Octonauts WHAT IF

Introduction

The Captain rode the elevator up to HQ. Last night had been the first good sleep the Captain had enjoyed in a long time. The water was a beautiful shade of rose--the sunrise had been late that day--and the Octopod was already in full swing. Dashi and Shellington had obviously had a late night together, by the way they were giggling and yawning at their places at the computer, and Tweak appeared to be sleeping in. All regular, except for the Dashi and Shellington bit. What had they been doing last night? Did the Captain want to know?

"You're awesome Shel," Dashi laughed.

"Your programming," the sea otter argued back.

"Your science theories," his girlfriend teased.

"Your calculations," countered the scientist.

"Your idea," Dashi said with a sense of triumph and finality.

"Okay Dashi, you got me on that one." Shellington leaned over and kissed Dashi on the cheek.

"What's going on?" the Captain asked them somewhat hesitantly. What did a late night together have to do with programming, calculations and science theories? "And... What were you two doing together last night?"

Dashi giggled. The Captain frowned.

"It's okay Captain, we were working on a little... science project."

"Which is?" the polar bear said with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Shellington found a way to tap in to alternate realities. Well, some of them. I filled in the rest with an AI simulation that replicated the fall of events."

The Captain breathed out. Try as he might, he had no idea what Dashi just said. But he was relieved that the crewmates hadn't been... naughty last night. 

"Alternate realities?" the Captain wondered aloud.

"Oh, they're all very similar, except maybe an event or two is omitted. See, this is one where everything happened the same as ours, but that one crocodile never made its way to the Antarctic. What was his name? Oh yes Saltie," Dashi said, thinking of the Octopod's rather aggressive guest.

"That, in turn, affects the rest of the timeline," Shellington continued.

"How? He was just another creature, just another mission."

"Yes, but if it hadn't been for all the temperature changing aboard the Octopod, the hot cocoa machine wouldn't have broken all week, which means that Tweak and Kwazii would have gotten up so early, which means they would've had time for a quick game of table tennis before breakfast, which means they would've bonded over the competitive sport, which means they would've have organised another time, which means they would've fallen in love and get married and their kids would've existed," Shellington said, writing down some data from Dashi's tablet. "All of this happened in this alternate reality. They have four kids."

"Woah," the Captain said. "Tweak and Kwazii won't fall in love in our reality because a saltwater crocodile drifted too far from home?"

"Yup," Dashi nodded. "Of course, there could always be another way for them to fall in love," she said with a smirk.

"Touché," nodded Shellington. "Some would say they already have." He nodded to Tweak and Kwazii, who were chatting avidly as they rode the lift up.

"What's all the commotion about?" Tweak asked casually.

"Yeah," agreed Kwazii. "I'm dead certain I heard my name."

The Captain thought for a few moments.

"You'll see in a bit. I have an idea. Shellington, sound the Octoalert!  Octonauts, to the games pod!"

***

Once all the Octonauts had arrived in the aforementioned rendezvous location, Shellington and Dashi stood up holding hands. 

"Last night Dashi and I figured something out. We are now able to track the multiverse!"

Silence, except for enthusiastic clapping from Inkling, who apparently knew exactly what Shellington was talking about.

"You might need to simplify it for them," whispered Dashi.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. We can now see what happens in alternate realities, and we can find realities where different events did or did not happen. These ultimately can affect the timeline, giving very different results to those of our universe."

"What you caught us talking about earlier," Dashi said with a sly glance at Tweak. "Was a universe where Tweak and Kwazii got up one morning to play table tennis, and fell in love."

Immediately the two of them blanched.

"Don't worry," Shellington chuckled. "We won't go through that one in close detail. Not much happens except for a late night adventure to a shipwreck."

"Now that sounds like something mateys."

"It was, really. You took Tweak out on a date."

Kwazii froze, realising his mistake.

"Well... uh ha ha... I suppose it's an adventurous date? Let's... Let's move on."

"Couldn't agree more," affirmed Shellington. "Given that we're all sort of on unofficial break, we thought it would be a great idea to flick through some of the realities, to learn a bit more about the impact of our actions."

Tunip chittered and ran back to the kitchen.

"Um, Tunip has provided popcorn. Thanks Tunip."

Shellington nodded to Dashi, who connected her tablet to the screen. 

"Alright, first up is a... Oh my." The sea otter paused and swallowed some emotions. "First up is a universe where I am not allergic to urchins, and I did not leave the kelp forest."