Polvina and Ester went to the Shark Palace to find Tubarina, but they were greeted by Marcello and Veto. "Hey guys, have you seen Tubarina?" asked Ester.

Veto replied, "She said she was going to see Father at the War Rooms to tell him about what happened today."

"What? Why would Tubarina want to tell the Shark King? He's just going to get angry and send more troops to attack Dryland," exclaimed Ester.

It was then that Tubarina came down the stairs. "I'm here, girls. Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom."

Marcello was surprised by her appearance. "Tubarina?! When did you get back?"

"Not long ago. You missed me come in. Come on, girls. Let's head up to my room."

The three girls headed into Tubarina's room. Polvina sat on the ottoman, Ester sat at the desk and Tubarina sat on her bed.

"So, how did you get on with your father?" Ester asked.

Tubarina confusedly replied, "How's what?"

Polvina explained, matter-of-factly, "Veto told us you went to see your father to tell him about the Drylander we saw today, that's why you didn't see the message Miss Marla sent to all three of us."

"Miss Marla sent a message to me?" It was then that Ester went to the table, picked up the letter from Miss Marla and handed it to the confused Tubarina. "What does she want with us now?"

Polvina and Ester proceeded to tell Tubarina what they had learnt from Miss Marla about Parker, who was the reason why Miss Marla wanted to see them. Naturally, Tubarina couldn't let anyone else know that she went to visit Mr Chain in prison, but luckily, what the two told her was the same as what Mr Chain told her, so there was no need for her to add or correct anything they said. All she had to do was pretend that what they said was new to her.

Meanwhile, the Shark King returned to the Shark Palace, where he was greeted by Veto. "Welcome home, Father."

"Good evening, Veto. Are you helping get the palace ready for your aunt and uncle's visit tonight?"

"Yes, Father."

"Good. Don't forget, you, Marcello and Tubarina need to get ready as well."

Veto asked the Shark King, "Father, did Tubarina visit you this afternoon?"

The Shark King replied, "No, she didn't. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Father. I should get back to getting the palace ready."

Back in Tubarina's room, Polvina and Ester had just finished explaining to her about Parker when the Shark Queen, Mariana, knocked on the door and came in. "Hello girls. Sorry to interrupt ya'll, but Tubarina needs to get ready because we've got guests coming over tonight."

Ester realised what the Shark Queen meant. "Oh, right, Tubarina did mention that Marcello's parents are coming over."

"Yeah, I think we should be going. We shouldn't bother Marcello's parents when they're still struggling to get over their tragedy," said Polvina.

The two of them said their goodbyes to Tubarina before they went downstairs to leave. When they reached the door, Veto stopped them. "Hey, Polvina, Ester, can we talk in private?"

"What is it, Veto?" asked Polvina.

"I asked Father whether he saw Tubarina today and he said that he didn't."

"If she didn't go to see her father, where did she go before she came back?"

"How should I know? Don't ask me. I just thought I'd let you know." Veto went back to his duties as Polvina and Ester left the Shark Palace, wondering where Tubarina could have gone to instead of Miss Marla's cottage.

Later that evening, Marcello's parents, the Hammerhead King Macnus and Hammerhead Queen Molly, arrived at the Shark Palace for dinner with Marcello and the Shark Royal Family.

Marcello had a little sister named Marcela who went missing when she was two years old. Marcello's parents spent all this time searching for her in every corner of the ocean with the help of the police; even when the Salacians occupied parts of Dryland during the war, they searched those areas in the rare possibility that Marcela would be there, but even after all these years, they had no luck.

Marcello was sent to live with the Shark Royal Family when he was 8 years old, his parents coming back to visit him every few years; initially, it was under the excuse that his parents were touring the Farlands with the hammerhead sharks, but when Marcello and Tubarina grew up, they were told the real reason, that Marcello's parents were continuing the search for their lost daughter. Because of this, the hammerhead sharks became rowdy without a royal family to lead them, which meant that Marcello needed to step up and take on the responsibilities his parents neglected, but not without the help of Tubarina, her friends and her parents. With their king unable to participate in the war, the Shark King led the hammerhead sharks in his place alongside all the other shark royal families.

Both the Shark and Hammerhead Shark Royal Families sat at the table, eating fish for dinner in what could be seen to others as unadulterated horror but was standard for a family whose representative creatures are omnivores.

King Macnus showed his gratitude to the Shark King. "Brother, I can't thank you enough for looking after our son all these years."

"Nonsense, Macnus. I did what any responsible guardian would do. Watching him grow up reminds me of you when you were young."

"Oh, don't say that. You're reminding me of better times," said Macnus, who was the splitting image of his son in looks and personality when he was younger, causing trouble for his brother Trebon.

On the other side of the table, Tubarina was listening in to her mother talking with Molly. "Still no luck findin' your daughter?"

"No, still no luck. We've put feelers out everywhere and every time we think they have something, it turns out to be pretty much nothing."

Tubarina spoke up, "Aunt Molly, I have to ask, how do you manage to stay optimistic even after all these years of not finding Marcela, having commoners and the media saying all those things about you, making you think you had something to do with her disappearance?"

Though any other person would find her comment slightly insulting given the circumstances, everyone in the room was well aware of Tubarina's character and Molly was willing to respond calmly and amicably. "Because, Tubarina, we still don't know if Marcela is alive or not. So no matter what other people may say about us, we still believe that she is out there somewhere and even if we don't know without a doubt that she died, we have to know without a doubt that she is still alive."

The Shark Royal Family later farewelled Macnus and Molly as they went back to their palace, continuing their neverending search for their long-lost daughter. Veto and Tubarina gave Marcello a hug before they went back to their rooms for the night.

Despite Marcello and Veto's sibling rivalries with Tubarina, the three of them truly cared for one another. Although Marcello and Veto were the heirs to the throne due to them being the eldest children in their families, Tubarina understood that she would still have responsibilities, for she would likely become the founding monarch of a new subkingdom, like with Marcello's father Macnus. Of course, it was only natural that she would also be envious of Polvina and Ester, as they were the eldest children of their families and therefore heirs to their kingdoms' thrones.

At boarding school, the Shark King encouraged Veto to take up sports, what with him being a sports fanatic and all. However, Veto became more interested in art and so, before coming home for a few weeks during a school break, he submitted an application to change his program from sports to art. Veto was afraid of how his father would react when he learnt of this, so he decided not to show him the letter the school gave him, but when Tubarina became tired of her older brother bossing her around, she found the letter (by chance) and decided to blackmail him with it. Eventually, Veto became tired of this and decided to tell the Shark King himself; as expected, the Shark King's reaction was bombastic, but when Tubarina decided to stand up for him, the Shark King felt joy over his children actually agreeing on something, and so he allowed Veto to take up art at school.

Veto's girlfriend is the Stingray Princess Soraia, who is distantantly related to the Shark Royal Family by way of their species being related by class. Here's a little story about how they met.

One day, Veto was going through a bit of a slump, lacking the inspiration to paint anything. "I'm stuck," Veto sighed. "I can't think of anything to paint. I guess I might get an idea after having some food."

Meanwhile, Soraia was hanging out with Tubarina, Juli and Jessi in the Shark Palace. "Hey girls, I just found out that Sirilo and Angelica are going out!" gossiped Tubarina.

Soraia dreamily sighed, "I wish I had someone who loved me… My Prince Charming."

The clownfish twins laughed. "Hehehe, Soraia wants a boyfriend!" said Juli.

"You always say that!" added Jessi.

Even Tubarina was laughing as well. "Hey Soraia, why don't you go and get us some food? That'll get your head out of the clouds for a bit."

"Alright then, alright," placated Soraia as she got up and headed to the kitchen. On the way, Soraia passed by Veto's room.

"Damn it! This isn't good enough! I need better inspiration! There has to be something that can inspire me… but what?"

Veto's complaining reached the ears of Soraia, who went into his room to see what was going on. "Uh… hi, sorry to interrupt you but I don't think we've met before. I'm Soraia, the Stingray Princess and a friend of Tubarina's. You must be her brother, right? I heard you in the corridor. It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"Uhhh… wha?" Veto was too distracted checking Soraia out to respond to her. "Oh, sorry, my name is Veto, Tubarina's brother. Sorry if I wasn't paying attention, you are… very charming."

Soraia giggled at the compliment. "Thanks. What are you doing?"

"Well, you see, I'm trying to paint something, but I just don't know what to paint. I'm lacking in inspiration." Veto scratched his head.

Soraia was looking at the paintings Veto hung around his room. "I see that you're a very talented artist. There has to be some way for you to regain your inspiration. You know a lot about art, Veto, so what things inspire you?"

"Well… I… umm…"

Veto was stuttering as his eyes were still fixated on Soraia's body. In his head, Veto's thoughts were running wild: "Oh, goddess Salacia, mother of the seas, for a girl her age, her assets are so nice and big…"

Trying to maintain his composure, Veto told Soraia, "Y-Y-You know what I think would help me? A… muse."

"A muse?" Soraia wondered.

"Yeah. Someone who inspires you to create, someone who inspires you to paint, someone who poses for a painting and… well, would you like to pose for me? I mean, if you want to."

"Why, I'd love to. What do I have to do?"

Veto asked Soraia to pose on the couch in his room as he began to paint her. Some minutes later, Veto was done just as Tubarina headed to the kitchen, wondering what was taking Soraia so long. She was passing by Veto's room when she heard him and Soraia talking.

Soraia looked at the painting Veto made of her. "Wow… Veto… it's beautiful," she said in awe.

"Not as beautiful compared to you," replied Veto.

A flustered Soraia giggled. "I think this deserves a reward." Soraia went to Veto and kissed him on the cheek. "How would you like me to be your muse, handsome?"

"I wouldn't wish for anything else, beautiful."

Tubarina peeped through the door as she bore witness to the beginning of a new and beautiful friendship. She decided to leave Veto and Soraia be as she went to get food from the kitchen in the latter's place. The two of them became fast friends and eventually, they became a couple. The rest, as they say, is history.

Later that night, Tubarina was getting ready for bed when she noticed the Shark King walking down a corridor, acting strangely.

"Father?" Tubarina proceeded to follow him down the corridor and ended up at a door with a "KEEP OUT" sign on it. Hearing whining noises behind the door, Tubarina put her ear to it and listened. The whining noise suddenly changed to a sound like a laser shot before the entire room went silent.

Tubarina slowly opened the door and peeked in before opening it fully and going inside. Her father was nowhere to be seen. Inside that forbidden room was a mirror hooked up to some equipment. Amongst the equipment were cards, card decks, insect-themed trinkets and belts of different designs along with implements that appeared like music instruments; tuning forks, drums, drumsticks, trumpets and guitars, just to name a few.

On the nearby tables and boards were designs for helmets and suits, with different keywords written amongst the scattered papers. Kamen Rider. Advent. Final Vent. Mirror World. Oni. Ongeki. Zecter. Clock Up. Amazon. Violent Strike. Ryuki. Todoroki. TheBee. Alpha. Omega. All those papers were titled under the moniker of "Salacian Warrior Project".

"Tubarina, where are you?" Marcello's voice caused Tubarina to quickly leave the room, closing the door behind her.

She quickly ran back to her bathroom where she found Marcello at the door. "What do you want, Marcello?"

"Ya got any toothpaste? I've run out."

Tubarina went in and got Marcello another tube of toothpaste. "Get the servants to buy some toothpaste tomorrow and don't use too much of it at once!"

"I will, Tubarina. You don't have to keep telling me." Marcello and Tubarina continued getting ready for bed. What Tubarina saw will have to wait for the time being.

End Part A