Pearl grumbled as she stormed off from the entrance from the umpteenth record studio after the umpteenth failed audition. She still refused to give up, music was her life and she knew she had the talent and the sickest rhymes to back her up, the only problem was she wasn't exactly "Idol material".

It was the same remarks she was used to by now, that she was lacking in the looks and attitude department, not sweet enough, not pretty enough, her face too scary, an ice princess, a brat and some words she'd rather not give any thought to. She had learned long ago to never let whatever people say about her bother her, she is what she is and she wasn't going to let anyone change that and would rather let her talent speak for her but it still ticked her off that they never even gave her a chance. She stomped through Inkopolis Square which illuminated the evening with it's lights, as she ignored the random inklings eyeing her strangely, her hearing picked up the sounds of splattershots.

Normally these sounds aren't unusual considering you can faintly hear them from the Lobby or from the practice range behind Ammo Knights but these were much, much closer. As she turned around to look, a dark shape jetted past her on the ground and she noticed four inklings, armed with turf war gear and weapons, pursuing the thing and shooting towards her.

"Outta the way!" yelled the leader, an inkling girl, as she shoved Pearl sideways towards the ground.

"Don't let it get away!" yelled one of the inkling boys.

"Yo! What's your damage!?" Pearl called out towards them while shaking her fist but the four had already disappeared into an alleyway, a trail of ink left behind.

Pearl gritted her teeth, she was already having a bad day and wanted to show those kids that the last thing they wanted was to mess with her when she was having a bad day. Without a second thought, she picked herself up and charged after them. When she caught up, she found them huddled together with their weapons trained on their supposed quarry, slowly inching towards it with malicious grins.

"Nowhere to run, scum."

"You gonna be Splatted so hard..."

Having decided that she had heard enough, Pearl transformed into her rarely used white/pink squid form, swam under them and materialized in front of the group, startling them.

"What the heck is up with Y'all!? Getting all up in my bizness and squid-handlin' me like dat!?" Pearl barked at them with an accusing point of her finger.

The group of four looked at each other in confusion, wondering who was this girl with the large forehead. The lead inkling girl pointed back at her.

"What's up with us? What's up with YOU!? And FYI, we were in the middle of taking care of THAT over there!" The inkling girl shifted her finger towards the thing behind Pearl.

Pearl's oval eyebrows raised up when she turned around to find, its back pressed against the wall, what looked like a squid wasn't. It was black with turquoise highlights, had a round "head" instead of an arrow-shaped one and its tentacles were curled upwards: an Octoling!

"Is that a...?"

"Yup, the enemy! Y'know? The guys who stole the Great Zapfish from Inkopolis Tower a while back? Dunno how one of 'em ended up here but we were about to teach it a lesson in 'cross-border relations'."

The other inklings snickered at that last bit. Pearl looked at the trapped octoling, it was frozen on the spot shaking and it's eyes were wide in fear. Even though she knew what the Octarians were capable of she didn't feel right about the situation, she had been on the receiving AND delivering end long enough to know when one was being bullied.

"Why? From what I'm seeing, it ain't doing nuthin to nobody." she said looking back at the foursome.

The four looked flabbergasted (though one of them was more confused about the number of negatives she used in that last sentence.) while the Octarian behind her looked surprise and stared at the girl. The idea of an inkling coming to the defense of an Octarian was simply unheard of.

"Didn't you hear what I said? That's the enemy!" said the inkling girl.

Pearl knew reasoning with them was off the table so she decided use one of her more obvious talents: bringing the hate to herself. She put on her most trollish face and addressed them.

"One of them against you four? Yeah, that sounds fair. Though I guess it's only natural for a scrub team with a loosing streak to look for an easy target to boost their dying ego."

This made the four reel back, one of the boys recovered quickly and fired back.

"Hey! Who you calling scrubs!? For that matter, who do you think you are? What's with that crown on your head? You some kinda princess!?"

"Heh. You wish I was...peasant! If you want, I'll lend it to you later. It sure will give you more fresh points than whatever crap you're wearing."

The boy reeled back hard while the rest of the team were seething. The lead girl marched forward and got into Pearl's face.

"Are you trying to start something with us!?"

"Maaaaaybe." responded a smug-faced Pearl.

Before things could escalate further a voice came from behind the group.

"Meow...what's going on back here?" The sleepy voice said.

The group of four turned around to see Judd who was scratching his side and was giving a sleepy and irritated look, the cat was obviously woken up from his nap which was not a good thing.

"Don't you Knee-ow that use of weapons is prohibited in Inkopolis Square?" He murmured while pointing to a nearby sign which illustrated a weapon within a NO symbol.

"But Judd, we were chasing an Octarian and this girl just..."

The inkling girl was interrupted by the familiar jet-like sound of a Super Jump. The group turned around to see the girl and their quarry missing. In their place was a splash of ink on the ground. They then looked up but could see no sign of them.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"Heh. Suckers!" chimed Pearl as she landed some distance away with the octopus tucked under her arm.

As the octoling was being set down, it kept its confused turquoise eyes locked on Pearl which was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.

"So yeah, I think Judd'll keep 'em busy long enough for you to find your way home."

The Octarian didn't scurry away or even react to Pearl's words, it just kept looking at her. Feeling awkward, Pearl gave a mock salute and began to walk away.

"Well, I'm out. Peace!"

Pearl's little walk was cut short when she heard shuffling behind her, she narrowed her eyes, turned around and confirmed her suspicion that the octopus was following her with its eyes still on her.

"WHAT!? Would you quit looking at me like that!? It's freaking me out!" she snapped.

The octopus immediately reacted, flinching at first and then started shaking, darting its eyes in different directions and undulating its tentacles in nervousness. Pearl bit her tongue and started to regret her words.

"Wait, forget I said that! um, Can'tcha at least talk or something? This one-sided conversation stuff is weird."

The octoling paused, glanced at her and turned its eyes downwards as if it were contemplating, it then straightened up like it made a decision and began to transform. Pearl could now see from the new shape it had morphed into, that the octoling was female, a tall and very attractive female. This should come as no surprise because most octolings were female anyway but this one looked different: her chocolate colored skin and longer black hair-like tentacles were among those differences. Pearl noted that she also had a beauty mark like hers but it was on the opposite side of her chin, she wondered if it was a coincidence.

"Um, is this better?" The octoling asked timidly.

"Err...yeah."

There was an awkward silence until the girl octoling gasped as if remembering something.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm being rude, I wanted to thank you...for what you did for me back there."

"Eh, It's no biggie. I just did what I felt was right." said Pearl with a shrug.

There was another awkward silence, the octoling was fidgeting with her fingers and her turquoise eyes darted around, it looked like she was trying to work up the nerve to talk to her. Pearl tapped her foot impatiently and decided to try engaging her again.

"Hey errm, no offense but shouldn't you be back home with your peeps? You don't exactly fit in here."

The octoling fidgeted some more and responded.

"To be honest, I don't exactly fit in there either."

Pearl wondered what she meant, did she feel like an outcast within her own kind? Pearl wanted to chuckle and tell her that she knows what that's like but she pushed aside those thoughts, she still wanted to know why an octoling would come to Inkopolis of all places.

"So, what? You ran from home or somethin?"

"Something like that."

There was yet another awkward silence, Pearl was about snap when thankfully the octoling cleared her throat, preparing her next words.

"Hey, listen. I appreciate what you did and I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries but..."

The octoling steeled herself, took a breath at let it all out while clasping her hands.

"Couldyoupleasegivemeaplacetostayforthenight? I'll be gone the next morning! I promise!"

It took Pearl a while to piece together what she said. When the request clicked in her brain, Pearl reeled back in surprise.

"Woah, wait, you wanna crash at MY place!?"

The octoling looked down pouting, her tentacle-hair curling in anxiousness as if expecting rejection. Pearl thought about the girl's request and quite frankly she didn't know what to think; defending an Octarian and aiding its escape? that's one thing, offering one refuge and sanctuary? that's insanity! Pearl prepared to tell her off and explain why this wasn't a good idea but the words were lost once she looked at the octoling's dejected face, she wondered if this puppy dog look was intentional because if it was, the girl pulled it off extremely well.

"Ugh, fine." She muttered and began to walk away.

The octoling blinked in confusion, a positive response was the last thing she expected. Pearl looked back at her with a look of annoyance.

"You coming or what!?"

"Oh! Err, Yes!"

The two girls walked in silence until Pearl spoke up while extending her arm in some kind of downward gesture.

"By the way, name's Pearl."

The other girl blinked until she realized she needed to return the courtesy.

"Oh, um, M-Marina. My name is Marina."

"Well, welcome to my crib I guess!" Pearl announced as she plopped down on her lounge chair.

Marina's eyes widened as she took in the large apartment. It looked pretty luxurious and had just about everything from the white leather upholstery to the shag carpeting to the insanely large TV.

"Wow. This place is huge and...has a lot of stuff."

"Eh, my folks are loaded." Pearl said with a shrug.

"Um, So where are your folks?" asked Marina nervously as she eyed a lava lamp. It was obvious that she was concerned about meeting more people, Pearl caught on to this.

"Don't worry, even I don't know where they are. They barely even come here." Pearl said nonchalantly as she scanned through her phone. Pearl felt the subject of her being born into privilege and affluence always made people judgmental of her and wasn't worth focusing on.

Marina glanced at the inkling girl, expecting at least some words of hospitality like "Make yourself at home." but Pearl seemed to be paying more attention to her phone than her which left her to do nothing but look around the apartment. From there, the two girls volleyed back and forth small questions and answers, the questions being simple and non-personal and the answers being vague and nondescript. Marina frowned at the obvious air of awkwardness between them while Pearl's mind was running in circles. Pearl still couldn't believe she let an octoling into her home! And part of her mind was reproaching her for it. Even though she believed Marina was for the most part harmless, the fact that their two species were mortal enemies and the possibility of her being a spy was troubling her.

Pearl's thoughts were interrupted by the familiar loud sound of a scratch-disk. She quickly turned to the side to see that without her notice, Marina had positioned herself behind her DJ set up, the one she occasionally uses for her mixtapes. The equipment was turned on and the octoling, frozen like a deer in headlights, was wearing the headphones and had her hand on one of the turntables. Marina quickly took the headphones off and backed away.

"I'm sorry! I'll turn it off! Promise!" she squeaked.

Pearl maintained a surprised look as she jumped off her lounge chair and made her way to the octoling.

"Hold up. You know how to use this?" she asked.

Marina blinked and her tentacle-hair twitched.

"Y-yeah, well, I have some experience here and there but..."

She trailed off into a mumble. Pearl walked up to the equipment, placed her elbows on the table part and rested her head on her hands.

"Well then, lay some beats on me."

"Wh-what!?"

Pearl simply nodded expression unchanging.

"You heard me, Miss DJ. Show me what you can do."

Marina stood there in silence, nervously fidgeting with her fingers. Pearl's expression then morphed into a smug look.

"Don't tell me you're the kinda girl who can talk a big game but can't bring it."

At first Marina was taken aback by the obvious challenge, then collected her resolve and walked back to the turntables and mixer with determination.

"I...I can bring it!"

The octoling repeated those words softly as if trying to convince herself, she didn't know why she had to; the delicate art of mixing music was one of the few things she felt confident about but something about the inkling girl made her anxious. After putting the headphones back on, Marina first ran fingers across the turntables and the keys on the mixer as if getting a feel for it, she then moved to the open laptop and selected the songs she needed. With a sigh she began, first with the bassline then gradually added more riffs and grooves. Almost automatically, she spun one of the turntables while her other fingers pulled and pushed the keys on the mixer and before long, she realized why she was drawn to the machine in the first place: she was back in her element.

Pearl's eyes widened, the girl before her wasn't just good, she was a natural! The way her fingers danced across the deck while swaying with the rhythm as she mixed her composition showed what she said about having "some experience" was a major understatement. Marina had her eyes closed and bobbed her head with the beat. She was so lost in the music, that she didn't realize that she had started singing along with the vocals. Pearl's jaw dropped at the sound of Marina's singing voice, she felt it was beautiful! Finally, Marina decided to end her session, slowly fading out each track. She blushed at the realization that she may gotten carried away.

"Okay seriously, is this what all Octarians do in their free time or something?" Pearl asked rather impulsively.

Marina frowned at the mention of her people.

"Not really. Where I come from, this is more of a family trait."

"Oh? And what family would that be?"

"Not telling!" she exclaimed while folding her arms and looking away.

Pearl figured it was a taboo subject so she left it alone and instead grinned.

"Well family trait or not, what you did just now? All of this?..." Pearl gestured towards Marina and the DJ equipment.

"...WAS SICK!" exclaimed Pearl with excited glee.

But Pearl's smile dropped when she saw Marina flinch and realized that she may have taken what she said the wrong way.

"I mean sick in a good way! Not that getting sick is good or anything but you know what I mean, like Awesome or Wicked! Wait, forget wicked! It's not wicked! I mean it IS wicked but I mean..."

As Pearl's sentences degraded slowly and comically, Marina couldn't help but find her expression funny. The octoling tried to stifled her laughter but couldn't hold it and broke down in a series of giggles. Pearl was at first taken aback, then scowled in annoyance but seeing Marina like that made her relax and before she knew it, she was giggling along with her and soon they were both laughing together, not knowing how or why.

To say the ice was broken between the two girls was an understatement, it was like the fall of a glacial dam which let loose a torrent of chatter ranging from their favorite genres of music to likes and dislikes to their hopes and dreams.

"...and then I said 'Is that enough personality for ya?'." Pearl finished her story by outstretching her arm and mimicking a 'Mic drop', complete with making the sound effect.

"You're a meanie." Marina chuckled.

"Darn right!" said Pearl with a grin.

"You could try to be a little nicer."

"Makes no difference. They either ignore you, choose someone prettier or sometimes in my case, expect a handout. There wasn't any point in trying to be something I'm not." Pearl said with a shrug.

Marina pouted, she felt that despite Pearl being rough around the edges, she was a sweet and passionate individual and it was a pity that neither Pearl herself or anyone else allowed that side of hers to be noticed.

"If you don't believe me, you can come with me tomorrow and see for yourself."

Pearl internally laughed to herself that she just invited an Octarian to come out in public with her without a second thought. It was weird how in such a short amount of time, she began to regard her less as an Octarian and more as just Marina. Pearl wondered how the guys at the studio would react when a crazy idea popped into her head, one which took over her thoughts and made her grin wildly.

"Yo! We should totally audition together tomorrow!"

"What!?" asked a surprised Marina.

"Yeah! It could totally work. You could be my hype man...or hype girl? or something like that!"

Pearl was liking the idea, the more she thought about it.

"But I'm an Octoling!" Marina balked.

"And I'm a buncha other things. But more than that? You and I? We have talent and we have each other's backs."

"Our backs?"

"Yeah, y'know? like partners, amigos or..."

"Friends?"

The two girls froze. Marina's turquoise eyes locked on to Pearl, they were filled with intensity which made the inkling gulp.

"Y-You want to be my friend?" Marina asked softly.

A friend, when was the last time Pearl had one of those? There was a time during her school years when she used her social status and affluence to gain a following and their attention. In a way she still uses it these days thinking it might help her career but in the end, all her "friends" were fair weather and in return she didn't care much for them. In all honesty, Pearl didn't know what the term truly meant.

"Erm, yeah, sure, if it's no problem with you." she shrugged.

There was silence between them as Pearl watched Marina knit her brows and pout as if she was apprehensive or contemplating something. And right then, before Pearl could say anything, the inkling found herself embraced in the tightest and warmest hug she ever received in her life! Pearl's eyes were like saucers and her mind went completely blank, she could hear the octoling let out a 'mmhm' as one of her hair-tentacles caressed her cheek. The whole experience made her face flush bright red and with her mind hazy, all Pearl could do was lamely pat Marina's back.

Marina finally pulled back with a warm smile and giggled seeing Pearl still in her gobsmacked state.

"So, what does a 'hype girl' do again?"

Pearl blinked and managed to regain herself.

"Huh? Oh. Nothing much, just work the crowd, ad lib, and salt up anyone I decide to burn."

It was now Marina's turn to look gobsmacked in addition to being confused.

"Yeah, we probably should discuss about that." chuckled Pearl.

Needless to say, their audition the next day was an interesting one.

AN: To be Honest, I was Team Marina like everyone else but the more I thought about Pearl's design and personality, the more I thought there was something more to her character which led me to write this. Speaking of which, holy crap! I can't believe I just wrote my first fanfic! Hopefully I'll write more and of course, feedback will be appreciated.