Edward hit the ground hard, knocking him out. As he slowly came to, he was greeted with the sight of Marina’s face and to the sound of her voice, begging him to be ok. Upon realizing her son has awakened, Marina told Pearl the good news. “Pearl! Edward’s awake!” She said, happy. Marina helped the younger octoling to his feet. Once the boy could stand on his own, Marina pulled the boy into a hug, holding him tightly. Edward quickly felt uneasy, breaking free from the embrace. He saw how Marina looked once he did so, but she quickly composed herself, as if knowing that she was pushing boundaries. Edward glanced at Pearl and saw that she was an actual inkling now. “Um…hey look! I’m back to normal. Marina worked some magic and bam! I’m back!” Pearl said, trying to change the subject as fast as possible. Marina cleared her throat and spoke as she opened her laptop. “I’m really, really sorry. It was the dramatic days in Orderland module that got you stuck like that…and other things.” The older octoling said. “Dramatic what?” Pearl asked, confused by the statement. Marina explained that the space they were in was called the memverse, a virtual reality she made. adding that the only real things were their minds. She continued that the cloud they saw earlier was called “Order,” which took control of Marina and caused the reality to be messed up. Following that, countless people’s minds were sent to the memverse.
From out of nowhere, Acht came into view. “So is that how I got here?” She asked. “Acht…I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to be roped into this.” Marina apologized.
“It’s fine. Right now, we have bigger fish to fry, like how to get out of here.” The sanitized octoling said. “Right. We have to do something about order.” Marina said, composing herself. “Order’s ultimate goal is a colorless world where order reigns supreme, a world where no one can think for themselves, they just do as they’re told, day in, day out. They’re using the memverse to make that dream a reality.”
“Wait a minute.” Pearl said. “If Order get’s what it wants, who cares! The memverse isn’t real right? Wouldn’t the real world stay…as the real world?” The others could tell by Marina’s expression of sheepishness that there was a flaw in Pearl’s logic. “Ehhhh…about that…Order’s using a process it calls Grayscaling to get rid of the will of everyone in the memverse.” She said. “So…if someone goes through grayscaling, their real mind would be affected also?” Acht asked, trying to see if she understood what Marina was saying. “Yeah. Anyone who goes through Grayscaling will lose their will in reality too.” Marina confirmed. “Order’s plan is to pull everyone into the memverse so that it can control all of them. If we don’t stop it, everyone will lose their will, and life as we know it will come to an end!”
“Aw shell nah! Not on our watch!” Pearl exclaimed. “Again, I’m so sorry for all this…” Marina said, clearly regretting her actions. “Nah, I know you had good reasons for making the memverse.” The short inkling said. “If that creep tried to hijack your work, it’ll regret even trying!” Pearl then turned to face the tower, a confident look on her face. “We’re gonna kick that creep out together!” She shouted as she pointed at the tower. The group all looked to where she was pointing, all understanding their next move. Edward’s mind, however, was on other things. Could he really work with Marina again, after everything? He knew the older octoling trusted him. Why? He has no idea, and probably so does Marina, but in any case, the only way out of this mess is to work with Marina and Pearl.
And hope that he can forgive himself for what he’s done before it’s too late.
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