Welcome to the Octonauts

Chapter 1

It had been a normal day in the octopod. Or, as close to "normal" that the octopod would get. There had been a short mission regarding a boat of fishers fishing illegally in the ocean, but that was quickly resolved when they realized that the fishermen had just gotten lost and thought that they were in the bounds of the area where they could legally fish. So, most of the day was spend in an unknown, yet welcome calm. Well, except for Kwazii, who was out in the Gup-B, just driving around the ocean and having fun. The vegimals were baking cookies with Shellington, Dashi on a video call with her family, Tweak just out running the board walk on the beach that was near where the octopod was sitting. Peso was scrapbooking in his room, Professor Inkling calmly relaxing while listening to his old records in the library. Captain Barnacles had spent most of the day calling his family, talking to his niece and nephew before chatting with his sister Bianca about how things were going for the both of them and plans to get together for the holidays. After that, he checked in with Professor Natquik. He was currently walking towards the post office where the octopod's P.O box was. He was smiling as he replayed bits and pieces of the calls he had made earlier that day in his head. He walked into the post office, unlocking the box and reaching into it to see if there was anything in there. He grabbed whatever mail he felt, and pulled his arm out. He saw a plastic amazon package, most likely the books that Professor Inkling had ordered. He also saw a few letters and whatnot. He flipped through them, briefly skimming the fronts to see what they were.

"Junk mail, letter for Kwazii, junk mail, junk mail, postcard for Tweak," he mumbled as he flipped through the envelopes. Then something caught his eye. He saw an envelope with both a name and a return address he had never seen before. He read the front of the envelope, seeing it was from someone named Laurel Pines. It was addressed to "Captain Barnacles and Crew." The captain could only wonder what it was, but he decided he would open it when he got back to the octopod. He grabbed everything and slowly headed back to the Gup-A. He started up the engine, going under water and into the octo-hatch. He gave Kwazii and Tweak their mail, both of the octonauts had just recently gotten back from their adventures. He threw out the junk mail, and gave the professor his new books. Then he turned his attention to the mysterious letter on the kitchen countertop. He didn't have the slightest idea what it could be. Well, he had one idea. A little over a month ago, the octonauts that taking their operations onto land meant they would need more help, since Shellington was a marine biologist. The crew had been getting a lot more attention from the public and media lately. Interviews about their work and why they do what they do led from one thing to the next, and now they were even getting federal funding. Being on T.V made it a lot easier to tell people they were looking for a biologist. So, getting his hopes up, Captain Barnacles hoped that this letter was an answer to their call. Tweak and Peso noticed their Captain staring blankly at an unopened envelope, and exchanged a look.

"You okay cap?" Tweak asked, looking over his shoulder to see what he was holding. She saw a letter in his hands, and read the return address and name. She looked up at her captain's confused expression, and looked back down at the envelope. "Anyone you know?" She asked.

"Nope. Should I open it?" Barnacles asked the rabbit. He planned on opening it anyways, but he decided to asked Tweak for the fun of it.

"Don't see why not." She shrugged as she turned around to go sit back down before Peso stole her seat. The penguin could be rather mean when he wanted to be. The polar bear used one of his claws to tear open the envelope, unfolding the pieces of paper. A small something fell out of the papers as the captain unfolded them. He bent down to pick it up, seeing a small piece of film, around 2 inches by 3.5 inches. It was a photo from a Polaroid camera. He saw a wolf, looking like a girl in her early twenties. She was facing the camera, like she had been holding the camera up and in front of her. She was wearing a purple basketball jersey under her unzipped sweatshirt, and she had a beanie on her head. She looked really happy. Captain Barnacles wondered why she would send a photo of herself to them. He knew that they were on the news a ton now, but he was rather sure that she didn't know any of them. He set the photo down on the counter and grabbed the unfolded papers. He slowly read them over, his smile growing bigger and bigger with each sentence he read. At the back of the two-page letter, he saw another three pieces of paper. The first with a copy of the girl's high school diploma, the second a copy of her bachelor's degree, and the third being a copy of her master's. The captain ran down to the library to go talk to Professor Inkling.