Octonauts OneShots (Mostly Dashi)

On Land...

Tweak sighed and collapsed into a chair in the HQ. She was really tired. "I remember when I didn't have to do this all the time." She muttered, mostly to herself. "Hmmm." That was as close to a agreement as she was going to get from Shellington, who was dozing with his head on the dashboard. Kwazii sat at the table, staring into space and the Captain and Peso were surveying the maps on the screens. Dashi was in her usual spot, but her shoulders were slumped. Min was pacing. 

"The time when we weren't crumpling into chairs after nearly falling down a chasm and almost getting crushed by unbearable pressure and colossal tons of water," Dashi mumbled sleepily. "At two in the morning." 

"Ah, the times we had on land!" Kwazii said dramatically, coming out of his trance abruptly. 

"You know what I miss most about it?" Peso yawned. "Sledding and then going home and taking a nice long nap." 

"Nap..." Shellington snored. "We could take a nap now?" Dashi suggested halfheartedly. "It's already morning." The Captain said. "We'll rough it through today and get to bed early tonight." 

"Y'know, I never did get around to exploring the Grand Canyons." Min said, changing the subject. "I hear it's beautiful, though. You just don't get the same feel you do when your underwater." Her last words were a bit wistful. 

"None of us would give up our lives now for the world, (Okay, maybe if the world was at stake but that's not the point!) but I think we all have things we miss about living on land." Professer Inkling had emerged from the library, where he was journaling the terrifying experience they'd just had. 

"Didn't you like, teach E-E-English at some college for people less adventurous than us?" Tweak failed to stifle a yawn, hence the stutter. "I was an English professer, but I always dreamed of coming back to the ocean. Now here though, I do often find myself thinking of what it was like up there. Many more books." He said thoughtfully. "You do love your books, Professer." The Captain laughed. 

"Well," Kwazii said, "My favorite part about land was the 7/11 on the corner of my street. I would go and read comic books (About pirates, of course) and eat candy all day! Ah, good times." "That's the second time you've said 'Ah' in ten minutes. If you want Peso to give you a checkup, you could just ask, you know." Dashi pointed out, still looking half-asleep. Kwazii ignored her.

"I used to work as a clerk auto-repair shop. That was before I got into college and started training to be a full-time engineer. There was this mural thingy someone had graffitied on the side of the shop, with a lot of super bright colors showing women doing awesome stuff, and it had messages saying stuff like 'Girls can do anything!' and 'Careful! I can kick your butt like a girl.' It was cool!" Tweak said. "Sisters, unite!" Min said, grinning. "Female empowerment rocks." Dashi mumbled, her eyes almost completely closed.  

"There used to be this awesome museum next to my university that showed all sorts of cool chemistry models!" Shellington reflected. Min, who was standing in front of him and hadn't noticed that he'd woken up, jumped. Dashi, who although very obviously tired, seemed to have something to say about everyone's comments, actually sat up and said, "I didn't know you were interested in making things blow up correctly instead of just bore-ology!" (Professer Inkling looked very confused and Peso had to quietly explain 'bore-ology' was actually Dashi's views on biology.)

"My favorite thing on land is definitely snow," Captain Barnacles said, "But I do remember that my favorite activities were always the ones having to do with the Polar Bear Scouts." "Aye, Captain, you talk about your Polar-Scouting days a lot!" Kwazii chimed in. 

"But," Min exclaimed, "We love the ocean just as much as before!" "Hear, hear," Inkling chuckled. 

"You know what I miss about land?" Dashi announced, staring dejectedly at her empty coffee cup, "Starbucks."