The Power Princesses

by Phantom-Dragon

The Water Nymph

My name is Ariel Neptune. Two years ago, I was a normal human girl, with a special talent.

At school, I was the top of my swim team. And with the team, I had some very good friends to pal around with. And I have a loving grandma whom I've looked up to, ever since I was very little.

But most of all, I used to talk and sing. Though, unlike everyone, I have a beautiful voice. My dad always said that I have the voice of a thousand angels. Or, at least, I had a voice like that. But now, it’s gone. It was taken from me, just like how I was taken away from my life...

This is my story...

Two nights have passed, since the scuffle at the Mistmane Auction House has at last quiet down. By then, Hum Drum was well again, and he got to go on another patrol with his friends, the Power Princesses. At the moment, the heroes were patrolling the east coast of the city, at its harbor.

"Sure is nice to be on patrols again," Ken commented as he leapt across a building, with Masked Matter-Horn beside him. "And it was nice to see May again."

"Yes, it's great that you and May get to see each other again, Hum Drum," Masked began. "But it'd be really helpful of you to focus on the task at hand."

"I know," Ken replied, while taking out his phone and looked at an image. "I still can't believe that May's already started a blog called the PowerLine. It's got a nice ring to it. And look what she's posted on the blog," He showed, revealing a disturbing photo of what appeared to be a mutant fish of some kind. "And our mayor's office is currently 'investigating' for any toxic waste dump in the area, which is highly unlikely."

"Which exactly what we're here for," Masked Matter-Horn replied. "We're staking out and see if we can catch the culprits in the act."

"Or if there are any culprits at all," Zapp complained through a mic, in Masked Matter-Horn's right ear. "We've been here for like an hour already. Is anything ever going to happen?"

"Patience Zapp..." Marvelous advised. "Something's bound to happen."

"Yeah, and besides," Fili-Second began. "You know what they say. Criminals always return to the scene of the crime."

"Shhh!" Saddle Rager shushed, hearing the sound of a truck arriving.

The heroes all hid themselves out of sight, and watched as a truck drove onto the dock, carrying large metal oil barrels on a flatbed. Little did the heroes know, they weren't the only ones watching the event unfolding. A head broke the surface of the water, as a pair of eyes rises above the water, and watches the scene happening from a distance.

The truck finally came to a stop, in which a door flung open, revealing the driver and the passenger to be members of the Reapers.

"Reapers!" Hum Drum whispered in alarm.

"What are them varmints up to now?" Marvelous asked as she and the heroes continue to observe.

The two Reapers walked around to the end of the truck, when more trucks arrived, with even more Reapers. The anarchists all proceeded to unload several barrels of oil-like substance onto the docks, before they brought them over to the edge of the dock and proceeded to dump them into the water.

"They're polluting the water!" Hum Drum exclaimed.

"Why those good for nothing..." Saddle Rager scowled. "Oh it makes me so..."

"Whoa, calm down there, Saddle," Zapp quickly advised. "Don't go Rager on us yet. Let's try and handle this quickly and quietly," Unfortunately, the swordswoman's words got eaten, when the sound of a gun clicking was heard, and both Zapp and Saddle turned around to see a Reaper, holding a gun at them. "Or not..."

Before the Reaper could pull the trigger, a boomerang came flying and knocked the gun from his hand. The startled Reaper looked back, just in time to receive a punch and a kick from Mistress Marvelous and Zapp, respectively, simultaneously.

With that, a fight breaks out between the heroes and the Reapers. The Reapers proceeded to fire their guns at the heroes, which Radiance quickly reacted, focusing her thoughts into her Power Bracelets to conjure several shields to protect her teammates from the bullets.

"Fili-Second! Take out the ones with guns!" Masked Matter-Horn instructed. "We'll handle the rest. Hum Drum, you stay somewhere safe and hidden."

"What? But...I'm well...I can walk.." Hum Drum protested, which Masked Matter-Horn continued to strongly deny. "I can help!"

"No, you can't," Mistress Marvelous added. "Sorry Ken, but ya need to sit this one out."

"Yo Saddle?" Zapp called her friend over. "How about you keep Ken company?"

"Ok," Saddle nodded as she went over to the sideline and joined Ken.

In the meantime, the rest of the Power Princesses all resumed their parts in their latest battle against the Reapers.

Doing as she was instructed, Fili-Second was a blur of pink, dodging bullets and running circles around the Reapers, as she disarms the anarchists of their guns, and in their place, are more Pizza Bombs, that blew up in their faces.

Radiance was using her Power Bracelets to create floating shields to protect her friends, while also making assortments of weapons in order to help fight back the Reapers.

“Are those...grenade launchers?!” Hum Drum alerted his super heroine friends.

“I got this!” Zapp insisted, spinning her sword at lightning speed, literally, and fired a bolt of lightning that destroyed a grenade and the launcher.

A Reaper was firing his rifle at the Power Princesses, only to have it snatched away by Mistress Marvelous’s lasso, who spins and slammed the firearm on the platform, shattering it to pieces.

Lastly, Masked Matter-Horn focused her mentality into an energy horn from her forehead. She conjured a gust of freezing air to freeze some of the Reapers into ice blocks, while also freezing the platform to trip them.

Some of the Reapers went to hide behind their trucks and the crates at the docks, to shoot the heroes from the cover.

“They’re all over the place!” Masked Matter-Horn strained, as she felt her concentration being forced to split in random directions.

“Then we’ll have to keep fighting!” Zapp replied, as she slashed some of the Reapers away, while narrowly avoiding a grenade blast.

“Oh dear,” Spruce whimpered as she held Hum Drum close.

Luckily, help arrived, out of the blue, or from the water. A torrent blast of water was shot off the dock and hits several of the Reapers, washing them away.

“Huh?” Fili-Second turned her head to the side. “Where did that came from?”

When neither the Reapers, or the heroes, were looking, the mysterious observer stealthily snuck up from behind and pulled the Reapers, off the dock and into the waters.

Eventually, with their numbers dwindling, the Reapers found themselves at the edge of the dock.

“Give up, Reapers!” Ken declared, after it was safe for him and Spruce to get out. “It’s over!”

Suddenly, a large pincer came bursting from the waters, beneath the dock, and snatched most of the cornered Reapers. Then, it disappeared beneath the water.

"What the what?" Zapp exclaimed in bewilderment, along with her friends and the Reapers at the sudden change of development.

It wasn't long before the sound of bubbles popping was heard, breaking the surface, in which one of the Reapers cautiously stepped forth to investigate, with his gun at the ready. That was when a tentacle burst out from the water and snatched the anarchist off the docks.

At that exact moment, the head of a large squid burst from the water, slithering its tentacles in various directions. The remaining Reapers quickly opened fire on the large cephalopod, blasting a hole in one of its tentacles, while completely shot off another. Enraged, the squid retaliated by slamming its tentacles onto the trucks and destroyed some of the surrounding crates.

"LOOK OUT!" Masked Matter-Horn screamed, just as a tentacle nearly smashed her and her teammates.

Ken looked up and felt his whole body tense up, with the cold goosebumps running along his skin, as he felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through him. To him, it was like the kraken attack in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and it's no longer a movie scene.

And it doesn't end with the squid. Rising out of the water to join in on the rampage was a huge crab, and another, and another.

"Stay back! BACK!" Radiance spatted, conjuring a large rapier to stave the crabs back. "Back you ruffians!"

"I don't think they're listening," Marvelous said, while fighting off one of the giant crabs.

Masked Matter-Horn froze one of the crabs's pincers. But with an earsplitting shriek, the crustacean leapt towards the lead Power Princesses. Thankfully, Zapp intervened and slashed the crab away, while she regroups with Ken, who was hiding behind a crate.

"Tell me, Ken," Masked Matter-Horn began. "Are giant crabs and giant squids attacks a norm in your city's harbors?"

"No," Hum Drum replied. "We have giant squids and crabs, sure. But not as big as these and they don't normally attack us like this. Something must be wrong with these creatures..."

"...Well, until we figured out the cause, we need to stop them from entering the city!" Masked Matter-Horn blasted another freeze ray, as she calls, "Defenders! FIGHT!"

With that, the Power Princesses and Hum Drum resuming their attempts to repel the enraged animals. In the meantime, the remaining Reapers who are still alive, took their leave, while carrying away some of their injured and unconscious comrades away. Their trucks roared to life as they sped away into the city.

Their escape, however, didn't go unnoticed. The mysterious observer in the water proceeded to swim after the escaping trucks, when they were suddenly attacked by what appeared to be a large shark. Before the shark had the chance to clamp its jaws down to bite them in half, the observer proceeded to wrestle with the big fish.

Back with the Power Princesses and Hum Drum, the heroes were fighting a rough battle as their attempts to drive off the squid was hindered by the crabs. Masked Matter-Horn was concentrating to the best of her mentality to freeze the giant squid, but finds that her focus was being split with the scattering crabs, and her friends fighting, without her assistance, and protecting Hum Drum.

Radiance concentrated her Power Bracelets to conjure a large tommy gun to repel off the squid and the crabs, but was startled by a pincer bursting through the platforms, beneath her. The crabs were attacking from below and were making their way up on dock, when Mistress Marvelous stomped on them.

"Get back!" Marvelous grunted, trying to force the crabs down.

Flying through the air, Zapp was surfing on a bolt of lightning, before she leapt off and twists her body into a front flip and held out her sword, slicing off two of the squid's tentacles. The giant squid let out a loud agonizing roar at the pain.

"Yeah! How'd you like that?" Zapp smirked, which was short lived when the squid quickly regrew new tentacles in place of the ones that were cut. "So much for that..." Zapp cringed, moments before one of the squid's tentacle smacked her away.

"Oh goodness!" Spruce Spanner exclaimed, as she ran over to check on Zapp. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but they just keep coming!" Zapp replied.

"Ugh!" Fili-Second grunted, when she punched a crab away, before she got her butt pinched by another crab. "YOW!"

"Hold still, Fili!" Zapp spins her sword and slashed the pincer off of the crab, releasing Fili-Second.

Suddenly, one of the giant squid's tentacles came and smacked Zapp from behind, causing her to drop her sword.

"Watch out for those oil tanks!" Masked Matter-Horn screamed, but it was too late.

Zapp's sword cracked with sparks as they collided with the oil tanks.

"Uh oh!" Zapp shouted, watching as her sword ignites the oils in a blazing inferno, and exploded.

The explosion started a fire that sets the dock ablaze, while scaring off most of the crabs, and frying some of the squid's tentacles. However, the explosion had also destroyed some of the support structures that kept a crane standing. The explosion caught the attention of the mysterious observer, who had just finished fighting off the shark. The watched the blazing inferno, but their eyes were set on one of the heroes, caught in the explosion.

Hum Drum was thrown off his feet, from the explosion, and he was lying in a daze, beneath the crane, that was about to collapse on him. Thankfully, in the nick of time, a webbed hand quickly pulled him by the leg, away from being crushed by the burning mechanic, saving him. Unfortunately, the mysterious figure was caught beneath a metal beam in the process.

Meanwhile, back with the Power Princesses, the super heroines were checking each other for casualties they've sustained from the battles.

"Is everyone here?" Masked Matter-Horn asked. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little shocked," Marvelous confirmed. "But we'll live."

Trot Summers nodded, when she noticed someone is missing, "Wait...where’s Ken?” She asked.

After recovering from the adrenaline of a near death experience, Ken slowly got up, and rubbed his head.

“What just pulled me?” He asked, before he took a glance to his right and saw what appeared to be a large fish tail, beneath a large metal beam.

Reacting fast, Hum Drum quickly went strained to lift up the metal beam off the creature. At that moment, Dallas can be heard calling.

“Hum Drum?! Hum!” Mistress Marvelous coughed, when she accidentally breathed some of the smoke. “Where are ya?”

“Dallas! Over here!” Hum Drum called. “Help me get this beam up!”

Working fast, the two heroes grunted as they mustered every ounce of their strength and lifted the beam up, until Hum Drum was able to pull the fish from the wreckage, only to his and Dallas’s shock, it wasn’t a fish.

The creature that had saved Ken, who quickly returned the favor, appeared to be a human girl, except the skin of her upper body is sea green in color, with a long, thick darker green hair that nearly resembled seaweed, with a pink sea shell nesting in the left side of her hair. Her hands are webbed, with the fingers tipped with sharp claws. She appears to be wearing two large pale white sea shells on her chest, resembling a bikini top. On her neck, shoulders, and the sides of her torso, are gills. From the waist down, she has a green horizontal fish-like tail, that is covered in barnacles, and clam shells, with darker sea green scales and sea-foam green frilly fins, a matching V-shaped waist-line resembling fish-lips, with a large white shell at the center, beneath her midriff and her belly button.

The first thing that came to Ken’s mind is, “A mermaid?!”

“Huh? You know what this thing is?” Dallas asked.

“Uh...I’ve only heard stories, but I didn’t think one of them actually exists,” Hum Drum replied. “But how is she?”

Spruce Spanner bent down and listens closely to the creature’s chest for a heartbeat.

“She’s alive,” Spruce confirmed. “But we have to get her medical treatment and fast.”

“Let’s get her back to the ship then,” Trot suggested. “Come on, there’s not much time to waste.”

It all happened one night. I was just walking down the streets, on my way home, when I happened to see a robbery in progress. I made myself hidden, as I dialed the call for the police. In the meantime, I continued to watch and observe what the robbers were doing.

I couldn't get a good look at their faces, but they wore red hoodies, cargo pants, and white trench coats with hoods. But whoever they are, they dropped a pearl that seems highly valuable. It rolled my way. I picked it up to have a closer look. Next thing I know, they were onto me.

Hum Drum and the Power Princesses took the unconscious mermaid to the alien girl's crashed spaceship, where they begin to run diagnostics on the female sea creature condition.

The mermaid was placed on a medical bed, with suction cups on her body, which connects the wires to the surrounding machines that monitor the mermaid's beating heart and breathing. To keep her moist, the mermaid was treated to regular sprays of fine misty water.

Spruce Spanner was doing check ups, tracing her fingers along the she-creature's gills.

"Amazing..." Spruce observed. "She has gills that enables her to breathe underwater, but she also has lungs and a sytem to breathe air. She is clearly amphibious."

"Meaning?" Aurora asked.

"It means she can survive on land and in the water," Spruce explained.

"So, she's okay then?" Mary asked. "She'll live? She won't die, or anything?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Fili," Spruce shook her head as she checks the mermaid's skin, noting the burn marks. "The poor thing's been burned by the fire. If we hadn't saved her sooner, she would've died a horrible death. No sea creatures could ever survive something like this."

"But she'll be alright, will she?" Hum Drum asked, with a hint of worry clear on his face.

"Of course, she'll be fine," Spruce assured with a nod.

"Speaking of which," Masked Matter-Horn called from the doorway. "Sorry for startling you, Spruce. But if it's not too much to ask, can you get started on analyzing the piece of the squid's tentacles? We need to know what we're dealing with, and see if we can put a stop it."

"Oh, of course, I understand," Spruce nodded as she walked off with Aurora and Mary in tow.

"I'll hang here with our mermaid friend," Hum Drum insisted. "I'll let you know if she's awake."

"Alright, Ken," Masked Matter-Horn nodded as she and the girls went into the next room.

"Just don't scare her too badly when she wakes up, okay?" Aurora teased, as she and her friends leave.

In response to the swordswoman's teasing, Ken stuck his tongue out, before he took his seat besides the mermaid. Turning his head, Hum Drum couldn't help but gaze at the mermaid in wonder.

'Wow, my cousins are never gonna believe this,' He thought to himself. 'Then again, hardly anyone would believe me when I say I've discovered a real-live mermaids. I'd probably make myself look bad. Maybe worse than that fat guy in the movie with Tom Hanks. Though, gotta give that dude credits for never giving up.'

Ever so curious, Hum Drum cautiously moved his hand closer to feel the mermaid's skin. Initially, upon reflex, her arm flinched a bit from his touch, before she relaxes and he resumes stroking her arm. Much to his surprise, despite the small fish-like scales that coated her torso, it's surprisingly smooth to the touch. Turning his attention to her lower body, the tail, he gently touches where her hip is likely to be and was amazed at how thick her muscles are, beneath the hard armored scales that protects her tail.

"Wow, she's a strong swimmer alright," Ken commented, before he stroked his hand across her tail fin. "Hmmm. This is for real! It's no polyester, or velvet, or silk, or whatever materials used to put in any mermaid tails they sell at swimsuits for beach babes," Ken couldn't help but snicker to himself, "Brick and Boomer would be so mad at me, if they ever see me with a mermaid. A real one at that."

Turning to look at the mermaid's unconscious face, with the burns she's sustained, Ken's concerned resume, and he walked over to clasp the mermaid's hand.

"Hey, uh...I don't know if you can understand me...or if you can hear me," Ken began. "You gotta pull through. I know you can. Please, so I can personally thank you...for saving my life."

At that exact moment, the mermaid's eyes began to blink open, to reveal they are the dark colors of reddish brown. Though distorted at first, the mermaid slowly regained her vision, and she takes in the settings of her new surroundings, before she turns to Ken, and finds him holding her webbed hand.

Upon realizing she's awake, Ken gasped, "Oh! You're awake!" Without wasting a second, Hum Drum dashes off to fetch the girls, "Hey! Girls! Girls! Come quick! She's awake!"

While Ken was keeping a close watch on the mermaid, the Power Princesses were in a lab, where Spruce was analyzing a piece of the squid they brought back.

"Hmmm, interesting..." Spruce pondered.

"What is it?" Mistress Marvelous asked. "Did ya find anything?"

"According to these readings, the cause of the squid's mutation is this black tar," Spruce explained, while holding up a vial, containing the said substance. "It's dangerous. It amplifies its host, both mentally and physically. It can even cause them to be more aggressive than normal."

"Yikes," Aurora commented, before she realizes. "Hold on...black tar. Like the ones those Reaper creeps were dumping in the water? That's what's been making those crabs and that squid attack us?"

"Definitely," Spruce confirmed.

"But if that's true, then that would mean..." Radiance's eyes widened with horror, while the rest of the girls quickly caught on.

"...We have to get back to the harbor and stop anymore infected animals that could come ashore and invade the city!" Masked Matter-Horn stated.

"Then let's get going!" Zapp said, with her sword cracking to life.

"Not yet, Zapp," Mistress Marvelous stopped. "First, we need a plan of attack. We've already had trouble dealing with just one giant squid and a few of those mutant crabs. If there's more of them, we'd be overwhelmed."

"So what should we do?" Zapp asked, sheathing her sword. "Just let them invade this city, without putting up a fight?"

"I'm working on an antidote to this affliction right now," Spruce explained, turning the team's attention to a vial, containing the said antidote. "It's almost finished. But I'm afraid it's only enough for just ten of the creatures we've faced tonight..."

Just then, Hum Drum came running into the lab.

"Hey! Girls! Girls!" Ken exclaimed excitedly. "Come quick! She's awake!"

"She is?" Spruce exclaimed.

"Yeah! C'mon!"

With that, the Power Princesses followed their young apprentice into the next room to find the mermaid, just as Ken alerted, awake, but rather disoriented.

The mermaid flinched, as if startled by the sudden appearance of the Power Princesses.

"Hello there," Masked Matter-Horn greeted. "It's nice to see you're awake and alright. I'm Masked Matter-Horn."

"And I'm Saddle Rager," Saddle introduced herself. "But you can call me, Spruce Spanner."

"Name's Zapp," Zapp smirked.

"Mistress Marvelous," Marvelous introduced herself.

"Fili-Second! Hahaha," Fili giggled.

"I'm Radiance," Radiance smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, darling."

"I'm Hum Drum!" Hum Drum posed dramatically.

The mermaid simply nodded in acknowledgement at their names.

"What's your name?" Masked Matter-Horn asked. "That is...do you have a name?" In response, the mermaid nodded, "Then, can you tell us what it is?" The mermaid shook her head, much to the heroes confusion.

"Why not?" Marvelous asked.

Hesitant, the mermaid held her webbed hands up and pointed to her mouth, before moving to her neck and makes a cutting motion.

"You want us to chop your head off?" Fili asked.

"FILI!" The other heroes berated, while the mermaid quickly shook her head and tries another sign with her hands.

She put two hands up to her mouth, before moving them away to emphasize a shout, to which she shakes her head.

"Oh, I get it!" Spruce realized. "You can't speak!" The mermaid nodded her head in confirmation. "Why? Are you a mute?" In response, the mermaid sadly nodded.

"Aw, that's too bad," Marvelous frowned in sympathy. "But seeing that you can at least understand us...and somehow communicate, can you tell us, what you were doing back at the harbor?"

In response, the mermaid tilted her head in confusion, as if she's unsure of how to explain her motive.

"Hold on, can you write?" Ken asked, to which the mermaid nodded. "Great! Uh, here. Whatever you're trying to tell us, write it down," He said, offering her a notepad and a pencil.

The mermaid fumbled a bit with the pencil, either because of her webbed fingers, or the fact that she hasn't used the pencil, or needed to write in a long time. Spruce giggled at the mermaid's clumsy writing, before she walked over and assisted with the mermaid's writing, until a clear message was written.

I've been tracking the bad people with the black tar. They've been dumping them into the water, polluting the ocean, and infecting any marine life they touch. I was trying to stop them, but I was too late, when I saw you fighting off those animals.

"So you know about the Reapers and their black tar?" Masked Matter-Horn asked, to which the mermaid nodded. "And you've fought them before?" Again, the mermaid nodded. "Then maybe you can help us fight off some of the mutated monsters then?"

"Yeah, we could use an extra pair of hands, or fins, to help us win the fight," Hum Drum added. "What do you say? Can you help us?" He asked, holding his hand out for the mermaid to shake.

The mermaid looked at the boy's hand, then looked up to the girls' faces, seeing the sincerity on their faces, before she accepted and shook the boy's hand.

"Looks like we got an ally!" Hum Drum smiled towards Masked Matter-Horn.

"Looks like it," Masked Matter-Horn smiled, before she walks over to the mermaid. "So...pray tell, what should we call you?"

The mermaid turns her attention down at the notepad, and wrote a single word:

Coralita

Just then, a beeping sound was heard, alerting Spruce Spanner to the lab.

"The antidote!" Spruce Spanner confirmed, holding a vial of the said serum. "It's finished!"

After the Power Princesses and Hum Drum were all fully acquainted with their new mermaid friend, now identified as Coralita, the heroes wasted no time to return to the harbor to repel the next wave of mutated marine animals.

Coralita was being carried by Radiance, who coated both herself and the mermaid in the pink aura from her ring, as they fly alongside their friends.

Upon arriving at the harbor, the heroes looked to see that it all seemed quiet. Aside from the remains of their previous battle, there wasn't a soul to be seen.

"Well, seems quiet around here," Hum Drum said, only for his words to be eaten, when one of the giant squid's tentacles broke through the platform.

"You were saying?" Zapp asked, as she unsheathed her sword and slashes across the squid's tentacles.

Before long, even more mutant crabs started to swarm the deck, and were charging towards the heroes, clapping their pincers. Worse still, more giant squids broke the surface and were joining the attack, along with sharks, sea turtles, and all sorts of sea creatures.

"Oh, great," Hum Drum began. "Now Squidward's brought some friends!"

"And here they come!" Fili pointed.

"Power Princesses! Hum Drum! DEFEND!" Masked Matter-Horn shouted, as she and her fellow heroes leapt into action.

Radiance concentrated into her Power Bracelets and conjured up a large pink energy construct of a giant fist, to bash a crab, before she twirls to elegantly dodge the pincers of another, and morphed the fist into a hammer to smack the crab away.

Fili-Second was running circles around a school of eels, dodging their snapping jaws, while leading one of them to weave and slither around the others, until they all ended up in a tangled mess. The eels were snapping their jaws, vigorously in vain to catch the speedy girl, who blew a raspberry.

A large shark suddenly leapt up from the water and was about to crash itself onto Spruce Spanner. Luckily, Mistress Marvelous quickly lassoed the big fish, by the jaw. In retaliation, the shark rolled itself and viciously twisted its head, wrestling against the strong girl's super-strength.

"Looks like I've caught myself the big one!" Mistress Marvelous grunted, as she pulled the shark away from her friend, when she was pinched by one of the crabs. "OW!"

"I gotcha Marvelous!" Zapp shouted as she jumped in and slashed her sword at the crab, forcing it to let go.

Masked Matter–Horn was firing bolts of lightnings from her energy projected horn, to stave off the squids.

"Saddle! How's the progress on the cure?" The lead Power Princess asked.

"It's working," Spruce confirmed, when she sprayed the antidote on a dazed crab, reverting it back to normal. "The antidote is reverting the mutation!"

"Great!" Hum Drum explained, as he finds off a mutant crab with his metal bo staff, to protect Spruce.

Suddenly, without warning, a large shark burst up from the water and was about to snap its jaws on a screaming Ken.

"AAAAAHHH!!!" Ken screamed.

"HUM DRUM!" Spruce screamed.

Thankfully, a burst of jet stream was fired from the left and shoved the shark away from the boy. Turning to the left, Hum Drum and Spruce Spanner were amazed to see the blast of water was courtesy of Coralita.

The mermaid was able to fire powerful streams of waters from her hands, even throwing balls of water at the attacking mutant sea creatures. Some of the crabs turned their attention on her and were snapping their pincers after her, but Coralita washed them away with a spin of her tail, splashing a large wave.

Looking up at one of the mutant giant squids, Coralita narrowed her eyes, before she fired powerful jet streams from her hands, propelling herself into the air. Then, with a twirl and a twist, she flipped her body into a front flip, allowing her to land a powerful slap of her tail, onto the squid's eye. The squid roared in pain as it fell into the water, with Coralita diving back into the water.

Then, with a big splash, the mermaid resurfaces from the water, in a tornado of water, controlling the very sea to pull some of the animals towards her.

"Wow! This girl can fight!" Zapp smiled, clearly impressed.

"I love her!" Fili-Second cheered.

With the tide, literally, turning in their favor, it seemed the heroes were gaining the upper hands as they drove some of the mutant animals back, with Spruce Spanner working her antidote to change some of them back to normal. Unfortunately, more and more of the mutant sea creatures kept on coming back.

"Spruce? Please tell me you still have some more antidote left?" Ken asked, his eyes growing wide at the oncoming horde of mutant sea animals.

"I'm afraid not," Spruce quivered. "I didn't have time to mass produce for a whole army!"

"And some of us are losing steam!" Ken pointed to an exhausted Zapp and Marvelous.

"Don't worry," Zapp panted heavily, as she continued to slash her sword, cracking the air with electric sparks. "I'm not giving up...does anyone have a AA battery, or something? I could use a quick recharge right about now..."

"We can't keep this up much longer..." Marvelous panted heavily.

Even Coralita was overwhelmed as more and more of the mutants were starting to muscle their way through her waves. One of them, a mutant jellyfish, thrusted its tentacles out and shocked her, causing her to lose focus on her wave. Before long, several mutant sea creatures were pouring in through the gaps in her wall. Coralita tried to stop them, but a mutated peacock mantis shrimp suddenly lunged forward and punched her away, throwing her back to the dock, with the rest of the heroes.

"Coralita!" The heroes called, rushing to their mermaid friend.

"Are you alright, darling?" Radiance asked, to which Coralita wearily nodded as Marvelous helped her up.

"What do we do now?" Hum Drum asked.

"We need a miracle," Masked Matter-Horn frowned.

"We need a new strategy," Mistress Marvelous stated.

"We need more antidotes," Saddle Rager whimpered.

Turning her attention to the vial in Spruce's hand, Coralita contemplated on a plan, hoping that it works. Looking back at the oncoming wave of mutant sea creatures, Coralita shook her head, deciding she has no choice. She took the vial from Spruce's hand and popped the cap off.

"Coralita? What are you doing?" Spruce asked.

Instead of answering, Coralita poured the antidote into her hands and begins to wave them together, to form a large orb of the liquid antidote.

"She's replicating the cure!" Masked Matter-Horn exclaimed. "She's making more of it!"

"Alright, Coral!" Fili-Second cheered.

"Don't celebrate just yet!" Mistress Marvelous pointed to the mutant animals. "Here they come!"

"Keep them busy!" Masked Matter-Horn shouted, as she fired a gust of freezing air to hold the mutants off. "We need to buy Coralita enough time to mass produce the entire antidote."

"You heard the princess!" Fili-Second chirped. "Let's do this!"

With that, the heroes resume the fight against the mutant creatures.

Masked Matter-Horn concentrated all her efforts into her mentally projected horn to create the biggest gust of freezing air she could muster, to freeze most of the animals.

Fili-Seconds was running across the water to distract some of the creatures, with Radiance flying along to protect the speedy girl from every attacks, with three pink shields she had conjured.

Though drained of her electric energy, Zapp got up and held her sword up at the ready to defend Coralita, with Mistress Marvelous who got into a fighting stance. Standing in front of the two girls, Ken stood with his metal bo staff at the ready.

"Ken? What're you doing?" Zapp asked. "Get behind us."

"No way," Ken shook his head. "I'm not gonna hide behind you girls and let you risk your lives because of me."

"Ken, now's not the time to prove yourself to us again," Marvelous said in disapproval. "Ya gotta hang back and keep Coralita safe."

"But who's gonna keep you two safe?" Ken countered. "I'm not gonna just save one of you girls. I want to save all of you!"

At that last statement, Coralita stared at Ken with newfound amazement, moved by his words, along with Spruce Spanner, Zapp, and Marvelous. Suddenly, at that exact moment, a shark jumped out of the water and lunged towards the heroines from behind.

"LOOK OUT!" Ken shouted, springing into action and thrusted his staff into the shark's mouth, before he flings it away.

"Hum Drum!" Spruce, Zapp, and Marvelous shouted as they ran over to check up on the boy.

Before long, however, several more of the squid's tentacles burst up and nearly ensnared the heroes.

"WATCH OUT!" The three girls and boy said to each other, before they each exchanged positions and fought off the tentacles.

Zapp and Marvelous both trade places as they twirled to counter the tentacles' attacks, with Zapp chopping off a tentacle with her sword, while Marvelous kicked a tentacle away. At the same time, Spruce Spanner ducked her head to avoid a tentacle, while Ken repels another with his staff, and pulled out his stun gun to repel another.

This display of teamwork made Coralita's eyes sparkle with amazement, before she looks down to see the antidote has reached maximum masses. With that, Coralita swirled her hands until she slammed the antidote liquids into the water, forming it all into a huge tidal wave that washes over the mutated animals and destroyed every single traces of the black tar that were dumped by the Reapers.

With the waters cleaned and the animals having been reverted back to normal, the battle was over.

"We did it! WE DID IT!" Fili-Second cheered, waving her arms in the air.

"Great work team," Masked Matter-Horn smiled, once she regrouped with her friends. "I think we can all call this a night."

"Though, let's not forget, none of this would've been possible without Coralita," Ken reminded, before he noticed the mermaid wasn't next to them. "Hey! Where is she?"

Fili-Second turned her head, before she pointed, "There!"

The said mermaid was at the edge of the dock, and was just about to dive back into the water, when Ken and the girls called out to her.

"Coralita! Wait!" Ken shouted before he stopped to catch his breath. "We just wanted to say thanks, for your help."

In response, Coralita nodded. After exchanging one last sad glance back at the heroes, the mermaid turned and swam off into the sea, disappearing into the night.

"Do you think we'll ever see her again?" Hum Drum asked, to which the Power Princesses shrugged in response.

I was running for my life, down the streets, with the robbers after me. They were really determined to get this pearl back. Obviously, it's must be very valuable to be worth this much trouble.

They chased me, until they had me cornered at the docks. With nowhere else to run, I turned around to try and appeal to the robbers, promising that I'll give them the pearl if they didn't kill me.

BANG

One of them pulled a gun. A flash of light. And my throat was pierced with a sharp pain. I staggered back. I fell off the dock and into the cold waters below.

I tried to swim, but I was in so much pain that my body tensed up, like it was frozen.

I felt numb as my world went cold and dark, and my body was sinking to the bottom of the ocean. For what felt like years, there I was, sinking beneath the water, about to touch the floor, where no one will ever find me. And then...I opened my eyes.

I thought I was in a garden of flowers. I started to rub my eyes, only to discover that my hands...have become webbed. My legs have become a single fish's tail. My skin is all sea green and scaly.

I've become a mermaid. But how? When? And why?

That's when I remembered the pearl...I looked down to see the pearl I was clutching in my hands. It was shining the most beautiful light I've ever seen. Somehow...it must've saved me, by turning me into this...creature. Sadly, however, it couldn't save my voice. My throat was damaged beyond fixation.

A sad reminder of the life I once had. The life that I've been forced to leave behind. A life that I was taken from. I'm no longer Ariel Neptune. I am Coralita.