In the early hours of the morning, Maya began sneaking around the Unified Resistance Army base. She came to the holding cells and began to unlock them.
Prince Wagan looked up in his cell upon hearing the door being unlocked. He saw the girl gesturing at him to get out. "Who are you?" Wagan asked.
Maya replied, "Never mind who I am. Get out of here!" As Wagan ran out of his holding cell, Maya moved on to the other cell and unlocked it. Tubarina and Marcello looked at the door, Tubarina somehow recognising a familiar face. "Quickly! Run back home!" Maya told them.
"Are you-" Marcello was about to ask Maya when Tubarina covered his mouth.
"Thank you! Be safe!" Tubarina farewelled Maya before she left for Salacia with Marcello.
To finish the act, Maya found a wooden plank and hit herself over the head with it before pretending to faint.
At the same time in Salacia, Marli and Socita snuck into the Shark Palace with a key to the secret room that Seretao had duplicated, because it was very unlikely that the Shark King would keep the key hidden within a photo of himself again. The two princesses were sent by Miss Marla after they agreed to turn against the Shark King and join her group's cause. Once the two of them entered the Shark Palace, they went upstairs to the secret room and unlocked the door, heading inside and going to Liam and Mauricio.
"Hey, remember me, handsome?" Marli said to Liam. Salines and Drylanders could understand each other's languages thanks to translation circuits embedded within the systems used to allow fish to breathe on Dryland and Drylanders to breathe in the water. This didn't (necessarily) mean they didn't have to learn each others' languages, though.
"We're here to get you out. Let's go," Socita said to Mauricio as she brought him out. Marli and Socita snuck Liam and Mauricio out of the Shark Palace and headed to the edge of Salacia.
On the way, Liam decided to introduce himself. "I'm Liam Pitara and this is Mauricio Hernandez. We're both generals in the Kongming Army, though I suppose you know that already."
"Of course we do," said Marli. "I'm the Swordfish Princess Marli and this is the Grouper Princess Socita."
"Howdy," chirped Socita.
"Wait, so if you're the Swordfish Princess, then is King Marcos your father or something?" asked Mauricio.
"Correctamundo," replied Marli. "I just don't like the way he does things. He flips between being a menace and a joke."
"Must be sad to have to stand against your father."
"Don't feel sorry for me. My mother couldn't wait for this opportunity to come soon enough."
"How about you?" Liam asked Socita. "Why did you decide to help us?"
"I'm doing this as a favour to my friends," replied Socita. "Besides, I'm sure we're all getting tired of fighting this war, and that's me putting it lightly."
The four of them surfaced on a beach in Santos, some distance away from the Unified Resistance Army base. They ran up to the shore and once they got to the dry sands of the beach, Liam and Mauricio turned around to thank Marli and Socita for freeing them.
Liam asked Marli, "Hey, after this war ends, would you like to meet up again?"
Marli replied, "I'd love to. It's a promise."
Socita told the two Drylanders, "Hurry up and get back to your friends!"
"We can't thank you two enough. Let's have a double date sometime after this war is over!" said Mauricio, showing his rizz technique.
"Ooh, how very forward of you. I like that in a man," a slightly-flustered Socita flirted.
"Alright, alright, let's just get out of here before someone sees us!" With Marli's words, she and Socita ran back into the ocean while Liam and Mauricio set off for their base.
As the sun rose over Dryland, Tubarina and Marcello returned to the Shark Palace. When the servants saw them returning, they immediately informed Trebon, Mariana and Veto, who came out to receive them in excitement and relief.
"Oh, Tubarina! Marcello!" cried the Shark Queen. "I'm so happy to see you two back!"
"How did you guys get that far into Dryland so fast?" wondered Veto. "Those videos were filmed in Yokohama! It takes a few hours to get there!"
"Uhh… we, uhh… uhh…" Marcello and Tubarina struggled to find the words to explain it, but then the Shark King explained for them.
"You two were worried about me so you followed me to Yokohama, didn't you? You two should be more careful next time, and tell someone where you're going first."
Tubarina and Marcello, initially looking confused, responded, "Yes, Father/Uncle."
"Veto, why don't you head upstairs with Tubarina and Marcello?" asked Mariana.
"Yes, Mother," replied Veto as he did as he was told.
Mariana turned to Trebon and said, "You said you kept everything a secret. How do Tubarina and Marcello know about your mirrors? I knew I shouldn't have let you work on everything in that room!"
"Relax. The Shark Palace is a fortress. Besides, nobody in Salacia could steal my work even if they wanted to."
"Okay, but whatever you do, please don't punish Tubarina and Marcello for going so far into Dryland."
"Why would I? They were just having a little adventure, just as they've always been doing with their friends."
As Veto, Tubarina and Marcello went upstairs, Veto asked the other two, "Why didn't Father sound more concerned about you two? Surely he must have been as worried as Mother or I were."
Tubarina turned her head and said, "Let's go into Marcello's room." Once they went in and shut the door, Tubarina said to Veto and Marcello, "You didn't hear this from me, but the reason why Father didn't sound that worried is because if we died, he can turn back time to bring us back or replace us with a clone."
"WHAT?!" the two boys exclaimed.
"Shhhh! Father might hear you! Look, I didn't want to believe it at first, but Father's lost his way after fighting this war for fourteen years. We went to Dryland through a mirror Father had in the forbidden room, where he's also building weapons of mass destruction called Kamen Riders, I think. Ester, Polvina and I are trying to gather allies so we can stand up to Father and the kings and end this war. Do you wanna join us?"
"I don't know…" said Marcello. "What if Uncle gets angry with us?"
Tubarina replied, "That's the thing. Surely Father knows that we know about everything he's done, yet he's not angry about it. He said, 'You two should be more careful next time, and tell someone where you're going first.' What the hell does he mean by that?" Neither Veto nor Marcello had an answer. It was then that a servant came and told the three that Polvina, Ester, Hugo and Sirilo had arrived to see Tubarina and Marcello. "Look, you guys have a think about it while we go see our friends."
Like the Shark King and Queen before them, Tubarina and Marcello's friends were glad to see that they were alright. Marcello's parents came over to check on him too after they heard the news. Though their kidnapping worried many people around them, Tubarina and Marcello knew that they had no time to sit on their laurels. Marcello and his friends agreed to join Polvina, Ester and Tubarina's cause as they offered to help them speak to the other princes and princesses, but not before they let Tubarina and Marcello rest for a day or two.
As for Veto, he called Soraia over and together with Tubarina, explained to her everything that was happening. The couple now understood why their friends decided to side against the Shark King. The next thing they needed to do was to talk things out with them.
Parker's men found Maya outside the holding cells and took her to the sick bay. Hearing of this, Parker and Angelina rushed over to the sick bay, where Maya "regained consciousness".
As the two generals came up to her bed, Maya told them, "Hurry! You've got to chase Wagan!"
"We've sent our men to look for Wagan, Tubarina and Marcello. You don't have to worry, Maya," Angelina said.
"What? Tubarina and Marcello are gone too? This has to be Wagan's fault! It has to be him!"
"Don't jump to conclusions, Maya. Just tell us what happened last night."
"Okay, okay. I was bringing dinner to the prisoners last night when Wagan said that it wasn't enough. I know you probably wouldn't like it, but I felt sorry for him so I secretly decided to give him some more. I put down the tray, then I got hit on the head and I don't know what happened after that."
"Alright then, take it easy, Maya," said Parker. He and Angelina left Maya to the nurses before they went to Parker's quarters to discuss the situation.
"We've been compromised. How is it a coincidence that Wagan escaped with Tubarina and Marcello after we brought them in?" said Parker.
"The Salacians have a law about caring for each other's kingdoms. It makes sense that Wagan would let them out too," said Angelina.
"If Wagan wanted to escape, why didn't he do it earlier? Why haven't the Salacians made a move on our base if he was that important to them? Never mind that, without Tubarina and Marcello we have no leverage on the Shark King. There's no way we can get Liam and Marco back that easily now. Hurry the gathering of the troops. We might not have much time."
"Right, I'm on it."
"And also, I need you, Daniel, Kelvin and Nikki to run a sweep of all personnel in our army. We may have a Salacian spy in our midst."
"Why the hell are you giving me all this work, Parker?" Angelina complained.
Parker replied, "Because you lost Liam and Marco to the Shark King. Now hurry up and do your work so you can focus on rescuing them."
It was then that a messenger came in with a report. "Commander Zhou, General Mouseling, Generals Pitara and Hernandez have been found! Our scouts are escorting them back to the front gate!"
"Oh, that is great news. Tell the troops to continue the preparations, but take their time. We're pushing back the advance into Salacia." Parker dismissed the messenger as he and Angelina prepared to head out to meet Liam and Mauricio.
Just before they went off, Angelina said to Parker, "You were saying?"
Parker replied, "That doesn't mean you're getting out of that personnel sweep. I'm giving you until 2200 hours tonight."
Parker and Angelina went to the front gate, where their fellow generals and a number of other personnel, including Maya Andrews, were there to greet Liam and Mauricio on their return. They heard about how Princesses Marli and Socita freed them from their captivity and brought them back to the shore, where they made their way back to the base. Parker started to wonder what was happening among the Salacians for this to happen, but regardless, he was glad Liam and Mauricio were back.
Maya offered to make something special for Liam and Mauricio when she prepared lunch. Everyone told Maya to take it easy given how she wasn't well enough yet, but Maya insisted otherwise. At lunch, Maya personally brought Liam and Mauricio their food in the mess hall before taking Parker's lunch to his quarters.
Parker was preparing to work on the personnel sweep while looking over a bunch of documents. It was then that Maya came in. "Commander Zhou, I have your lunch here."
"Oh, okay." Parker took out some keys to put his documents away in a locked drawer.
Maya, noticing that Parker was taking a little longer, pointed out to him, "You should have your lunch first, Commander Zhou, before it gets cold."
"Oh, right. You're right. Thank you." Parker put his documents away in his drawer and locked it before he put his keys on the table and took his lunch.
"If you want seconds, feel free to send for me or head to the canteen, otherwise I'll come back later to collect your plates." Parker noticed Maya taking a peep at his keys on the table before she turned around and left, something that caught his attention.
A little while later, Maya was working in the kitchen when she saw Parker walking past, meaning that he had left his quarters. Seeing the opportunity, Maya headed for there and went to Parker's desk. Seeing the keys next to Parker's empty plate, Maya quickly grabbed them and impressed the drawer key on some putty. She then put the putty back in her pocket just as Parker came back in. "Ahh, Commander Zhou. I just came in to collect your plate."
"Thank you, Maya. Today's lunch was delicious as always."
"You flatter me, sir. I'd better be getting back to the mess hall." As Maya left the quarters, Parker picked up his keys from the table and began to realise something.
Maya quickly returned to her room and took out a small pouch from under her bed. Inside was a file and some metal strips. As she laid her equipment out on her table, she closed the curtain and took out the putty from her pocket. Using her equipment, Maya made a duplicate of Parker's drawer key from the profile she took on a metal strip.
Despite their best efforts, Angelina, Daniel, Kelvin and Nikki were never able to find anyone who could be a Salacian spy, but Parker had an idea based on what he saw earlier that day.
Before going to bed that night, Parker opened his drawer and swapped out the documents inside for a manilla folder that he brought in. Later, in the early hours, Maya snuck into Parker's quarters. She used the metal key duplicate to open Parker's drawer and take out the document folder that Parker swapped in, unbeknownst to her. She laid the documents out on Parker's table and took some photos of them before putting the documents back and leaving.
As Parker lay in his bed pretending to be asleep, he smiled to himself knowing that his plans were coming to fruition once again…