The Octonauts and the Random Role Reversal

Chapter Six

BWAHH-BWAAAAHH-BWAHH!!

Dashi jolted straight upright in bed, staring somewhat dumbly at the blinking screen on the wall, the OctoAlert flashing orange. It was by no means the first time she had been woken for a nighttime mission before, but it took her a moment to wake up properly, to remember her temporary room was blue, not pink, to remember where she was in her own ship.

Her eyes widened further as she finally focused on the screen, seeing the bewildered faces of her crew waking from sleep themselves, woozily awaiting instructions that she was expecting to hear herself.

Oh yeah - I'm the Captain, aren't I?

"Octonauts," she uttered, quickly realising she had no idea where that sentence was going when she started it. "To the - Launch Bay?"

She had apparently remembered to turn on the microphone this time around, as she heard various moans and sighs as people tried to maintain any degree of consciousness, unsurprisingly not that easy at 2am. Dashi patted down messy strands of hair and pulled her captain's hat over it, while staring out of her window at the sleepy waters outside. It was fairly unfamiliar, they had spent the last afternoon exploring just the reef down on the sea floor and having a fairly slow day, with no more missions called to their attention. She should have known that it wouldn't last.

It was Kwazii that was waiting for her as she rushed down to the Launch Bay, the engineer first to reach the meeting point as the alert continued to blare overhead. "Did you sound the OctoAlert?" Dashi asked breathlessly as she sidestepped Shellington flying, limbs typically akimbo, out of the OctoChute beside her.

"Uh huh." Kwazii fought to hide a yawn, the cat's eyes bleary and blinking away recent sleep. He gestured to the Launch Bay, to the small door found underneath the Bubble Engine. "There was a knock a couple of minutes ago, and there was a bunch of creatures out there. They look real worried, matey."

Four or five fish bobbed up to the surface of the Launch Bay, as if on cue, as it was Barnacles' turn to slip out of the OctoChute and Tweak slid deftly down the ladder, like she had done many times before. Dashi counted two herring, a salmon, a hermit crab and another squid, similar in looks to their new friend Susie that they had met yesterday. As Kwazii had noted, they looked stressed out about something or other. She knew the feeling.

The Octonauts gathered at the screen as the engineer finally deactivated the OctoAlert, Dashi giving the nod to Kwazii to explain their situation.

"These guys say that they live in a reef near an ocean trench not far from here," the cat started.

Tweak tapped at the dashboard and brought up the map of the area, zooming in on a dark zigzag that revealed itself to be a trench. "He's right. There's one a couple of miles from here."

"That's next to the reef we visited yesterday," Dashi pointed out.

"But they're saying that it's - well -" Kwazii frowned.

The fish cut him off with three or four voices all at once.. "Making really strange creaking/thumping/roaring noises!" they clamored, each helpfully choosing a different adjective.

Barnacles hmmed to himself, paw to chin. "Well, we've had a lot of incidents with hearing roaring noises before."

"The question is, what's making it this time?" Dashi finished.

The bunny shrugged. "Shellington, even though you're definitely not the scientist on this crew, do trenches usually make strange noises in the dead of night?"

Shellington gave a deer-in-the-headlights look not helped by his floppy tartan nightcap. ""Don't ask me."

"Please come check it out!" begged one of the herring. "It might be a monster!"

Kwazii brightened. "Ooh, a monster! I bet it's..."

"Not the time," Dashi hurried to cut him off. 

The cat grinned good-naturedly. "A whale?" he guessed, looking innocent. "What did you think I was going to say?"

Tweak kicked him, and he yelped.

"Okay." Dashi struggled to stay calm, to breathe. "Okay, we need to -"

"- check it out?" Barnacles prompted her.

She nodded gratefully. "Yes. Let's go down there, take a look around."

"Thank you!" chorused the fish as one, impatiently swimming around in circles.

"Right, Kwazii, prepare the Gups A, B and E, please."

The cat paused, scanning the dashboard. "On it, Dashi," he responded, before tentatively pulling a lever and waiting for the actual engineer to dive for it.

It was tricky, but Tweak managed to swallow it down, smiling as sweetly as she was able even when Kwazii had just activated the overhead fans.

The next lever, luckily, did it, and Dashi was too distracted to notice the pause before the three Gups rose up in the water, bobbing to the surface. Kwazii, fur rippling from the accidental fan, exhaled just a little.

Dashi, Peso and Tweak opted for the Gup A - it was still very weird, not seeing the usual polar bear at the wheel of his favourite Gup - while Barnacles commandeered the medic vehicle. Kwazii, on autopilot, made it halfway into the Gup, then jolted as he realised he wasn't the lieutenant any longer.

Tweak waved just as sweetly from the Gup A. "You're staying home, Kwaz. Welcome to the life of an engineer."

He scowled at her, crossing his arms moodily and leaning against the dashboard, probably activating some other hidden function. "I know, I know."

The sea otter was hovering, indecision scribbled across his face.

"You should go in the Gup B," Dashi informed Shellington, a tiny smile on her face.

Shellington gulped, his gaze drifting to the innocently bobbing Gup in the Launch Bay. It seemed to grin at him, leering just a little. He had never dared (or been allowed to) drive the Gup B before.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" both Kwazii and Tweak wondered simultaneously, before casting evil looks at one another.

Barnacles chuckled at the strained look on the new captain's face as she looked from one to the other a little helplessly. She could enjoy having to keep these two from each other's throats, it was a fun challenge day to day as a captain.

Shellington looked meaningfully at Dashi. "Yes. Are you sure it's a good idea?"

The dachshund tried out a smile. "Yes?" she replied, which was a lie. She didn't feel sure of much any more.

The lieutenant gulped and stepped somewhat tremulously into the open Gup B, plopping himself down into the driver's seat and gripping the wheel as tightly as he possibly could. Dashi crossed her fingers behind her back.

"Can we go?" one of the herrings whined, losing patience with the jittery crew.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Dashi murmured, raising her voice. "C'mon, crew, let's ship out!"

The Gups A and E shot from the Launch Bay, and with a little hesitation the shark Gup followed it, a little too enthusiastically for its driver's liking.

Somewhat reluctantly, Kwazii pulled down the lever to open the OctoHatch. "Just be careful, matey," he murmured to an empty bay, blissfully unaware that he was echoing the exact words of Tweak many times before, when he had sped out in his favourite Gup, unheeding of her words of warning as usual.