There was a line.

A line.

A line to enter a kettle!

They had had to wait about 20 minutes before being able to descend (Marina descended fairly reluctantly, sad to have to leave the real sky and sun so soon), which, considering how heavy their luggage was, was significantly less difficult than the exit from Zoanthus. One buy one, they shifted into octopus form (Marina taking a bit longer than the others), Riptide, again, insisting to go last. Marina was sure he was simply trying to be polite, but she couldn't help feeling slightly weirded-out on how firm he was about going last.

She was back into pondering over why Riptide seemed so different. Marina had no problem with "different", of course, being the epitome of difference itself, but Riptide's behavior was strange in another way.

If she didn't know better, she'd think he was acting like a criminal on the run or something. But he was so nice. Plus, he had had a job.

What if he committed a crime recently? She wondered anxiously. What if he…rigged the results in the music competition so he could win and have an excuse to leave the city? Then again, moving on to the next round is just putting your name out there even more…

She let out a frustrated huff. Marina! Calm down. Not everything is an emergency. Not everyone is bad…

They had just stepped into the glass Sky Tube, along with a few other Octolings, which gave them an astonishingly beautiful view of the city below. The first thing Marina noticed was how beautiful the synthetic sky was compared to the one in Zoanthus. It still wasn't the same as the real sky, but it was quite close, right down to the painfully-bright light the sun gave off. Marina wondered how everyone told the time if the sun's light was too bright to have a time mark.

The buildings glistened in the suns, most of them painted bright white. There was an abundance of trees around the outer-edges of the city, lining the side of the Dome. Some buildings surrounding the Dome's center stretched nearly as high as the Sky Tube itself. Everything looked so…clean.

The usual metallic machinery found in Octarian buildings was, of course, still present, but instead built with shining bronze and polished silver. The overly-clean look of the city gave it an other-worldly feel.

They had strapped on their seat belts and were whirring down the Sky Tube, which made Marina's stomach feel like it was flipping. It was a very odd feeling…like her insides were all scrunched together from the force and threatening to escape her body.

When there were only about 30ft left, the elevator began to slow in a surprisingly smooth fashion. They unbuckled their seat belts and, with their suitcases, exited the elevator.

"We didn't need a ticket for the elevator ride…?" Marina asked Riptide.

"Nope. One ticket pays for your exit and your return, It makes sense. I mean, everyone who reaches the surface is only there temporarily."

Marina heard an ecstatic screech coming from her right.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Eloise shrieked, which created a bright yellow slash across the scenery. Marina's heart had leapt at the sudden scream. "EEEEEEE I'm just so EXCITED! I can't CONTAIN IT! WE are in a DIFFERENT CITY! OCTOPANY, OF ALL CITIES!"

Marina laughed lightly. It was a little frightening, moving out of her home city. Oh, and Corinna! What if she tried to find them?

I should have told her before I left…Oh, well. Wait! Eloise has a phone! No, but…she never went back to the orphanage to get her number.

Riptide was beaming. He was tapping his fingers against his side rhythmically, probably tapping to a drum beat in his head.

Suddenly, Marina's heart dropped.

Holy carp. Will I have to be on stage?

"Uh, Riptide?!"

"Hmm?"

"For the—for the song thingy, uh…am I…going to have to be on stage? Because I—I don't know if I can—"

"Oh! Uh, no, no. Not at first, at least," he said in a reassuring tone of voice. "If we qualify for the semifinals, then yes. Which we will do. I'm sure of it!"

Oh, fun. Very fun.

There was nothing worse to Marina than embarrassing herself by doing something wrong, which she had done a surprising amount of times. Now, she would get the honor of embarrassing herself on stage.

"Okay," she replied quietly.

"YESSS! Oh my GOSH! What if we became famous, Marina? The new Octoling stars!" She glanced at Marina, who was keeping her gaze on the floor, her scarlet tentacles hiding her face. "Oh, wait. I know what you're gonna say. 'I'm too nervousssss….' Don't be nervous! Just be yourself! And , also, please don't be sad if I get more fan letters than you. I just have that stage presence, you know?"

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself," Marina said, chuckling slightly, though under her light tone was a slight feeling of annoyance. She admired Eloise's enthusiasm, but sometimes it could stress her out.

"I'd say we actually have a good shot," Ripdtide said. "That is, with me on the team. I'm lucky enough to have collected the most high-quality instruments in the Octarian Nation. Plus, I've got skill. Which I shall pass on to you soon! Speaking of which…you guys need to choose instruments."

"How do the hosts of the competition know whether or not your teammates are musically-experienced?" Marina asked. Oops. I just ignored what he said. I hope that didn't come off as rude…AGH, why am I so bad at…CONVERSING?! "I mean," she went on. "you could just choose other musicians as your teammates and they wouldn't know, right?"

"That's a good question," Riptide said thoughtfully. "I actually have no idea. But…I'm not risking any shortcuts. I need to win this. Umm, so, anyway…instruments! Have any instruments ever peaked your interest?"

Voice. Voice. Voice. Voice. Voice.

"Triangle?" Marina said in a small voice. She had completely confused herself; she wanted to sing very badly, yet at the same time, regarded singing as the worst thing in the world.

Riptide glared at her. "Are you serious?"

"…umm…." Marina mumbled.

"Just kidding!" He laughed. "Not bad, actually. People underestimate the power of the triangle. There's a reason why the instrument exists. Okay, so, triangle! You guys each need to do three instruments. So…keep thinking. Oh, and by the way, I'm doing electric guitar, voice, drums, and keyboard for sure. But there can be repeats of instruments…in a way. For example, one of you can do acoustic guitar, and the grand piano's open, too."

"I'll do grand piano," Marina said in a confident voice that startled her. She had no idea what made her say that. Suddenly, pianos seemed attractive.

"Okay! Cool. It's not that hard to master. I'll do the complicated stuff on the keyboard."

"WAIT! Marina! You are taking up all of the good ones that are left after Riptide stole the cool stuff. I want…the…eh. I'll take the acoustic guitar. OH! AND THE RECORDER! Can we do recorder?"

"Uh…" Riptide said. "Maybe. I don't know. I can't really think of a good song with a recorder in it, but I'll do my best." He turned around to face them, walking backwards. "Oh, and by the way, these can be switched out, of course. I mean, we don't know what song we're doing yet."

They had exited the area surrounding the Sky Tube, a flat stretch of bricks similar to the place in Zoanthus, and were currently walking down a street with pearlescent skyscrapers. Or…domescrapers.

"Alright, we're here!" Riptide said excitedly, staring up at one of the white buildings. It had beautiful, complex patterns painted on its walls in gold.

Marina shocked when she saw the front of the building. There were carefully-trimmed bushes lining the building's walls, and a tarp was set up in front of the front doors, presumably to give shade from the strong light of the "sun". There was an Octoling dressed in formal attire standing by the building's entrance. He looked something like an officer.

"Now this is a nice place to stay," Riptide said, smiling.

"Would you like help with your bags?" The man by the doors asked.

"No, thanks," Riptide said, continuing inside. Eloise was glaring at him with a shocked expression.

"Yes, I would like help, please," Eloise said, shoving her suitcase into the attendant's arms. He raised his eyebrows at Marina, presumably asking if she'd like him to carry her suitcase as well, but she shook her head shyly and walked forward.

Once they were together inside, Eloise began lecturing them. "Are you guys serious? I don't get you guys. Really? No? Why would you say no to someone offering to do something for you?! Honestly, people. You guys are crazy."

"Eh," Riptide said. "I don't know. I don't mind the extra work. Just gives me an extra work-out, I guess."

Marina shrugged as her response.

"I'll check-in for us," Riptide offered, walking up to the building's front desk, where a pleasant-looking Octoling was sitting. There were several other Octolings in front of him.

Marina and Eloise took the time to look around the lobby. Everything, like the exterior of the building (or of the entire city, for that matter), was clean and quite expensive-looking. There was another front desk on the other side of the lobby, where another line had formed. There was another group of three in that line, one of which had vivid violet hair.

Definitely unnatural… Marina thought, observing the Octoling's hair. She had never seen dyed hair before, but she had heard that dying it was trendy in some cities. In the Octoling's hand was a metallic stringed instrument that looked similar to a violin, which was a rare find in Octarian cities. Her face flashed to the side quickly and caught Marina's gaze in a bright-yellow stare.

Marina looked away and didn't look in that direction again, in fear of being caught looking again. She wondered if the Octoling was a member of a competing team.

"Yes, we're qualifiers…Kef…Yes. Marina and Eloise…umm, I'm not sure," Riptide was talking with the Octoling at the front desk. He looked back at Marina and Eloise. "Hey, guys? What are your last names?"

"Uh. We're from an orphanage, so…" Eloise said.

"Right," he said, turning back to the worker. "None."

Marina had heard around that in other countries, last names were assigned to orphans when they were adopted. But in the Octarian Nation, a law was established that stated that no orphaned children would receive a last name, which she couldn't understand.

In a few minutes, Riptide had finished checking them in, and returned with three room keys. "We're in Room 305. What a coincidence, heh."

Eloise pressed the button for the elevator, and as she did, Marina realized she couldn't remember the last time she had ridden in one, excluding the Sky Tube. It had been years. The elevator doors opened, and they entered the cart, which was enormous. Marina guessed it could fit about 15 people in total.

They had been indoors for almost 20 minutes. Riptide still hadn't taken off his sunglasses. Her curiosity had intensified, but she was hesitant about asking why he never took them off—she didn't want to pry.

Try to note anything different about the sunglasses or the ways he wears them, She told herself. She could observe. That was something she was good at.

They were a bit bulky for sunglasses, with much thicker frames than the usual pair. She leaned back against the wall, trying to get a view of the back part of them without looking unnatural. She noticed that the part slipped behind the ear had a drastic curve, almost curving fully around the bottom of the year. And…attaching both sides of the sunglasses from the back was a black strap. She had seen those kinds of straps before—it was similar to the one you would find in sports glasses.

Maybe that's what they are. Regular sports glasses. But why wouldn't he have clear lenses? He could just be too lazy to switch back and forth, so he goes for the pair that's useful in most lighting. Must make his vision a little dark indoors, though.

His head snapped to her direction. He had and odd, almost protective expression on his face. It was…almost like a warning glance. She quickly turned her gaze to the flooring.

There was no mistaking it. He had caught her looking. Somehow, he knew she was suspicious.