The next morning, Sally and the other Freedom Fighters were sitting around the Freedom Fighters HQ, just minding their own business awaiting any possible attack from Eggman. Sally was just typing away on the keyboard of her computer, Sonic and Tails were throwing a baseball back and forth, Antoine and Bunnie were snuggling with each other and Rotor was checking if his newest weapon, an electrical sword was in tip top shape.
"Bit of a quiet morning, wouldn't you say, Sally?" Rotor asked Sally to break up the silence.
"You could definitely say that, Rotor. But I'm sure that if Nicole is able to get us any intel on what Eggman is up to, she'll have it ready for us." Sally replied to the walrus as she typed away on the keyboard of her computer. Shortly afterward, Nicole proceeded to appear on screen in her Mobian lynx form.
"Ah, Nicole. Did you come to bring us any intel on Eggman?" Sally asked Nicole as she saw her appear on the screen, prompting the other Freedom Fighters to look in the direction of the screen as well.
"Yes, I did, Sally. I've been doing some digging, and the intel I've gathered suggests that Eggman is planning on building a seaside factory on the edge of the Republic of Acorn. This factory could potentially mean destruction and pollution of the ocean, and that could have disastrous consequences for the aquatic wildlife roaming the Mobian oceans." Nicole explained to the Freedom Fighters.
A bolt of fear went through Sally as Nicole explained the situation at hand. This seaside factory could prove to be a major threat to Arya and the other Merbians who lived down in Merbiana, so she had to warn Arya and the other Merbians that something terrible was about to transpire. But how was she going to warn Arya and the other Merbians without raising suspicion of the rest of the Freedom Fighters? She didn't want to reveal her Mermunk form to the rest of the Freedom Fighters just yet, so she had to come up with a plan to be able to get to Merbiana while keeping the other Freedom Fighters off her back. She was excelling in planning and strategizing, so she was sure that she would be able to think of something.
"A seaside factory that could potentially pollute the ocean an' harm the aquatic wildlife? Sounds downright terrible...What do we do, Sally girl?" Bunnie asked Sally with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm thinking, Bunnie...I'm thinking..." Sally replied to the cyborg rabbit as she thought of a plan that would benefit both the Freedom Fighters and the Merbians. "Alright, I think I have a plan. I'm going on a solo recon mission to try and gain more intel on this seaside factory that Eggman is going to be building. Sonic, Antoine and Bunnie, I want you three to scout the general area where the factory is supposedly going to be build. Tails and Rotor, I want you two to stay behind at HQ and run comms to aid Sonic, Antoine and Bunnie. I do not wish to be disturbed while I am out on my solo recon mission, so if you're in need of help while I am away, just contact Nicole and she will help. Understood?" She asked the Freedom Fighters after explaining her plan.
The rest of the Freedom Fighters nodded. "We hear ya, Sal." Sonic replied in understanding of the plan.
"We'll do the very best we can to help out with this mission." Tails smiled and gave a thumbs up.
"Me and Bunnie will scope out ze general area of Eggman's building site faster zan you can say: "C'est la vie."" Antoine assured Sally.
"Darn tootin'! We'll have the intel we need on this factory before ya know it!" Bunnie smiled.
"We'll take care of it, Sally. Good luck on your recon mission." Rotor nodded.
"Alright, thanks, guys. Good luck on your end as well." Sally nodded before rushing out the door and making her way towards the ocean as fast as she could. She hoped to the divine beings of Mobius that none of the Freedom Fighters would be following her to the ocean, or else things would be getting a lot more difficult for her.
Meanwhile, out in the center of New Mobotropolis, Vector, Espio and Charmy were standing with a bunch of camera equipment, and Vector was filming Espio, Charmy and himself on their newly acquired camera.
"Hello, Mobius! My name is Vector the Crocodile, that's Espio the Chameleon, and this is Charmy Bee! We're the Chaotix Detective Agency, and welcome to our new show, The Merbian Hunters! On this show, we will be diving into the exciting world of Merbians: Mobians that are just like us, except that they have fish like tails instead of legs and are capable of breathing and talking underwater like a fish would! A lot of people are claiming Merbians to be just a myth, but there are a chosen few that believe that Merbians do exist, and to those people, I would like to say: We, the Chaotix Detective Agency, are ready to believe you! Join us in our thrilling adventures across Mobius as we strive to prove the existence of Merbians to the world, and we will be capturing and bringing in Merbians for a small fortune to those who wish to use Merbians for whatever goal they see fit! So, are you ready to go out on our first Merbian hunting adventure, guys?" Vector asked Espio and Charmy after giving his charismatic intro to their new Merbian hunting show.
"Yeah, I'm ready, ready, ready, ready, ready!" Charmy buzzed happily as he flew in circles around Vector's head.
"I suppose I'm ready as well." Espio shrugged, finding the whole idea of hunting for Merbians ludicrous, but he was playing along with the idea to keep Vector happy.
"That's great to hear! Now let's head to the closest body of water we can find, and then let's go Merbian hunting!" Vector cheered before turning off the camera and putting it away.
"Vector, are you really sure that hunting Merbians is a good idea? If Merbians do exist, is hunting them really a moral thing to do?" Espio asked, immediately questioning Vector's principles as soon as the cameras were off.
"I know it's not the nicest thing to do or the most moral way to earn money, but I've done some research on the market for Merbian hunting last night, and apparently, the market for Merbian hunting is lu-cra-tive, Espio. And seeing as we're rather short on our dough at the moment, we have to turn to some immoral ways of making money. You know what they say: Desperate times call for desperate measures." Vector told Espio, being well aware that what he, Espio and Charmy were doing was wrong, but that he had to do what he had to do to get the cash rolling in for the Chaotix Detective Agency.
"Vector's right, Espio! It's not really nice what we're doing, but we don't have much of a choice, seeing as we don't have a lot of money at the moment and any other work we would be doing right now doesn't pay enough to allow us to keep ourselves afloat!" Charmy chimed in.
"Vector, Charmy. Are you even listening to what you guys are saying? Surely there must be a morally correct way of earning money that pays as well as this stuff." Espio tried to reason with Vector and Charmy.
"If there was a morally correct way of earning money that pays as well as Merbian hunting, that way would have shown itself by now, wouldn't you say, Espio? Now don't question our plan anymore, and let's go to the first body of water we can find!" Vector declared as he marched forward and Charmy flew after him.
Espio sighed deeply and shook his head. "The things Vector will do for money..." The purple chameleon muttered under his breath as he began to follow Vector and Charmy.
Meanwhile, Sally was swimming through the ocean in her Merbian form, her tail flicking along the waves as she was calling Arya on her shellphone. "Hello, Sally?" Arya spoke after answering the phone.
"Arya...I have bad news...Something terrible is about to transpire on the surface that could prove to be disastrous to Merbiana and the Merbian race. Can I meet up with you and your sister in the palace of Merbiana so I can explain more?" Sally asked Arya, sounding worried.
"Man, that doesn't sound too good, Sally...Alright, you can come to the palace of Merbiana to explain the situation at hand. I'll tell the guards at the palace gates to let you in when you arrive." Arya replied.
"Alright, thank you. I'll see you soon." Sally replied back before hanging up her shellphone and putting it away, then began to swim towards Merbiana as fast as she could. Soon, Merbiana came into view, and Sally began to swim down towards the city, quickly making her way over to the palace as it came into view as well. She waved off the guards as they saw her arrive. Having been told by Arya to expect her, they let Sally inside the palace without questioning who she was and what her business at the palace was.
Once Sally made her way into the palace and the guards closed the gates, the Mermunk looked around the palace in awe. "Wow...This palace has quite some amazing craftsmanship...It might perhaps even be akin to Castle Acorn back in New Mobotropolis..." She mused before biting her lip and shaking her head. "No matter. I have to find Arya and then go see her sister so I can explain the situation at hand to her." She said to herself.
Just as Sally was about to swim off into the palace to try and find Arya, the black haired Mermunk princess swam up to her. "Sally! Glad to see you made it!" She told Sally and gave her a hug.
Sally returned the hug before quickly pulling away, looking worried. "I'm glad I could come to the palace. Where's your sister? She must know what's going on before it's too late." She asked Arya.
"My sister is inside a sitting room. I'll take you there." Arya told Sally as she took hold of the brown Mermunk's hand and quickly took off into the palace, dragging Sally with her to the sitting room where her older sister Cara was waiting for them. The two Mermunks went inside the room and quickly closed the door behind them.
"Hey, sis. I'm glad you could take some time out of your busy schedule to meet with Sally. From the way she sounded when she told me, it could be rather serious." Arya told her sister Cara.
Cara was a white furred Mermunk, just like Arya. Unlike Arya, however, Cara had long wavy brown hair and lilac eyes, and she wore a pink seashell bra over her chest and had a beautiful pink tail to match. Finally, she wore a crown made of gold decorated with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and aquamarines on her head.
"It better be important, Arya. I'm already weary of surface dwellers, and to be meeting with a surface dweller turned Merbian only raises my suspicion even more. The only reason I'm making an exception in Sally's case is because she's the leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, which means that she is to be trusted to a degree." Cara replied to her sister, clearly being more cautious and serious about having Sally over in the palace.
"Trust me, ma'am: This is important. This threat could prove to be a major disaster to both your city and your people if we do not take action now." Sally explained as she and Arya proceeded to take a seat in two chairs.
"Well, please do explain the situation at hand then. Based on the explanation, I will consider lending you my aid in the situation." Cara nodded to Sally, gesturing for her to start explaining the situation at hand.
"Alright, here's the deal...You are aware of the existence of Dr. Eggman, correct?" Sally asked Cara.
"I am. What about it?" Cara asked her back.
"Well, Dr. Eggman is planning on building a seaside factory on the edge of my nation, the Republic of Acorn. This factory could end up polluting the ocean, and this pollution could end up harming the aquatic wildlife as well as damage the environment of Merbiana. If I may offer a suggestion on what to do at the current moment, I would advise to evacuate the people of Merbiana to a different Merbian settlement until the threat of Dr. Eggman's seaside factory has been averted by me and the Knothole Freedom Fighters." Sally explained to Cara.
Cara took in everything Sally said to her, and she put her right index finger to her lip, letting out an inquisitive hum as she considered the advice the brown Mermunk gave her. She turned to look at Arya, who nodded in approval, and Cara turned to face Sally again and gave a nod of approval as well.
"Very well. We will take your advice and will temporarily evacuate the people of Merbiana to another settlement further away from the shore. I trust that you and Arya will keep in contact and keep us updated on the situation with the factory?" Cara asked Sally.
Sally nodded back. "Yes. Arya and I both have a shellphone to keep in contact with each other, and I will make sure to keep her updated on the situation with the factory until it is safe enough for the people of Merbiana to return to the city." She assured Cara.
"Very well. Then I am satisfied." Cara nodded back again.
"Alright. I must be off now. I must aid my Knothole Freedom Fighters in planning out the steps on shutting down this factory." Sally replied, getting up from her seat.
"You go ahead and do that, Sally. Cara and I will take care of evacuating the people of Merbiana in the meantime." Arya told the brown Mermunk.
"Arya is right. There is no time to lose." Cara concluded.