!" Thoreau responded, wiggling his tail.

Marie grabbed Thoreau's tail and threw him at O'Chunks, grabbing the warrior and throwing him shortly after.

"Glorious day, I was thinking what you we're thinking!" Thoreau exclaimed.

Marina ran to O'Chunks and slapped him with her octobrush before he got up. He immediately jumped over the girls. Once he landed, he charged right at them. Marie and Marina easily avoided his attack, and Marie managed to snipe him with another blast of ink. Marina used this opportunity to whack O'Chunks a few more times with the brush.

O'Chunks was less than pleased with this. "Why, I oughta..."

O'Chunks charged at them again, but Marie used Thoreau to grab and throw him before he could get close. O'Chunks ended up crashing into a palm tree.

"Did you predict that?" Marie asked jokingly.

O'Chunks got up. He ran up to Marina in an attempt to grab her. Marina flipped between worlds, somehow dodging his attack and vanishing from sight.

Before O'Chunks could react, Marina reappeared behind his back and whacked him one more time in the back.

"I'M CHUNKED!" O'Chunks shouted as he fell to the ground.

Marina stepped back a bit.

"Meh chunks... yeh failed me!" O'Chunks continued, "I got pummeled an' yeh barely sweat yer brows... 'Ey, what kind of strange li'l lass are yeh?"

"This 'Strange little lass' is none other than..." Tippi said, "The legendary hero, Marina!"

"Maria, 'ey?" O'Chunks asked, " 'Tis an odd name, yeh, but yeh can bet yer bebby I'll remember that!"

"Actually, its Marina..." Marina corrected him, "There's an N-"

"Yeh remember this, Maria!" O'Chunks interrupted, "If yeh didn't look like such wee toddler, I wouldn't 'ave taken it so easy on yeh! But 'ey, I have teh give it up fer yer effort, so let's call it a tie. Yeh better get some chunks o' yer own for next time, though, 'ey!"

O'Chunks saluted.

"Till we meet again, 'ey!" He finished, "Chunks away!"

O'Chunks quickly ran off. The door somehow stood itself back up.

"Please tell me I wasn't the only one who didn't understand a word of what that goon was saying." Marie said.

"Let's just go..." Tippi sighed.

The group went through the door.

On their right was a few more brown blocks and some yellow platforms that lead to a multicolored door. Those yellow platforms were moving up and down somehow. On their left, a jump pad that lead to yellow platforms moving horizontally and thus lead to yet another door.

"Okay, left or right?" Marina asked.

"Right. I think..." Marie answered she jumped onto a yellow platform and ran to the door. Marina followed.

On the other side of that door was another dragon statue with a sign. Once again, gibberish. The only thing the girls could get out of it was a minus and a one.

"Uh... Translation?" Marina asked.

The two pixls took another look.

"'Percheth ye atop the distant platform of blue, and'..." Tippi read. "Wait, is that it?"

"No wait, there's more!" Thoreau said, "Wait, 'Press - and 1 at the same time to make something of interest happen'? I wonder what- Oh wait, I read that wrong. 'Shout -1 at the sky to make something of interest happen.'"

"Okay, then..." Marina said, "I think this blue platform might be on the other side of the other door. We should head over there."

------------------------------------

"Well, here's the platform in question..." Tippi said.

The group was now face to face with a mysterious temple, possibly the ruins brought up earlier. There wasn't an entrance to be seen, but there was a ginormous carving of a dragon's head where an entrance would be. The blue platform was not too far in front of the ruins. Marina walked up to the platform.

"Well, now what?" Marie asked.

"The sign was specific about yelling '-1' to have 'Something of interest happen'..." Tippi responded.

Marina stared at the temple. She took a deep breath.

"MINUS ONE!"

As soon as she said that, the earth shook below the girls, and the dragon statue's jaw slowly opened to reveal an entrance. The shaking stopped soon after.

The group knew what they had to do.

(End of Chapter 3)

Chapter Text

Somehow, Marina and Marie had found the strength to cross the desert's sweltering dunes. Ahead was a sprawling complex of ruins rising out of the sand.

Thankful for the shade, Marina, Marie and Tippi ventured deeper inside. They were the very ruins old man Watchitt had warned them about.

What dangers lurked in the shady corridors ahead?

----------------------------------------

"I can feel it calling..." Tippi said, "The Pure Heart is nearby."

"Really?" Marina responded.

"But wait... I sense something else emanating from the sand dunes."

"Something... else?"

Tippi paused for a moment. She answered, "Be careful, you two... Something else is waiting for us ahead..."

Marina and Marie looked down the stone staircase. Hearing what Tippi had just said, they were right to be nervous. Nevertheless, they made their way down the stairs.

They were soon met with what would've been a dead end if there wasn't a door on their left. They went through the door and saw a hallway with several small, turtle-like creatures with blue shells. Heck, some were on the ceiling.

"What the..." Marie muttered.

"Those are buzzy beetles." Tippi told them, "They're tougher than they look. Sometimes they cling to the ceiling, and they may drop down on your head when you walk by."

Marina looked up to check if any buzzy beetles were planning to do just that. Sure enough, a buzzy beetle was right above her. It dropped down, but Marina caught it before it could hurt her.

"You know, even when they're trying to hit me in the head, these guys are really cute." Marina said. She put the creature down.

"Alright, Let's continue." Marie said, "There's a door over there we can get to pretty easily-"

Right on cue, an odd, spinning fire trap ignited, proving itself to be an obstacle.

"...Ok, new plan." Marie continued, "Wait until that thing rotates enough to spit fire at the ground, and..."

A few seconds went by.

"...Now!"

Marina and Marie ran across the room as fast as they could to the door. They swung it open and went inside.

They soon realized the hallway that they entered had a whole row of more fire traps.

The hallway itself was wide enough for the girls to walk around said fire traps.

"Okay, whoever is trying to stop us from getting the pure heart really needs to try harder." Marie sighed as the group went to the end of the hallway.

"I wouldn't say that, if I were you..." Tippi told her. Marina and Marie turned to their left and spotted not only a door with a huge lock on it, but a second door that was unreachable.

"Oh... ok then..." Marie said, "So now what do we- uh... Marina? Tippi?"

Marina and Tippi were nowhere to be seen. It was safe to assume they had both flipped between worlds. All of a sudden, a yellow block with two triangles on it appeared under the hard-to-reach door.

"Did Marina just-" Marie wondered out loud. Another block appeared next to the first one.

Marina and Tippi flipped back.

"Hey, Marie!" Marina said, "Before you ask, apparently those blocks flip between worlds once they're hit. I hit those blocks so we could get through that door."

"Ah..." Marie said. She hopped onto the pair of blocks and opened the door. Marina followed.

On the other side of that door, there was a small pit with what looked like spiny tromps, except they were less spiky. On the other side of the pit, there was a ladder leading to a platform with a chest on it.

"Those are spiky tromps." Tippi told them.

"How come the actual spiky tromps are less spiky than the spiny tromps?" Marie asked.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I didn't name-"

"That was a rhetorical question."

Marina ran to the ladder while making sure to avoid the spiky tromps. She climbed up the ladder and got on to the platform, where she opened the chest and grabbed...

"A key!" Marina said enthusiastically, "Guys, I found the key!"

"That was easy..." Marie said.

Marina threw the key to Marie, who caught it with one hand. Marina ran across the pit, making sure not to trip over the tromps.

-----------------------------------------

Through the locked door, there was yet another hallway with a row of floating blocks above a large, raging river of quicksand. on the other side of the river, there were two doors being guarded by more spiky tromps, the unlocked door being above the locked. That door had a floor below it this time.

"Well, I guess we'll need to find another key..." Tippi said.

Marie nodded, showing that she agreed with Tippi. Marie and Marina super jumped onto the platform where the unlocked door was and went through.

The room they entered was a hallway with a ladder leading down and a pipe above said ladder. Down the ladder, there was a button on the ceiling with an exclamation mark. The girls climbed down.

"So, I think we're going to have to press that button up there." Marina said, "But how?"

Marie looked behind her, and noticed a squiglet come out of a green pipe, which gave her an idea. She grabbed Thoreau by the tail and threw him at the squiglet, grabbing it. She threw it at the button after.

"There." Marie said.

All of a sudden, the room started to shake. The shaking didn't last long, though, and it died down a few seconds later.

"Nothing... Happened?" Marie asked.

"No... We should check outside." Tippi answered. She fluttered up the ladder, Thoreau following. Marina and Marie climbed up the ladder and followed as well.

Outside the door...

"I see a key!" Marina exclaimed, "On top of those blocks!"

Marina ran over to the row of blocks and, with some assistance from Thoreau, grabbed the key. She ran back.

Marina put the key in the lock on the other door, unlocking it. The girls went through.

On the other side, an extremely steep staircase, along with another unreachable door.

"Marina, you mind?" Marie asked.

Marina flipped between worlds again. Nothing. She flipped back.

"Nothing... Tippi, you can find hidden platforms, too, right?" Marina asked.

Tippi fluttered to the door. She tapped the bottom of the door with her antenna, and it started to glow. Tippi fluttered back. A platform appeared under the door.

"Yes, I can." Tippi answered, "I can find anything that's hidden, really."

"Hey, random question," Marina said, "You think we're getting closer?"

"Absolutely."

Marina smiled. She and Marie super jumped onto the platform and went through the door.

On the other side of that door, there was yet another hallway with several fire traps spinning around in the area. On their left, another locked door. On their right, it wasn't too hard to notice that a chunk of the wall was brown rather than grey.

"That part of the wall..." Marina said, "Let's check it out."

She grabbed Marie's hand and flipped them again. The brown chunk in the wall vanished, revealing a small staircase leading to a key. The fire traps were also much easier to avoid.

The girls headed to the small staircase, and Marie grabbed the key.

"There." She said, "Another key, another door..."

The girls walked back to the locked door and flipped back.

On the other side of that door, the girls found themselves at the bottom of a pit. They noticed a jump platform, as well as yet another unreachable door.

Marina and Marie jumped onto the platform, which sent them to the top of the pit.

Dead end.

"So... Flip?" Marie asked.

"Flip." Marina answered. She flipped herself and Marie once again.

Another ladder leading upwards could be seen. Marina and Marie climbed up.

Across the room the ladder lead them to, Another blue button with an exclamation mark was on the floor. Marina and Marie walked up to it.

"Should we press it?" Marina asked.

"Well, we have no other options," Marie answered. She pressed the button. A much larger, red button appeared next to the ladder. However, the wall opened up, and revealed a sea of spiky tromps headed right for them.

"RUN!" Tippi cried.

The girls ran to the red button as fast as they could, Marie nearly tripping over. Marina jumped onto the red button.

A trapdoor opened below the tromps, and they all fell down. The group looked down the trapdoor, and noticed that enough tromps had filled the pit for them to reach that door.

"Should we.... Jump?" Marie asked.

"They seem blunt enough for us to jump down safely..." Marina answered. She jumped down.
"All clear!" she called.

"How many times are we gonna say 'All Clear' in this journey?"

Marie jumped down, and Thoreau and Tippi followed.

Across that door, there was a row of red colored blocks, along with an extremely tall wall. Not even a super jump could scale it.

"So, do we have to hit the blocks in a specific order?" Marie asked.

"Let me see..." Marina said. she flipped between worlds again.

The first block had a 2 on it, the second one had a 4, the third one had, well, a 1, and the fourth one had a 3. Marina flipped back.

"Ok, I think we have to hit the third block, then the first, then the fourth, and then the second." Marina said.

"Alright." Marie answered.

Marie hit the third block, Marina hit the first and fourth, and Marie hit the second.

All of a sudden, the blocks vanished and a large set of stairs appeared, leading up that large wall. The wall in question turned out to be another floor, with a green pipe leading upwards. Marina and Marie went up the stairs.

They noticed a sign next to the pipe.

"It says, 'No trespassing. Hero of the prophecy only. All others will be purged.'" Tippi read, "I feel with Marie in tow, that may be a problem. That something I sensed earlier might just be meant to guard the pure heart..."

"You could always sneak me across." Marie said, "We inklings are actually squids, you know. I'll just plop into my squid form and hide in the bag just in case."

"I'm actually a bit nervous for this..." Marina said as she took off her bag, "But It's for the good of all worlds..."

--------------------------------

Marina emerged from the pipe in the sandy dunes of the Yold desert. She looked on ahead, but saw nothing but sand as far as the eye could see.

"H-Hello?" Marina called, "I'm here for the-"

"WARNING" A robotic like voice interrupted. Marina froze.

A ginormous, red and blue, robotic dragon emerged from the dunes. The dragon had pink and green eyes and a large antenna on it's head. It's gaze was dead set on Marina.

"INTRUSION DETECTED." The dragon said, "LEAVE IMMEDIATELY OR BE PURGED."

"W-Wait!" Marina said, "You have the wrong idea-"

"WAIT. SCAN INITIALIZED."

The dragon looked closer at Marina. It continued...

"WHITE SHIRT DETECTED. BLUE OVERALLS DETECTED. LEVEL 5 TENTACLES DETECTED. INCREDIBLE. POSSIBLE SUBJECT IDENTIFICATION. BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE."

"It's possible." Marina responded.

"HOLD YOUR POSITION. SEARCHING DATA BANKS..."

The dragon paused. It's eyes seemed to turn into loading symbols. After a few seconds, the dragon's eyes reverted to normal.

"SEARCH COMPLETE. ONE POSITIVE MATCH. SYSTEM OVERLOAD! LEGENDARY HERO IDENTIFIED!"

"That's me." Marina responded.

"FORGIVE ME HERO. I AM CALLED FRACKTAIL. MY ONLY PURPOSE IS TO DEFEND THE PURE HEART FROM LAWLESS INTRUDERS," Fracktail explained, "YOU ARE LATE. I HAVE WAITED THOUSANDS OF YEARS FOR YOUR ARRIVAL. YOU MAY PASS. THE PURE HEART IS JUST AHEAD."

"Thank you so much, Frackt-"

"Ah ha ha. It won't be that easy, oh no..." A mysterious voice interrupted.

"Huh?!"

"WHO SPEAKS?"

The source of that voice teleported in front of Marina. He looked like a jester with a strange yellow and purple outfit, as well as a black and white mask. He floated up to Marina.

"Ah, so you must be the legendary hero!" The jester exclaimed, "So very nice to meet you... and your little friend..."

The jester snapped his fingers, and just like that, Marie was teleported out of the bag and next to Marina.

"Huh?! What happened? Who are you?!" Marie asked, plopping back into humanoid form.

"I am Count Bleck's master of dimensions, pleaser of crowds..." The jester answered, "I... Am... Dimentio! Remember the name well..."

"I know you..." Tippi said, "You're that...."

"It would be so very dull if you're journey ended so easily." Dimentio interrupted, "Instead, It ends with... Magic!"

Dimentio flew up to Fracktail and snapped his finger. Fracktail was electrocuted on impact.

"Yes, much better..." Dimentio said, "Now you and this robotic guardian can spend some quality time... Yes, quality snack time! When he snacks... On you! For you... Are the snack! Ciao!"

Dimentio teleported away.

"This can't be good...." Marie said.

A loud beep could be heard from Fracktail's body.

"I AM ERROR. PRESS ANY KEY TO RESTART.
SYSTEM NOT FOUND. INSERT INSTALL DISC.
DISC NOT FOUND. PLEASE CONFIRM DISC COVER IS CLOSED.
READ ERROR. INSERT BOOT DISC AND PRESS ENTER.
NO RESPONSE. SYSTEM MAY BE BUSY OR MELTING INTO SLAG.
APPLICATION ERROR. SAVE YOUR WORK AND QUIT.
YOU LOST EVERYTHING. WAY TO GO, GENIUS.
WAITING FOR PROCESSORS...
404 computer hamsters not found.
THREAT LEVEL UPGRADED TO JELLY ROLL 1. DETONATION IMMINENT.
BEEBLEBLIP!!!
C:/ run query identification
C:/ run insult generator
C:/ results not found. was the author lazy or something?

CTRL ALT DEL!!"

Fracktail dove into the ground. barely a second passed when he shot out of the ground and into the sky.

"I think that Dimentio guy messed with Fracktail's code!" Marina shouted.

"I could tell...." Marie responded.

Fracktail flew overhead and lingered in the distance.

"Tippi, How do we stop him?!" Marina cried.

"The antenna!" Tippi said, "That must be his weak spot!"

Fracktail tried to charge at the girls, but they managed to dodge his attack.

"How do we get his antenna, though?" Marie asked, "My charger's range isn't that far!"

"Hear me out, you two. Next time he charges at us, we get on his back, It sounds crazy, but it's the best we can do..."

Just as Tippi said that, Fracktail charged at the girls a second time, his body partly submerged in the sand. Marina and Marie jumped on his back. Fracktail veered upwards.

"Phew... There!" Marie shouted, Pointing at the dragon's antenna, "Hit it!"

Marie hit it with her charger. Marina noticed smaller robots near the antenna, so she grabbed one with Thoreau and threw it at the antenna.

Fracktail flew straight up, causing the girls to start sliding down his back.

"WOAH! Shoot!" Marina cried.

Marie looked up on Fracktail's head, and she realized something. He wasn't going straight up; he was going in a loop! Marie had an idea.

"JUMP!" She called.

"Wait, what- EYAAAH!"

Marie jumped from his tail to his head. Marina didn't react quick enough, though, as she fell off the robotic beast. Tippi flew after her.

"Marina! Are you alright?" Tippi asked, "You didn't break anything, did you?"

"I don't have anything to break..." Marina mumbled, "I think I'm okay..."

Marina looked up at Fracktail, who was lingering in the sky still. She also saw Marie, still clinging onto the antenna. It looked like she was calling her.

"What?" Marina called.

"GRAB. MY. HAND!" Marie called back.

Fracktail tried charging at Marina again. She dodged his attack and grabbed Marie's hand while doing so, getting herself back onto the beast's back.

"Phew. Thanks for the heads up, Marie." Marina said.

"Anytime," Marie answered, "Now keep attacking the horn... antenna.... whatever!"

Marie fired a few more blasts with her charger, while Marina swung her Octobrush at the antenna. Fracktail soon flew straight upwards again, causing the girls to slide down his back a second time.

"Alright, three, two, one.... JUMP!"

Both Marina and Marie jumped from Fracktail's tail to his head this time. They both clutched his antenna.

"One more time!" Marie called, "Attack!"

Marina and Marie both Attacked Fracktail's antenna with their weapons one more time.

"AGH-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G." Fracktail bellowed, "I HAVE MALFUNCTIONED. WHAT HAVE I DONE. HERO... NO, HEROES..... THE ERROR IS MINE... I AM SORRY... SHAME CIRCUT... SMOLDERING... PLEASE... YOU MUST... SAVE.... OUR.... WORLD...."

"Wait wait wait! Not up here!" Marie called, "At least come in for a landing before you-"

It was too late. Fracktail's mechanical body stopped moving, and he came crashing down to the ground.

"WOOOOAAAAHHH!"

"Ugh.... Is everyone alright?" Marina called after she hit the ground.

"I'm fine..." Marie answered, "Hey look! A door!"

Marie pointed to another multicolored door. After she and Marina got up off the ground, they went through...

----------------------------------------

"Woah... What is this place?" Marina asked in awe.

"I feel it... It's somewhere in this room..." Tippi said, "The pure heart..."

"Welcome, hero...." A mysterious voice called, "My name is Merlumina."

Marie was ready to grab her charger, but Marina signaled her to put it away. Right in front of the two, a beautiful ghost wearing all blue appeared.

"I am a dormant soul." Merlumina explained, "I have waited long to give you the pure heart. Yes, I have been waiting for 1,500 years."

Merlumina floated down to Marina's level.

"You're presence here must mean that all worlds have begun to collapse..." she continued.

"Unfortunately, you're right." Marina confirmed, "We're here for the Pure Heart."

"Before I give you the pure heart, you and I must speak..." Merlumina said, "Listen well, hero. Long, long ago, my people built a civilization hailed as a beacon of culture. Sadly, despite our power, there was one thing we were powerless to stop: the Dark Prognosticus. Nobody knows who authored the dark book. It foretold the events of the future. On the last page, it was written that a chaotic power would devour the world. We knew it had to be stopped. Our greatest minds devised a grand plan to stop the tragedy before it happened. We needed something with the pure essence of love to confront this chaos. Researchers set to work, and they created the purity heart. We divided the purity heart into eight pieces and hid them in different dimensions. We hid them for their own protection, waiting for the day the hero would arrive."

"Okay..." Marie said.

"Everything was going as planned, or so it seemed..." Merlumina continued, "but the wheels of destiny began to spin wildly out of control. It began with a very small incident. At that time, I was young, and quite beautiful... It started the day I met two very fetching young men. And, you see, my life set sail toward a maelstrom of love. You see, I asked one out, but.... However... It was... Well... You know.... Basically, it.... and then I said... and he said...... and then..............................."

10 minutes later...

".......And that is why we hope the purity heart will have the power to defeat chaos. To save all worlds, we must find the eight pure hearts that form the purity heart." Merlumina finished, "And that is all I have to say on the matter. We're you listening carefully?"

The answer turned out to be a no, as Marie zoned out and both Marina and Tippi somehow fell asleep standing up.

"-Huh? Oh right. Pure hearts were once one heart. Gotta get 'em all. Gotcha." Marie said. She nudged Marina, waking her and Tippi.

"Excellent." Merlumina responded, "I did tell the short version, so I wasn't sure if you would fully understand. It is up to you to find the pure hearts, for they are our last and only hope. Go forth, hero, and save the worlds... we are all depending on you!"

Merlumina held out a glowing orange heart and handed it to Marina.

The girls had finally obtained their next pure heart.

-------------------------------------

Before disappearing, Merlumina had trusted Marina to save every world. She had waited 1,500 years to deliver this message to the legendary hero.

With the second pure heart in hand, Marina and Marie were in great spirits. But six pure hearts still remained to be found, and the journey had just begun.

With a flutter, Tippi said, "I think we'd better return to Flipside."

The weight of every world's fate rested on Marina's shoulders.

(End Of Chapter 4)

Chapter Text

Castle Bleck inner sanctum

"Yeah, so... I guess the hero went ahead and stomped you and sent you back here?" The pink and blue woman asked.

"Yeh gotta forgive me, count!" O'Chunks begged, "I've failed yeh! I've never felt less chunky in me life!"

"Bleh heh heh... So our hero is real..." Count Bleck responded, "Yes, a force to be reckoned with."

He turned to the woman.

"Nastasia, the prophecy." Bleck commanded, "Consult it and learn where the hero will go next. We will lay a devious trap for her and bring her to her very knees! BLECK!"

The woman, Nastasia, adjusted her glasses. "Yeah, um, I already sent Mimi to a site picked for that purpose." She responded.

"This pleases Count Bleck. Excellent work, Nastasia." Bleck said, "I have granted Mimi powers potent enough to ensure that she will obliterate this hero. Yes, the hero will be helpless against her."

Bleck opened his cape.

"I depart! Alert Count Bleck when this 'hero' is no more! BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"

Count Bleck teleported away.

"Yeah, I'll fire off a memo on that, but for now, we have another item on the agenda," Nastasia said. She turned to O'Chunks, "O'Chunks, you got a sec? Yeah, so some minions in the Octavio organization are still resisting assimilation, so I'm heading out there to squash the resistance. And while I'm gone, I want you to stay here. Yeah, you just sit tight and think about your recent job performance, 'k?"

Nastasia teleported away before O'Chunks could protest.

"Aw... I- Gah..." O'Chunks muttered, "This really tweaks me chin hairs!"

Meanwhile....

"Nnnn.... huh?"

Callie finally regained consciousness. She stood back up as fast as she could, realizing the place she was in wasn't familiar to her at all. The floor was pitch black, and the sky was black and purple. Callie also noticed that what once was her purple shirt and grey shorts was now an odd pink outfit, revealing a tattoo she had on her stomach.

"What the- What is this place?!" she asked, "How did I- Wait.... Didn't that guy kidnap me and make me.... Oh, I don't want to think about it... Wait!"

Callie remembered what had happened before. Getting kidnapped, the portal, the chaos heart, Pearl, the explosion....

"MARIIIEEE? PEEEAAARRL? MARIIINAAA? OCTAVIOOO?"

Nothing.

"ANYONE?!"

"Hey, aren't you Callie?" An unfamiliar voice asked. Callie turned to the source and noticed an elite octoling soldier with an octotrooper following her.

"Are you the girl that Octavio hypnotized once or twice?" The octoling asked again.

"Yeah..." Callie answered, "And you are?"

"General Abigail Salplane. Call me Abby." The octoling said, "I think It's safe to assume we're one of the few remaining members of the wedding party left standing."

"You were at the wedding, too?!" Callie blushed of embarrassment.

"We were all there..." The octotrooper said, "Speaking of, we can't find Octavio anywhere. We only found you because we were looking for him. We never found the inkling that helped you escape, either..."

"There's also another problem," Abby said, "There's somebody in this castle brainwashing all of the octarians and octotroopers into obeying Count Bleck. If we just stand here talking, we're all in grave danger."

Abby leaned over to the octotrooper and whispered something to him. He nodded.

"I've made my decision. Until this is all over, we're having a truce. Also, Private Topus here agreed to help you get out of this place." Abby explained.

"Wait, aren't you going to leave, too?" Callie asked.

"Not until I help my troops. As Octavio's right fin woman, It's my job to manage the octarian army and make sure they're doing alright. I'm going to do just that before I leave, even if I die trying!"

Abby saluted.

"Good luck, you two."

Abby opened a black and white door and left.

The octotrooper, Topus, approached Callie.

"Alright, let's go!" He said.

Callie nodded. She went through the door as well.

On the other side, she and Topus were on a balcony like area. The first thing Callie noticed was a pink parasol laying on the floor. She picked it up and examined it. Before she could comment on it, however, she heard a voice from below.

"You. Give up. There is no hope for escape."

Callie froze. She and Topus slowly looked down. They noticed a group of odd looking twintacle octotroopers confronting Abby.

"All hail the glorious count!" The twintacle continued, "Do not resist. Submit to his rule. You will love it."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Abby shouted, "Snap out of it, Johnson! Octavio's your ruler and I'M YOUR CAPTAIN, DAMMIT! Drop down and give me twenty!"

"Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna have to tell you that your orders mean nothing." an unfamiliar voice called out to Abby.

The two twintacles stepped aside to make way for the source of that voice.

Nastasia.

"See, they've already sworn eternal allegiance to Count Bleck, 'k?" Nastasia explained, "And now you need to, so I'll just go ahead and pencil you in for a 10 o'clock brainwashing."

Abby Grabbed her blaster.

"As if! I serve Octavio, and that's final! You tell this 'count' to go f-"

Before Abby could finish, Nastasia adjusted her glasses, and a red aura surrounded the octoling.

"-AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!"

Callie covered her mouth in shock, knowing far too well what that meant. She and Topus stared at each other.

The aura vanished around Abby.

"Hail Bleck!"

Nastasia chuckled, "Yeah, there. Isn't that better? So listen, there are still a few problem minions who haven't sworn alleigance. You, be a lamb and round them up for me, 'k? Thanks."

"Will do, General Nastasia." Abby responded.

The hypnotized octarians walked to another black and white door and went through. Nastasia followed, paused at the door, and locked it shut on her way out.

"That woman just..." Topus said.

".... Brainwashed the general..." Callie finished, "We have to go!"

Callie grabbed the parasol on the floor, opened it, and grabbed Topus's tentacle.

"I'm gonna try something crazy. Brace yourself!" she said.

Callie jumped off the platform, the parasol in her other hand. Somehow, the parasol gently floated her down to the floor.

"Woah... I've always wanted to do that." Callie said after landing, "I'm practically unarmed, so I'm gonna keep this!"

"Great, now let's go!" Topus said, "I'm actually worried..."

Callie and Topus ran through another door.

There was a large set of stairs that lead to another door.

"Well, there's nobody here." Callie said, "let's go."

Callie and Topus ran down the stairs and through the door.

Through that door, there was a long path leading to the outside of the castle. On the other side of the path, however...

"Dead end?!" Callie cried.

Topus was clearly worried.

"Nonononononono!"

"Okay okay, Calm down. We can't just stay here, remember? My best bet is that we should find a key that would open the door that woman went through. I think her name was Nastasia?"

"Oh, Turn back? Yeah... no. You had it right the first time. This is your dead end." Nastasia interrupted.

Callie and Topus turned around. Nastasia and the other octarians were right there.

"YOU! You're the woman from the wedding!" Callie shouted.

Topus ran in front of Callie.

"Book it, lady!" He said, "I know how to deal with guys like this- BYOOORRRTTT!"

Nastasia glared at Topus, and she brainwashed him before he could finish his sentence.

"All hail Count Bleck!"

Topus walked towards the other octarians and turned to face Callie.

"Wow, lady. You sure are lucky." Nastasia said, "I thought the wedding explosion finished you. Yeah, but this is the end of the road, and your luck runs out... right here."

Nastasia approached Callie.

"It's time you came on over and got with the program... Come and serve the count!" she finished.

Callie clutched her parasol. "Never! You can't make me!" she shouted.

"And here I thought you learned your lesson," Nastasia said, "Because my hypno-powers kinda say that I can. Just sit tight a sec, 'k? 'Cause I've got to brainwash you real quick."

Callie was visibly nervous.

All of a sudden, a transparent box outlined in white surrounded Callie, trapping her.

"Huh?! What's happe-"

Before Callie could finish her sentence, the thing she was in caved in, and she vanished.

--------------------------------------

...................................

........................

..................................................

..........................

.........ie!.......

...............

.................Callie!.......

.............

...Callie, wake up!

Callie woke up to a mysterious, yet delicious taste in her mouth, as well as the sound of a familiar voice. She opened her eyes, and noticed two people standing over her, both of whom Callie quickly recognized.

"Marie? Marina? You're okay!" Callie said, "I thought Bleck knocked you out!"

"You're worried about us being knocked out?" Marie said, "Some guy found you out cold!"

Callie stood up on her feet and looked around. She soon realized she wasn't in Count Bleck's castle anymore.

"Where are we, anyway?" she asked.

"This is Flipside..." An unfamiliar voice answered. Callie noticed the rainbow butterfly flying over Marina's shoulder. She then looked behind her, and noticed a man who almost looked like a wizard.

"And... Who are you?" Callie asked.

"My dear, I am called Merlon." the man answered. He then pointed at the butterfly, "And that is what is known as a pixl. Her name is Tippi."

"Well, It's, uh, nice to meet you two..."

Callie turned to Marie and Marina, "But... how did you two get here?"

"Long story..." Marina sighed.

"Come, Let us adjourn to my house." Merlon said, "Callie, is it? We'll explain the situation there. I would be grateful if you would tell us your side of the story there, as well."

--------------------------

"...So he was serious when he said destroy all worlds." Callie said.

"Yup..." Marie answered, "Hey, now that the explanation's out of the way, what happened to you?"

Callie thought about that question for a bit.

"Oh geez, where do I start?" She answered, "Well, you know how we were all gonna go for a day trip to Arowana Mall? Well, I woke up at around 6:30 in the morning, but I was really excited, so I put on some clothes and got ready. Thing is, once I was ready, I heard a creepy voice from behind me, and when I turned around, that's when I saw Count Bleck! Next thing I knew, he teleported me somewhere and knocked me out. When I woke up again, I was floating in a cage in Octo Canyon, except the colors were a bit inverted, and thats when I screamed for help."

"What happened after we got knocked out?" Marie asked.

"Well, Bleck created a magic portal from his cape, which sucked up everyone. Except for you two, apparently. And then.... Oh, you're not gonna believe me."

"We're in between dimensions. I'll believe anything at this point."

One recap of the prologue and the first half of this chapter later...

"... And that's when I ended up in Flipside." Callie finished.

"Well, my dear... That is most assuredly a tale of woe and troubles." Merlon said.

Callie realized something.

"Wait... If I'm here, and you two are alright, then what happened to Pearl?"

Marina and Marie paused for a moment.

"Well, as of now, we don't know. There's no way of knowing, really." Marina said, "I'm kinda worried..."

"Speaking of..." Tippi said, "Merlon, what should we do next?"

"'And one pure heart will lead the way to the next'... so it is written." Merlon answered, "There are still more heart pillars to be found in Flipside, young ones. When you find the next heart pillar, you must set a pure heart in it, and when you do so, a door to the world containing the next pure heart will appear, and my intuition tells me the next door may lead you to the mysterious Merlee."

"Merlee?" Marina asked, "Is she an ancient, too?"

"She is, in fact." Merlon said, "We are like long-lost cousins. I have heard that Merlee has long guarded an ancient and secret treasure. If my instincts are correct, it may be the next pure heart we seek. I must tell you, the light prognosticus also speaks of her magical powers..."

"So, we have to find a heart pillar, go to another world, find Merlee and ask for the pure heart." Callie recapped, "Got it!"

Merlon realized what Callie just said.

"Oh ho, are you going as well?" Merlon asked.

"Callie, you just barely escaped getting hypnotized by one of count Bleck's lackeys." Marie said, "Not to mention it's dangerous, and you're unarmed!"

Callie held up her parasol. "Until I find something better, I'll stick with this bad boy." she said, "Besides, I can't just sit around and do nothing when the fate of the entire universe is on the line! And in a way, the void spreading is my fault... and Octavio's."

Silence filled the room.

"You're sure?" Marina asked.

"Absolutely." Callie said, "I'm tagging along, and that's final!"

Callie has joined the party!

(End of chapter)

Chapter Text

With the Squid Sisters finally reunited, Marie, Marina, and now Callie set out once again, bound for adventure.

This time, our heroes were tasked with finding the mysterious charmer, Merlee. If Merlon was right, then Merlee was the key to finding the next pure heart.

The girls set out to find Merlee's mysterious mansion. But little did they know, the evil works of dastardly Count Bleck awaited at every turn...

---------------------------------------

*ding!*

The elevator opened up, and the girls walked onto Flipside tower. Callie followed, who was now wearing her hair in a high bun.

"So we really are about to go into another dimension!" Callie exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited." Marie said, "If it's anything like our first time finding a pure heart, things could go downhill at the snap of a finger. Literally."

"You know, you're acting like a profreshional about all this, but I'm pretty sure you guys haven't even been here for a whole day, either."

Marie paused. "Touche."

The girls looked at the red dimensional door from earlier, and noticed another, similar looking door that wasn't there before. This door was orange rather than red.

"Another door..." Tippi said, "The orange door must be our way to the next pure heart."

Marie walked over to the dimensional door and put her hand on it. "You all ready?"

Callie and Marina nodded. Marie opened the door...

A beautiful, swampy valley awaited them, with more blocks scattered around below an orange and yellow sky.

"Woah.... This place is really pretty!" Callie exclaimed.

"I second that." Marina responded, "Hey, Tippi, do you know how far we are from the pure heart yet?"

"Well, all I can say is that it's somewhere up ahead. Yes, it must be." Tippi responded, "But it could be a long way. Let's go."

The girls moved forward, and soon noticed a grassy platform somehow held upright by vines. On top of that platform, there were two twintacle octotroopers... and an octoling soldier wearing a similar outfit. They turned to the girls.

"Careful, Cal. They're stronger than you may think." Marie said.

"I know. I ran into guys like this before, remember?" Callie responded, clutching her parasol.

The twintacles charged at the girls. Marie sniped one of them while Callie hit another in the head with her parasol. Marina flipped between worlds in an attempt to ambush the octoling, but she somehow flipped after her.

"Wait- huh?!"

Marina dodged out of the way once the octoling fired at her with the octoshot. She quickly ran behind the octoling and hit her in the back with her brush, knocking it out. Marina flipped back.

Callie jumped, startled, once she saw Marina flip.

"Heh heh.... almost forgot you have superpowers now." Callie said.

The girls looked on across a small river of suspicious looking water. The other side of the river was elevated, so swimming was a no-go. Marie, remembering Callie's story earlier, had an idea.

Marie jumped onto a grassy platform. "Hey Cal, didn't you say something about that parasol floating you down somewhere?" she asked.

Marina and Callie hopped onto the platform Marie was on. "I think I know what you're trying to do." Callie responded, opening her parasol, "You guys mind going into your squi- er, cephalopod forms?"

Marina and Marie plopped into their cephalopod forms. Callie picked them up, ready to jump. She took a running start and jumped off the platform, the parasol somehow gently floating the group to the other side.

"I wonder where this thing even came from..." Callie asked herself once they landed. She put down Marie and Marina, and they both turned back.

Looking on ahead again, the girls noticed another area of water, and two platforms floating in the water.

"Looks like the only option we have is running across..." Tippi said.

"Alrighty then." Marina responded, "On three-"

Callie ran across the platforms before Marina could even say one.

"-Or not..."

Marina and Marie followed, Tippi and Thoreau trailing not far behind. In front of them, there was another row of platforms, bobbing up and down in the murky water. The girls also noticed something on the other side; a door with a large lock on it.

"Is that a door?" Callie asked.

"It is. It looks like it's locked, though..." Tippi said, "We'll need a key."

Marina looked up, and spotted a row of those grassy platforms leading up to a floating platform with what looked like a green pipe on it.

"Up there!" Marina said, "That should get us somewhere!"

"That pipe isn't going through the platform, though..." Marie said, "It could just be a green pot, for all we know."

"Only one way to find-" Callie stopped talking when she noticed something.

"Marie.... where's-"

"Marina? Probably flipped without warning us." Marie answered.

After Marie finished her sentence, another pair of arrowed blocked appeared in front of them. It seemed to act as a makeshift platform to help them get to more grassy platforms that, in turn, lead to the pipe. Marina appeared next to the blocks, causing the Squid Sisters to jump in surprise.

"So, should we check it out?" Marina asked. Marie and Callie nodded.

Marie jumped onto the arrowed blocks, which helped her reach a path of grassy platforms that lead to the pipe. Marina and Callie followed her, and before long, the girls made it to the pipe.

"Huh. I guess it is a pipe." Marie said, looking down, "Let's go."

"Wait, what?" Callie said.

Marie and Marina jumped down the pipe. Callie hesitantly followed.

The girls entered the area the pipe led to, which was a small room with dark blue bricked walls, with only the glow of Tippi and Thoreau as a light source. The group noticed two squiglets and a squig inside. Upon closer inspection...

"That thing has a key in it's mouth!" Callie exclaimed, pointing at a squiglet.

The squiglets jumped, and the squig, who had already spotted the girls before Callie's outburst, glared at her. The squig inhaled, and spat out a rock. Callie jumped out of the way.

"Eek! What the-"

"Those purple 'things' are squigs. They do that sometimes..." Tippi explained.

Callie quickly picked up the rock and threw it at the squig, knocking it out.

"That works, too..." Marina said, "Now what about the- key?"

Marina noticed that the sapphire-embedded key was on the floor, in front of the squiglet that once held it. It turns out the squiglet had dropped it once it jumped. The squiglets panicked, and both ran in front of the key, trying to protect it. Marina picked up the key with ease, proving the squiglet's efforts to be futile.

"Don't worry, squiglets are more harmless." Marina said, key in hand, "Now let's get to the door."

------------------------------------

On the other side of the door, there was a wider area with wind turbines scattered about and, in the distance, hills so light of a tan they almost seemed naked. In front of the group, there was a door.

"Look!" Callie said, pointing at the multicolored door.

"Good." Marie sighed, "Let's check it out!"

Marie opened the door, and the others went through with her.

The door seemed to lead them to the bottom of a cliff. Leaning on the stone of the cliff was a frail looking human wearing a kind of prison garb and a ball-and-chain dangling by his ankle. He eyed Callie.

"HOT GIRL ALERT!" The human cried. He attempted to run up to Callie in the best of his ability, still dragging the chain by his ankle. He stood in front of her.

"We must've been fated to meet! Yes!" The human continued, "You are my destiny! Please! Go out with me!"

Callie was speechless, but it wasn't out of any kind of love.

"What... Uh, sorry, I have to be somewhere else." Callie responded, "Actually, we could use a little help. Do you know where Merlee happens to live? We're looking for-"

"What?! Merlee's mansion?" The human, in a more concerned tone, asked, "I wouldn't go there if I were you! You'll get trapped there and bad things will happen!"

"What bad things? I mean, chances are I've been through worse..."

"Ohmanohmanohmanohman... I don't even want to remember it! but now that you're with me, you don't have to worry about all that, baby! Because I am your fate! Your destiny!"

At this point, Callie was just as concerned by the human's change of tone as his claiming of a possible danger in the mansion.

".....Yeah, I should get going..." Callie said. The group exited the area via the door from earlier.

"WAIT!" The human cried. He attempted to run after them, but again, the chain stopped him. Callie shut the door behind her.

"Alright, we need a plan B. That door won't get us anywhere, apparently..." Callie said.

Marina noticed a row of blocks above the door that led them to the area in the first place.

"Guys, look! Another pipe!" she said. Callie and Marie turned to what she was talking about.

"Wait! there's a pipe over here, too!" Callie responded, pointing to another pipe next to one of the doors. However, a piranha plant popped out of the pipe right after Callie finished her sentence. "Never mind."

Callie super jumped to the pipe Marina was talking about and peered in before jumping down. Marie and Marina super jumped after her. the two looked down the pipe as well, but before they could jump in, Thoreau tapped Marie's shoulder.

"Hey, I think I see Callie over there!" He said, pointing at the light tan hills with one of his quote-on-quote 'fingers'. Sure enough, another pipe was on top of the hill across from there, and Callie had just jumped out of the pipe in question.

"Callie! Over here!" Marina called. Callie turned to Marina. "I see a blue button over that way!" Marina continued, pointing to her right, "Try pressing it!"

Callie turned to the direction Marina pointed to. She nodded, and ran to the button as fast as she could, using her parasol to float across any small chasms. She pressed the button, and a colorful door appeared not far from the one that lead to the human.

"Booyah!" Callie shouted. She ran back to the pipe and jumped down, sending her back to Marina and Marie.

The three of them headed to the door that had just appeared before them, and they all went through.

On the other side, several rows of floating blocks were scattered along the path in front of the group. However, there were several brainwashed octarians blocking their path as well. There was also a question marked block near the group, so whatever was inside could prove to be an advantage.

"Wait... the block..." Tippi said.

"Is there another mega star in there?" Marina asked.

"Well, it's safe to assume so."

Marina hit the block. Sure enough, another mega star flew out of the block. Marina tried to grab it, but it bounced away from her...

... and ricochet toward Callie.

"WAIT!"

"Wuh?"

The star bounced into Callie and vanished on impact. Callie's body started to glow.

"Huh?! What's happening now?!" Callie cried.

"That was a mega star!" Marina said, "Whatever happens, just keep running forward until you reach the door!"

The mega star's effects finally caused Callie to become several times larger. Callie ran to the door as fast as she could, destroying blocks and defeating any octarians that would've otherwise tried to stop them. By the time Callie had reached the door, she was back to her normal size.

"Wha- Wha- Just- Wow...!" Was Callie's only response.

Marie, Marina, Tippi and Thoreau finally caught up to her.

".... Awesome... right?" Marie said through tired breaths.

"Heck yeah! It was kinda weird, though. The star just bounced onto me, and then boom! I was a giant for a split second!"

"I know. I've actually used a mega star before. Now let's go. I bet we're getting closer."

On the other side of that door, there were a few smaller rows of blocks and grassy platforms lingering above the swampy waters below. Another question marked block stood near the door.

"Ooh... what's inside that one?" Callie asked.

"Nothing special, I presume." Tippi answered, "I don't feel anything very powerful."

Callie hit the block, and something that looked like a blue speed flower popped out.

"Is that... A blue speed flower?" Marina asked.

"Actually, no. This one slows time down rather than speeding time up." Tippi said.

"But how can one flower-" Callie tried to ask.

"Don't question it." Marie interrupted, "Lemme show you..."

Marie grabbed the flower, and it vanished, slowing down time itself. She turned back to Callie, albeit slower than normal.

"..... Weird.... right...?"

".... Whoa....I'm... never.... gonna.... get.... used to..... this...." Callie sighed.

"Me... neither...." Marina responded, "Don't... panic.... it should... only..... be.... temporary..."

Marina jumped onto the question marked block that the slow flower came from, leaping to the smaller row of blocks. She almost tipped over, but she slowly regained her balance. Marie followed, with Callie waiting for an opportunity to follow as well, with the whole 'time slowing down' thing proving to be no help. Marina jumped onto the grassy platform, Marie and Callie following. Before long, the group was on the other side of the swamp.

The first thing the girls noticed while on the other side was...

"...Hey... over.... there...! There's a pipe-"

Time reverted to normal once Marie had finished her sentence, causing her to trip and fall into the very pipe she was taking about.

"Whoa- EYAAAAAAHHH!"

"Marie!"

Marina and Callie jumped down the pipe after her.

The room the pipe lead them too was another dark room with blue bricked walls. This time, other than the girls and their pixls, the room was empty.

".... You alright?" Callie asked Marie.

"I'm fine, I just didn't expect that flower's effects to wear off then and there...." Marie responded. She turned to Tippi, "Hey, what's in this room this time?"

Tippi examined the room fir a bit. It looked like she was tapping something with her antenna again, only this time, nothing happened.

"Weird... There's a switch here, but I can't make it visible..." She said to the others. She pointed at the invisible object, "Try hitting it. You should still be able to activate it."

Marie shrugged in response. She got up and tried to hit the hidden switch without hurting Tippi. Sure enough, Marie felt her hand hit something, and another pipe appeared on the floor.

"Booyah." Marie said. She and the others jumped down the pipe.

The room that pipe lead them too was yet another dark room, only this time, the group weren't the only ones in there. A floating orange cube with a large eye in the middle floated in the middle of the room.

"A growmeba..." Tippi said, "Quick! Kill it before-"

The growmeba split into two.

"It can multiply?!" Marina said.

"Great.... You have to kill the original one to destroy the clones." Tippi said.

Marie had an idea.

"Thoreau, I think I need you for a sec."

Thoreau flew over to Marie. She grabbed his tail and threw it at one of the growmebas as it split again, now totaling a number of three growmebas in the room. Marie threw the one she now had at the other ones, causing the growmebas to vanish in a puff of smoke.

"Ha! We did it!" Thoreau rejoiced.

Just as Thoreau had finished his sentence, a large chest appeared in the middle of the room.

"Sweet!" Callie said, "I wonder what's inside."

"Wait, this was about the size of the chest we found Thoreau in," Marina responded, "So there might be a pixl in there!"

Callie, now even more curious, ran to the chest and opened it.

Sure enough, a pixl flew right out of the chest Callie had opened. This one almost looked like a blue bomb with fairy-like wings.

"Good vibes! Them vibes set off my blow-stuff-up sensors!" The bomb-like pixl exclaimed. He flew to Callie. "You like explodin'? Sss-POW!" The pixl continued.

"Sure..." Callie answered. Would throwing splat bombs back at her world count as real explosions?

"I ain't sensed real good blow-stuff-up vibes in.... 1,500 years! Sss-POOM! I gotta check those vibes out a little more close like! Sss-CRAAAAACK! Check it out: Just answer a couple questions real quick. Sss-BLAAAAM! Ok, Sss-BOOOOM?"

"Sure." Marie said.

"I'm down." Marina said.

"Alright, Here we go, Sss-BWAMMO!" The pixl exclaimed. "First, Do you stay up wonderin' if anyone gives presents to Santa Claus?"

"Who?" Marina asked.

"I actually did that once...." Callie answered.

"For some reason, do you clean your room before a test?" The pixl asked.

"I guess?" Marie said.

"When someone says 'Let's just be friends', do you think, 'Yeah, whatever'?"

"And how." Marie answered. Callie and Marina turned to her.

"Do you not really understand why I'm askin' you all these weird questions?"

"Exactly." Marina said.

"Do you think shopping online is a wonderful and magical experience?"

"Yeah!" Marina answered.

"Have you ever put a shirt on inside out but didn't bother reversin' it before going out?"

"It was only a grocery run...." Marie muttered.

"Do you wanna be sleeping when you're awake, but when you're sleeping, you wanna wake up?"

"Uggh, I hate when that happens!" Callie said.

"Are you getting tired of these questions? 'Cus this is the last one."

"You said it, not me." Marie answered.

The pixl flew over the chest.

"Got it, got it, GOT IT! Sss-BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!" The pixl shouted, "You got some tasty vibes, Sss-BLAAMM! My mind's made up now, Sss-BLAPPOW! You guys... Are worthy of my power! Name's Boomer, by the way, Sss-CRASH!"

Callie smiled at Boomer. "And I'm Callie. That's Marie, Marina, Tippi and Thoreau."

"Alrighty then! In case it wasn't obvious, with me at your side, you now have the ability to blow stuff up, Sss-KABLOOEY! Each second explodes into the next! Sss-BAMMO! Bombs away, Sss-BOOOOM!"

----------------------------------

Outside of the pipe, there was a large row of even more colorful doors beyond the group's reach. there was a row of blocks that would normally lead them to the doors, but a large pile of weaker blocks on top of the row made that seem harder.

"Don't worry guys, I got this." Marie said. she grabbed her charger, but rather than use her weapon on the pile of blocks, she examined it and pressed a small button on her charger.

Nothing.

"What the...."

"What was supposed to happen?" Marina asked.

"Weird. Hero weapons like this thing would normally summon either a splat bomb, curling bomb, or autobomb with the push of a certain button, but... nothing's happening." Marie said. She turned to Boomer. "You mind?"

Boomer, without hesitation, flew over to the row of blocks. After a few seconds, he completely blew up anything that stopped them from reaching the doors.

"Thanks!"

"No problem, Sss- KABOOM!"

The girls jumped onto the platform and looked upon the row of doors.

"That's an awful lot of doors..." Tippi said, "Which one should we try first?"

"That one?" Callie asked, pointing to the door closest to them.

"Sure..." Said Marina. She opened the door, and the group went through.

On the other side, yet another dark, empty, blue bricked room. on the other hand, there was a hole in the ceiling, revealing a second level.

"Guys, look!" Callie said, pointing at the hole, "We should try getting up there!"

"I'll check it out then. Do you guys mind boosting me up there?" Marina said.

Callie and Marie nodded. They helped Marina reach the hole, getting her to the second level of the room. The first thing Marina noticed was a blue switch on the floor. Curious, she pressed it, and once doing so, the entire room shook vigorously for a split second before the quaking slowly stopped.

"That was awfully rumbly..." Tippi said, "Something must've happened outside."

Marina jumped down the hole. "Let's check it out, then!"

The group exited the room. They looked onto the row of other doors, and at the end, there was a red and yellow door that wasn't there before.

"That door... I think it might've been the cause of that shaking." Marie said.

"I wonder what's on the other side," Marina pondered.

The group headed to the newly summoned door and went through. On the other side, there was a large, slightly hilly, and wildly forested area. There weren't any obstacles in sight, and, to the girls, It wasn't clear if that was good or bad.

"Wait, look!" Callie exclaimed, pointing at something.

Marie, Marina and the pixls turned to what Callie was looking at. There was a large, beautiful mansion surrounded by trees on top of one of the hills.

"That guy from earlier said Merlee lived in a mansion! I think we made it there!"

(End of chapter 5)

Chapter Text

On the far side of a beast-ridden swamp, Marina and co. found an imposing residence.

"That guy from earlier said Merlee lived in a mansion! I think we made it there!" squealed Callie with glee.

If our friends could only find the pure heart quickly, their quest here would end. But when has fate ever set any of the New Squidbeak Splatoon on such a simple path?

Brimming with anticipation, our plucky heroes plunged into Merlee's mansion...

----------------------------------

The group looked up at the mansion they were tasked with finding. The mansion in question was huge, rustic looking, and had some vines growing on it's outer walls.

"Well, this must be the place...." Tippi said.

"Wow... and Merlee lives here?" Marina asked.

"Why wouldn't she?" Marie said, "If I was her, I'd buy it."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Callie asked, "We have a pure heart to get, remember?"

Callie walked up to the door and knocked. She paused. Before long, she was met with loud barking noises from inside the mansion.

"Eep! She has guard dogs?!" Callie shrieked.

Marie peeked through one of the windows near the door. "Well, yeah, but....... also no...." She told Callie. She and Marina looked through the same window as Marie. Turns out, that barking wasn't from a pair of dogs, but rather, a pair of blue, dog-like monsters.

"What the..." Callie muttered.

"Well.... Looks like our only option is sneaking in." Marina told the others, "I might have to flip us between worlds to get us in unnoticed. You know what it's like, right, Callie?"

"Yeah, you flipped us between worlds when we were heading to the heart pillar."

"Exactly. Now let's go."

Marina grabbed Callie and Marie's hands and flipped the three of them between worlds. She opened the door cautiously, and the three of them ran in the mansion, eying the door at the end of the hall. Despite the fact the girls had flipped, the monstrous dogs had somehow spotted them. The monsters turned to them and quickly gave chase.

"They see us?! How?!" Marie shouted.

"Forget that! Run for it!" Marina cried.

The girls ran from the beasts as fast as they could, Callie nearly tripping on a randomly placed crystal ball on the floor. Thirty seconds seemed like forever before they managed to reach the door at the end of the hall, unscathed. The girls, tired from running from the beasts, went through.

On the other side, there was a beautiful room with desaturated violet wallpaper, two doors and a staircase that lead to an upper level with three other doors. One of the doors on the ground level was locked, and had a much larger dog-like monster chained to the lock. For Marie, the way the room looked was the least of her concerns.

"How the heck did those things find us?!" She shouted, "We. Were. Flipped. Shell, we're still in 3-D or whatever it's called!"

"I'm not too sure myself." Tippi said. "Im not an expert on flipping, either. Speaking of, Marina, you should flip us back. Staying in 3-D for too long is actually quite dangerous..."

"Really? Okay then...." Marina said. She grabbed Marie and Callie's hands and flipped back before anything bad happened.

"Eep! Ah, golly, sorry about that." An unfamiliar, child-like voice chimed in, "Didn't see you guys there!"

The girls turned to whoever said that. They noticed what looked like a little girl with light green skin and slightly darker hair tied in twin-tails. She wore a maid outfit and a cute smile on her face. The little girl curtseyed at the others.

"Anyhoo, hi there! Big welcome!" The girl said, "Welcome to Merlee's mansion. I'm lady Merlee's handmaid. My name's Mimi! But you can call me Mimikins if you want!"

"I'll stick with Mimi...... Mimi." Marina said, "See, we're all here to see Merlee herself. Since you're her maid, does that mean you know where she is by chance?"

"Oh, you are? How super of you!" Mimi exclaimed, "Well, lady Merlee is on the top floor, in the farthest room. Just head on up there whenever you're ready! Oh, golly, but listen...."

"Yeah?" Marie asked.

"DON'T YOU DARE GO INTO ANY OTHER ROOMS BY ACCIDENT, OR ELSE!!!" Mimi shouted, her tone changing from cutesy to exasperated in the blink of an eye. "Enjoy your visit, okay?" she finished, acting like nothing happened. The others were still stunned from her change of tone.

"O-okay then..." Marie muttered. She pointed to the stairs, "Let's go...."

Marie walked up the stairs that lead to the door, the others not far behind. Mimi waved them off. Fortunately for her, nobody had noticed her cutesy smile contort into a sinister one...

On the other side of the door Mimi had directed them too, there was a large, empty room with several windows shining light in the area. At the end of the room was a small green button. The girls approached the button.

"What's this?" Marie asked.

"Looks like a button." Tippi answered, "Am I the only one who's finding this room to be a little suspicious? I don't think the pure heart is close, and Merlee is nowhere..."

"Not to mention the randomly placed button at the end of the hallway..." Marina responded, "and with no clear indication of what it does."

"Well, I know this situation is bringing up a few red flags, but just because we don't know what the button does doesn't mean it's immediately dangerous." Callie said, "How about we try pressing it, and if something goes wrong, we get out as soon as possible?"

"Well, what if the door gets locked?" Marie asked, "How do we get out then?"

"The windows! And if that doesn't work, Marina has superpowers, remember? She can just-" Callie swung her arms from her side for emphasis. However, doing so caused her to accidentally press the button.

"Whoops..."

The button turned red. Iron bars appeared, blocking the windows, and the ceiling turned into a large bed of spikes, slowly moving closer to the ground. If the group didn't escape the room fast enough, it would be game over for everyone.

"RUN FOR IT!" Boomer cried, completely ditching his verbal tic.

Everyone ran back to the door as fast as they could, despite the very slow descent of the spikes giving them plenty of time to run out. Before very long, the group made it back to the door, swung it open, and shut it behind them. Callie turned to Marie.

"Don't even say it..." Callie said, "I already know you're gonna call me an idiot for pressing the obviously-a-deathtrap button...."

"Any apologies can and will be accepted. Now for what matters more; that girl probably tricked us and tried to kill us all!" Marie responded, "We're still nowhere near Merlee or the pure heart, either. What do we do?"

Marina looked across the upstairs hallway. There were two other doors still!

"Hold on, let me think for a moment...." She told the others. She paused for a moment. She continued....

"Alright, I think I have a plan. Callie, you'll go to the room at the end of the hall. You know, the one closest to the stairs? You don't have any real weapons, so you'll bring Boomer for in case anything goes wrong."

"Sounds good to me." Callie responded. Boomer nodded in agreement.

"I'll check out the room in the middle of the hallway. My octobrush is short ranged, so I'll take Thoreau with me. And Marie.... I know you're not gonna like this, but you might wanna check that room we just barely escaped from again."

"Wait, What?!" Marie, who was obviously against the idea, shouted, "Why?"

"I think there's more to that room than a deathtrap." Marina answered, "In case there are any hidden objects, you'll take Tippi with you. Once we check the rooms, we'll meet back here."

"And if we don't find anything?" Tippi asked.

"Theres another room downstairs I can sneak to. Mimi's reaction to us flipping back proved she can't see us in 3-D, so that shouldn't be a problem." Marina answered, "So, do we have a plan?"

Callie and Marie nodded.

----------------------------------------

The room nearest to the stairs was surprisingly small. It almost looked like a smaller version of the room with the button. Only this time, there wasn't a button. Rather, a mushroom dangling from the ceiling on a rope. Callie and Boomer approached the mushroom.

"What the heck..." Callie said to herself.

"Yeah, in case you didn't know, the mushrooms here can heal anything and anyone." Boomer said, "Unless somethin' happened while I was in that chest. Sss-POP!"

"Food dangling from the ceiling..." Callie said, "Yeah, I'm not gonna take the mushroom. If cartoons taught me anything, then I'm preeetttyyy sure it's a trap-"

Right on cue, a trapdoor swung open beneath Callie's feet, causing her to fall right through. She didn't even touch the bait.

"UWAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Boomer looked down at the trap door and quickly flew down after her.

The room Callie landed in was yet another dark room with blue bricks. This time, she had some kind of light source in the open trapdoor.

"You alright?" Boomer asked, "That was one heck of a fall, Sss-BOOOSSHHH!"

"Well, this isn't my first one today..." Callie answered, getting back on her feet, "But I really hope it's the last... Well, at least I can just-"

The trapdoor closed above her.

"-Ah.... this is bad..."

Callie froze once she heard a strange sound from behind her. She whirled around to face the source, and noticed a disturbing looking creature that almost looked like a shorter, yet larger centipede.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?" Callie cried.

"I DUNNO! I'M NOT TIPPI!" Boomer shouted back.

The creature approached the two, and Callie backed up until her back was against the wall.

"Wait, I have an idea!" Boomer cried. He flew right into the creature's mouth. The creature paused for a moment, then, all of a sudden, exploded into a cloud of smoke. Boomer emerged completely unscathed.

"... I... Uh.... Thanks, Boomer..." Callie said, still trying to piece together what the heck just happened.

"No problem, Sss-POW!" Boomer replied.

A pipe came out of the wall next to Callie, who sighed of relief for a way out.

----------------------------------------

"..... Coins?" Marina asked herself after walking into the room. A long hallway awaited her, with coins scattered all over the floor.

"Huh. Never though someone would just leave money lying on the floor." Thoreau remarked, "You think this is a makeshift safe?"

"Doubt it. Nobody would just leave money lying on the floor in an unlocked room."

"So.... It's a trap?"

"It's probably a trap."

Marina walked further down the hallway.

"... but I have a feeling there's something else in here... I'll flip-"

A trapdoor swung open below Marina.

"EEYYAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Thoreau looked down the now open trapdoor. "This isn't good..." He muttered before following Marina down.

The trapdoor lead to another blue bricked, barely lit room. Marina slowly got up from her fall, and noticed Thoreau fly up to her before the trapdoor closed above her.

"...We absolutely called it..." Thoreau said.

Marina noticed a red switch on the floor at the end of the room. "Yes!" she exclaimed.

Marina walked over to the switch and pushed it lightly. On the other side of the room, a pipe emerged from the wall. Marina ran over to the pipe, but it sank back into the wall before she could get in.

"Huh?" Marina said.

"Weird... Hold on, I got a plan." Thoreau told Marina, "I'll press the button, and you get out of here asap."

"But what about you?"

"I can teleport. I can't teleport too far, but far enough to get me out of here."

Thoreau pushed the button, and the pipe reappeared. Marina dove through. She reemerged in the room from earlier, Thoreau appearing next to her.

"Phew...." Marina said. She grabbed some of the coins on the floor. "Just in case."

------------------------------------------

"...So Marina insisted I search the room with the button again..." Marie told Tippi, "But I don't see anything other than a deathtrap."

"I don't sense anything, neither..." Tippi responded, "I sense the pure heart, sure, but it's nowhere near here..."

Marie looked up at the ceiling, hoping to get a clue from what would be a bed of spikes if she were to press the button again. She spotted something...

"That bed of spikes isn't taking up the whole room!" Marie exclaimed, "And I think there's something up there!"

"Well, how do we get up there?" Tippi asked. She paused, and realized something.

Marie walked to the button.

"I think I know what you're trying to do now." Tippi said.

"Yup." Marie answered.

Marie pushed the button.

Once again, the ceiling became a huge bed of spikes, which slowly descended to the ground. Marie ran to the area that wasn't below the spikes so she wouldn't get crushed. After a few seconds, the spikes touched the ground, allowing Marie to jump on top of the trap. She looked up, and spotted a thin row of blocks that lead to a larger platform above her.

"Ah..."

"Well, Now what?" Tippi asked, How do we get-"

The platform slowly started to move back up.

"....I guess that's how." Marie answered. She super jumped to the wider platform above her once she got at a high enough level. She noticed something on the platform she jumped to.

"... A chest?" She said to herself.

The object on the platform was, indeed, a chest. While it wasn't one large enough to house a pixl, whatever was inside could definitely be of use somehow.

"Well, open it...." Tippi said.

Marie opened the chest. Inside, there was another sapphire embedded key.

------------------------------------------

"Find anything?" Marina asked the group.

"Nothing..." Callie sighed.

"Oh... Well, me neither." Marina responded, "Marie?"

Marie held up the key from the chest. "Something." She said.

"Awesome! But what does it unlock?"

"Well, remember that door on the first floor that the thing was chained to?"

"Nuh-uh. No way." Callie said, "That dog would kill us."

"Well, it can't hurt to try!" Thoreau input.

"And I'll just explode it if it tries to kill us, Sss- BAAAAAAMM!" Boomer exclaimed.

"If you insist..." Callie said.

The group headed down the stairs and looked at the two other doors. The monster eyed them, but, for some reason, stayed dormant. It was almost as if it wanted to attack Mimi from the other side of the room rather than the girls.

"It's... not trying to kill us?" Marie whispered.

"Strange. I think we look rather tasty..." Tippi said.

"Tippi, don't! I'm to young to be calamari..." Callie whimpered.

"HEY!"

The group froze, turning to Mimi's direction. The monster growled at her.

"What did I JUST say about not going in any other rooms?!" Mimi shouted.

Marie payed no mind to the fuming maid, and unlocked the door. The monster's chain was broken lose.

"Whoops." Marie said sarcastically.

The monster roared loudly, and charged at Mimi.

"EEEEEEEEEK!"

Mimi ran away from the beast as fast as she could, running out of the room.

"...Huh. Even when broken free, it went for Mimi... I wonder what that means." Marie pondered.

"You think she was the one who chained it?" Marina asked.

"This mansion is quite odd...." Tippi said, "I feel certain it holds many secrets..."

"I wonder.... Well, the coast is clear, so let's go!" Callie exclaimed.

---------------------------------

"Ah, Maybe.... this way...." Tippi said.

"That's the third time you've said 'this way'! We've been searching for thirty minutes!" Marie shouted.

"Look, I'm trying my best here. I'm not a living compass, you know."

Marina sighed. "Please, now's not the time to argue. Just be grateful we didn't run into any more monsters. Now which way did you- OOF!"

Marina accidentally ran into a question marked block.

"Marina, you alright?" Callie asked.

"I'm fi-" Marina stopped talking when she heard the sound of something shattering.

A clay vase had tipped over from on top of the block Marina ran into.

"Um..."

"Don't worry." Tippi said, "It couldn't have been worth more than a hundred co-"

"NYAAAAAAHHH!" Mimi's voice echoed throughout the mansion.

The girls froze. Mimi rushed over to the broken vase, and she looked both deeply distraught and beyond mad at the same time.

"Oh carp..." Callie said.

(End of Chapter 6)

Chapter Text

Marina and friends kept up their search, delving ever deeper into the mansion. Wherever they looked, they found no sign of Merlee. Where was this mysterious woman?

"Ah, Maybe.... This way..." so said Tippi, trying to sense the pure heart's location. With dread dangling like a broken chandelier, our heroes hurried onwards...

Until Marina accidentally tipped over a vase.

---------------------------------------------

"NYAAAAAAHHH!" Mimi's voice echoed throughout the mansion.

The girls froze. Mimi rushed over to the broken vase, and she looked both deeply distraught and beyond mad at the same time.

"Oh carp..." Callie said.

Mimi looked down at the shattered pieces of what once was a cheap-looking vase. She glared at the girls.

"You broke it! You broke my most favoritest vase!" Mimi exasperated, "DOOFUSES! I loved that vase more than anything, and you broke it! NYAAAAARRGH!"

"It was an accident! I swear!" Marina yelped.

"Accident, huh?! EXCUSES! Oh, you'll still pay for that! Yes, you will..." Mimi said, "I'll have you know that vase cost 1,000,000 Rubees, So hand over that money! NOW! OR YOU'RE DONE FOR!"

"A MILLION- Wait, Rubees?" Marina asked. She dug through her bag. A plastic container of spicy soup, what was left of the mushroom shake, a green shell, the return pipe, and a few coins. There was nothing that would resemble whatever the heck Mimi was talking about. "...You'll take coins, right?" Marina asked nervously, "What's the curren-

"Coins?! No one uses COINS anymore, peasants! I SPIT on your coins!" Mimi responded, "So what are you saying? Are you telling me you don't have any Rubees at all?"

The group slowly nodded.

"Well, guess what? You're just gonna have to work it off, then!" Mimi shouted, "Until you work off your debt, you naughty little things, I own you! ENJOY LABOR!"

"WHAT?!" The group shouted all at once.

"Yes, so, you can earn Rubees in the generator room on the top floor." Mimi told them, acting like nothing had happened, while pointing to one of two sets of stairs, "Once you earn 1,000,000 rubees, you come pay it off in the room on the back." She pointed to a fancier looking door. "You can also check the balance of your debt there. So get to work, servants!" Mimi finished. She entered the room the fancier door lead to.

Our heroes are now saddled with a 1,000,000-Rubee debt! WOAH!

"She's weird..." Callie said.

"That's your first thought?!" Marie shouted, "What about questioning what the heck just happened? We're in debt until we get a million Rupees or whatever they're called! We're practically stuck in the mansion! WE'RE NEVER GONNA FIND MERLEE AT THIS RATE!"

"Calm down, we're not stuck in the mansion!" Marina insisted. She grabbed the return pipe from her bag, "We should be able to return to Flipside so long as we have this."

"Retreating to Flipside should probably be a last resort." Tippi pointed out, "The pure heart is still in this mansion, so if we leave, we're back to square one."

"So now what do we do?" Marie asked, "If we try paying the loan, chances are the void'll kill us all before we get to the halfway mark."

"We could multitask." Marina said, "One of us tries to earn some Rubees and see how easy we can make some, and the others try to ask around for any information. Judging how there's a generator room up top and a whole loan paying system, I'm sure we're not the first who owe Mimi some money."

"Not the first ones, huh? That just sounds suspicious." Callie replied, "You think she has something to do with Bleck?"

"I wonder..." Tippi responded, "...So, shall we?"

Marina looked on to the staircase leading to the top floor. "We shall." she answered. The group headed up the stairs.

On the top of the stairs, there was a small hallway with three doors. One of the doors had a number pad next to it, indicating that it required a four-digit passcode to get in. The other doors didn't, and one was already ajar.

"Is that the generator room?" Callie asked, pointing to the slightly opened door.

"I hear something from the other side. Let's check it out." Marina said. She opened the door and peeked inside.

The reason she had heard shouting, zapping, and whipping from the room couldn't be clearer. A group of prisoners were hitting odd boxes on top of a metal grid, and a large spark could be seen traveling along said grid. A pharaoh-like overseer was whipping the ground, posing as a threat along with the spark.

"What in the..." Tippi said...

"JUMP, LITTLE FLEAS!" The overseer called from the other end of the room, "Work those skinny little flea legs! Unh! Make it burn! Jump like you mean it!"

Marie turned to the others. "I think we'll have to talk to him if we wanna get those... rubees?" She told them.

"Agreed." Marina said.

The group walked to the end of the room to where the overseer was standing.

"Hey, is this the generator room?" Callie asked.

The overseer turned to the inkling girl. "Oh, you're new meat? Yeah, this is the generator room. Hit blocks, make energy, earn Rubees! Unh!" He said, "Rubees make the world go up, down, 'round and 'round! You wanna work here, too?"

"Sure."

"UNH! LOVE the energy, kid! Just find an unused block and jump like you mean it! Another day, another Rubee! Unh! Rubees are life! Unh! Jump, Rubee! Jump, Rubee! When you're done jumping, come talk to me. I'll tell you how many Rubees you earned. Oh, and watch out for our 'Motivational spark' that travels along the floor."

The girls turned to the metal grid the blocks were hanging over. There was only one vacant block.

"I'll do it. I got us into this mess." Marina insisted.

"Alright then. With that being said, Callie and I will check out the rest of the mansion." Marie said in response.

Marina walked over to the unused block, while Tippi, Callie and Marie exited the room.

"...So now what?" Callie asked.

"There's one more door at the end of the hallway." Tippi answered. "Let's see what's on the other side."

"Another generator room, maybe?" Marie said.

The girls made their way to the end of the hallway and opened the door. The room was mostly empty, except for a few frail humans pacing the halls. Some were in red and white prison clothes, some were in blue and white. They all eyed the Squid Sisters.

"....Hi?" Callie said awkwardly.

"....New fleas, huh?" One of the blue-garbed people asked.

"Yup." Marie answered.

"Thought so. This is the break room." The man continued, "Hey, didja know there's a VIP room as well as the normal one? You can earn Rubees there WAY faster than in the entry-level, flea-jumping room. Here's the problem: you need a passcode to get in, and only members know it."

"Do you know the passcode?"

"Nope. Man, If only I knew..."

"That's too bad...." Tippi sighed, "We'll keep looking for clues, then..."

"On the contrary..." Another man at the end of the room interrupted.

The girls shifted their attention towards him.

"While I don't know that passcode, I actually got my hands on some other delectable info." He continued.

"Really? What is it?" Callie asked.

"It's not coming to you for free, but you're timely, so I'll offer a discount! I was gonna charge you 10,001 Rubees, but for you guys.... 10,000! sound good?"

The girls paused.

".... We don't have enough. Sorry." Tippi said.

"Pfft. You what you guys are? C-H-E-A-P. Take a hike." The man finished.

The girls walked away. "Probably a scam, anyway." Marie scoffed. They walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"Welp..... nothing....." Marie sighed.

"Wait, wasn't there another set of stairs?" Tippi pointed out, "There must be something up there."

"Right!" Marie cried, "There was! Let's go there!"

Marie ran down the stairs, Callie following her. The two made their way up the second set of stairs.

On the top of the stairs was a small hallway with a single, slightly opened door. There wasn't much commotion to be heard, so it was safe to assume it was another break room.

"Hmmm..... Wonder what's in there." Callie said.

"Wait a second...." Tippi said.

"Huh?"

".... I sense something on the other side of this wall...." Tippi flew up to the wall adjacent to the door. "...A pixl!"

"Really?!" Callie exclaimed.

"Indeed. However, the wall poses as a problem for us. The only way we could possibly get to the other side is if we could get in there via dimensional flipping, but I can only flip myself, and Marina is still in the generator room."

"Then let's get Marina and find that pixl!"

Callie and Marie ran down the stairs, Tippi following not far behind them.

----------------------------------------

"This one?" Marina asked.

"That's the one." Tippi answered.

Marina grabbed Callie and Marie's hands and flipped between worlds. Sure enough, the wall vanished, revealing a large chest on the other side.

"Yes!" Callie exclaimed.

The girls walked toward the chest, and Marina flipped them back. She opened the chest.

The Pixl that Tippi had sensed earlier flew out of the chest. It looked like a pink and orange triangle split into three pieces.

"Well, do ya know the secret, pard'?" The pixl asked, "Well? Do ya? Iffen you close yer peepers... and imagine real hard... that the world's gone... Why, it's just about the biggest dern thrill ever!"

"This one seems creepy..." Marie whispered.

"WUH-HUH?!" The pixl shouted, "My senses are tellin' me that you're the hero! Whoa... Hey, welcome, pard. Got some bad news, though, looks to me like yer a bit lackin' in thrills. I can't give my power to anyone who's too skinny in the thrills department. So here's what we do, pard! I'll recharge yer thrill gauge over the next ten seconds!"

"Okay then..." Marina said, a little weirded out still.

"You ready? Here goes!" The pixl exclaimed, "ONE! TWO! THREE! FIVE! FOUR!"

"...And weird. That, too." Marie whispered.

"SEVENTEEN! THREE-POINT-ONE-FOUR! ONE MARZILLION!"

"Is that even a-"

"TEN!" The Pixl finished, "Now yer all chargified, pard! Yepper, now you've got yer thrills! Now remember, we pixls got loads of power, so you'd best be real careful with us! We had a little dustup with them ancients 2,000 years ago, but we're pards now. So let's go have us some thrills, huh? C'mon!"

"Right, so... who are you and what do you do?" Marie finally asked.

"Name's Slim! With m' powers, you can completely avoid takin' damage.... As long as ya stay still! So now ya know the secret, huh, pard? Playin' hide-an'-seek is the biggest thrill you can find! You oughta try it!"

"Okay..." Marina said, "Well, what's on the other side of that door near the wall?" she asked Callie and Marie.

"We're not sure. Let's check!" Callie answered.

"Okay then. Slim, you're coming with us."

Marina grabbed Marie and Callie's hands and flipped yet again, flipping back when they were in front of the other break room door. Marie opened the door.

As the Squid Sisters had predicted, it was another break room. however, there were less people in this room than in the other one, and there was another overseer whipping the floor.

"Hey, new gerbils." one of the humans whispered to the group.

The girls turned to the man. "Yes?" Marina asked.

"You wanna learn a little secret? Yeah, I betcha you do. Just slip me 100 Rubees. I'll tell 'ya somethin' good. Honest. It's prime info."

"I actually made a little over 100 in the generator room-" Marina said.

"Hold it. How do we know we can trust him?" Marie interrupted.

"Well, it's worth a shot. And a hundred Rubees lost shouldn't slow us down that much."

"Okay, shoot."

Marina has given 100 Rubees

"Your mom taught you to trust strangers, huh? Yeah, solid parenting right there." The man said, "Well, turns out she's a smart cookie. I'm gonna give you the VIP room passcode."

"Go on." Tippi said.

"The secret code is... 5963! What good is it? That's a secret! Duh! Just remember 5963, gerbils."

"Alright, to the VIP room!" Callie exclaimed, "Oh, and thanks!"

The girls exited the break room.

-----------------------------------

"Ugh, what was it again?!" Callie cried.

"5963." Tippi responded, "...I have a good memory..."

Callie typed in the passcode, and the keys on the number pad glowed green.

"Passcode accepted. Please enter."

The door unlocked.

"Yes!" Callie shouted. The group opened the door.

On the other side of that door, there were what seemed like several giant hamster wheels attached to the ceiling with humans running inside of them. There was also another overseer whipping the floor.

"RUN, GERBILS!" The overseer shouted, "'Round and 'round and 'round she goes! When I'll retire, nobody knows!"

"Welp, looks like this is our next stop." Marie said.

The group walked up to the overseer.

"Hi, we're here to make some rubees." Marina said to the overseer, getting his attention.

"Sweet. This is the VIP generator room." The overseer told her, "Run in a wheel, make volts, earn some cash! Yeah, major upgrade from that other room! You'll earn crazy rubees in here! Unh! so... new gerbils, huh? Hungry for rubees, gerbils?"

"I'll do it." Callie chimed in, "I was in the track team in high school."

"Great, great, just hang on for one second for me." The overseer turned to the wheels and whipped the floor again before shouting, "MOVE, GERBILS!". He turned back to the girls. "Alright, the yellow wheel is the only vacant one as far as I know. Now get in there, gerbil, move!"

A hatch below the wheel opened, and Callie climbed inside. The overseer closed the hatch and Callie gave a thumbs up. Marie, Marina and the pixls exited the room.

"... So now what?" Marie asked.

"I suggest maybe flipping between worlds again." Tippi said, "Just because Mimi can't see us while flipped doesn't mean she can't flip herself. The ability is quite common."

"Good point." Marie said. Marina grabbed her arm and flipped.

The wall next to the break room vanished, revealing a ladder leading up to an area higher up in the mansion. The girls walked to the ladder and climbed up, the pixls following not far behind them. Marina flipped the others back when they reached the top.

Up the ladder, there was a long hallway leading to a steel vault. However, there were moving electric barriers blocking the way to the safe. There was also a seven-digit number pad at the vault, indicating that another code had to be entered.

"...Well, then...." Marie said, "Another code we don't know, and the obstacle isn't actually useless this time."

"We can just use Slim." Marina pointed out.

"Yup!" Slim piped up, "Ats whattum for, pard!"

"Sure... Right..." Marie responded, not understanding a word Slim said, "But the code?"

"The guy from earlier said he knew some 'delectable info' after we were talking about the VIP code earlier." Thoreau said, "Maybe he can help!"

"And if it's a scam? He wants us to pay 10,000 Rubees!"

"We'll check back with Callie and see how fast we can make Rubees." Marina pointed out, "If we do, I think we'll have an idea of what we're risking if we talk to... whoever you were talking about."

Marie smiled. "Good. looks like we have a game plan, then."

The group headed down the ladder.

----------------------------------------

"Here!" The overseer said.

Callie has received 6,051 Rubees.

"Phew..." Callie sighed. After all of that running, she finally received her rubee sum from the overseer, and her legs were ridiculously tired. Before she could leave the VIP room for the break room, the door opened, and none other than Marie, Marina and the pixls were the ones who opened it.

"Hey guys. What did you find?" Callie asked.

"This weird vault. It was on the other side of a wall." Marie answered, "So how much did you make?"

"A little over six thousand."

"Six thousand?" Marina asked.

"Right.... We're gonna see if that guy from earlier with the 'delectable info' is worth talking to." Marie explained to Callie.

"Good to know." Callie said, "You mind doing the wheel next? My legs are tired..."

Marie sighed. "Fine... I guess it's only fair since I was the only one who didn't work in any of the generator rooms..." She responded. She turned to the overseer. "I'll go."

"Awesome. Cool." The overseer said, "Now get in there!"

The hatch on the wheel opened again, and Marie climbed in. The hatch closed, and she started running.

"Remind me again, how long did it take for you to get to 6,000?"

"About as long as you were looking around." Callie answered, "How long were you looking?"

"Couple minutes, give or take." Marie answered.

"So it shouldn't take that long?"

"Don't know..."

Marie tried to run a little faster. Marina turned to Callie.

"You think she'll be alright?" Marina asked.

"Relax, she and I have been through a heck of a lot of missions in, well, you know." Callie reassured her, "And besides, we do turf war a lot. what makes you think we get tired that easily?"

"Well, you were pretty tired when-"

"That was me at my speed limit. Wanted to make as much as possible..."

"Understandable..."

After a couple minutes of running in the wheel, Marie came to a halt. The hatch opened, and Marie jumped out.

"Alright, How much?" Marie asked the overseer.

Marie has received 4,958 Rubees

"Here!" The overseer said.

"Thanks." Marie turned to the others. "Now let's go!"

The group exited the VIP room and entered the break room next to it. Marie approached the man in the back.

"So, we have a little over 10,000 rubees. what did you want to tell us?" Callie asked.

"Good." The man said. "First, the Rubees."

Callie has given 10,000 Rubees

"Thanks, buddy of mine. Listen, and listen good. Mimi was napping, ok? and I heard her start sleep talking... and she whispered... 41262816... Think its her boyfriends number or something?"

"Wait..." Marina said. she remembered the safe she had discovered earlier...

There was a number pad!

"Guys, I know where to go next!" Marina exclaimed.

"Great. I think I know what you're talking about." Marie said.

The group exited the break room, and Marina flipped her and the others into 3D again. The wall adjacent to the break room once again revealed the ladder, and the girls climbed up. Looking past the hallway of those moving electric barriers, Marina flipped the group back.

"So how do we get across?" Callie asked.

"I can 'elp ya out widdat!" Slim responded, "Remember what I said earlier, pard?"

"Oh, right!"

Callie walked down the hallway, Slim and Tippi following her. One of the barriers started to approach her. Callie froze in place, and the barrier phased through her entirely. This was what Slim mentioned he could do earlier.

"Phew.."

Callie made her way down the hallway and stopped in front of the safe. She looked at the number pad next to it, and sure enough, it was eight didgits long.

"Remember, 41262816." Tippi reminded her.

"....eight, one, six!" Callie said while punching in the numbers.

The electric barriers turned off, and the safe swung open. The girls couldn't believe what was behind it...

---------------------------------------------

"Er.. Hello?" Marina asked after the girls entered the room at the first floor.

"Oh! Hi there! Big welcome!" Mimi exclaimed from behind an office desk, "So happy to have you here at Rubee saving and loan!"

The group approached the office desk Mimi was sitting in.

"First of all, THANKS for taking out a special Rubee loan! Now what can I do for you?" Mimi asked.

"We'll, we got some Rubees we'd like off our hands." Marie answered.

Mimi chuckled. "Super! Let me take all those Rubees of your hands! There you go!" She responded.

Marie has given- 1,000,000 Rubees?!

"Well, thank you SO much for paying off your Rubee loan in.... Full.........?"

Mimi froze.

"WHAT?!" she shrieked

"You're welcome." Marie said.

"H-How did you earn enough Rubees to pay it off?! That's not supposed to happen!" Mimi continued, "No.... You've broken my wonderful curse!"

Mimi started to float after saying that.

"NYAAAHH! I'LL GET YOU! AAAaaaaaa......" Mimi's voice trailed off.

She then vanished from sight in a bizarre explosion.

".....What just happened?" Callie asked.

"Well, at least that safe from earlier had the million Rubees we needed." Marina pointed out, "But.... she mentioned something about a curse?"

"And... Who was she, really?" Tippi added, "Now I'm worried about Merlee."

Tippi gestured to a door on the other side of the room. "We must hurry to her aid..." She finished.

(End of Chapter 7)

Chapter Text

The Mysterious handmaid Mimi disappeared in a bizarre explosion. What exactly was her plan, and why did she try to enslave Marina and her friends?

After the incident, Marie noticed stairs going down. "Looks like we're getting closer." She said.

"I wonder if Merlee is down here?" Thought our heroes as they traded worried glances. The three solemnly made their way down, knowing there was no other path to follow.

---------------------------------

"The pure heart is near..." Tippi said as the group looked down the flight of stairs, "I feel its tremors so much more strongly down here."

"Great!" Callie exclaimed, "But what about Merlee?"

Just after Callie had said that....

"Ah, Hooray! Whoopee! Thanks for coming to look for me!" An unfamiliar voice echoed.

"Huh?"

"What the-"

A faded apparition of a woman appeared above the group. The woman almost looked like Merlumina, except red and yellow instead of blue.

"Wha.... Who are you?" Marina asked.

"I am the beautiful, mysterious Merlee! Mistress of the house, it's me! So glad it's you I see!" the woman, Merlee, explained, "So long I've waited for you. Your arrival is well past due, but we can't meet like this. Oh no, for something's amiss."

"Oh?" Tippi asked, "What is it?"

"An evil one is after me, and safe and sound I cannot be." Merlee explained, "In the basement do I dwell, maze-like rooms are my cell. You will find me, I can tell. And if you do, take care... for...your eyes... may err...trust nothing... foul... or fair..."

The apparition started to fade.

"No... I cannot... last.... my power...is... fading... fast... the distance... is... too... vast... Are... you... ready to find me? Beware... if you do, I plea... . . ... . ...... . . . ... . . . ... . .."

The apparition of Merlee vanished into thin air before she could finish her sentence.

"She's.... gone?" Marie said.

"So that was Merlee, huh?" Marina asked.

"And why do you suppose she was telling us to be so careful when we find her?" Tippi added.

"Don't know, but we definitely should take that warning seriously." Marie said as the group walked down the stairs, "She said something like 'Trust nothing foul or fair'. We should be careful."

"Right... now which door is the right way?" Callie asked, Pointing to two doors at the bottom of the stairs. Both of the doors were unlocked.

"Eh..... That one." Marina pointed to the door on the right.

The girls opened the door and walked through. On the other side, there were two doors, one on a higher level than the other. There were some question marked blocks that could help them get to that door.

"Ya know, I have a feeling that door up there is the right way." Callie said, pointing to the higher up door.

"... We can try that..." Tippi said.

Callie jumped onto the question marled block and to the higher door. However, once doing so, a zombie shroom came out of the block.

"ACK!!"

Marina whacked it with her octobrush. She followed Callie to the door soon after, the latter still confused over what just happened. Marie followed.

On the other side of that door, there were several brown blocks that made a path to yet another door. The room was unfamiliar, so the group definitely wasn't going in circles yet. Below the blocks, however, lingered something that looked like a big, floating eyeball. It stared at the group.

"Is that a..." Marie asked.

The eyeball shot lasers at them.

"HUH?"

"Run!" Marina shouted. The group made haste and reached the door, slamming it behind them.

"... This adventure is getting really weird so far." Callie sighed.

"Here here." Marie responded.

"Ya know, I could've exploded that thing and-" Boomer tried to say.

"That thing was a Mister I, you know. They're indestructible unless they get too dizzy." Tippi interrupted.

Marina was about to add something to the conversation, but then she heard something coming from above them. Was it... Humming?

"Hold on a sec..."

Marina walked to the other side of the room they were in. There was a higher level that could be seen from a hole in the ceiling! The hole, however, was unreachable. Marina tried flipping between worlds to investigate, and a row of yellow arrowed blocks appeared. Marina hit most of the blocks, causing them to flip into 2-D. She flipped back herself.

"Guys, I heard something from up there." Marina said, pointing up the hole, "We should investigate!"

Marina jumped onto the blocks and up to the other room. The others followed.

The first thing they noticed upon reaching the higher level...

Merlee!

"Ah, yes, how very nice... Thanks for coming, thank you twice!" Merlee exclaimed, "Mysterious and so lovely, mistress of the house you see... It's me, Merlee! I shine on, like the brightest star, calling to you from miles afar. And I knew that soon I'd see you buzz on by, little bees!"

Merlee giggled as the girls approached her.

"Hi! I guess we haven't had time to introduce ourselves." Marina pointed out, "I'm Marina, that's Callie and Marie. We're here for the pure heart."

"Oh yes, of course I know! The pure heart for Marina and co.!" Merlee responded, "For you, yes, I'll gladly part with that purest pure heart. Mmm... but there is a wee fee... yes, 10,000,000 Rubees! Quite the bargain, don't you agree?"

"SAY WHAT?!" Everyone else shouted. They weren't willing to go through what they already went through for one million Rubees again.

"So, folks, if you'd be dears, sign this dotted line right here, and it's yours, free and clear!" Merlee added, pulling out a contract and a pen.

"Okay, I know I just met this woman, but this is getting fishy already." Marie said. "We're not paying that much for something we need to save the entire multiverse as we know it."

"If you lack the Rubees now, a smallish loan I could allow. You could pay it off somehow." Merlee continued.

"'Smallish' as in 'eternal labor in this place'? Not happening."

Merlee sighed. "Ok, here's what we'll do. Have I got a deal for you! Sign up for a loan, and boom! A free gift, away with gloom! A super mega ultra shroom!"

"This is getting more and more suspicious... no, we're not taking the shroom." Marina told Merlee.

"Ugh, fine, you bargain hard." Merlee scoffed, "I'll also throw in Breadward, a pixl made of oats and lard. Isn't that so nice of me? I'm the best, don't you see?"

Slim and Thoreau tried to contain their laughter.

"Okay, now you're just getting desperate." Callie said, "We're not-"

"NYAAAHHH!" Merlee shouted, "Idiots, the lot of you! Turning down such a coup! None of you have a clue! Here it is, your last shot; sign right now, on the dot!"

"We're not going to sign the stupid contract!" Callie finished.

Before Merlee could respond, an apparition appeared standing between her and the group. An apparition of... Merlee?

"Good choice, for my sake. This Merlee's a total fake!" The apparition of Merlee told them, "Listen not! She is a snake!"

The apparition vanished.

"Wait, if she's Merlee, then who's-" Marina tried to say.

"Mimimimimimimimimimi.... No point in trying to fool anyone now..." The Merlee imposter said. In a puff of violet smoke, the imposter transformed into...

"Mimi?!" Marie said.

"Gee, lookee here! The girl you thought was a handmaid or a Merlee imposter..." Mimi said, "She's actually the faithful servant of Count Bleck; master impersonator Mimi!"

The girls realized what she just said. She was associated with Bleck!

"Golly, I was hoping we could settle this peacefully, but... TOO BAD!" Mimi continued, "Oh, you wanna make things ugly, huh? Well, that's super! Let's get ugly. True mimi, come forth!"

Mimi clutched both sides of her head...

and snapped her own neck.

Mimi's head spun around a few times before it rested on her chest. Six large spider legs then burst out from the sides of her head, revealing gears that were inside it. Her monster-like body started to faintly glow.

"GAH!"

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"

"YUCK!"

The apparition of Merlee appeared once again.

"Please, my friends, beware. A barrier protects her there. In fact, it's everywhere." the real Merlee warned the group, "I think attacks may well be useless against such as she."

"So we can't hurt her?!" Marina cried, "What are we supposed to do? Merlee?"

"I must suggest you flee." Merlee answered. "Come and find the real me. I am hiding, look and see! If you can, my magic may weaken her and win the day! Hurry, hurry, don't delay!"

The apparition of Merlee vanished once more, and Mimi approached the girls. "mimimimimimimimimi...."

"RUN!" Marie shouted.

The group noticed a door at the end of the hallway, and ran to it as fast as they could. Mimi was starting to give chase.

Marie swung the door open and the group ran through. She slammed the door before Mimi could follow them through.

"Phew..."

On the other side of the door, there was a long hallway with a large crack on the floor. Marina approached the crack and looked down.

"There's another door down there..." she said.

Callie and Marie approached the crack as well.

"Well, it's big enough for us to go into cephalopod forms and-"

Marie didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before the door behind them swung open.

"mimimimimimimi....."

"GO! GO! GO!" Thoreau shouted. The group slipped down the crack via their cephalopod forms and opened the door below.

On the other side, there was a room with two other doors, both elevated at a higher level. There were question marked blocks that could boost them to one of the doors.

"Hey Tippi, you sense pure hearts, right?" Callie asked, "You know which door is the right one?"

"Alright. If I'm not wrong... that way." Tippi pointed to the elevated door on the right. The girls jumped onto the question marked blocks and ran through the door. While doing so, Marina could've sworn she heard the pitter patter of six little legs...

On the other side, there were three more doors, two of them elevated at a higher level. There were two blocks that could boost them to one of those doors.

"That way!" Tippi said, pointing to the upper right door.

Marina and Marie jumped onto the block, boosting them to the door on the right. Callie followed. Once doing so, however, the door they just came out of swung open like before...

"mimimimimi...."

"Gah! HOW DID-" Marie shouted.

The girls opened the door and scurried in as fast as possible before Mimi could catch up, slamming it behind them. On the other side, there were, once again, three doors in the room, two of them elevated, as well as some more of those centipede-like monsters.

"There's more of those things?!" Callie cried.

"...You mean the shlurps?" Tippi asked.

"Pretty sure. Sss-BLAMMMO!" Boomer chimed in.

"Whatever. Up there!" Tippi said, pointing to the door on the higher left. The girls super jumped to the door and ran through.

On the other side, there was yet another door....

but it was elevated even higher than the other two elevated doors from earlier.

"Argh, what do we do?" Callie asked worriedly.

"Now that you mention it, I think...." Tippi flew up to the wall and tapped it with her antenna, causing a set of stairs to appear. "...There's a set of stairs here." She finished.

The girls hurried up the stairs and through the door. On the other side, there were two doors, with signs indicating that they were both bathrooms.

"The pure heart... Merlee definitely hid in one of these bathrooms." Tippi said, "I just can't tell which."

"Well, it's always that whenever somebody needs to hide in the bathroom, they hide in the one opposite to their gender..." Marina pointed out, "But I feel like hiding in the girls room is easier to pull off."

"What do you mean you 'feel like'?" Marie asked.

"Let's just check it out. We don't have time!" Callie pointed out.

The group ran into the girls bathroom. Inside, there were several stalls lined up in a row, with a few sinks and mirrors to boot.

"... Hey, Merlee?" Marina called, "It's us. Are you in here?"

Marina and the others heard some giggling coming from one of the stalls.

The stall door opened, and out came Merlee; the real Merlee. However, the bottom of her dress was soaking wet and there was a fly buzzing around her, leading the girls to believe she had hid in the toilet.

"Found me! The real Merlee!" Merlee exclaimed, "I shine on, like the brightest star, calling to you from miles afar."

"The real Merlee? Truly?" Tippi asked, "In a place like this?"

"I'm afraid that Mimi freak was too robust, and I too weak..." Merlee sighed, "The pure heart I quickly took and hid where she would never look, but now you're here! Hooray! This bad tide will turn today! Soon that awful Mimi pays... All of us can now join up and teach that tiny, bratty pup a lesson. Now let's power up!"

"Ooh, I don't think so..." Mimi called from outside the bathroom door.

The door didn't even open. Mimi teleported inside the bathroom somehow.

"Mimi!" Merlee cried.

Mimi approached Merlee.

"mimimimimimimimimimimimimimimimimimimimi....."

Mimi was now standing above Merlee, and the room was seemingly engulfed in a blinding light. The light faded, and Marina started to wish she hadn't shielded her eyes.

There were two Merlees in the room now, both of them taken aback by the sudden double.

"Stop pretending to be me! Everyone knows you're Mimi!" The first one shouted, "Come on, friends, attack! We can drive her back!"

"What is this you talk about? You're the faker! And a lout!" The second one shouted in response, "Don't be fooled by her act! Get her now! Now! Attack!"

"It's me! The real Merlee!"

"No, it's me! The true Merlee!"

The first one sighed. "Look at us very closely." She said, "One of us has real beauty, and one is fake as can be."

"Oh please, you make me gag." The other scoffed, "I am hot; no need to brag. And you, well, you're a hag."

"Grr... What a fib maker! You're such a fake faker!"

"Oh, now, come off it, dear. You're a dog from eye to ear. And your breath reeks, I fear."

Marie let out a sigh herself. "Will you two please can it?! This is clearly going nowhere." She said.

"She makes quite a good point, see..." The first Merlee told the other, "Let's let them pick a Merlee and settle it, don't you agree?"

"Sound's like a good thought." The other answered, "Cause I'm the real me, as I'm hot, and you... you really are not."

"Oh how much do you amuse! You're a fake! You will lose!"

"You're fake, you stupid fake! We all know you're the snake!"

"IT'S ON, CON!" Both Merlees shouted at once.

Barely a second later, the bathroom seemed to turn into the set of a quiz show.

You read that right.

"IIIIIIT'S the 66th annual.... 'That's My Merlee' Show!" The host of the show announced, "How're you folks doing?"

"What- wuh- HOW?!" Callie shouted.

"Oh geez...." Marina muttered.

"Let's get going! You're going to ask these Merlees FIVE questions at most!" The show host continued, "Yes, any question will do! Listen closely to those answers, 'cause at the end, you gotta pick the real one! Oh, but that's not all. Pick wrong, and there could be some di-sas-trous results! Now for our first question!"

"Alright, I guess we're doing this now...." Marie said. She paused to think about what question she should ask first...

"...Hobbies. What do you do in your free time?" She finally asked.

"Catalogues for crystal balls, that's where my interest falls!" The Merlee on the left said.

"I like watching rerun shows of 'Super Ultra Goomba Bros.!" The one on the right answered.

"Very interesting! Next question!" The host exclaimed.

"I'll go next!" Callie said.

"Alright, have at it." Marina said. Rather than asking any questions, it seemed Marina was more focused on any major giveaways to the imposter...

"Favorite animal. Go!" Callie said to the Merlees.

"A little bear cubbie! Just as cute as can be!" The left one answered.

"An adorable little demon. All sweatin' and steamin'!" The other one said.

Callie turned to the others. "Okay, now I'm leaning toward the one on the left." She told the others, "Hey Marina, are you gonna ask them anything?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Marina responded, "Umm..... When's your birthday?"

"What day did I arrive? Oh yes, March, day 25!" One Merlee answered.

"I bloomed in May, the fifth was the day!" The other followed.

Marina looked at the Merlee on the left. She remembered that the bottom of the real Merlee's dress was wet, and there was a fly buzzing around her. The Merlee on the left fit that criteria. On the other hand, the Merlee on the right had no such fly buzzing around, and the wet area of the dress seemed... fake!

"Sir, I know which one is Merlee." Marina told the host.

"Oh, you do? Three questions in?" The host asked.

"Marina, what are you doing?!" Marie asked.

"Trust me."

"Alrighty then! Which one do you think is the real Merlee?" The host asked.

Marina smirked, and pointed to the Merlee on the left.

"Her. She's the real one."

"Are you sure about that?" The host asked.

"Yup."

"Well, enough suspense! Let's see if the one you picked is the real Merlee..."

The room went quiet for a moment........

"DING! RIGHT!"

Confetti flew everywhere. Marina was right!

"Well, of course, obviously! Nobody could copy me!" The real Merlee exclaimed.

"Stupid heads!" Mimi shouted, "I'd mimicked her perfectly! You know it! I guess I'll congratulate you... by tearing you into little bits like stupid confetti!!!"

The bathroom turned back to normal, and Mimi's disguise vanished along with it, revealing her child-like form from before. Her neck snapped again, transforming her back into the spider-like monster that was her true form, and giving her the faint glow that proved her invincibility. Merlee looked absolutely terrified.

It was no wonder Merlee ran out of the bathroom as fast as she could.

"I will cheer from over here!" She called, "Rah! Rah! Whoosh-bing-bah! Hit 'er in the knee!... If she has one.... does she?"

Mimi laughed maniacally. "She's a fast one, isn't she?" She remarked, "Oh golly, well, whatever. I'll finish you off first! Mimimimimimimimimi!"

Mimi climbed up onto the ceiling, crawling just above the group. Somehow, she spat out several Rubees at them, which the group narrowly avoided.

"Crud, what do we do?!" Marie shouted, "She's still invincible!"

"Get her off the ceiling!" Callie cried.

Marina grabbed a Rubee from the floor and threw it at Mimi. The monster was still undamaged, but did fall off the ceiling.

"Rah! Rah! Rah!" Merlee cheered from outside the door.

Mimi, despite her now distorted looking face, was clearly upset, as she spat out a barrage of Rubees at the girls. Callie quickly opened her parasol, shielding the group from most of the rubees. It was then that they realized...

"Wait.... Mimi's not glowing anymore?!" Marina blurted out.

"Wait- WHAT?!" Mimi cried, realizing that the octoling was right for a second time, "But- But I'm supposed to be all INVINCIBLE! Count Bleck's power was supposed to protect me!"

"CHANCE!" Marie shouted. She fired at Mimi with her hero charger, and one of Mimi's spider legs ripped off.

"Rah! Rah! Whoosh-bing-bah!" Merlee cheered from outside of the room, "You can now hit her, dears! For this is no normal cheer! This cheer is magic, woo! Her barrier is through!"

"Wait, when did this happen?!" Mimi shrieked, "I feel completely naked! How could you?!"

Mimi climbed back up onto the ceiling.

"Well, forget about it. You're all gonna go bye bye anyway! Mimimimimimimi!"

All of a sudden, a huge wave of rubees appeared, and it was heading straight for the girls. Marina ran into a stall, Marie used Slim's power, and Callie hid behind her parasol to avoid the barrage. However, a rubee still hit Callie's leg.

"OW!"

The wave was gone, and Callie picked up another rubee from off the floor. She threw it at Mimi, who fell off the ceiling and lost another spider leg.

"Grrr..."

Mimi spat out several more Rubees at the girls. Marie grabbed several Rubees via Thoreau, while Marina swung her octobrush at Mimi, knocking off two spider legs at once.

"Yes! Yes! Our team's best!" Merlee cheered, "Goooo.... TEAM!"

Mimi summoned another wave of Rubees. Everyone hid behind Callie's parasol, shielding them from most of the downpour. The wave vanished again, and Mimi was on the ceiling for a third time.

She spat out several more rubees, one of them hitting Marie, who stumbled back from the impact. Marie quickly grabbed Thoreau, who was still holding some rubees, and threw him at Mimi. Another spider leg got ripped off, leaving Mimi with one spider leg.

"You little- I'm gonna 'getcha!" Mimi shouted.

Mimi spat out even more rubees than before. Callie grabbed one and tried to throw it at Mimi. She ended up missing, and almost hit Marina.

"Sorry!" Callie called.

"It's fine!" Marina responded.

Marina grabbed the rubee Callie threw. She threw it at Mimi, knocking her off the ceiling. Since she only had one spider leg left, Mimi fell to the floor.

"Care to do the honors?" Marie asked Callie.

"Will do." Callie responded. She grabbed Boomer and threw him at Mimi. He exploded on impact, and Mimi's last spider leg flew off.

"mimimimimimi.... urgh.... but how could you.... it's impossible.... how....."

Mimi transformed back into her child-like form in a puff of violet smoke.

"Urk... ur....URK! Don't think you've beaten me for good, dummies...." Mimi continued, "Next time, you won't be so lucky... Remember that, stupid-heads!"

Merlee walked back into the bathroom (her dress now dry), and Mimi teleported out of sight.

"Fine job on that Mimi, yes! The pure heart's safe, evil's repressed." Merlee exclaimed.

She held out the yellow pure heart.

"You know, all of the tenants here guarded it for 1,500 years, waiting for you to draw near!" she continued, "That duty's finally done, and I'm ecstatic, for one. But wait, ere we finish up, I must tell you something, yup."

"If this is gonna be another ten minute monologue..." Marie sighed.

"Fear not, Marie. I'll keep it brief." Merlee assured her, "So... the Light Prognosticus was read by you, yes?"

"Well, we know the basics." Marina answered.

"It was written there that I and my ancestors waited by the pure heart, staying spry." Merlee continued, "But something wasn't written there, and of it you must be aware."

"Something.... not written in the prognosticus?"

"Yes, there's another prophecy: a heart of chaos can only be beaten by four of mystery. Four heroes unite, their hope burns forth light to shatter the walls of blight! That is how despair, it dies, such is what we prophesize, here in the home of the wise."

The girls were shocked. Marina wasn't the only hero?

"Four heroes?" Callie asked.

"I am sure that all of you, Marina, Callie and Marie, too, are three of these heroes true." Merlee said.

"Well, that explains why Tippi saw potential in me..." Marie added.

"So then," Merlee continued, "It falls to you to find this final hero true. I would guess, If I had to, this hero might be known to you."

Marina wondered what she meant. If the final hero was familiar to them, and since two of the heroes were the Squid Sisters, could the last hero be...

"Now, finally, let me be! I hereby do my sworn duty!" Merlee exclaimed, "There, from me it parts! Here heroes, a pure heart!"

Merlee held out the pure heart. The heart floated before the group.

The third of eight pure hearts was finally in their possesion!

"Wow.... It's so pretty!" Callie exclaimed.

"Actually, before I forget, I should give you something you wont regret." Merlee continued, "Callie, and Marie, too, this was made for a certain hero true. This should belong to one of you."

She pulled out an odd looking card.

A card that looked exactly like the one that gave Marina the dimensional flipping ability.

----------------------------------------

Count Bleck's servant Mimi had laid a nasty trap for Marina and her friends, but with the help of Merlee, the faithful defender of the pure heart, the day was won.

But who was the other hero mentioned by Merlee? And what exactly did she give to the Squid Sisters?

With five pure hearts yet to be found, it was clear to our heroes that this journey had only begun.

(End Of Chapter 8)

Chapter Text

Castle Bleck Inner Sanctum

"...Yeah, so I just got a brief memo from Mimi?" Nastasia told Count Bleck, "It says, 'I messed up bad!'..... That's the message in it's entirety. Yeah..."

"Bleh heh heh....." Count Bleck cackled, "She failed to best her, even with my gift of power? A light prognosticus hero... Descendants of the ancient tribe... Their strength grows..."

"COUNT BLECK!" O'Chunks shouted, "I beg yeh, gimme the honor o' whalin' on this pack o' nambly-pamblies! I swear on me whiskers that I'll clobber 'em like naughty little cherbils, I will!"

"Oh, so, O'Chunks, yeah, you think you're all set to go?" Nastasia asked, "So I guess you finished up that report on your own inadequacy that I needed?"

"Eah.... Y'see..... I... just got a wee bit left... I'm workin' on me conclusion." O'Chunks responded, "Yeh gotta gimme a break! Me writin' takes time, lass! An' 1,000 pages be a lot!"

"O'Chunks, Calm yourself." Bleck insisted, "Take a minion time out. Count Bleck will send..."

Bleck opened his cape.

"...Dimentio!" Bleck continued, "Come to me... Count Bleck!"

Dimentio appeared before the Count.

"And so, I arrive, like a sudden windstorm at a kindergarten picnic!" He exclaimed.

"You'd like some playtime, I imagine, Dimentio?" Bleck asked, "So be it, but do not disappoint Count Bleck. Dispatch this hero."

"Your wish is my command. Besides, this fool sounds like an amusing challenge." Dimentio responded, "Now, if there is nothing else, I'll just be on my way. Ciao, my count."

Dimentio vanished into thin air. Nastasia turned to O'Chunks.

"Yeah, so, O'Chunks? Can you fill me in on why you're still not writing that report?" Nastasia asked.

"A report?! What are yeh-" O'Chunks stopped himself when he remembered what she meant, "Oh... Yeah. A'right, I'm goin', yeh great beard-tweaker!" he finished. O'Chunks ran off.

Nastasia turned to Bleck.

"Count, let me just bring you up to speed on the current state of the castle," She said, "I still have to root out a few unconverted rogues, but I'll report back soon..."

Nastasia bowed before she teleported away.

"Heroes... trying to save these pathetic old worlds..." Bleck muttered. "Bleck, says Count Bleck! Bleh heh heh... their efforts are in vain. No one can stop Count Bleck!"

Count Bleck teleported out of the room.

He truly believed none could stop the void.

Just as he believed none could cease the tempest raging in his suffering heart....

Meanwhile...

Pearl remembered what had happened before. A little too vividly, at that.

Callie got married to an octarian she didn't know until later was the king Octavio. That turned out to be a dream.

Then Callie got kidnapped by someone from said dream. That someone sucked almost everyone up in a dark portal.

Then Callie got married to Octavio for real. Was it a reoccurring nightmare? Was Pearl still dreaming?

No, it was all to vivid.

But then..... where was she?

Where was she....

Where.....

..........

Pearl snapped awake.

She sat up and looked around her. Seeing the place she was in now, This certainly didn't answer any questions she had. The floor was pitch black, the sky was black and purple, and it seemed she was the only one there.

"What the hell..." Pearl muttered, "What is this freaky place?"

Pearl looked around a little more. There was a large, black and white door!

"Jackpo-"

"Hey, You! Shush!" A voice from behind her said.

Pearl turned around. Two twintacle octotroopers were standing there.

"Huh? What are you guys doing here?" Pearl asked.

"We just woke up here." One octotrooper answered, "You're the one that tried to rescue Octavio, huh?"

"And Callie. Yeah. I guess the wedding really wasn't a dream."

Pearl realized something.

"W-Wait! If all that actually happened, then what about the Count Bleck guy? And the woman who brainwashed Callie and Octavio?" Pearl asked, "And everyone else-"

"We don't know everything, lady." the other Octotrooper answered bluntly, "We just know that the one who brainwashed the bride and groom is somewhere in this castle. I think she's been hypnotizing everyone like crazy; I spotted a weird looking octoling soldier earlier, saying something about praising some count..."

"Hence why you told me to shut up?"

"Yup."

"Look, the only chance we have at surviving..." The first octotrooper said, "...We're gonna have to call a truce until we get out of this freaky place. I know it's crazy, but it's better than dying."

"I- eh... What are you-" The other one couldn't find the right words to say, "Like hell I'm- Well..... Fine."

"Alright, that makes two. Whats-her-face?" The first one said.

"It's Pearl. And I'm in." Pearl answered, "Let's get outta here!"

----------------------------------------

Marie opened the door to Merlon's house. Callie was behind her.

"Oh-ho!" Merlon chuckled, "Welcome back, you two! Where might Marina and Tippi be?"

"They're looking for the heart pillar." Marie answered, "We managed to get the pure heart..."

Callie and Marie remembered what Merlee had told them.

"Oh, Right!" Callie exclaimed, "Merlee told us that there's four heroes instead of just one!"

"Oh-ho! Is that so?" Merlon asked, "There's more than one hero?"

"Yeah, and she gave us this." Marie added. She pulled out the card Merlee had given them.

"My, my..." Merlon remarked, looking at the card, "Bestovius made a card like this. They were meant to give the hero the powers necessary to combat the chaos heart. But if there really is more than one hero, and more than one of these cards... May I borrow this for a second?"

"Sure."

Marie gave Merlon the card. He looked at both sides of it. While he was doing so, Marie caught a glimpse of some writing on the card.

"Oh-ho, I think I've got it!" Merlon exclaimed, "This card was meant to give one of the four heroes a certain power. Though, it's not very clear on what power specifically, the phrase on the card is different from the one that should've given Marina her dimensional flipping ability, so I believe it's not that."

"Wait, how did you know that?" Marie asked.

"Bestovius and I have known each other for a while. We're friendly rivals, him and I." Merlon answered, "He showed me the dimensional flipping card. I never knew about this, though."

"Bes... tovee... Who are we talking about?" Callie asked.

"The guy that gave Marina her powers." Marie answered.

"Well, going off of what he told me, here's how I believe this works." Merlon stated, "The card is created for the purpose of giving a specific hero a power. Only Bestovius or one of the heroes can activate it, and only the hero the card belongs to can get that power."

Merlon handed Marie the card.

"Here. try it for yourself."

Marie looked at the card. The writing, unlike several of the signs she had read back at the first world, was in fluent cephalopod.

Flimmidy Flammidy Floom
Diggidy Daggidy Doom
Zibbidy Zabbidy Zoom
Shaboom
Levipow

That didn't stop the phrase on the card from being confusing, to say the least.

However, Merlon was right about one thing.

Levipow.

The word Bestovius used was 'Flippow'.

Marie would've thought about whether or not this provided a clue if...

"Marie? Are you gonna do it?" Callie asked.

"Oh, Right." Marie stammered. She read the phrase in her head again. She whispered most of the phrase to herself before holding the card in front of her and shouting, "LEVIPOW!"

The card started to glow....

Nothing else happened.

".... Well, it activated, so we know Marie's a hero, all right, but..." Merlon said.

"Wait, was something else supposed to happen?" Callie asked.

"Well, when Marina got powers, the card turned into a bunch of light particles that flew onto her body." Marie answered.

"Wait, lemme try..." Callie reached over to get the card.

The second she laid a finger on it, the card seemed to split into a million light particles. The particles swarmed around Callie.

"What the..."

"No way...." Callie said in awe, "I'm....."

The particles flew onto Callie's body, and a bright light filled the room for a split second before fading.

".... The second hero?!" Callie finished her sentence.

"Wow...." Marie said, "Alright, how do you feel?"

"Dunno.... a little weird, I guess?" Callie responded, "Wait, what power did I even get?"

"Still not sure. Try using it? Bestovius said it was like using a body part."

"Uh... Okay.... Here goes nothing..."

Callie closed her eyes and held out her arm. She tried concentrating on some power. Any power. She was destined to be a hero, she had to do something.

Callie's eyes shot open when she realized something...

Her feet weren't touching the ground.

"WOAH!"

Callie was floating!

"Ah... What's going on? What's going on?!" Callie cried.

"Holy carp... That's your power?" Marie said.

"You're not helping!"

"Alright, alright, I gotcha."

Marie grabbed Callie's hand. As soon as she did that, as Marie quickly realized... her feet left the ground, too.

"HUH?!"

Marie, in shock, let go of Callie's hand. Marie fell back to the ground once doing so.

"What just happened?" Marie asked.

"Oh my..." Merlon said, "Marie, would you mind holding Callie's hand again?"

"...Okay?"

Marie held Callie's hand again. Just like before, Marie started to float.

"Fascinating..." said Merlon, "It seems the power Callie acquired is the ability to float. But not only that, it looks like anything she's touching while floating floats along with her until she gets down or lets go."

Callie and Marie floated back down.

"I should've realized the card said LEVIpow." Callie said, "Levi as in Levitate."

"Well, we learn something new every day." Marie said, "Marina's gonna flip out when she hears about this."

"Actually, before you go," Merlon added, "The light-"

The ground began to shake before he could finish his sentence.

"What the heck?" Marie shouted.

"The void must've grown." Merlon said, "Our time grows shorter by the minute..."

"What about what you found?" Callie asked.

"Ah, right." Merlon said, "According to the Light Prognosticus, one person will determine whether the Light or Dark Prognosticus predicts truly... Both books refer to them as 'The one who knew', But I know not what this means.... I'll return to my study to solve this conundrum. You two go look for Marina."

"Right!" Callie said.

--------------------------------

"Hey, Pearl, Wait up!"

Pearl stopped running down the long, dark hallway when the first twintacle octotrooper called her. Both octotroopers caught up with her.

"You coulda slowed down earlier!" The second one panted, "You know you have bigger legs..."

"Never thought I'd hear that in my li-" Pearl stopped talking when she looked down the hallway.

"....Dead end?!" The first octotrooper shouted.

"Hey, shut it!" The second one said, "You're yapping's gonna- oh. Oh no."

Sure enough, the end of the hallway was only ten feet from where the three were standing. They hit a dead end.

"Shoot... What do we do?" Pearl asked.

"Looks like we're gonna have to find another route..." The first one sighed, "Staying put should be the last thing on our minds right now.- BWAARRGGGHHH!!!"

The next thing the group knew, the twintacle was surrounded by a red aura.

The same one that had hypnotized Callie and Octavio before.

The aura vanished.

"Hail Bleck!"

The now hypnotized octotrooper walked to the opposite direction of where the group was headed.

Nastasia and several other hypnotized octotroopers had spotted them.

"Hmm.... I've been looking all over for you." Nastasia remarked.

"Hey, you're that lady who hypnotized Callie back the wedding!" Pearl shouted.

"And you're that lady who really wasn't a team player back at the wedding." Nastasia responded, "You and your little friend are gonna need some disciplinary action, I think... so let's get started, hm?"

Nastasia approached the two.

"No..." The other octotrooper muttered, "Gary... Topus... Johnson... G-General Salplane?!"

The octotrooper took a deep breath.

"Alright, lady." He said, "You have a huge problem messing with the general. You're gonna pay for this!!!"

The octotrooper ran up to Nastasia. Nastasia glared at the octotrooper, hypnotizing him almost instantly.

"........ All hail...."

Pearl was terrified at this point. "Y-You..."

"Okay, guys, new agenda." Nastasia said, "Hold this fool down so I can get her priorities on track."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the octarians said in unison.

"Wait, what- Hey!" Pearl shouted.

The octarians grabbed Pearl, who struggled to break free from their grip.

"Alright, you had your fun." Nastasia told Pearl, "If it makes you feel better, you would make quite a good elite minion. But either way.... I guess this is your goodbye."

Pearl smirked.

"You have no idea what we inklings can do, now do ya?" Pearl asked.

Before Nastasia could answer, Pearl went into her squid form, slipping out of the octarians's grip. She turned back into her humanoid form, and ran away from the group.

"See ya, suckers!" Pearl shouted.

One of the octarians tried to chase after her, but Nastasia signaled them to stay put.

"You don't need to move a muscle, 'k? Escaping from you guys won't do her any good." she insisted.

Nastasia lowered her glasses, her eyes glowing red....

...and Pearl's blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the castle.

(End of Chapter.)

Chapter Text

After a long day of dimension traveling, three pure hearts were collected, and Marina and company stayed the night at an inn in Flipside, unsure of what they would find the next day.

All the while, Merlee's words of finding the "final hero true" rang in their minds. Was the fourth hero somewhere in the next world? If not, where?

Meanwhile, the creeping void grew larger in the skies above Flipside...

----------------------------

*ding*

The elevator leading to the top of Flipside tower opened up once more, and the three heroes walked out, followed by their pixl companions.

"So, I guess this is our first full day outside of our world." Marie pointed out.

"First full day as heroes from a thousand-year-old prophecy!" Callie exclaimed.

"First full day with powers..." Marina said.

Callie looked at the row of doors, eying a new yellow one in particular. "Alright, what's behind door number three?" She said.

"We'll find out soon enough." Tippi answered. The girls approached the door, and Marina opened it...

On the other side of the door was a vast, slightly hilly, and wildly pixilated plain. It almost looked like something from a video game from the 80's, only more colorful. Unlike the last world they visited, the sky was the usual bright blue.

"So this is where that door leads..." Tippi said, "I suppose the next pure heart must be nearby..."

"Oh- right!" Callie said, remembering why they're here in the first place.

"By the way, Tippi," Marina said, "Do you know how close we are to the pure heart?"

Tippi paused, trying to find out the answer to that question herself. "That's odd." She said, breaking the brief moment of silence, "I can feel it nearby, but where could it be?"

"...That's... actually a good question." Marie said, "Well, you say we're close, so I'll take that as a good thing."

"You know what?" Tippi responded, "I think you're right. I'm sure we'll find the- AAACK!!!"

Before Tippi could finish her sentence, a large chameleon-like tongue shot out at and hit the pixl. It retracted, and before it was fully in his mouth, the owner of said tongue trapped Tippi in a mason jar.

"Ner-herrrr herr herr herr!!!" The person now keeping Tippi captive said. It turns out, he was a huge chameleon with square glasses, a tee shirt with stars and mushrooms printed on it, a bum bag around his waist, and, in his hands, the mason jar where Tippi was now trapped in.

"HI-TECHNICAAAAAAL!!!" The chameleon cried, "I caught a super-rare pixilated butterfly! My friends at digibutter.nerr are going to freak when they get word of this find! I must bring it home! I can't miss this week's episode of 'The Grodus Chronicles'! No way am I going to trust my digital Recordomeow to tape an episode so epic. This is so hi-technicaaaaal!!!"

"Hey, wait!" Marina said in an attempt to stop the chameleon from stealing Tippi away. Her attempt was fruitless, however, as both the chameleon and Tippi vanished from sight.

".... They're gone..." Marie said, stunned.

"Tippi!" Callie shouted.

"Wait, what if...." Marina said. She flipped between worlds to check if that chameleon had done so himself. Even so, she couldn't see him or Tippi anywhere. She flipped back, but before she could say anything...

"Woah-ho-ho! A kidnapping!" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed, "Oh, the despair! The awful spectacle of it all! The shocking scene occurred right before my very own tender eyes! Well, I guess it's game over for that pixl. Now that freak Francis has got her..."

The pixl that had just leapt out of that bush looked like a group of several small triangles that formed a circle around it's face.

"...Yeah." Marie answered, "Who was that guy back there anyway?"

"Well, that's a pity." The pixl said, "Oh, and that geek that grabbed her? Francis. He's basically the nerd to end all nerds. Plus, he's got this thing for butterflies! And, well, all things nerdy, too. If he gets his sweaty mitts on something he likes, there's no getting it back. He collects stuff and keeps it in his big fantasy fortress. It's like geek paradise."

"Big fantasy fortress...." Marina said, "Right. Well, where is it?"

"Well, If you go all the way down ahead for miles and miles, you'll find it." The pixl answered, "You're not thinking of infiltrating the nerd lair and rescuing her, are you?"

"Heck yes we are!" Callie exclaimed, "She's our friend, and we need her, too."

"Look, nobody likes having their butterfly kidnapped by a geek, but it's dangerous!" The pixl said.

"We've been through plenty of dangerous situations before now," Marie responded, "I think we'll be fine."

"Still set on it, eh? What a tender moment. I think I got something in my eye here." The pixl said, "Listen, let me give you some travel tips. They should help you out, so remember all of 'em!"

"Okay... What's the first tip?" Marina asked.

"Right. First off, a bunch of no-class jerks are holed up in this castle up ahead." The pixl told them, pointing to a castle that could be seen far off into the distance, "It ain't gonna be easy getting past 'em, but here's the juice: it's an old castle. You do your thing with a red x mark on the wall, and getting past there might get easier."

"Enemies in the castle. Red X on the wall." Callie repeated, "What's next?"

"Well, if you somehow pass those clowns in the castle, you'll see an ocean. Can't miss it." the pixl continued, "I don't know how, but the water is breathable. I once saw someone stay under for 20 minutes without any gear and walk out like nothing happened. Thing is, a scaaarrry sea monster lives there. The beast is HUGE. And cranky. But if you toast it's red flipper thing, something good is bound to happen."

"...Alright, then..." Marie responded, "Anything else?"

"Yup. Once you swim your way through that ocean, you'll see a humongous tree." The pixl answered, "There's a huge gorge on the other side. There's no jumping across it! Look for the red wind and do something with it. Then you can get across."

"Red wind... Is that all for tips?" Marina asked.

"Yup. Now, if by some crazy chance you do save her, come back and tell me how you did it!" The pixl said.

"Okay. Thank you so much, uh..." Marina paused, realizing she never heard the pixl's name.

"Barry." The pixl said.

"Thank you so much, Barry!" Marina said. Barry flew back into the bushes.

"Well then, let's go save Tippi!" Callie exclaimed.

The group looked into the distance. There were plenty of hills, blocks, and pipes, just like in the first two worlds they had explored. The group went ahead.

"Red x, red flipper thing, red wind." Marie quietly repeated to herself as the group walked, "Red x, red flipper thing-"

"...Red pipes?" Callie asked.

"What? No, that's- oh?"

Marie looked at what Callie was looking at and saw two red pipes ahead. In between the pipes, there was a hole. A rather deep-looking one at that.

"What the..." Marie said, "... Should we..."

"I don't think so." Marina responded, "We should probably keep moving forward."

"Hey, guys! Look!" Callie said, "Up there!"

Marie and Marina turned to see what Callie was pointing at: a door, standing midair on a small platform of blocks. It looked to be floating there about twenty feet off the ground, though.

"How do we get up there, though?" Marina asked.

"We could just super jump, you know." Callie answered.

"Or..." Marie said, glancing at Callie.

"...Right. That." Callie said, "You sure? The only time I actually flew was when I first got my powers."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Marina added, "If it's like my dimensional flipping, you should get the hang of it in no time."

"Alright..." Callie said, "Here we go."

Callie took a deep breath. She grabbed Marie and Marina's hands. Callie then floated off of the ground, bringing Marie and Marina with her. She flew over to the door and, after getting close enough, gently landed the group on to the platform that the door was on. The other pixls flew after her.

"Hey, not bad for your first time!" Thoreau remarked.

"Thanks!" Callie responded.

"Wow. That felt weird, but at the same time..." Marina said, "Well, let's keep going."

Marina opened the door. On the other side, there were more hills and pipes seen in the distance, and a door could also be seen far off. However, there were also several brainwashed octarians.

"Wow, that's a lot of enemies..." Callie said.

"No kidding. Sss-POW!!!" Boomer responded.

Marina noticed something near the door. A question marked block!

"What if..." Marina said. She hit the block, and out came...

"Mega star!" Marie shouted.

The group barely had any time to react when the star bounced towards Marina, vanishing immediately when it touched her body.

"Whoa!" Marina said as her body glowed.

"Alright, I think you know what to do!" Marie said.

Marina gave a confident nod. She ran towards the door that was farther ahead, and the effects of the mega star kicked in, making Marina several times bigger. Marina kept running towards the door, clearing out a path for the group. The moment she got close enough to that other door, she returned to her normal size in a puff of smoke.

"...So that's what it's like..." Marina said before Callie, Marie, and the other pixls caught up with her.

"...Phew... Geez, you were fast!" Callie said.

"...Well then... We're at the door." Marie said, "Let's keep going."

Marie opened the door, but stopped before she could enter. Just like in the first world, the area the door lead to was about ten feet below the door itself.

"...That... was close." Marie sighed of relief, "Watch your step, you guys."

Marie hopped down to where the door lead, everyone else following her. More rows of blocks, a question marked block, and a small sign in the distance awaited them.

However, so did a single hypnotized octotrooper. It jumped in surprise, and it ran to the question marked block and hit it. Out came a mega star, which bounced onto the octotrooper.

"...Oh. Oh no." Marina said.

The octotrooper started to glow, and soon enough, it became several times larger. It ran to the group.

"RUN!"

The group ran away from the now giant octotrooper as fast as they could. While running, Callie noticed something; another question marked block.

"Please work, please work..." Callie whispered to herself before she hit it. Another mega star jumped out of the block.

"Yes!" Callie said. She turned to the others. "Guys, stand back!"

Callie grabbed the mega star. It vanished in her hands, and the effects of it kicked in rather quickly, making her a giant once more. The octotrooper stopped dead in its tracks, and Callie whacked it with her parasol, knocking it out and shrinking it back to normal. Callie then ran towards the sign, and shrank back down to her normal size once she approached it.

"Weird... This is in total gibberish..." Callie pointed out. The others caught up with her.

"Welp... this isn't the first gibberish sign we've seen." Marie said.

Thoreau, Boomer, and Slim flew over to the sign. While the pixls didn't have actual faces, they were still visibly confused.

"....Neewteb... ni.... llaf... sepip.... der... eht ? What's this writt'n in, Pig Latin?" Slim asked.

"Wait, this is written backwards!" Thoreau exclaimed, " It says Fall in between the red pipes!"

"Ya sure 'bout that?" Slim asked, "I'm pretty 'durn sure it says Neewteb ni llaf-"

"Hey, look! An exclamation mark block!" Boomer shouted, breaking up the argument between the two other pixls.

Marie hit the block Boomer was talking about, and a platform appeared under the door they had come from.

"Alright. That sign is definitely talking about the hole between those red pipes from earlier. Let's head back there." Marina said.

----------------------------------------

"Well, here we are." Marie said.

The group looked down the hole that was in between those two red pipes from earlier.

"... Well, what are we waiting for?" Thoreau asked.

"Oh, right." Marie responded. She jumped down the hole, and Marina, Callie, and the other pixls followed her shortly after.

The hole ended up leading to a dark underground area with dark blue bricked walls and flooring. There were blue blocks and pillars all over, matching the rest of the area.

"Everyone alright?" Marina asked.

"Yup." Callie answered.

"Good. Now let's go."

The group ran down the hallway, going around any pillars. It wasn't long before they spotted more hypnotized octolings, who spotted the group almost immediately. The octolings tried to attack the group, but they managed to dodge their attack. Marina smacked one with her brush, and Marie splatted another with her charger, breaking one of the floating blocks as well.

Seeing this, Marina realized something. She looked up at the ceiling.

"Wait, if that block was made of the same material the ceiling is made of...." Marina said. She turned to Marie. "Hey, can you fire a blast at the ceiling?"

"Um... Okay?" Marie answered, slightly confused. She aimed her charger at the ceiling and fired. A large chunk of the ceiling broke, but to the group's relief, nothing caved in. Besides, it seemed as if there was a shortcut just above the ceiling.

"Glorious day, a shortcut!" Thoreau rejoiced.

Marie and Marina super jumped through the hole, while Callie and the pixls flew after them. As it turns out, that hole lead to another hallway. It was darker, but it had no obstacles. The group ran down the dark hallway as fast as they could. At the end, they found three pipes lined up together.

".... Which one..?" Callie asked.

"Let's try that one." Marina said, pointing to the pipe in the middle.

With a little bit of hesitation, the group jumped down the pipe.

The pipe ended up leading them back above ground. The area was different from where they had been earlier, especially since there were stone towers and what looked like a castle in the distance.

"Weird." Marie said, "I wonder who built those- GET BACK!"

Marie shoved Marina and Callie directly behind the pipe, hiding them from whatever she was talking about. Marie ran behind the pipe as well.

"What's going on?" Callie whispered.

Marie, Callie and Marina peeked from behind the pipe. There was a whole army of hypnotized octarian soldiers ahead. However, they were facing towards the castle, not the pipe. Standing at the castle and actually facing the pipe were more octarians. However, judging by their clothing...

"Wait, the ones at the castle aren't under Bleck's control!" Marina whispered.

"Shh!"

One of Octavio's soldiers and one of Bleck's octarian soldiers walked over to each other.

"You know, we could easily end all of this if you would just listen to reason," The hypnotized octoling said, "Every world is going to die, so in a way, the void will spare your lives so long as you stay loyal to our cause and our Count. After all, he promises his minions a paradise to replace-"

"To hell with your so-called paradise!" the other octoling soldier responded, "You say we're the idiots who should listen to reason, but you're the ones who are literal puppets to this guy! We're serving Octavio under our free will, and I for one don't care if it's the last thing I do!"

"...Your tone makes it seem like you wish to fight us. Is that so?"

"If you guys really don't want to take no for an answer.... So be it."

Both octoling soldiers signals for their respective armies to attack. Not even a second went by, and both sides charged at their opposing side, almost as if a mass turf-war had broken out.

"Great. There's too many of them... How do we get across?" Marie asked.

"...I'll flip. We'll see if we can run around them unnoticed." Marina responded.

"Good. Let's pray Bleck didn't give them powers..."

Marina grabbed Callie and Marie's hands and flipped between world's. The pixls flipped after her, and once they did so, the group ran past the octarians as fast as they could. to their relief, they were unnoticed by both sides. Once reaching the main area of the castle, they looked around to check if there were any octarians still lingering around.

"I think... We're clear." Marina said. She flipped the trio back into reality, and the pixls followed.

"Hey, Look!" Slim said, pointing one of his triangles at an X mark on the castle wall.

A red X mark, to be specific.

"That Barry fella mentioned somethin' 'bout an X on the wall, right?" Slim finished.

"Yeah, but if those octolings that weren't brainwashed by Count Bleck stayed here, then..." Marina said.

"Wait, you don't think.... Octavio could be in there?" Callie asked.

"It's entirely possible." Marie added.

"Wait, who are we talking about?" Thoreau asked.

"Tyrannical ruler of the majority of the octoling population." Marina answered, "I should know... Well, if he is in here, we should probably either just avoid him entirely or- WAIT, BOOMER, DON'T!"

Boomer had placed himself directly in front of the red x mark, and his fuse was lit ablaze.

"Too bad!" Boomer shouted, "Sss....."

BANG!

Boomer exploded, shattering a large chunk of the wall into a million pieces. The castle itself was, thankfully, still intact. However, inside of the castle, there were two elite octoling soldiers standing guard on both sides of a throne. The one on the throne, however....

DJ Octavio, dumbfounded at what just happened.

"What the- Marie? Callie? MARINA?!" Octavio said.

".......Uh......" Marina said, audibly nervous, "......We can explain....."

".....Then start. Explaining."

There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Marie spoke up. "Okay, I know this situation is confusing, but we're going to need to know how you all got to this world." She said.

"How should I know?!" Octavio answered, "One second I'm about to get killed in some void-y black castle place, and the next thing I know, my army and I are all here. What the heck are you guys doing here?"

"Right. That..." Marina said, "Would you believe us if we said that Callie, Marie and I are... heroes of a... 1,500 year old prophecy?"

"I- what?" Octavio responded.

"Yeah, Marina and I were the only ones who weren't sucked into that portal for some reason." Marie added, "Someone else sent us to another world and explained everything, and now we have to collect eight pure hearts and defeat Count Bleck. Also, Callie and Marina have powers, and the one who sent us to that world got kidnapped. Oh, and apparently, the wedding between you and Callie was all part of a plan to summon an all-consuming inter-dimensional void, too."

"I'm not even gonna ask how you know about that," Octavio said, "But why the hell did you blow up my wall?"

"Our bomb has a mind of his own..." Callie answered, "Alright, one more question."

"If it's about the tattoo, we only had so many temporaries. That thing should fade in a couple more weeks."

"It's not about the tattoo. See, there are..." Callie paused for a second, "...There are four heroes mentioned in the Prognosticus, and-"

Marie and Marina turned to Callie. Was she seriously thinking about teaming up with....

"No." Octavio interrupted Callie, "Not happening. I'm not teaming up with you guys. Even if some prophecy said I had to, I can barely go anywhere as is. Now can you please leave me alone?!"

"Okay, Okay." Marina said, "We should really get going anyway."

Marina, Callie, and Marie turned around to leave the castle. However...

"Marie." Octavio said.

The group turned to face him.

"Can we talk? Alone?" he asked.

"......Sure." Marie answered. Marina and Callie exchanged worried glances before they, Thoreau, Boomer, and Slim exited the castle. Octavio signaled to the octoling soldiers guarding the throne, and they both went to another room in the castle.

"Okay.... What do you need to talk to me about?" Marie asked.

Octavio grabbed something laying in front of the throne.

"Take it."

Marie's jaw dropped when she realized what he was giving her.

A card just like the one that gave Marina and Callie powers.

"W-what?" Marie said, "Where did you get that?"

"Found it in the castle somewhere." Octavio answered, "I tried saying the stuff written on this thing, and nothing happened. I thought it was useless, but then you guys barged in here and told me about the whole prophecy and chosen one thing, and judging by your reaction to seeing the card, it's probably not useless."

"I..."

"Oh, and until this whole situation is over and done with... I'll have everyone else leave you guys alone. Don't get the wrong idea, though. I'm only doing this so you guys can save our skin. And don't say anything to the others about me giving you this thing; just tell 'em I was talking about the truce and that you found it on the floor or something."

"Right...." Marie said, "....Thank you."

-----------------------------------------

Marina stared off into the distance. The group wasn't too far from the castle, but the ocean could still be seen in the distance.

"Marina? Are you okay?" Callie asked.

"Oh, yeah." Marina answered, "I'm just wondering exactly how we'll be able to cross that ocean. You know, since-"

Marina stopped talking and turned around when she heard footsteps approaching her.

"Marie!"

"...Hey, guys." Marie said.

"Oh, hey! What did Octavio tell you?" Callie asked.

"...He's making sure his army stays out of our way." Marie answered, "...For the time being. He says he's only doing that to ensure the octarians survive. Oh, and..."

Marie held up the card.

"...I found this on the ground."

"No way!" Marina said, "One of those cards?"

"Apparently."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Read the phrase written on it!" Callie said, "Merlon said you're definitely one of the heroes, so..."

Marie paused. She looked at the card she was holding.

Flimmidy flammidy floom

Diggidy daggidy doom

Zibbidy zabbidy zoom

Shaboom

Sunpow

That was the phrase written on the card.

The first card said 'Flippow', and it gave Marina the ability to flip between worlds. The last one said 'Levipow', and Callie was given the power of flight.

"...This one says 'Sunpow'." Marie said, "You think if this works out..."

"Fire powers, maybe?" Marina added, "The sun is a star, and stars are like balls of fire, so..."

"Only one way to find out..."

Marie, with a little hesitation, whispered most of what the card read. She then held out the card in front of her.

"Shaboom.... SUNPOW!"

The card started to glow, and almost immediately after, it shattered into pieces. Those pieces spiraled around Marie. They flew onto Marie's body, and a bright light filled the area for a quick second before dimming.

"....Holy carp..." Marie said.

"...It worked!" Callie exclaimed, "Okay, okay, now let's see what you can do!"

Marie held out her arm, and both Marina and Callie ran behind her. Marie felt a little nervous. Who wouldn't be after having acquired an ability even they don't know? Nonetheless, Marie concentrated. Marina could've been right about fire abilities, so she mainly focused on that aspect.

And then she heard it. Crackling, popping, and her hand was a little warmer, too. Marie's eyes shot open.

As she had guessed... her hand was on fire.

"GAAH!"

The fire vanished the second Marie reacted. Surprisingly, she wasn't burnt. Maybe flame resistance was an additional power.

"Wait, what happened? I didn't see!" Callie said.

"...You guys might wanna see this..." Marie answered.

She pointed her index finger directly at the sky. She tried concentrating again. Sure enough, flames shot out of her finger, as if her hand were a mini-flamethrower. The flames subsided shortly after, and Marie turned to the others.

"....Fire powers." she said, "I just got fire powers."

Marina and Callie were visibly shocked.

"Marie...." Callie said.

She ran up to her cousin and hugged her tightly.

"You got new powers!" Callie and Marina both said at once.

(End of Chapter 9)

Chapter Text

After the events that occurred earlier, the New Squidbeak Splatoon made a most unlikely (albeit temporary) truce with Octavio and his army. With Marie having gained powers of her own, our heroes were more determined than ever to find and rescue Tippi.

As Marina walked ahead, she spotted something that made her briefly stop and stare.

"What is it, Marina?" asked Marie, as she turned to see the blue expanse ahead.

The great, glittering waves of the Tile Pool stretched as far as she could see. Fort Francis was somewhere across the water. However, even if the water was truly breathable, there was still a problem...

--------------------------------------------

"What do you mean, you can't swim?!" Thoreau shouted, "You said you guys are squids!"

"I know, but for some reason, most types of water causes inklings and octolings to dissolve." Marie responded.

"Well, how are we gonna cross? Sss... BLAMMO!" Boomer asked.

"Don't know." Callie answered, "I could fly us across, but I'm not sure if it's the safest since we could still get lost at sea..."

While the others were talking, Marina looked across the tile pool. In the distance, she could barely see the area across the ocean. She looked down at the water. If it was safe to inhale, then would it be safe to touch?

Marina, with a little hesitation, lightly dipped one of her tentacles into the water.

Nothing happened.

She dipped a little more. That small bit of her hair still didn't dissolve. She even tried a little bit of her finger, and she was still fine.

"Guys, the water's safe!" Marina said.

Everyone turned to Marina. To demonstrate, she dunked her hand into the water and took it out seconds later. Nothing bad happened.

"Phew, that's one problem solved." Marie said, "But can we actually breathe in there or is that just a thing that people from this world can do?"

Right after she said that, Slim flew into the ocean. Seconds later, he flew back out.

"Yepper, water's breathable!" Slim announced.

"Wait, how do you know? Slim, pixls don't even need to breathe." Thoreau pointed out.

While Slim didn't have shoulders, it seemed like he shrugged.

Marina, Callie, and Marie stared at the water. After a few seconds... they jumped in the ocean.

The area underwater got deep fairly quickly. There were blocky coral reefs surrounding the area, as well as rocks floating between the surface and the ocean floor and large strands of seaweed.

"Wow... This place is pretty..." Callie said.

"Yeah..." Marie responded, "... Hey, we are breathing underwater!"

"And we're still in one piece." Marina added.

The group gazed across their watery path. With no other option, they swam forward.

The scenery was beautiful, even with the pixelated motif. There were fish swimming around, several chunks of stone, short tunnels, and even some squid-like creatures (not inkings) here and there.

"You know, all this swimming is kinda..." Callie said, "How do I say this... uneventful?"

"Well, at least we haven't come across any bad guys." Marie responded, "...Huh?"

Marie stopped and noticed something: Six yellow pillars in two lines of three. Right above the pillars, there was a large stone bobbing just below the surface.

"What the..." She said.

"You know, I feel like those pillars might be important later." Marina pointed out, "As for the rock..."

Marina flipped between worlds, wondering if anything useful would reveal itself in 3D. Next thing she knew, a large chunk of the rock vanished, revealing that it was not only hollow, but had a pipe inside. She flipped back.

"Find anything?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, there's a pipe in the rock!" Marina said, pointing to that rock.

Marina grabbed Callie and Marie's hands and flipped again. The group then swam to the rock and down the pipe.

The pipe ended up leading the group to a cave-like area. The path stretched far ahead, but the minimal lighting made it unclear as to how far. The group swam ahead.

"Whoa..." Callie said in awe, "Pretty..."

"Isn't that what you said when we first got here?" Marie asked.

"Well it's true! The darkness gives this dramatic-"

Callie stopped talking when she felt something touch her back.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Everyone else turned around and immediately figured out what caused Callie to scream like that; a giant, white squid tentacle was wrapping itself around her!

"CALLIE!"

Marie immediately punched the tentacle as hard as she could, her fist engulfed in flames as she did so. The tentacle sank back into the hole it came from.

"Wait, how did I... We're underwater!" Marie asked.

"Don't question it yet- let's go!" Marina cried.

The group swam ahead as fast as they could, hoping they wouldn't be attacked by another one of those tentacle things.

At one point, they reached a cave-like area above the water, and halted their retreat there.

"...Phew.... I think we lost it..." Marina said though tired breaths, "...Hm?"

The group looked at the wall of the cave, and noticed a drawing on the wall. It wasn't realistic by any means, but there was no denying what the area it was depicting was- the area with the yellow pillars from earlier. However, some of them were almost entirely buried in the sand.

"Hey, those pillar-post-whatchumucallet things!" Slim exclaimed.

"I wonder what the image is implying." Marina said, "Do we have to do something to the ones that-"

Suddenly, Thoreau rocketed out of the water.

"Guys, I found a pipe- ooh, what's this?" He said.

"Well, we think it's a clue." Marie answered, "And what were you doing that lead you to the pipe in question?"

"... Took a wrong turn..."

Marie sighed. "Alright, let's see if we can get to the pipe in question."

----------------------------------------------

The pipe Thoreau was talking about ended up leading the group to a long tunnel not submerged in the ocean water.

"You know, after being underwater for so long, it kinda feels weird to... not be underwater." Callie pointed out.

"Yeah." Marina responded.

The group ran to the other end of the tunnel, wondering just what it lead to. They didn't have to run that far at all, as the tunnel curved downwards into another body of water.

"...And back to underwater." Marie said before jumping in. Callie, Marina, and the rest of the pixls followed.

The tunnel continued to stretch onwards, even though it was underwater. The tunnel wasn't that small, so the girls could've walked, but due to the underwater setting, swimming was much more efficient.

They didn't have to swim much longer, either; there was a rainbow door at the end of the tunnel.

I wonder where all this swimming will lead us in the end... Marina thought as she opened the door

On the other side, there was a bigger, water-filled room, with a few weird-looking fish and squids swimming around.

"What the... what are those things?" Callie asked. She turned to the other pixls for help, only to remember that Tippi wasn't there...

"Hold on, I think I know what they are!" Boomer said, "Those green fish things are cheep cheeps, and I think those are bloopers! Sss- KABOOM!"

"So what do we have to do, beat these guys to get some-" Marie tried to say. However, her sentence was cut short by the sound of metal parts moving

There was a set of iron bars blocking the door that lead them here.

"Oh, no no NO!" Callie cried, "We're stuck..."

"There has to be someway- Hold on." Marina said, "Marie, I think you were on to something."

"... About beating them to get something?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, I think if we beat these guys, we'll find a clue!"

"Well then," Marie responded, "Let's go!"

Two of the cheep cheeps tried charging at Callie, who whacked them with her parasol in defense. One of them was sent flying towards Marina, who kicked it towards Marie, who, in turn, scorched it and the surrounding enemies

Before anyone could comment, a chest appeared at the back of the room. One big enough to house a pixl.

"Called it!" Marie said.

"Wait... this looks like one of those chests with a pixl in it." Marina pointed out, "What if..."

She then swam toward the chest.

Sure enough, a pixl flew out from the chest. This one looked like a blue weight.

"...Don't scare me like that..." Marina said, "... But who are you?"

"Name's Thudely, and in case you ain't heard, I throw a lot of girth around these parts." The pixl, Thudley, explained, "And I'm gonna check you guys out to make sure you got the weight to hang with me."

Thudley flew to Callie.

"Alright. Let's start with you." He said to Callie. After a brief examination, he continued, "Sheesh! That outfit's not even kinda girthy! The tattoo's cool, but you're only getting 65 girth points from that."

"Points?" Callie asked, missing the point. Thudley flew to Marina.

"All right, I gotta check your girthiness next!" He said to Marina, "...... Oooh! There's definitely somethin' about you that screams 'determined to save who knows what'! What's more girthy than that! Also lovin' the outfit- You get 150 girth points!"

"Thanks!" Marina said. Thudley finally flew over to Marie.

"Girth check on you coming up!" He told Marie. Not long after he said that, he had a look of awe on his face. "WHOA! LOOK AT THIS GIRL! Look her up in the dictionary and she's the definition of GIRTH! BAM.... 10,000 GIRTH POINTS!"

"... I'll... Take that as a compliment?" Marie said.

"Your girthitude combined is blowing my mind!" Thudley exclaimed, "There's no getting around it! You got heavy like I've never seen before! Any fool gets in your way, and you just HAVE to girth them up! Love it! Smash and SQUISH those lightweights! You're goin' places with girth like that, and I wanna come for the ride! With our girths combined, nobody can stop us!"

Thudley glanced at the barred door.

"... But you gotta get us out of this room first. And I know just how to do it." He nudged Marie, "Swim to a little above that post, and I'll work my girthy magic from there."

"...Okay?" Marie responded. She swam just above the pillar, Thudley following her.

"See, with our girth combined, you're able to do..." Thudley said. He performed a side flip...

... And Marie, despite being underwater, plummeted downwards, slamming into the pillar, which thus pounded it into the ground. Not only did Marie remain uninjured, but the iron bars vanished.

"That, which I call the ground pound!" Thudley finished.

"Holy carp..." Marie said. She then realized something.

"Those pillars from before, that illustration from earlier... of course!"

----------------------------------------

"... And that one!" Marina said.

Thudley did a side flip again, causing Callie to ground pound onto one of the six pillars from before, forcing it into the ground.

"Well, that's the combination, now what?" Marie asked.

Right on cue, a rainbow door appeared between the two rows of three pillars.

"Looks like that's what!" Callie said.

Marina opened the door, and the group swam through.

On the other side, there was another wide expanse with blocky coral, seaweed, and even a sunken ship. There were holes all over the ground and, most notably, a few monstrous fish swimming around.

"What the heck..." Marina said.

"Just swim, maybe they won't notice us..." Callie said.

"... Good point. If we attack them, no doubt they'll fight back."

The girls kept swimming ahead, trying to avoid the monstrous fish. While doing so, they noticed that there was more and more wreckage the farther they went. With this and Barry's warning from earlier, this was clearly a bad sign...

Which was made worse by the fact that a group of those fish swiftly turned to the group's direction. The fish swam to the girls.

"Crud!" Marie said.

Before they could get any closer...

"BLOOOP!"

The voice of an unfamiliar creature echoed throughout the tide pool. The monstrous fish swam away as fast as they could.

"What was that?" Marina cried

"BLUH-BLOOOOP!" the creature's voice boomed again.

Suddenly, the area shook violently. The ground below the group split open, and out came a monstrous blooper. It was so huge the top of it's head was above the surface.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" Callie shouted.

"Bloobloobloobloop!" The blooper shouted.

"What's it saying?!" Marina asked.

"My blooper is a little rusty..." Thudley answered, "Something about a sandwich... But I'm pretty sure it won't let us get any further without a fight!"

Without hesitation, the blooper reached out one of it's tentacles in an attempt to hit the group. They barely dodged the swing.

"What do we do?" Callie asked.

"Use your weapons! You haven't touched them this whole time! Sss... KAPOW!" Boomer said.

"We can't, the ink'll just get watered down and pollute the water!" Marie said.

"Well, if ink won't do..." Another blue tentacle reached out at the group's direction. Boomer flew right at it and exploded when he got close enough.

"Thanks, Boo- MMPH!"

Before she could finish, a red tentacle wrapped itself around Marie. The blooper tried to drag her down, but Marie burned it with her fist. The blooper let go rather quickly, and seemed to cry out in pain.

"Phew...."

"Hold up, it just said something like 'anywhere else but there'..." Thudley pointed out "... Alright, people- nowhere else but there!"

The blooper tried to grab Marie again, this time with a blue tentacle, only for her to dodge the attack. It then managed to grab Marina by the legs, but she quickly switched into her octopus form before it could drag her down. A third tentacle was headed in Callie's direction, so she quickly opened her parasol and shielded herself from the blow, even though she was knocked back a bit.

Finally, the Blooper raised another red tentacle. It tried to grab Callie again, but she whacked it with her parasol as hard as she could. The blooper yelped in pain.

"Yes!" Callie exclaimed.

"These things usually have three phases. I think we're almost done here!" Marina pointed out.

Another tentacle was headed straight for Marina, but she managed to evade the attack. It tried to attack Marie next, only for her to scorch it again.

"Nice!" Callie said.

"Thanks!" Marie replied, "On your right!"

Callie swiftly turned to her right. Another tentacle was headed her way! Callie blocked it with her parasol again, but the knock back caused her to accidentally crash into Marie.

"Oof!"

"Sorry!"

Finally, the red tentacle reached out towards the group.

Marina grabbed Thoreau and, using his ability, threw Boomer at the tentacle, and he exploded on impact.

"BLOO-ooop!" The blooper wailed before finally sinking back into the depths of the ocean.

"THAT LAST MOVE WAS SIMPLY AMAZING!" Thoreau cried.

"We gotta do that more often! Sss-BANG!" Boomer said.

"Agreed!" Marie said.

Marina, before she could contribute to the conversation, noticed a pipe not too far from where the blooper was.

"Alright, let's keep going." She said.

The group approached the pipe and swam in.

After all that swimming, the group finally found themselves on the surface.

"Whew, we made it!" Callie said.

"Ah... Never thought it'd be this cold.... or... dark?" Marina said, realizing that it was just a little darker than she remembered it being.

The group then looked up.

The darkness wasn't natural.

They were in the shadow of a ginormous tree.

(End of Chapter 10)