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Troy was afflicted with tunnel vision as he sprinted down the marble corridor in the direction that Aquanas and Marina had gone, his heavy booted footsteps echoing around the grand palace. All he could think about was saving Marina. In that moment, nothing else mattered to him.

The Captain slowed down as he reached an intersection and panted hard, trying to get his bearings. It looked as though he was heading back towards the main throne room - the room in which the men and Marina had originally been separated.

"Now, if I was an evil tyrant attempting to kidnap a princess, where would I hide?" Troy murmured softly, hands on his hips. His eyes widened as an alarming thought crossed his mind. He found himself looking through one of the wall portholes overlooking the underwater harbour. "He wouldn't dare!"

Now scowling, Troy ran through the throne room and headed towards the departure lounge which Phones had pointed out to him before. As he arrived inside, he saw the prince dragging Marina down one of the cylindrical boarding tubes connected to the lounge, heading towards his submarine. Troy immediately followed and quickly caught up to them.

Aquanas saw his enemy approaching and stopped in his tracks. He launched a gun out of his sleeve and caught it in his scaly hand, holding it at Marina's temple. The girl tried pulling away but her captor's grip was firm. Troy slowed down and stopped a little way from them, glowering angrily at the prince.

"Let her go this instant, you lunatic!" Troy demanded, stepping forward to show he was still a threat.

"Don't come any closer, Tempest! I order you to step back, or she dies!"

Marina gave Troy a look that indicated she wasn't scared, and was prepared to die if it would enable her friend to capture the villain. In her eyes, the sacrifice was worth it. Troy thought otherwise.

"Let her go, frogface!" Troy threatened, voice steady.

"I'll kill her!"

"No you won't! You and I both know you're still planning to take her with you so you can drop the act, tough guy!"

The prince smirked. "Clever, Tempest. But I bet you didn't anticipate this!" the creature swiftly shot at the porthole on Troy's left, breaking the glass and causing a torrent of seawater to consume him.

Marina let out a silent cry and tried to run forward to help him, but Aquanas held her close and continued his journey towards his royal submarine.

Once he'd slid down the last section of the boarding tube, he came to a stop near a large airlock opposing his submersible. His fingers danced over the keypad on the hatch as he entered the access code.

Seeing that her captor was momentarily distracted, Marina took this moment to make her move. She quickly yanked her arm out of his loosened grip and started running away from the villain, who was angrily calling after her.

Ignoring his shouts, Marina ran back up the transparent tunnel, her eyes dancing over the clear glass from side to side. She could see lots of underwater boats at their berths, but couldn't see Stingray.

She was so distracted that she wasn't looking where she was going and soon crashed into a soaked Troy, who had just recovered from being blasted with the jet. The two went tumbling to the floor, with Marina landing on top of him.

Troy groaned, a little winded. He opened his eyes to see it was Marina who had landed on him. "Marina! Are you alright?" he asked, looking her over for injuries.

Marina nodded and lifted herself off Troy. She dusted herself down and found her eyes drifting up the curvature of the tunnel, her attention attracted by the reflection of something blue and yellow. Her eyes focused on the spot to see it was Stingray, which was berthed up and seemingly connected to a secondary tunnel which adjoined their own. She grabbed Troy's attention and started pointing to the submarine.

"You've found Stingray? Good work, Marina!" Troy beamed, jumping to his feet. He grabbed the girl's hand and started running towards the second boarding tube.

"Stop! You'll never escape!" Aquanas' roar could be heard echoing down the tunnel, bouncing off the glass structure until it reached them.

"Oh yes we will." Troy smirked to himself, before suddenly remembering Stingray's crash being the reason why they'd ended up in this mess in the first place. His face dropped. "Then again, I hope her turbines aren't damaged. She took a nasty tumble."

Troy and Marina skidded to a stop when they found their exit was blocked by a metal door.

"Blast!" Troy frowned, kicking it. "Aquanas must have had it sealed it off when he knew which way we were going. Now what do we do?"

Marina pointed towards one of the portholes embedded in the tunnel wall. She gesticulated a swimming motion and held a hand on her chest, telling him she could swim over to the submarine and prepare it for sailing.

"Sounds good, Marina. I can stay here and hold off the creeps until Gordon and Phones get here. Do you remember the code for the exit hatch?"

Marina held up her fingers to mimick the code number.

Troy nodded. "Good girl. Are you sure you're okay to do this?"

Marina nodded with a smile, lowering her hands onto Troy's own to reassure him.

"Thanks." Troy smiled back, letting out a tired sigh. "It's been quite the day, hasn't it?"

The mermaiden nodded and took the tiara off her head, throwing it to the ground in such a manner that it made Troy laugh, which in turn grew Marina's mouth into a beam.

The two stared at each other for a few moments before Marina unlatched the porthole window and opened it, causing a stream of water to start oozing into the tunnel. Troy helped push her through the surge and soon she was outside, floating in the current of the sea. Troy slammed the porthole shut and watched as she elegantly swam over in the direction of Stingray, giving him a little wave as she left.

He waved back, then straightened his uniform. "Right then, best go and see where Prince Petty's at."