Part XXIII
(Rated M: Injury, bloodshed and graphic language. Please proceed with caution.)
Taiki scrambles up to his feet and over to the door, picking up his sea star glaives with his left hand in doing so. He throws open the door with his injured right hand and immediately starts a break-neck run to the steps, down them and finally for the exit to get him out to the beach. Lucia and Hanon have never seen him run this fast, nor look so worried, in all of their time of knowing him, so they hurry after him. Outside, Caren is was listening to Tarou playing his melody and then out of nowhere, Sister Sheshe's voice breaks the calm when she says "What a wonderfully sorrowful piece that is."
This gets Caren's attention and she turns around to see Sheshe and Mimi when a lightning bolt flashes and illuminates from in the clouds.
Sister Mimi: Is that requiem dedicated to you, I wonder?
Caren: Oh no!
Right then, Rina is seated out on a rock peninsula, watching the water right in front of her. The sound of an aura gets her attention several seconds later at which point she looks and sees a yellow orb with Caren inside it.
Rina: Caren! The enemy's caught her!
The orb disappears under the waves and Rina stands up at this. Lucia and Rina caught up with Taiki once he had to stop and get back his breath a minute earlier, so all three of them get to Rina's side.
Rina: You guys!
Lucia: If you're going to save Caren, we're with you.
Hanon: It's too dangerous for you to go alone.
Taiki: No friend will go on a fool's errand.
Rina: Lucia… Hanon… Taiki…
So all four of them dive into the water and start to close the distance. Down below, Caren has a very upset look on her face as she glares at her captors.
Sheshe: What a magnificent gaze of hatred. I like that, Purple Pearl Mermaid Princess-sama.
Mimi: How true! But I'm sure if we just wait a little longer, we'll have our choice of the pink, aqua and green ones as well. Even the surface boy with his black pearl will grace us with his presence!
Sheshe: Indeed!
Caren: No! You mean you captured me just to lure those other four here?!
Lucia is first to spot Caren in the orb, off to the side. The four turn and swim right in that direction. Getting closer, Rina calls out to Caren.
Caren: Don't come! Get away from here!
Getting to about, say, twenty feet from her, they are stopped when Sheshe and Mimi appear in front of them. Taiki's pendant swiftly flashes and he changes back to his human form.
Lucia: Who are you?!
Sheshe: We're the Black Beauty Sisters! I'm the older sister, Sheshe!
Mimi: Same goes for me, I'm the younger sister, Mimi!
They pose in a slight embrace, still facing the four of them.
Sheshe + Mimi: Would you like a dark temptation tonight?
Taiki: Hey, you! Don't you dare mock us!
But they ignore his seemingly empty threat and unleash an attack.
Sheshe + Mimi: Dead Sea Flash!
They point their arms out at the four and the fish around them all emit blinding light from their eyes, stopping and disorienting them.
Taiki: NNNNNNNGHH!
The sisters laugh at the four of them for what just happened.
Lucia: What?!
Hanon: Are they just making fun of us?!
Rina: Don't underestimate us!
Taiki: I AM IN NO MOOD FOR THIS!
Sheshe: (chuckle) Now then, Princesses and Surface Prince, shall we go?
Mimi: Join our paradise beneath the sea's surface.
Lucia: Who would join somebody like you?!
Hanon: We completely refuse!
Immediately his rage breaks through and his irises turn red.
Sheshe: How wonderful. They're pretty enthusiastic for it, Sister Mimi.
Mimi: Oh yes, that's for sure… I hope we don't disappoint them, Sister Sheshe.
They both bring one hand close to their mouths and blow a string of yellow bubbles in their direction as Taiki fuses his glaives and expands the ten-arm one.
Caren: No! Get away! If those bubbles touch you, you'll get caught like I am now!
Rina grasps ahold of Lucia and Hanon, to swim upward to avoid them, but Taiki, in his fury, had spun up the fused glaive in front of him to a blinding speed and it bursts all of the bubbles before they could touch him. It also violently churns the water in a clear reflection of his rage.
Taiki: IF YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH, THEN I'LL BE HAPPY TO ACCOMMODATE YOU!
Caren sees the full dedication even within Taiki's current state.
At that, he and the others transform into their Idol forms, Super Love Songs starts up in the background and with a calling out of "Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!", the girls go on singing while Taiki furiously punches with his good hand and executes kicks to try and get through the seemingly transparent aura around the Sisters to hurt them. Unfortunately, when the song ends, it is seen that neither the song nor Taiki's attempted attacks have done anything to the pair. The power of the sisters, in fact, repulses Taiki back to the midst of his allies.
Taiki: What the hell is this?!
Lucia: Our song won't work on them?!
Hanon: They're mocking us with those composed faces of theirs!
Mimi yawns and that prompts Rina's response.
Rina: Just what are they…?
Caren: It's no use, your voices won't reach them. Give up and get away from here!
Rina: No! I won't run! On that day, I vowed that I'd never leave anyone again!
Caren: It's no use, your powers aren't enough!
Taiki: You're wrong, Caren! They CAN'T win unless they kill me; I will DIE before I let you be taken!
Immediately, as Sheshe and Mimi now speak to address them, a different song starts to play.
Sheshe: So, then, is your little stage done?
Mimi: If it is, then now it's our turn as your rivals!
A red stage light appears around them as microphones form from the ends of their tails and they grasp ahold of them. The appearance of this red live stage also discharges negative energy into Taiki.
Sheshe: Taiki, was it?
Mimi: Looks like you've wished for death instead!
Hanon: …What the?!
Rina: It can't be!
Taiki has his glaive spinning with lethal intent.
Taiki: JUST DIE ALREADY!
Right as he yelled that, his mind hurtled the weapon at the Black Beauty Sisters, just as they speak…
Sheshe + Mimi: IT'S SHOW TIME!
…only for their power and the red live stage halt the advance of the sea star and hold it in place, with a shaking barely noticeable.
Taiki: NO! WHY YOU…! I WON'T LET YOU WI—
He does not get to finish that statement, as all he sees is his glaive disappear towards him in a ping. Simply put, faster than he could see or sense it, the star screamed past him, shrank all the way down to its starting size, pulled in its blades and came to a stop against the hard sea floor. Not two seconds later, the left side of Taiki sees gashes open and blood pour into the sea water as the Black Beauty Sisters let their song be heard. This physical pain and profuse bleeding couple with the already blinding pain from his previous injury, sending Taiki into screaming bloody murder in agony as similar pain flooded Lucia, Hanon and Rina. Caren simply watched in horror as this terrible act started and was unfolding before her, breaking when she sees the injuries befall Taiki…
Caren: TAIKI YAMADA, NO!
She truly realized the depths of his dedication in this moment, as they had gone past his ill-expressed feelings of hate that he never should have had in the first place. He was only making an attempt to use all of his power to set her free by silencing the Black Beauty Sisters, but they have dealt such an acute and severe set of injuries to him. The pain that was being felt by Lucia, Hanon and Rina was NOTHING compared to what was befalling him. Just before the Sisters' refrain started, Taiki shrieks at the top of his lungs…
"STOP IT, FOR FUCK'S SAKE STOP IIIIIIIIIIIT!"
…But they do no such thing and by the end of the evil song's refrain, the girls had collapsed with Taiki in critical condition and progressing towards death.
What the Black Beauty Sisters said was true and they were about to succeed!
Sheshe: That prince was such a fool! Their powers are nothing before us.
Mimi: Now their pearls are ours, and so is his life!
Caren would not stand to see her comrades suffer like this anymore and absolutely WOULD NOT even see one of them die, much less allow it to happen. Now she grasps ahold of her pendant as Sheshe and Mimi start to move forward to Taiki, their intent being to deliver the deathblow to him before taking away his Black Pearl.
Caren: 'I was going to use this power I've kept sealed away in my pearl to save Noel, but… they need to be saved!'
She struggles and extends out her right arm and hand to the edge of the bubble, whereupon her pearl intensely shines. This stops the sisters right where they are and then repulses them away from her allies.
Sheshe: Wh-What's this light?!
Mimi: I can't do anything in it!
Immediately, Taiki is pushed back to the presence of the other princesses whose pearls start to react, then his long gashes are closed and reformed. Taiki's glaive returns to rest in front of him and an orb heads right at the group. Bursting when it reaches them along with the live stage's light, their idol forms disappear and Taiki returns to his merman form. Rina looks in her hands and sees…
Rina: This is…!
…that she is holding Caren's Purple Pearl.
Caren: Go! Get away! They can't move while they're bathed in the light of my pearl! Now's your only chance!
No sooner than she finishes saying that, she collapses and faints inside the bubble. Rina calls out her name but Lucia and Hanon both reach and take ahold of her arms, as well as help Taiki along as they all retreat.
Rina: Lucia, Hanon, let go of me! We need to… we need to save Caren!
Hanon: What are you saying?! They only won't be able to do anything while they're trapped in the pearl's light.
Lucia: If we let ourselves get captured, then we won't be able to save Noel and Caren! We can't let her sacrifice be in vain!
Rina was silenced by that, but only for a second, as she turns her head to face behind her.
Rina: CAREN!
When the four of them return to the surface, Taiki staggers along to his feet only to fall back down between the three as a broken shell of a young man.
Taiki: We… We don't have the power to defeat them! Caren saved us all when… I was… about to die…
He reaches back and puts his left hand's fingers onto the Purple Pearl in Rina's hand and cries out of sorrow at what just happened as he takes ahold of it.
Taiki: I'm… s-s-sorry, Caren… I've failed you! Wh-What kind of… of guardian am I?!
Feeling so weak, he can't find it in himself to let go of the Purple Pearl.
Lucia: Taiki, please…
Taiki: No, I have… the only truly safe… haven for it.
He grasps the Purple Pearl and holds up his hand for the fused glaive to hover right there with the arm where the two words for said pearl's name are inscribed. The pearl is drawn into the round indentation, then becomes enclosed tightly and the weapon lands right at his side, at which point his arm drops on top of it.
Taiki: Now, they… they can't get it… only I or… Caren can… release it.
He fights to stay conscious in the face of what trauma had befallen him, while back on the mainland, Sylvia collapses in feeling the same pain that befell her son as these events were unfolding. She is otherwise perfectly fine, but comes to realize what is happening. After having brushed off what happened, Sylvia would secretly go out to the coast and watch the seas, only leaving via water after having put out a note she would be paying a visit to someone and spending the night over at the person's place as a means to cover. Little did Taiki know that his mother was now on the way to care for him as he struggled to stay normal after the blood he lost. Aqua Regina hears the girls' collective wish and a bag appears next to them with a couple of bottles of LRS (lactated Ringer's solution) to be used for restoring the lost volume as well as sterilized IV tubing and needle points.
Lucia: I hope we'll be able to administer it correctly…
They get back to the hotel room as quickly as possible and use what they have to construct a makeshift stand. Lucia knew enough to check with the computers in the lobby for the calculations as to the correct amount per weight and hour for those dispensing via home care. This done, Taiki is asked for his weight and they do the calculations to properly set up the IV of this isotonic solution to help his body recover after the loss of so much blood, then finally put the needle point into him to start the process of recovery. An alarm is set up for the projected time as to when the first bottle would be empty, then the girls would briefly rest from their close encounter with capture at the hands of a powerful new enemy. They returned to the coast with Taiki's ten-arm sea star glaive in the night owl A.M. hours to try and look for Caren in the nearby area. Unfortunately, they did not even so much as sense her in the slightest. As time went on with their search, Taiki further stabilized as he stayed asleep, but he had not sensed an aura in his vision before that happened…
[Episode 28: KIZUNA]
Taiki would feel just as terrible when he wakes up again right after day breaks over the eastern sky. At the same time, the girls are back on shore and exhausted.
Hanon: We're completely worn down here. Either we should rest or have something to eat before we continue searching.
Lucia: Well, Taiki will need to eat as well in his current state, so we should probably take care of ourselves and him with a meal.
Lucia pauses and looks up at Rina, who was staring out past the sunrise.
Lucia: Rina, did you hear us?
Rina: You go back; I can handle this all by myself.
Hanon: Rina, you can't go search for Caren on your own! We're exhausted, Taiki's out of action and we can't sing to those new water demons.
Rina does not answer her and Hanon does not like this.
Hanon: What are we going to do if you get caught by them now? Do you really think Caren would be pleased to hear you went out alone for her?!
Lucia: Hey, Rina, we should head back to eat, tend to Taiki and rest. We must regain our strength if we're going to be able to sing again.
Hanon: They know we're here, so we'll have to be ready for the next time they show themselves.
Their words finally convinced Rina that she shouldn't go alone, so she agreed to return to the room with them. On their way back, though, they notice that their Pearls are pulsing with red flashes.
Lucia: What's going on? Why are our Pearls doing this?
Rina: Wait… I think this is Taiki's heartbeat!
Hanon: Oh no, he's in trouble!
To that, they run the rest of the way to the hotel room, seeing Sylvia right outside it.
Sylvia: Girls, open the door! He's in pain!
Once they open the room's door, their fears are confirmed big time as Taiki had just woken up in the moments previous and his head exploded with a migraine headache, to which he responded by curling up and clenching ahold of himself tightly. His mother and the girls rush to his side with Hanon possibly the next most frightened after Sylvia. Lucia gets out a prescription medicine he had remembered to bring with him as well as his OTC painkiller medicines, but Sylvia would bring up some dry soda crackers to help put something else in his stomach along with the medicine.
Sylvia: Hanon, please go and get some ice as well as a salt shaker from the restaurant. Hippo, go and block off the drain in the bathroom's sink and then have a seat. We'll take over from here.
Hippo, after having been worked up by what's happened, finds a means to calm down and rest before eventually going back to sleep on the couch. When Hanon returns with the ice, it goes into the sink in the bathroom and both the salt as well as the cold water from the tap are added, giving them some sub-freezing saline. A couple of hand towels are used to administer cryotherapy to Taiki via his forehead and his neck. Once he has calmed down and gone back to sleep, the ladies all go for breakfast and plate up a spread for Taiki to have sustenance when he wakes up again. Returning to the room, they would see that the LRS needed to be replaced and so they took care of this while waking Taiki up and helping him eat the food they brought for him.
Taiki: I'm so sorry for this, everyone…
Hippo wakes up one time to re-wet the hand towels with the cold salt water and the girls would put them back on Taiki before they drew the curtains as much as possible and everyone laid down to rest as much as they could. The medicines would work their way through Taiki's system and help him return closer to normal. When Sylvia wakes up first, her quiet singing as she caresses her son rouses Hanon from her sleep. Lucia, having had nightmares and flashbacks therein, would suddenly wake up calling out Caren's name and be left unsure what to do. Aqua Regina speaks to Lucia, telling her to use the Mermaid Cards to find her answer.
Lucia: That's right! If we use the Mermaid Cards, then maybe…
That wakes up Rina and Hippo. Hanon brings out the cards and after a shuffling, the first card gets set out on the table.
Hanon: This is Charybdis. It's a helper card. If Caren is somewhere in the sea, then it will try to help us find out where she is.
Hanon sets down the deck, parts it into three piles, recollects them in a different order and spreads them out in her hands with the backs to Lucia. Right then, Taiki finally gets up from the bed and steps on over to the table with the LRS solution done.
Hanon: Now Lucia, think of Caren in your heart and pick one card.
With a glimmer from her pendant's surface and then in her eye, Lucia picks her card and sets it down on top of Charybdis.
Hanon: Coral… the card of Sango!
Hippo thinks this one over for a few seconds and then speaks up to everyone.
Hippo: Ah, that's it! If I remember correctly, there's a large coral reef deep in the sea, right off the coastline.
Lucia: Really, Hippo?
He brings up a pamphlet where he had read of it and indeed it is on the left page.
Hippo: Look, over here!
Hanon: He's right! There's a coral reef there!
Rina: Which means Caren is still near here, right?! 'That also means Noel might also be near…'
Taiki: We have our bearings, then.
Lucia: All right! Then let's go to that reef and search for Caren!
Sylvia: Taiki, please do not leave my side. I have to make sure you are alright.
Taiki: I need to redeem myself…
He is the first one out of the room and also the first one to arrive at the water's edge.
Taiki: 'I must rise above the pain.'
His mother is right behind him and joins him on a submerged sandbar, both of them with their torsos underwater. They wait for Lucia, who had gone to see Kaito briefly and then, once Hanon and Rina also join them, the group all set off towards the coral reef. Despite all of the pain Taiki is still in at the time, though considerably less, he keeps all of his senses wide open to feel for any incoming threat. To all good fortune, none approach them.
[[X-Squad from the Mortal Kombat Annihilation soundtrack and it will end right before the eyecatch.]]
Soon enough, Taiki and the girls finally see the Panthalassa's castle and make their way into the entrance of the structure. Once they go through one doorway, a coral statue bust right in front of them lets out light and when it subsides, the girls are in dresses of formal wear and now Taiki has a formal wear outfit of his own.
Rina: This only means they've found out we've entered their castle. Then I suppose we can only take this as an invitation from them!
She immediately heads off to the right, with Sylvia right behind her.
Rina: Let's go, everyone.
Lucia: Ah, wait up, Rina!
Taiki: I'm still injured here…
The two of them and Taiki don't go very far before whatever is on the ceiling swiftly brings down three tentacles that wrap around the tops of their arms and then over their mouths to muffle their yells. It works when Rina does not hear this, but Sylvia turns around and backs up once she feels the gripping pain through her son. Rina continues on, none the wiser about her friends' condition. As Kaito is seen outside the girls' hotel room when Hippo opens the door to it back on the surface, Rina reaches an open space back in the palace and stops upon the sight of what looked to be her friend Noel contently dancing with Gackto and Caren off to the side, also looking enthralled.
Rina: Noel! Caren!
Noel: Oh my, Rina! Why don't you join us and dance with us, as well?
As Rina swims over to the steps that lead down to the floor, Noel moves aside and lets Caren take Gackto's hand to dance.
Caren: Rina, I don't hate you anymore. Rather, I want to thank you. This place is just so wonderful!
Noel: Yes, you have misunderstood the situation, Rina. Gackto-sama is a wonderful person. Rina, thanks to you, I was able to find that out. Thank you so very much.
Rina cannot stand this sight any longer.
Rina: Gackto! What have you done to them?! Let Noel and Caren go right now!
Noel: Gackto-sama, Rina's a good girl. She's been fighting for us.
Caren: I'm sorry, Rina. I misunderstood the type of person you were.
Noel: Who would have thought that Rina would love us so much?
Caren: Hey, why don't you dance with her, too, Gackto-sama?
This overwhelms Rina's senses and she's about to fall under a trance as Gackto holds out his hand to her.
Up on the surface, inside the hotel room, Kaito looks around and realizes that Lucia isn't there, but then is drawn to the Mermaid Cards when he sees them. He reaches to them, turns over the topmost one of the five hanging down from the main pile and it is a card of Aqua Regina. Her voice says "Thank you" to him and down below in the castle, Sylvia finally breaks her son free of the tentacle that had ahold of him just before Aqua Regina appears before them all with her staff shining. At this, the tentacles all let go and retreat and the formal wear is dispersed. Immediately, the four of them head in the direction Rina had gone and Aqua Regina calls out to Rina before she could take the hand of Gackto.
"Open your eyes, Green Pearl Mermaid Princess, Rina!"
That snaps Rina back to her senses. In the doorway, a light shines from Aqua Regina's staff, dispelling the illusion of Gackto there as well as the dress on Rina. Then she says to her "Listen, those two are not the real Caren and Noel. I can feel very dark energy emanating from those two!"
Rina: Aqua Regina-sama, then where are they now?! I have to save both of them!
Lucia: Rina… why are you going so far for them?
Rina turns away from everyone.
Rina: I'm sorry I couldn't talk about this until now, but the reason Caren doesn't trust us… is because she thinks I left Noel behind and escaped by myself. When Gackto attacked my country, Noel tried to save me and get away with me, but she got caught instead and sacrificed herself to let me escape to safety. Caren doesn't know the full story of what happened and thinks that I'm a traitor whom left Noel behind to escape…
Hanon: So that's what it was…
Rina: Lucia, Hanon, Taiki, Sylvia… I'm so sorry that I stayed silent about Noel like this. I really thought that… I would have told all of you about this sooner, but I just… it hurts!
A tear falls from her eyes.
Lucia: Rina, one's true feelings can't always be expressed in words, right? But you know, they are understandable even if you stay silent. That's what friendship really is!
Taiki: Yes.
Hanon: She's right, Rina. That's what friendship really is!
Rina: Oh, you guys… thank you.
Aqua Regina silently nods and the light from her staff disperses the false identities, revealing that the Black Beauty Sisters were impersonating Noel and Caren.
Sheshe: Damn you, Aqua Regina! We almost had them!
Mimi: But Aqua Regina's light will dim soon! Just bear with it a bit longer!
Rina: I'll never forgive either of you!
All five of them transform into their Idol forms.
Aqua Regina: Listen to me, Mermaid Princesses and the Lineage of the Surface… My current appearance is merely an illusion of my true self. I cannot stay here like this much longer. I will continue praying for you to combine your powers with the remaining Mermaid Princesses and see me truly reawaken to my full power once again. Please do not forget. I am always at your side to hear your wishes. Now, I shall grant you all a new song of power.
Right as she fades, the spherical jewel in the head of her staff, glowing with all colors, draws near and forms bracelets around their left wrists.
Into Taiki's mind, she speaks.
"Unto you, Taiki, I give you and your sea star glaives a deep blessing. Use this new power well."
His irises had a brief marbled rainbow look to them before he blinks and the injury to his right hand had been undone.
Sheshe: Now that Aqua Regina, the nuisance, has faded away, we'll capture you!
Mimi: How true! You'll end up like her!
The orb with Caren is brought down just behind them.
Taiki: Caren!
That outcry wakes her up and brings her back to reality.
Caren: You guys… what're you doing here?! Get away from here now!
Rina: Caren, there's no way we would run away and leave you here!
Caren: What are you saying? With your current powers, you won't be able to defeat them.
Lucia: We're fine now! Aqua Regina granted us a new song and more power!
Taiki: Now we will return the favor!
With that, a new, second stage of transformation takes place. For the girls, including Taiki's mother, added frills to the dresses and other defining accents appeared on them. For Taiki, his hair lengthens while his boots gain more accents, a new gold belt appears at his waist and now he sports a much more elegant white oversized button-up shirt with a subtle decoration of seven color dots signifying the seven mermaid kingdoms on it and a black dot in the center signifying the Lineage of the Surface. Last, but not least, the glaives themselves receive a blessing and an upgrade where the ancient scripts were replaced with common language text, their ornamentation became yet more lavish and their collective sizes would now be freely able to manipulate separately with their maximum sizes now double what they were previously. His pose was low, crouched beneath the girls and his mother, with two forearm guards and heavy rings on his fingers.
Sheshe: W-What?!
Mimi: What the hell?!
Caren: (gasp) They're…
Lucia, Hanon, Rina, Taiki and Sylvia: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!
The first line of the new song, KIZUNA, reaches the sisters and they can't believe it.
Mimi: NO! Why can we hear their song?!
Sheshe: Impossible! How could it be their song is reaching us…
The palace starts to shake from the singing.
Sheshe: This can't be…!
Mimi: What's going on?!
Everything twists and distorts from the song.
Sheshe: I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!
Mimi: SISTER, IT HURTS!
The distorting goes out of control after the refrain, the castle disappears and the ceiling hanger fades from illusion back to its real form, the the bioluminescent appendage of the Panthalassa's demonic lantern fish.
Lucia, Hanon, Rina, Taiki and Sylvia: Love Shower Pitch!
The magic smashes into the sisters and the angler, hurting them all badly while the glaives speed forward and leave cuts in them as well before the weapons return and fuse at the same time that Caren is set free from her bubble imprisonment.
Lucia, Hanon, Rina, Taiki and Sylvia: How about an encore?
Mimi: We will not forget about this!
Sheshe: Don't think this is the end!
They hop onto the top of the demon angler and then fade away with it, defeated. Taiki embraces the Princesses and his mother in the elation of this victory, then they all come out of their idol forms and swim over to Caren in order to see if she's alright.
Lucia: Are you all right, Caren?
Caren: Yeah, I'm alright now.
Taiki comes forward with the fused glaive at his side and tears in his eyes, then embraces Caren, much to her surprise.
Taiki: Thank goodness, I'm so relieved!
He lets go and brings the weapon between them with the arm bearing the words "Purple Pearl" right in front of her.
Taiki: Your Pearl has been kept safe. Just touch the arm and speak the words in your mind now.
Caren: Right…
She lightly takes ahold of the weapon's arm closest to her.
Caren: As the Mermaid Princess of the Antarctic, I join my power to you with my Purple Pearl.
At the uttering of those words, the text sparkles and glows. Taiki lets go of the glaive when it rattles his arm and the weapon spins, pivots above them while both it as well as Caren and Taiki exude a purple aura. The weapon stops moving, goes to its maximum size and then expands still more with the completion of Caren and Taiki connecting their powers. The Purple Pearl is then released and comes back to Caren's pendant which is left lightly glowing.
Caren: Thank you, young prince.
Rina: Caren, you really saved us… thank you.
Caren: …I'm really not so sure why I did that for you, to be honest…
She crosses her arms and turns away a little bit.
Caren: I guess I couldn't help but save you all for what you did. I'm sure that my older sister… she would have done the same… thing.
She pauses and thinks for a moment.
Caren: Now I feel as though I can understand what her feelings were then…
Then she looks at Rina.
Caren: Rina, when I said you betrayed my sister, I was mistaken and, so, I'm sorry for all this.
Rina has a smile once again at this, relieved that the burden is lifted.
Lucia: So then you'll help us out from now on, right, Caren?
Caren swims up and away a little.
Caren: Listen here, I'll say thanks for this, but no way am I going to hang around kids like you! I'll find my older sister by myself!
At that, she makes to turn and swim off in the other direction…
Caren: Or, I would say that…
…But decides against it and then points to Taiki and Sylvia.
Caren: But at least I know now I can depend on someone here for sure.
Sylvia: Well, yes, my son and I are here for you.
The mother watches Caren approach her and offer her right hand.
Caren: Sylvia, yes? You've raised a good son.
Sylvia is delighted to shake the Princess' hand.
Sylvia: I thank you. Please, if there's anything that he and I can do for you…
Caren: I'll think about it.
Then she turns to Taiki.
Caren: Taiki.
Taiki: Yes?
Caren: Just like your allies, I thank you for daring to go to the physical lengths you did to save me. I am shocked anyone would go that far for me.
Taiki: Even if I was not a prince, I still would have risked everything to help.
Caren: Really…?
Taiki notices that Caren is lightly blushing.
Caren: Well, then… any girl would like to have a guy whom is empathetic and caring as you, Taiki.
She comes in closer…
Caren: Really, even I would…
…and with no warning, she holds Taiki's face and kisses him in an act that shocks everyone gathered. When Caren ends the kiss, both she and Taiki are left flushed in the face from this gesture of thanks.
Caren: Besides, isn't there a saying that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend? I did sacrifice myself to save you and them, so what do those instances of action say about us?
She partly teases him with a slightly suggestive tone of voice.
Caren: Well, prince? Are you telling me that you love me?
Taiki goes fully red in the face and turns away in embarrassment, unable to enunciate a response. Caren just chuckles at this as does everyone else.
Caren: That just proves one of your finer points — you really are a loving and caring person. Don't you lose sight of that.
She winks at him and then finally swims back out to sea, towards the mainland once again.
Lucia: Well, everything turned out great! Caren even realized her misunderstanding.
Rina: Yeah.
However, Taiki is still trembling a little.
Taiki: 'Goodness me, am I falling for her as well?'
Hanon's touch snaps him out of his thoughts.
Hanon: I guess you really ARE a ladies' man now!
Taiki tries to push aside these thoughts and put his mind back onto lifting the new maximum size of his fused weapons. It has now come to the point that, unassisted, with only his pure physical strength, he cannot even deadlift the now-39' 10.5" inch weapon counting the lengths of its blades. But his princely power and that of the ones before him allowed him to then push it up and hover it.
Taiki: Oh, great, there's a LOT MORE practice in my future…
He splits the weapon into the pair and shrinks them both back down to their base sizes, then goes with his mother and the Princesses back to shore. Sylvia would not spend the night because she needed to get back to the mainland and so return to home. With that, Sylvia swims back and eventually catches up to Caren at which point the princess has a trusted companion to escort her.
The next morning, the girls and Taiki fly back to the mainland and things return to normal.
—