Notice: This chapter contains information revealed in Octo Expansion.
A little bit of Pearl and Marina's dialogue is from the game.
Perry's PoV
Perry leaned back in the passenger's seat, watching the skyscrapers pass by as Yuri drove back to Inkopolis Square. His phone rang to denote that there was an Inkopolis News update. Excited, he immediately pulled it out and turned it on to watch his favorite idols live.
"Y'all know what time it is!" Pearl exclaimed. The purple-haired inkling smiled upon seeing the short inkling.
"It's Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!" followed Marina.
"Before we announce the current stages, we got some breaking news for ya!" the first idol announced.
"What?" Wyatt sat up in the back seat. "Another Splatfest already?"
"It's too early," Yuri argued, glancing at him momentarily before returning his attention to the road. "It can't be that."
"Breaking news? What did you break this time?!" the second idol panicked.
"Nothing! We just got a contest to tell you squidkids back at home!" Pearl struck a pose, smirking.
"Oh yeah, that!" Marina recalled. "Well, let's hear it!"
"From until this time next week, y'all can enter a raffle."
"Two winners will get to spend some time with us. I wonder who they'll be. Star-crossed lovers? Best friends? Bitter rivals? Complete strangers?"
"It's a raffle, Rina; it's completely random! Just hope it isn't a squidkid that brings boredom!"
"Like Sheldon?"
"He's not a kid, or a squid, but yeah, you're right." Pearl paused for a few moments, and then continued, "Anywho, you can enter the raffle on Off the Hook's official website!"
"Just enter in your name and address, and bam! You're entered!"
"Find out who the winners are next week!" Pearl struck a pose and proceeded to announce the current stages.
Perry lowered his phone and let out a cheer. "Oh my cod! Do y'know what this means?"
"No," Wyatt deadpanned, placing a hand on his chin and leaning against the car door.
"What it means is that I might get to spend a day with Pearl!" he explained, looking over his shoulder at the cousins.
"You have to win first, though," Yuri interjected.
"That's like, a one-in-a-million chance," Roy elaborated.
"Well, let's hope you win, then!" the dark-skinned inkling encouraged, pumping a fist.
Perry put his phone away, and a few minutes later, they arrived in the parking space near Inkopolis Square. The purple-haired inkling climbed out of the car, only to spot Inigo walked back to his own. It was hard to tell exactly what he was feeling from a distance, but from first glance, he didn't seem too happy.
"Hey, Inigo!" he called, running up towards him. The boy with the ponytail was caught off-guard, stumbling into the door of his own car. "How were the Rainmaker matches?"
"Huh?" He blinked, and then looked off to the side. "Oh, yeah, those. I didn't really get anywhere."
"What? Lost your rank or somethin'?"
"No, not that," Inigo corrected. "...I don't wanna talk about it."
The others joined up with Perry, now looking straight at the indigo-haired inkling. "Inigo! Didn't expect you here!" Yuri exclaimed in surprise.
"He was doing Rainmaker," Roy pointed out. "And the rotation just changed, so of course he'd be leaving."
"Roy," the fair-skinned boy gasped.
"What?" the red-eyed boy questioned.
He paused, still averting the others' gazes. "I'm sorry. For yelling at you."
"What?" Wyatt barked sharply, looking over at his cousin with bewilderment. "Inigo yelled at you? Must be opposite day."
"The Vigilante seemed a lot nicer than he normally is, too," Yuri added. "I think he legit has a crush on Naomi, too."
"Yeah, he was blushin'," Perry agreed. "Right when she left."
Wyatt groaned. "Stop reminding me..."
Inigo went silent for a few moments before announcing, "I'm leaving now." He climbed into his car and started it up, and before they could react, he was driving away, leaving them behind in the smoke.
Once it cleared, Yuri simply blinked. "Wow."
Roy's shoulders relaxed, a frown on his face. "I just wish he'd come to his senses..."
A week later, at dusk, the Rainbow Squids were eagerly awaiting the results of the raffle. While they waited for Inkopolis News to pop up on the giant screen once more, they merely talked among themselves.
"You've seen the Vigilante lately?" the red-haired inkling commented, showing everyone a picture on Squidsagram moments after he spoke. "He's still dating Naomi."
"I know," Octavia marveled. "That's a new record for him."
"See!" Perry bragged, putting his feet up on the table. "Told ya he got a crush on her."
"What? I thought I said that." Yuri looked over at his friend, raising an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "I don't remember, to be honest. The point still stands, though."
"So, Inigo." The wavy-haired girl's eyes drifted over to the fair-skinned inkling, who had a blush on his face. "Whaddya think about all this?"
He snapped his head up. "What? About the Vigilante?" Via nodded. "It's fresh, I guess."
"I dunno," Bonnie muttered. "He might seem nice now, but he's gonna return to his old ways. He has to."
The conversation came to an end when the jingle of Inkopolis News played, turning everyone's attention to the screen. Pearl and Marina were quick to appear, introducing themselves and announcing the breaking news.
"We're gonna announce the winners of the contest LIVE, yo!" Pearl proclaimed.
Perry's feet returned to the concrete ground, tapping his foot excitedly. Please win, please win!
"Without further ado, let's pull the first name," Marina announced.
A jellyfish carried over an orange envelope to Pearl, where she quickly snatched it out of their hand. "K, first name is..." She opened it and pulled out a slip of paper, quickly reading it with her light yellow eyes. "Perry Sculpin."
The purple-haired inkling practically burst out of his seat, doing a dance. "BOOYAH!" he exclaimed as loud as he could. His mind filled up with words he had trouble expressing out loud at the moment. Holy seacow, I won! I won, I won! I won!
"Congrats, Perry!" the dark-skined idol congratulated. "We'll send your ticket through email."
"Now, for the second peep!" the pale-skinned idol declared. A second jellyfish approached Marina, holding the envelope out in front of them.
The funny-looking inkling took it and calmly said, "The second winner is..." She opened the envelope and pulled out the name inside. "Peyton Wunder," she read out loud.
Perry stopped dancing and lowered his arms, which had been held up in the air. "...Who?"
"I think it's Peyton from that battle we did with Tess?" Bonnie guessed.
"Oh, yeah, Octa Prisma never introduced her," Octavia remarked. "She's the newest member of their team."
He looked over at the table where the group of octolings were sitting. A funny-looking girl that resembled him—pale skin and purple hair—was enthusing over something to her teammates. She glanced over at Perry before returning her attention to the rest of the octolings.
"So," he noted, "she's an octoling."
"Yeah," Alexis confirmed, her arms crossed. "They're all octolings in that group."
The purple-haired girl rose from her seat and walked over to Perry. She adjusted the glasses that covered her eyes and gave a small smile.
"Hello," she greeted, clasping her hands out in front of her. "I be going with the you, Giovanni say."
Perry blinked. "Ya mean to the studio where Pearl and Marina do the news?" She nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're Peyton Wunder then."
"I am," she confirmed. "It nice to meet you." She bowed, crossing her legs and lifting the edges of her skirt slightly.
"Oh, don't bow," he teased, holding out a hand. "Shake it."
"Shake it...?" She began doing a dance.
"I mean my hand." Peyton stopped dancing and took the hand, giving a flimsy handshake. "You suck at this, don't ya?"
"Sorry," she apologized. "I come weeks ago."
"It's fine," he assured her. "You just got a bit of learnin' to do."
The girl with the ponytail simply shrugged and walked back to her seat with Octa Prisma. What a strange girl. Perry let a sigh escape his lips. He looked back at the Rainbow Squids. They simply looked at each other and shrugged as well.
"You won," Inigo reminded him, "and so did she. No use backing out now."
"Besides, you wanna see Pearl, don't ya?" Octavia teased.
"Y-Yeah," he stuttered. "I can't back out now," he said more confidently. "I gotta see Pearl!"
That weekend, Perry stood outside of the doors to the studio, wearing all his Pearl memorabilia, most predominantly the Pearlescent set. His early acquisition of the gear set was considered highly unusual, as until then, only Pearl and a select few people owned them. Thanks to his dad, he was able to obtain them for himself, wearing the Pearlescent hoodie as part of his daily attire ever since he got it a few days before Geneva left.
It was only a few minutes until the scheduled meeting. Where's Peyton? Over the past few days, he made an attempt to get to know her better, playing a few turf wars with her. He even introduced her to ranked battles, resulting in the happiest he had ever seen the octoling. Though Giovanni wasn't happy when he found out, he ultimately thanked Perry for helping her overcome her fear.
Peyton arrived wearing her normal gear, sans the Marinated headphones she wore instead of the Annaki beret & glasses.
"Hey!" Perry greeted. "Where'd ya find that?"
"The trash," she replied. "And I wash 'that.'" She crossed her arms, purple eyes narrowing.
The boy with spiky bangs grimaced. "O...K...then."
"Are you ready?" she asked with a softer expression.
He nodded. "Of course! I've been waiting for this!"
"Good."
Perry heard someone grab the door handle, opening to reveal Pearl and Marina. "Yo, we just got done with the broadcast," the former greeted. "Guess you two are the winners?" They nodded and presented their tickets.
Marina took them and examined them. "Sweet!" she cheered. "Follow me."
The group started heading deeper into the studio, until they reached a room that turned out to be a rather decorated recording booth. Unlike the room he had entered with Yuri all those months ago, the walls were colorful, with pink-and-teal stripes that matched the main colors of the idol duo. Beanbags and pillows were scattered around the room, and there was a singular desk with a laptop on top of it. Next to the laptop was a blocky walkie-talkie. They entered the room, and Pearl plopped down onto a beanbag, stretching her limbs.
"Aight! The good ol' recording room!" she introduced. "Just for us, ya see?"
Perry eagerly nodded. "It's superfresh!" A goofy smile spread across his face, giddy. It's like I'm in Pearl's very own shoes!
"I mean, we are Inkopolis's favorite idols right now," Marina noted. "Of course we get a fresh room."
Peyton walked over to the desk and picked up the radio. "What this?"
"Oh, it's just some old thing we found on Mount Nantai," the pale-skinned idol replied.
"Don't worry about it," the dark-skinned idol assured her.
"Ah!" Perry plopped down on the beanbag next to Pearl, much to her disdain, and sunk into it. "It's so soft!"
"Well, Pearlie love soft things," Marina commented, clasping her hands together.
"Marina!" Pearl protested.
She lowered her hands. "Sorry, sorry..." she muttered.
"Nah, don't worry 'bout it," the other idol reassured her. "I can't stay mad at you."
The funny-looking inkling simply smiled and tried to pry Perry off of the beanbag. She was successful, but he ended up landing on his face after his forceful removal pushing him forward. He heard snickers from the girls surrounding him.
"...Dang it," he muttered, lifting himself from the ground. I'm embarrassing myself in front of Pearl, of all squids!
"We gotta eat lunch now," the inkling with pink-tipped hair noted. "Wonder what they'll serve today."
"Wasabi?" Peyton guessed.
"Yo, that's a condiment," Pearl sighed. "And it's super pungent."
"Hey, Pearl!" Perry pumped a fist. "Was that a rhyme I hear?"
"Yeah, quiver in fear!" she proclaimed. "No one can beat my raps! You'll just fall into traps!"
"Don't underestimate me! I'm as wild as the sea!"
"I'm like a kraken! Don't start slackin'!"
"Alright, alright." Marina stepped in and threw her arms out, stopping both of them. "That's enough. We have to get going."
"Oh, right!" Pearl jumped to her feet and pumped a fist. "Wasn't I on fire, though?" The other people in the room agreed. "Booyah! Another point for me!"
The group exited the recording booth and headed towards the break room, where some jellyfish were putting out several plates of curry for everyone to eat. Perry wasn't thrilled, but he would eat it.
"Ooh, curry!" the pale-skinned idol exclaimed. "Neat!"
They sat down and began to eat, with Pearl finishing the dish rather quickly. They merely talked among themselves. Peyton proceeded to ask questions, from mundane things such as their favorite color or song, to lengthy questions such as how Off the Hook came to be.
"Well, it all started when I went to Mount Nantai one day," Marina started. "And there Pearlie was."
"She was some country bumpkin," Pearl continued. "Thought she was a stalker for a while."
"I came there every day for a week, just to see her again. And while I was singing, she came. So I asked her if she wanted to start a band."
"Well, she showed me a song, so I just had to say yes!"
"And buh-bam! Off the Hook was formed!" the funny-looking inkling finished.
"So yeah, that's the story of how we came to be," the other idol said. "Pretty cool, right?"
Peyton nodded. "Yes. Thank you."
Once they finished their lunch, Off the Hook proceeded to give a tour of the studio before arriving at the top of the building, where a decorated helicopter was resting. A neon sign with Off the Hook's logo stood from the top of it, though it was turned off at the moment. Some lights were attached to the bottom of it, and it appeared to be standing on top of some platform.
"And here's the chopper," Pearl introduced. "We don't use it a lot."
"But, it will help us get to Starfish Mainstage quickly," Marina revealed.
"Starfish Mainstage?" Peyton puzzled.
"Why're we going there?" Perry asked.
"For the debut of our newest song, duh!" the cream-haired inkling reminded them.
"We rented out the place to use for a day," the funny-looking inkling explained. "There should be a few seats for you, too."
"Unless ya want to stand in the mosh pit," she offered. The two purple-haired cephalopods looked at each other before shaking their heads. "That's what I thought."
"Should we bring the radio?" Marina asked her partner quickly.
"Nah." Pearl shook her head. "I don't wanna bother Eight and Cap'n right now."
"Yeah, you're right," she replied, bringing her hands up. "Knowing Eight, she probably wants to pay off her debt first. I don't know how strong the signal will be, either."
"Huh, never thought 'bout that." The pale-skinned idol then proceeded to hop onto the helicopter. "Come on in!"
Everyone else followed her lead, sitting down on the seats present in the helicopter. A jellyfish was the pilot, waving their hand at Pearl and Marina. They gave thumbs up, and the vehicle proceeded to start, lifting into the air. As they traveled to Starfish Mainstage, they talked among themselves some more, and about ten minutes later, they arrived at the venue.
The helicopter settled on a landing pad, and everyone hopped off of it. Various people were scattered around the stage, setting up everything for Off the Hook to perform. Two chairs were located behind the cameraman, with paper labels on them. Perry and Peyton sat down in them while they watched Off the Hook arrive on the stage. Pearl struck a pose, while Marina merely waved. They turned to face the camera, the former crossing her arms.
"Y'all know what time it is!" she exclaimed.
"It's Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from Starfish Mainstage!" Marina followed up.
"This isn't Inkopolis News, so obviously, there's no news to give ya," Pearl remarked.
"However, we do have a new, never-before seen song to share with everyone," continued the dark-skinned idol.
"Everyone, get ready for..."
"Nasty Majesty!" both of them announced at once.
Perry's eyes widened. Nasty Majesty? Sounds sick.
A heavy beat began to play, and the duo began to sing.
"Na, na na na na na."
The song was mainly comprised of chanting, with Marina singing at first, followed by rapping from Pearl. It was so different from their previous songs, but Perry loved it anyways. He loved every single moment of it. After they finished, the purple-haired inkling jumped out of his seat, cheering and clapping. Peyton was much calmer, simply clapping her hands while sitting on her chair.
"This song is available now on SquidTunes and Bubblify!" Marina announced.
"And our next album? It's coming out June 14th!" Pearl added.
"That's less than two months away," the dark-skinned idol informed.
"Don't ya miss it!" the pale-skinned idol requested. "Until next time..."
"Don't get cooked... Stay off the hook!" The duo did their signature poses, and the broadcast came to an end. They hopped off the stage and walked over to Perry and Peyton.
"Yo, that was so fresh!" the purple-haired boy exclaimed. "Super, duper fresh!"
"It different," the purple-haired octoling mused. "But I like."
"Well, good," Pearl said.
"We put a lot of effort into it," Marina commented.
"Is this the end?" Perry asked. "Of the visit?"
"Unfortunately," the funny-looking inkling confirmed.
"We gotta get back for the next newscast," the cream-haired inkling elaborated. "So yeah."
"It went by so fast," he muttered, lowering his head. "Feels like it's over in no time at all."
"Hey, why don't we take a picture?" Marina suggested. Perry's head perked up at her voice.
"Yes," Peyton agreed. "Want to remember the today."
"Aight, great idea," Pearl decided. "Y'all better get on the stage!"
The idol immediately dashed off, much to Marina's surprise. She ran after her, with Perry and Peyton trailing behind her. They stopped on the middle of Starfish Mainstage. The cameraman pulled out a portable camera and approached them.
"Alright," he started, "get in your places!"
Perry and Pearl were put up front, while Marina and Peyton stood in the back. Pearl put a hand on her hip and made a peace sign with the other hand, which Perry proceeded to mimic. Marina lifted her hand and smiled, while Peyton simply stood with her hands clasped in front of her. The cameraman took a few pictures and lowered it.
"Wait," the purple-haired inkling interjected before they could disperse. "I wanna take a selfie with y'all."
"Sure," the dark-skinned idol stated. The other people present nodded in agreement. Perry took out his phone and positioned it so all of them could get in the picture. He pressed the button, and a snapping sound was heard from his phone. He lowered it and pumped a fist.
"Woo!" he cheered. "Thanks!"
"No prob," Pearl remarked. "Now, let's get back to Inkopolis Square!"
A/N: I won't lie, I'm not a huge fan of how this chapter turned out. There's a lot of dialogue, and I feel like there could have been more descriptions. But, where else would I fit it? It can be difficult sometimes, having to push out a chapter each week. But, I still manage to do so. Personally, I'm a little surprised it lasted this long. As long as we can get through Season 3 with the weekly schedule, I'm happy. On a lighter note - Perry's Pearl obsession returns! You didn't think I forgot about that, did you? I also wanted to give Peyton a little spotlight, since she's only been in two other chapters so far, counting the bonus story. Though, she is the newest member of Octa Prisma, to be fair. Hopefully this chapter helped shed a little light on her personality. I wanted to include a speaking role from Agent 8 in this chapter, but I ultimately decided against it, since I thought it would feel a little out-of-place. So, once again, she gets a cameo. Though, it's more like a mention in this case. Will we ever see her speak? Definitely. Well, that's all I have to say. See you next Sunday, and Branchwing, out!