The Octonauts and the Random Role Reversal

Chapter Thirteen

The entire ship held their breath for a nerve-racking ten seconds as the ship shook violently and shot straight up into the air from a standing start. Tweak, forgetting her role entirely, jumped straight into the water and swum down out of sight to keep an eye on the straining bubble engine. "C'mon, Octopod, you can do it!" called Kwazii.

The entire Launch Bay cheered as the Octopod shot up and cleared the chasm, only scraping a pod or two against the cracking rocky edge before it was free. "Peso, you did it!"

Peso wiped his brow with a flipper before collapsing down on a spinning chair in the HQ. Phew. 

"And not a moment too soon!" Shellington said, pointing a paw dramatically at the screen, which showed the sight below them. The trailing rift screeched its displeasure and slammed shut with an explosion of bubbles and rock. 

"That was way too close," summarised Dashi, finally letting overwhelming relief take her over, suddenly feeling a little weak at the knees.

Inkling smiled serenely from his usual spot as everyone chattered and recovered from the recent panic. "So? How did everyone get on with the rules?"

The Octonauts shifted collectively. "It's possible we all gave each other a little help along the way..." Barnacles said slowly. "Only a few hints, that is. But everyone reacted admirably, I thought."

"Which was entirely the point, of course."

The crew stared at the octopus, who grinned. "You all appreciate each other's roles a lot more now, I'm guessing?" he said with unmistakeable amusement in his voice. "Nothing like a crisis to show you what vital roles you all play - and working together even when you're out of your comfort zone."

Peso shot out of the Octochute and careered to a halt, crossing his flippers beside the two Captains. "Can we please return to normal, now, please?" he asked in a small voice. "I have a lot of patients to take care of."

Inkling looked around at the other Octonauts. "What does everyone else think?"

The response was instantaneous. "Yes."

"Completely."

"I have a lot of fixing up to do," Tweak said, pulling a face. "I'd rather Kwazii didn't get his paws anywhere near my Bubble Engine."

"And I'd rather Shellington stuck to driving the less speedy Gups."

"Hear hear!"

Dashi was the last to answer. "Yes," she said quietly. "I enjoyed it, but I couldn't do that every day."

"I disagree," Barnacles said warmly, putting a paw on her shoulder. "You handled it very well, Dashi."

Inkling smiled. "You all did. Even as an experiment, perhaps a role reversal isn't such a bad idea to do more regularly."

"Hmm - we'll see," Captain Barnacles chuckled, seeing the expressions change immediately on his crew's faces and intervening before anyone else could. "Peso, do you need a hand in the Sick Bay? I'm actually getting quite good at bandaging now!"

* * *

Later on, in the HQ in the low light, the crew gathered to sip hot chocolate and finally relax after a very long couple of days. Everyone had fallen quiet, exhaustion finally taking over after their 2am start. Peso had released half of the population of the trench from his medical care after giving everyone a thorough check up, although the Sick Bay was still rammed full of chattering creatures, recounting the day's events to ever more increasing scales. Barnacles had promised to find them a new home first thing in the morning, as soon as they had all had a good night's sleep.

"So, Kwazii, how did you like being the ship's engineer for a couple of days?" Tweak asked sweetly, a grin coming to her face as she watched indecision battle across the cat's face. "Surprisingly hard work, wasn't it?"

He folded his arms and scowled. "Maybe just a little. But you didn't run out of air - because of me! Well - me and Tunip, anyway. I managed, didn't I?"

"Oh, tha's right, is it, me hearty?" queried Tweak in a truly terrible impression of the pirate.

Kwazii's mouth dropped open in mock horror. "You wouldn't - !"

"Shiver me whiskers!"

Kwazii screwed up his face and quoted Tweak back in a Southern American drawl. "Shiver me carrots!"

"That was not me," she argued, going on the defensive immediately.

"Well whatever that voice was wasn't me!"

"Was too."

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

Barnacles and Dashi exchanged a knowing look, before beginning to laugh. Barnacles had to admit, despite the role's occasional shortfalls, he had missed being captain, and an exhausted Captain Dashi was just ready for a long lie down in a darkened, preferably pink room.

A/N) The end! Hope you enjoyed and thanks for all the comments which reminded me to finally post this story I wrote a few years ago...