Junior Officers

Junior Officers is a 2020 fanfiction about The Octonauts.

It focuses on four (and after Sarabi's arrival, five) Octonauts-in-training; Deborah Deer, Lekona Lion, Kitsune Fox, Elekai Echidna, and Sarabi Squirrel. Adventures, drama, and bonding ensue.

Tropes used in Junior Officers include:

• Aerith and Bob: Normal names like Elekai and Deborah, rare names like Sarabi, and straight-up unusual names like Kitsune and Lekona.
• Agony of the Feet: Barnacles smashes Humphrey's foot with his cane in "Home, Sour Home".
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy:
  • In "Happy Birthday, Shellington", Shellington drinks beer for the first time, gets completely hammered, and begins to prattle on about random stuff.
  • In "Ladies Night", Dashi gets drunk at a bar, rambles about the time she got stuck in a whale shark, and passes out. She ends up having to be helped into the GUP.
• Berserker Tears:
  • Deborah's anger at Barnacles for verbally destroying her deteriorates into pitiful wailing.
  • In "Margaret's Story", Margaret breaks into enraged tears as she's screaming at Humphrey for his sexism.
• The Big Damn Kiss:
  • Deborah and Shellington smooch in "New Year's".
  • Lekona and Blythe share a passionate smooch in "Happy Birthday, Lekona".
• Big Yes: Anita shouts this when Tweak proposes to her in "Family Reunion".
• Calling the Old Man Out: In "Margaret's Story", Margaret screams at Humphrey for never allowing her to follow her dreams.
• Career-Ending Injury: It's mentioned in "A Leg Up" that most of Amazonite's limbs were rendered useless in some unknown accident and she ended up having to leave the Octonauts early.
• Curse Cut Short: In "Margaret's Story", Humphrey almost says "slut", but he is cut off by Margaret's narration.
• Death Glare: Barnacles gives Deborah "a stern, angry look" in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes".
• Friendly Playful Dolphin: Reese from "Blythe and the Risso's Dolphin" is energetic and loves to go fast. Shellington even lampshades this, saying that dolphins are known for their high energy.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Discussed in "Elekai's Humpback Ride". Elekai says he understands that his father has an understandable reason to be so short-tempered (because of his job in the military), but he also explicitly states that it doesn't give him the right to take his anger out on his family.
• Fully-Clothed Nudity: In "One Step Forward", Deborah mentions that Humphrey reacted to her skirt as if she had worn something much more revealing.
• Furry Reminder: A rather disturbing example in "River Riding Adventure, Part 1". Barnacles's shin shatters and the narration says he lets out a realistic roar.
• Get Out!: In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Lekona comes into Barnacles's room, and the latter says, "Get. Out." in a Tranquil Fury tone.
• The Glomp: Anita gives Tweak a big hug when the latter proposes to her in "Family Reunion".
• He Didn't Make It: Barnacles tells Sarabi that Hakara "didn't make it" regarding the rock slide.
• Heroic BSOD: Shellington spends most of "The Kelp Fish" in bed, not responding to anything that Kitsune says.
• Inelegant Blubbering:
  • Shellington tends to do this when he's upset. Special mention goes to his emotional breakdown in "The Swell Shark" and after Barnacles has broken his leg.
  • Deborah goes into ugly tears after Barnacles screams at her in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes".
• Manly Tears: Barnacles silently weeps from regret after he yells at Deborah in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes".
• Misplaced Retribution: In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Barnacles is guilt-ridden from Shellington's emotional breakdown. When Deborah tries to talk to him about it, Barnacles screams at her for supposedly not being helpful. She immediately tells him off for taking his rage out on some undeserving target.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Barnacles is hit with this hard in "The Swell Shark" when it's revealed that his Innocently Insensitive remarks have caused Shellington to hate himself.
  • In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Barnacles is shocked and horrified with himself for telling Deborah off. He even gets manly Tears of Remorse.
• Narrative Profanity Filter: In "Margaret's Story", Humphrey says, "I will not have my daughter going around and acting like a-", but he is cut off by Margaret's narration and she says he said the "S-word" (slut).
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Deborah has a very clean mouth, so when she does curse, it's quite surprising. Some notable cases include her dropping a "goddamn" in "The Undersea Twister" and calling Barnacles a "bastard" in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes".
  • A variation in "Home, Sour Home". Barnacles says "shitbag", and even though he's already a Sir Swearsalot, it's the most notable swear word in the series, as the only real swear words said before that were "bastard", "bitch", and "asshole".
  • Shellington calls Cullen an "arsehole" during his drunken tangent in "Happy Birthday, Shellington".
  • During Shellington's emotional breakdown in "The Swell Shark", he blurts out, "I can't do a single damn thing about it!"
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes": "{Barnacles} Just. Completely. Snapped."
  • Also in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes": "Get. Out."
  • In "Margaret's Story": "{Margaret} Just. Completely. Snapped."
• Rage Breaking Point: And whenever this happens, you can expect the words "{Character} just. Completely. Snapped." to be said:
  • Barnacles hits his in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes". He's in a state of thinly-veiled Tranquil Fury throughout the first half, but when Deborah tries to discuss Shellington's condition with him, all that tranquility is thrown out the window.
  • In "Margaret's Story", Humphrey is spoiling the mood of Margaret's sixteenth birthday by saying she never should've tried to find love. What really sets her off, though, is him saying he doesn't want her to act promiscuous, and that sparks a tangent from her about how he's never really been there for her and that he never lets her have ambitions.
• Rant-Inducing Slight: In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Deborah tries to talk to Barnacles and says he must be distraught about Shellington's poor mental and physical state. This one tiny remark causes Barnacles to go on a tirade.
• Really Gets Around: Discussed; according to Sarabi, her mother is constantly dating men.
• Reality Ensues: In "The Swell Shark", Shellington attempts to help on a mission despite his illness. He ends up weakened and not being much help at all, especially when he vomits in the back of the GUP.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Barnacles rants at Deborah for always trying to be positive while Shellington's ill. And then Deborah gives him one right back.
  • In "Margaret's Story", Margaret furiously rants at Humphrey for his Fantasy-Forbidding Father tendencies.
• Show Within a Show: Deborah often brings up Intergalactic Imogen, an in-universe anime that she is a big fan of.
• Sick Episode:
  • "Midnight Emergency", where a younger Ichiro has what appears to be a cold.
  • Shellington is on sick leave for the majority of the Kelp Forest arc.
• Single Tear: Kitsune sheds "a tear" of gratitude at the end of "Happy Birthday, Kitsune" when she's had a great birthday.
• Slut Shaming: In "One Step Forward", Deborah mentions that Humphrey yelled at her and called her a "W-word" for wearing a skirt.
• Tears of Fear: Kwazii begins to cry in terror when he's stuck in a storm in "A Pirate's Tail".
• Tears of Joy: Kitsune weeps a Single Tear of gratitude towards the gifts she's been given in "Happy Birthday, Kitsune".
• Tears of Remorse: Barnacles weeps these after he takes his anger out on Deborah in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes".
• Tranquil Fury:
  • Barnacles is in this kind of state in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes". When Lekona tries to talk to him, his only response is to tell him to get the hell out in a calm, but clearly angry tone. Once Deborah tries to talk to him about it, though, he completely throws the "tranquil" part out the window.
  • In "Home, Sour Home", Barnacles flatly yet angrily tells Humphrey to leave Deborah alone.
• Trying Not to Cry:
  • In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Barnacles tears up when Shellington says he doesn't want to be a burden, but he keeps himself under control.
  • Deborah is said to be "fighting back tears" in "Home, Sour Home" after Humphrey's shown up unannounced.
• True-Blue Femininity: Defied and later subverted; Humphrey is said to have refused to allow Margaret to wear anything blue because it was "a boy's color". In the present day, Margaret wears blue, but she's a tomboy.
• T-Word Euphemism:
  • Deborah describes Humphrey Slut Shaming her as "calling {her} the W-word".
  • It runs in the family; Margaret describes Humphrey saying the word "slut" as "saying the S-word".
• What the Hell, Hero?: A pissed-off Deborah tells Barnacles off for unfairly shouting at her in "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes". She even calls him a "bastard".
• Working Through the Cold: Deconstructed in "The Swell Shark". Shellington attends a mission despite his stomach flu, and because he feels weak, it doesn't end well.
• You're Not My Father:
  • If Sarabi's statement that she'd rather be seen as an orphan is any indication, she's clearly done this to her mother.
  • Deborah implicitly disowns Humphrey as her father in "Home, Sour Home" when she chooses to go with Barnacles.
  • In "Margaret's Story", Margaret screams that Humphrey (her father) has "never been family to [her]" after she's had enough with his emotional abuse of her.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • In "The Swell Shark", after Shellington's emotional breakdown, Barnacles tells him that there's nothing that he would change about him and that he is a good Octonaut.
  • In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", Barnacles make it clear to Shellington that he's always deserved respect and he's never had to earn it.