Intro:

---

(Azazel's POV)

It was early in the morning. I was just waking up, and not by the sunlight, thank God.

I felt a slight nudge on my right.

I turned around, to see Marina smiling at me.

Marina: Good morning, Azazel.

Azazel: Oh. Morning, Marina.

As she began to set up, she immediately noticed her tentacles are wrapped around me, and proceeded to yank them off.

Marina: I'm so sorry. I feel like they have a mind of their own.

Azazel: Do your tentacles normally do that?

Marina: No. This is been the third time that this happened.

Azazel: Hmm... I think it has to do with me being in your presence.

Marina: Yeah, you might be right. I've heard that when an Octoling is within the presence of their ideal mate, their tentacles would wrap around her mate as a sign of affection.

Azazel: I feel as if I'm getting a slight sense of déjà vu.

Marina: Oh?

Azazel: That reminds me; you remember the day that we all had a slumber party at the Squid Sisters' apartment?

Marina: Yeah. What about it?

Azazel: Well, when I was having my breakfast and watching the show that you and Pearl were hosting, Juvia came downstairs. It would be normal, sure, if she was wearing nothing but a robe. So I thought to myself, "Okay, this is a little weird, but she lives here, so it's normal for people to walk around in robes."

Marina: Did she do anything... strange?

Azazel: You bet, because a few seconds later, she pounced onto me, and tried to force me into having sex with her, even had the motive to make me grope her boobs.

Marina was blushing so hard at this point.

Marina: S-S-She did w-w-what?!

Azazel: After I texted Marie to hang out with her, I walked outside my room to see Juvia apologize for the lecherous act she pulled. She explained to me that this is predominantly sexual instinct is strong within female Octolings.

Marina was basically as red as a firetruck.

Azazel: And to make matters worse, I asked her is it possible for you to give in to that instinct, and she unfortunately said yes.

Marina now had steam coming off of her head and was about to pass out.

Azazel: Woah. I didn't know that kind of topic was a bit too much for you.

Marina was muttering some gibberish to herself

---

(Pearl's POV)

She hopped out of bed, went downstairs to make herself some breakfast.

Normally, Marina would be the first to wake up, she's not the type to sleep in. And that's exactly what Pearl thought when she saw that Marina isn't in the kitchen, having a bowl of cereal.

Pearl: Where da hell could she have gone?

She searched in the gaming room, the lab, the backyard, all of the nooks and crannies in the mansion.

Pearl: What a minute...

And that's when she she realized where she is.

She walked upstairs, and knocked on my door.

Pearl: Yo, Azazel. You in there?

Azazel: Now would probably not be a good time to come in.

I said behind the door.

Pearl: I'm comin' in, anyway.

She opened the door, and was surprised by what she saw. Though I could not say the same for Marina, who basically passed out of total embarrassment.

RaveDogg:

Pearl: Oh boy, she always does this when she's really embarrassed.

Azazel: Wait, so this isn't the first time she passed out like that?

Pearl: You bet. This one time, we were surrounded by a bunch of fans, mostly for Marina, and their motions towards wanting to do lecherous business with her, which made her pass out of total embarrassment.

Azazel: You don't say. When someone like Marina has the type of body she has that makes all the thirsty guys want to do her, it's downright terrifying.

Pearl: And the worst thing is, she even looked herself up on SquiviantArt, and was traumatized after she saw all the lewd fanart of her.

She shudders as she finished that sentence.

Pearl: Even thinking about it makes my skin crawl.

Azazel: So that's why you have all of that security around the mansion.

Marina soon regained consciousness.

Marina: Huh? What happened?

Azazel: You were passed out like, forever.

Pearl: It's been 5 minutes, yo.

Azazel: It's called hyperbole, Pearl.

Pearl just rolled her eyes.

Pearl: Besides that, check this out.

Azazel: What is it?

Pearl: It's the review of our concert last night, yo.

Marina went up to see the review on Pearl's phone.

Marina: Sweet mother of pearl. Not you, Pearl.

Pearl: Eh, it's cool.

Azazel: Huh. Let's see what it says.

I cleared my throat, as I read the review, which went a little like this;

"If you were at the Squid Sisters/Off the Hook show last night, then you don't need this review; you already know how amazing the show was. It was a show to remember. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Squid Sisters fans and Off the Hook fans may argue over which group, but there's no denying that the two groups together brought out the best of both groups. And don't even get me started on the finale, it was to die for. And the handsome Inkling backstage wasn't so bad looking himself."

Pearl & Marina: What?!

Pearl moved her phone away from my face, even thought it was like, 7 inches (17.78 cm) from my face.

Azazel: Okay, I might've embellished a little on the ending, but the rest was true.

Marina: Wow! They really loved it!

Pearl: Of course they did, yo! We're da best! And having the second best group with us helped a bit.

Pearl said this smugly.

We were now sitting there in silence.

Azazel: So... Can you two leave my room?

Pearl: What? Can't handle our joy?

Azazel: It's more of the fact that I'm only in my boxers.

Pearl and Marina started blushing as they were staring at me, and this was especially true for Marina, as she did slept with me last night.

Azazel: Enjoying the show, pervs?

Pearl and Marina left, to let me take a shower and get dressed.

Once I was done, I went downstairs to see Marina and Pearl were talking, excitedly, on speakerphone with someone. Juvia was also there, as she helped Marie out into making this possible.

Callie: {That concert was off the chain last night! We should definitely do that again sometime.}

Pearl: Yo, definitely. Our ratings have got to be raising a crap ton.

Marina: I don't know about that yet, but it's definitely going to grow sometime in the near future. That concert was the best thing that could've happened to us.

RaveDogg: Yet... ;)

Juvia looked behind her to see what was the source of that voice that just keeps popping up from time to time, but she got nothing.

Juvia: (It's like we keep hearing that voice over and over again, and yet we don't know who that is. Could it be God?)

Callie: {Yeah. Well, I've got to get back to work, so see ya.}

Marina: By-

Callie: {And ask Azazel when is he going to take me out on a da-}

Pearl hung up the phone.

Pearl: I didn't quite catch that.

Marina: Who knows what she was trying to say.

Juvia: Ditto.

Azazel: Hey, girls? What's going on?

Marina: Huh? Oh, nothing. Callie called, asking if we had seen the reviews.

Azazel: I see.

I hopped over to back of the couch.

Azazel: So, what's the plan for today?

Pearl: I don't know about you, but we have got to go to the Square. We'll probably be signing autographs all day.

Juvia: I've got to head to Squidbucks today. Hopefully I'll get my raise.

Azazel: Then I might as well tag along. I'm sure I'll find something to do in the Square.

Pearl throws her arm around my neck.

Pearl: That's the spirit!

We had some breakfast, watched a bit of TV, then left to head to the Square.

---

We were on our to the Square, when suddenly, I received a phone call.

[And yes, that's his ringtone.]

Pearl, Marina, and Juvia looked over at me. I looked down and answered my phone.

Pearl and Marina couldn't hear who I was talking to, but they could get the gist of what we were saying and who they are, based on my responses. Juvia was confused as to what is happening, so she shrugged it off.

Azazel: Hey, what's up?

Marie: {Nothing much. So, what're you doing right now?}

Azazel: I'm not doing much either. I'm heading to the Square with Pearl and Marina right now. Juvia is here too, but she has to head to work.

Marie: Sweet, so you're free?

Azazel: Yeah, I'm free. Do you just call to hang out with me whenever you get bored or something?

Marie: Maybe, but you're not completely awful to have around. So, can you make it to Octo Canyon?

Azazel: You are quite the charmer. Well, okay Marie, I'll be there in a bit.

Going unheard and unseen by me, Pearl and Marina sighed and had a look of defeat. Juvia was kind of disappointed as well, but she knows that she has a job to do.

RaveDogg:

---

(Marina's POV)

The four of us were now at Inkopolis Square, finding ourselves almost immediately being swarmed by all the fans.

I was trying to cover my face from all the photos, and trying to talk over all of the fans. Juvia was quick enough to make her way through the crowd to get to her workplace.

Azazel: Pearl, Marina, I'll see you two later. Okay?

Marina: Okay, see ya!

I started pushing through the crowd, to get to where I was going, while where ever Pearl and Marina kept trying to go, the fans followed the. They kept shouting over each other, trying to ask their questions.

Their question can be boiled down to, "Who is that Inkling?", "Is he your boyfriend?", "Pearl, is he your boyfriend?", and so on.

Pearl and Marina were blushing at the straightforward questions that were being asked of them. The two of them just sighed and continued to where they were going, still being bombarded by fans.

---

(Azazel's POV)

Azazel: (Jesus, how can they put up with all of those fans? I hope they didn't catch any pictures of me... Wait, are there pictures of me out there already? It wouldn't be to farfetched, because I hang out, publicly, with the four most popular idols in all of Inkopolis.)

I was now at the grate leading to Octo Canyon. I hopped through the grate and sprung out in Octo Canyon.

I looked around and saw Marie sitting in a pose in front of the Cuttlefish Cabin.

Azazel: (Is she meditating?)

I walked closer. Her legs were crossed. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing was steady.

I leaned in a bit closer and heard that she was lightly snoring.

Azazel: (That makes more sense.)

I looked around, deciding I'd let Marie get a little more sleep.

I picked her up and sat her on the couch to sleep. I grabbed a nearby blanket, and covered her with it.

I looked around, trying to find something to keep myself busy.

I saw that there was a mini Shinto shrine in the middle of the canyon, so I walked over to it.

Azazel: I might as well give my prayers.

I walked over to the shrine, lit an incense, kneeled down, placed my hands together, and started praying.

Azazel: To whomever god that is hearing my prayer, please give me the strength to protect my friends.

After I had concluded with my prayer, I started finding other ways to entertain myself. I had wrote to my mother, who I haven't seen in a long time. I texted Zoey and Anduin, telling them how well I'm doing in Inkopolis. I walked over to the training area and started improving my skills with a charger, although I will never reach the same skill level as Marie. After a while of doing miscellaneous activities, I got bored.

---

(Marie's POV)

Marie is still asleep on the couch. I sat down on the couch next to her a while ago, watching TV next to the sleeping squid. She fell over a while ago, so she's just been sleeping across my lap.

I was starting to fall asleep on the couch until I felt Marie start to awake.

Marie: Huh? Wh-

She looked up and saw she was laying across my lap. This caused her to start blushing, as she gets some space for herself.

Marie: What's going on? When did you get here?

Azazel: I got here a while ago. You were asleep, so I set you down on the couch.

Marie sat up.

Marie: How long has it been?

Azazel: A couple of hours.

Marie: A couple of hours?!

Azazel: Yeah. Did you get enough sleep last night?

Marie: I stayed up a little later last night. Gramps still isn't back so I had to check on some things after the concert last night.

And that's when I remembered something.

Azazel: That's it! That's why it sounded familiar.

Marie: Why, what sounded familiar?

Azazel: So, what's the Cap'n's full name?

Marie: Craig Cuttlefish, why?

Azazel: I think we got our lead.

Marie: Huh?

Azazel: At the concert last night, when Marina asked me to bring her laptop to her, I saw the Cap'n in an online chatroom.

Marie: What?!

Azazel: Though I didn't recognize the name at first.

Marie: What is he doing in online chatrooms? Is he okay? Where is he?

Azazel: I don't know. I just know that he was in the chatroom.

Marie jumped at me and hugged me as hard as she could.

Marie: This is great! Do you know what this means?!

Azazel: Anything that involves letting me breathe again?

Marie: It means, if I can find the chatroom, then I can find where Gramps is!

Marie had started imagining the Cap'n's return.

-In her mind-

Cuttlefish: Not at all! This "agent" isn't good enough for you, Marie! I will not approve of him!

Marie was latched onto my arm.

Marie: But Gramps, I love him!

-Back to reality-

Azazel: Can you please let go of me before I pass out?

Marie: No! Just a little longer.

She said, smiling into my chest.

Marie: (If only this would last forever...)

---

(Azazel's POV)

After a while, I left, saying goodbye to Marie. I returned to the Square, seeing as how it was getting late and Pearl, Marina, and Juvia should be done by now.

When I got to the Square, I saw Pearl, Marina, and Juvia. They saw me and started walking over to me. Pearl looked like she was ready to collapse.

Pearl: Ugh! That was way too much writing. I didn't like doing it in school, and I sure as hell don't like doing it now.

Pearl was now only about half awake.

I decided to scoop Pearl up before she face planted into the street, and I know how that doesn't feel good.

I was now cradling Pearl in my arms as Marina and Juvia followed behind us. Marina had her arms crossed with a hint of jealousy on her face.

Juvia, on the other hand, noticed the jealously on Marina's face, and tried to consult her, telling her it's natural for me to cradling someone that is small.

Marina looked and saw Pearl turn her head to look behind me, at Marina. Marina was confused at this until Pearl started waggling her eyebrows. The steam was ever-present coming off of Marina. Juvia also got a glimpse of what Pearl did, and she would become a blushing mess.

And so, we returned home and went to bed. Meanwhile, Marie was starting her search for the Cap'n.

SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY...

I want to address that I am quite ill at the timing I publish this chapter, so chapters will be somewhat delayed to compensate for my illness. Besides that, we have finished our first Act. Stayed tuned for Act 2! If you guys enjoyed this chapter, and enjoyed this story and this Act, be sure to show me some love, hit that vote button, and follow me to receive news on Into the Light. Chapter 22 and the first of Act 2 is in development. As always, I'm RaveDogg, and I'll see you in the next chapter.

November 12th, 2020