The bell rang. Students in Mrs. Harper's class began to gather their books and get up to move to the next one.

"Oh, I almost forgot! There's a quiz tomorrow, so make sure you all study well tonight!" Mrs. Harper declared, followed by a chorus of groans from her class. "Yes, yes, I know, you just got back from break and all, but this will make sure you haven't forgotten everything you've learned already while you were out."

Ruth wasn't bothered. She only nodded as she pulled out her planner to write it down, before she was approached from behind.

"Wow! Always so organized. No wonder you're a straight-A student!"

Ruth turned around. "Ellen! Hello," She said. "Do you need anything?"

"So... About this quiz Mrs. Harper just sprung on us," Ellen said. "You hold after-school study help sessions in the library, right? Is there room for one more?"

"Always!" Ruth exclaimed. "I'm there to help anyone who needs it."

Apparently, she had said this a bit too loud, because all of a sudden, several more heads turned and spoke up.

"Me too, Ruth! Can I come too?"

"You're always so helpful, Ruth!"

"I need help studying, too!"

It was a cacophony of voices, demanding her attention. If all these people really showed up, in addition to her usual group, would Ruth even have time to study herself? But she knew they all needed help, and it was her job to give it. Pushing down her concerns, she simply smiled and said "Of course! Everyone's welcome."

OP: "Swim! Splash! Precure!"

EPISODE 9:
"Please talk to us! Cure Kelp's new power!"

I really should go to lunch, Ruth thought to herself, looking toward the cafeteria's doors. But at the same time, I really need to squeeze extra studying time in. I have my grades to think about. She made her choice and turned in the direction of the school library.

In the cafeteria, Marie and Natasha sat at their usual table.

"Fine, you can have my kettle chips," Marie said, "But only if you trade me your brownie for it."

"You drive a hard bargain! But deal," Natasha said. She hands over the brownie in question, before eagerly snatching up Marie's bag of chips, now hers.

Onda poked her head out of Marie's bag. "I want some chips!"

"You'd better trade me something for them, then!" Natasha said, then stuck her tongue out at the fairy.

"Hey, not fair, we don't even have anything to trade," Costa said.

"Hey, wait, there she is! Sarah! Over here!" Natasha called.

Onda and Costa immediately ducked back down into the bag. Marie turned, and sure enough, they spotted their newest friend across the cafeteria, and quickly waved her over to sit with them.

"Well? I told you I'd see you around," Sarah said as she sat. "Where's Ruth, though?"

"That's what we've been wondering," Marie told her. "She's usually here by now. Maybe she's off studying again?"

"She should be here eating if she wants to be at her peak and combat ready," Sarah said.

This made both Marie and Natasha raise an eyebrow. "What?"

Sarah looked back and forth between them sheepishly. "Well, you know! Staying healthy and all that!"

"Weird way of saying it, but okay!" Natasha shrugged it off. "She better not have forgotten about our arcade plans tonight."

"Yeah, imagine how disappointed Talia would be if she didn't show up," Marie said. "Should one of us text her and ask her what's going on?"

"I can handle it! But first..." Natasha pointed squarely at Sarah, making her jump. "Sarah! We're hitting the arcade tonight, and you're invited!"

"Well... I'd be honored!"

Natasha responded by throwing her arm around Sarah. "Yeah! Tonight's gonna rock!"

In the library, Ruth was surrounded by books, jotting down notes as fast as she could, absorbing all the information she could get her hands on. Then, she heard her phone buzzing. She was getting texts.

NATASHA

yo you on for arcade tonite :?

sarahs comin too btw

Ruth sighed. She'd forgotten about those plans they'd made. That meant more time taken off of her time to study tonight... But it would be rude to cancel last minute.

RUTH

See you all tonight :D

The day was over- but in a way, Ruth's had only just begun. She had just been in the library earlier, and now she was back again for her after-school study session. When she entered, however, she was shocked. There came a cry of "She's here!", and suddenly, she was swamped with students of all different ages. She had already been anticipating a larger-than-normal crowd from earlier, but that was far larger than even that.

"Uh, hello! Where did you all come from?" Ruth said nervously, having to speak up to be heard over a crowd of people.

Near the front of the crowd was Ellen, Ruth's classmate from earlier who started all this. "Hi, Ruth! Well, I told some friends who I guess told some friends, and so on... And now we're all here! It's not a problem, right?"

Who was she to turn away people who asked for her help? "No, no, not at all. I can handle it!" Ruth said. "Now, who's up first?"

A chorus of "Me!" rang out, and Ruth did her best to put on a brave face.

The sun was low in the sky by the time Ruth finally made it out of the study session. As she walked from the school's grounds, she grabbed her phone to check the time. "Oh, no! I hoped I'd have time to study after school, but I need to get to the arcade now!" She broke into a sprint, rushing as fast as her legs could take her in the direction of the arcade.

When she finally arrived, Ruth was panting heavily, beads of sweat visible on her face.

"Oh! She's here!" Talia called.

"S-sorry I'm late, everyone!" Ruth said through heavy breaths. "I had a lot to do back at school, but luckily, nothing I couldn't handle."

"You're not late," Marie pointed out. "You're actually right on time."

Natasha only shrugged. "You know her, punctual on top of everything else that makes her so perfect!"

Sarah tilted her head, however. "Is she alright?"

I have a lot on my plate right now, Ruth wanted to say. Instead, she forced a smile and what came out was "Who, me? Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" As if to avoid further questions, she was already moving away from the group, and headed inside the arcade. "Come on, we've got a whole evening of fun to get on with. Let's stop wasting time and dive right in!"

The group headed in after her, but Ruth was far ahead of them already. Sensing the opportunity, Talia spoke up.

"Uh, hello, doesn't Ruth seem just a little off today to anyone else?" Talia said.

"I noticed it, too," Sarah said. "It seemed like there were a lot of things on her mind."

"Someone needs to go and talk to her," Talia said.

Marie and Natasha both frowned, however.

"Yeah, about that..." Natasha said.

"It's not that we don't care," Marie said, "But we've known Ruth a long time. When she gets like this, it's... hard to get through to her."

Natasha sadly shook her head. "She sets these crazy high expectations for herself, and always goes 'Oh I'm fine' and 'oh I can do this by myself'! And when she falls short of those goals she set? Bring on the self-loathing."

"Does she let you help at all?" Talia asked.

"No! We've tried," Natasha said. "If we know something is even wrong at all in the first place. Most of the time, she'd like it much better if you didn't know, and just thought everything was perfect and business as usual in Ruth World."

"It's not good for your mental health to bottle so much up," Talia said. "Someone needs to try and get through to her."

"It's sad to see," Marie said. "She thinks it's her job to help others, and she has to shoulder her own burdens alone... We'd love to help her, but we can't do anything if she refuses to accept our help."

Sarah hadn't weighed in yet- she was only silently listening, taking note of any weaknesses she could find. Now, though, she couldn't help but speak her mind. "If I were you, I'd march right up to Ruth and tell her you know something's wrong!"

"Oh, good, someone with a forward way of thinking like I have," Talia said. "Come on, Sarah, let's catch up to Ruth and do exactly that!"

"Hey, wait-!" Sarah tried to protest, but Talia had already latched onto her arm and was dragging her along with her.

Natasha looked over to Marie. "You think it'll work?"

Marie's response was, "I hope so."

"Ruth. Ruth!"

Finally, Ruth responded to Talia's call, stopping in her tracks and turning. "What is it?"

"You were running off so far ahead of everyone else," Talia said. "You didn't think about getting money for any of the games- which I'm paying for, I'll remind you, and I won't take no for an answer!"

"Oh, right!" Ruth laughed a little. "I can't play any arcade games without any money."

"And, Sarah and I had something we wanted to ask you about," Talia said.

Sarah just said, "She made me come."

Ruth could already tell where this was going. "I told you all I'm fine-"

Talia cut her off. "No, you're not! Something's wrong, and we can all tell."

It wasn't that Sarah cared for Ruth's well-being as a person. They were enemies, after all. However, the idea of facing an opponent that wasn't at her peak was disappointing. Sarah wanted to prove herself by facing someone of equal footing, and how could she do that if her opponent was weakened? "I didn't see you at lunch. You haven't eaten at all, have you? That's not healthy."

"None of this is healthy, physically or mentally," Talia said. "Look. Maybe you just don't want to talk about what's wrong. I won't make you do that. What you are going to do is remember we came out here tonight to have fun, and you're going to have fun and let everything take whatever's wrong off your mind. Okay?"

"...Okay," Ruth said, nodding. "I think I can do that."

Talia smiled. "Good! Now let's go."

"Thanks for the night, everyone," Sarah said. "I'll see you all again soon!"

"Take care!" Marie called.

They all watched Sarah go her own way, before walking off in the opposite direction.

"That was awesome," Natasha said. "Check it out! I won a sticky hand!"

"Oh, don't you-" Talia began, only to be interrupted by Natasha shouting "Sticky hand!" and smacking her in the face with it. "I'll make you regret that!" Talia's words were threatening, but her tone was playful and friendly.

Ruth's mind wasn't on this display, however, but entirely elsewhere- while the fun and games in the arcade had served to distract her from her goals for a time, now that those distractions were done with, her mind quickly put her back onto her thoughts of the mountain of studying she had to get done. Her thoughts were cut off when she heard Costa's voice.

"Eyes up, everyone," Costa said, flying out of Marie's bag.

Onda pointed. "There's a Hadalis about!"

When the group looked off to where the fairy was pointing, sure enough, they saw a Hadalis over the buildings, stomping around several blocks away- this one was created from a bicycle, by the looks of it- with Siren standing atop one building, commanding the beast.

"Let's go, everyone," Marie said. She started to run in the direction of their enemy, and Natasha and Talia immediately followed.

"Hey! You think sticky hands are effective against a Hadalis?" Natasha said.

Talia frowned. "Do you really want to try it in the middle of battle?"

"Put it away, Nat," Marie said.

"Fine, fine!"

Ruth sighed, before running to catch up to her teammates. "A Pretty Cure's work is never done!"

Eyecatch 1: Marie, Natasha, Talia and Ruth are all in beachwear, chasing Onda and Costa along the beach. Marie, however, trips on a rock and falls right on her face. The others laugh and help her up as the Precure Ocean Splash logo appears in the corner.

Eyecatch 2: Standing in a line, the girls all hold oyster shells in their hands. One by one, they open them up. Marie opens hers up, nothing, Natasha, nothing, Ruth, nothing, but when Talia opens hers up, inside is a sparkling pearl. The others look at her while she proudly smiles, and the Precure Ocean Splash logo appears.

At last, Ruth was home. "I didn't think we'd spend over an hour chasing a Hadalis around the city..." She said to herself as she approached her front door. "Thank goodness that's over. What a day!"

As soon as she walked in, her dad, Ben, appeared. "Ruth! You were gone a while," He said. "There's still some dinner left, if you want me to heat it up-"

"There's no time!" Ruth said, already rushing past him and up the stairs to her room. "I need to study!"

Charlotte, standing nearby, frowned. "That's a bad sign."

In her bedroom, Ruth frantically began pulling textbooks and binders out from her shelves, throwing them open to where she might need them on her desk. Hunched over her desk, writing notes faster than lightning, anyone who tried to enter her room would see her and know she was in no state to do much of anything right now, and leave her alone.

Eventually...

"Ruth! Ruth!"

How was it morning already? Ruth's back ached badly- she fell asleep at her desk, she realized, hair still tied back and her clothes and even her shoes from yesterday all still on her. She groggily rose up as far as she could and called out "Y-yes? What is it?"

Her bedroom door opened, and in walked Ruth's mom, Rachel. "There you are! You haven't even come down for breakfast yet, and I was worried. What kept you?"

Ruth turned to look at the clock sitting on her bedside table- since she had fallen asleep at her desk, she didn't set an alarm last night, and sure enough- "I slept in! I'm going to be late for school!"

Rachel was pushed out of the room and the door shut before she could protest. Inside, Ruth rushed to change clothes as fast as she could, brush out her hair, and pack up what she needed. She gasped when she saw the state of her notes, however. The papers were crumpled up from a night of sleeping on them, not to mention she had ended up drooling through them. The little that wasn't ruined, she had written down so quickly and messily, it was unreadable. Sure enough, Ruth's notes were completely useless.

"Okay, bye!" Ruth said, rushing out the door as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Ruth, wait!" Rachel called to her. "You haven't even had breakfast yet!" But her call went ignored.

Okay, maybe she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. Maybe her back was very sore, and she had gotten a very bad night's sleep hunched over a desk, and she didn't even have usable notes. But Ruth had this.

Definitely.

"...And our biggest problem seems to be that our Hadalis are no match for them," Siren explained. "That, um, concludes my report for today."

Perhaps Karkinos could tell how nervous she was, as she felt his hand on her shoulder, reassuring her. Before them, Ceto sat with a finger to her chin, deep in thought about something, though none of them could say what it could be.

"If we may add, Lady Ceto, there was one recent occasion we should not ignore," Scylla said.

"Our Hadalis with the Gem of Tide," Charybdis continued. "The Pretty Cure were almost defeated!"

Ceto's expression, originally blank and neutral, changed into a smiling one. "Of course," She said. "Infusing them with the Gem's power... Why didn't I think of it sooner?" She bent over then, running one hand along her throne before coming to rest at a certain spot, and the black stone opened to reveal a secret compartment. From the compartment, she retrieved a box, which she opened to reveal their Gem of Tide. "Everyone, your Hadal Vials, if you'd please."

Karkinos, Siren and Charybdis held up their Hadal Vials. With a wave of Ceto's free hand, they floated over to her, and uncorked themselves. She shut her eyes, holding the gem up to the vials as it began to glow with a sapphire light. Portions of the light appeared to break off, moving to the vials and becoming one with the black liquid contained within. Ceto's eyes reopened as the light faded, and with another gesture in the air, the corks were replaced and the vials returned to the hands of their wielders.

Siren held her vial up, turning it left and right and shaking around its contents. "It doesn't look like anything's changed," She said. "Is this going to help us?"

"The power is not in its appearance, but within, child," Ceto explained.

Karkinos held his own vial, and smiled. "The days of the Pretty Cure's triumphs over us are coming to a close."

The next day came.

Ellen stopped Ruth in the hallway after class. "Ruth, I wanted to thank you," She said. "Because of your help, I got an A on the quiz! You're the best."

"That's great to hear!" Ruth said. "Feel free to come by for more study help any time."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind, but, uh," Ellen said, "Are you shaking?"

"No, I'm just shivering," Ruth told her.

"But it's like, 80 degrees out today, and they haven't turned on the school air conditioning yet," Ellen said. "Seriously, is something wrong?"

"I'm telling you, I'm fine!" Ruth said. "And now I really need to get to lunch, oh boy am I starving, okay bye!"

Before Ellen could say anything else, Ruth was already running off.

Later, in the cafeteria, sitting at their usual table, Marie and Natasha could definitely tell something was wrong.

"Come on, Ruth," Natasha said, "You haven't even touched your food!"

Ruth was sitting with her arms squarely at her sides, staring blankly ahead and not saying anything.

"What's wrong with her?" Sarah said as she approached them and sat down.

"That's what we're trying to get out of her," Marie told her. "She's catatonic."

"Ruth." Sarah planted her hands on the table, hard, making a banging noise that caused the whole group to jump. "They tell me you like to hide these things. But you aren't even doing a good job of hiding that something's wrong. All of us can tell you're upset about something. So just get on with it and tell us what's wrong so we can get on with our lives!"

Ruth blinked. "...I guess you're right."

Marie was shocked. "That actually worked?"

"I had a quiz in Mrs. Harper's class," Ruth explained, "...And I got a C on it."

"No way, is this the first C you've ever gotten? Ever?" Natasha said.

"What does the C stand for?" Sarah tapped a finger on her chin a few times. "...Crab?"

"Uh, look, Ruth, I know you pride yourself on being perfect," Marie said, "But you should know one average grade on a quiz isn't the end of the world or your 4.0 GPA."

"You're right, it isn't," Ruth said. "Which is why I'm going to study even harder from now on to keep it from ever happening again."

"That's... not what I meant," Marie said. "You really shouldn't overwork yourself like that."

"Nonsense! I can handle it," Ruth said. Already, she was moving to stand up. "In fact, I should go and get started already."

"Hey, take it easy," Natasha tried to suggest.

Ruth was already on her way. Sarah tried to call out to her, but her call went on deaf ears.

Talia rapped her knuckles on the door. A few seconds later, it opened.

"Hello, Mr. Hansen." Talia curtsied- perhaps far too formal for such a casual occasion. "We haven't met, but I'm Talia. I'm friends with Ruth. Is she home yet?"

"Oh, she is," Ben said. "She just got home a few minutes ago, actually. A lot later than usual... Come in, she's in her room upstairs!"

Ben led her inside, to the stairs. Talia was about to head up- until Ben stopped her.

"Wait," He said. "I was wondering if you could get through to Ruth and ask her how she's feeling. We can all tell something's wrong, but she doesn't want to say anything to any of us."

Talia nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

When she knocked on Ruth's door, Talia heard the girl inside simply call out "Come in!"

Ruth's room as it was now was a sharp contrast from how clean and organized it usually was. Textbooks were haphazardly thrown everywhere, Ruth constantly flitting back and forth between them and turning pages left and right. Random papers were strewn everywhere, the bed was unmade, and discarded clothes littered the floor.

"Ruth?" Talia said. "What is all this?"

"What does it look like?" Ruth answered. "I'm studying, of course!"

"Well, uh, I just came to return that book you lent me," Talia said.

Ruth's eyes widened. "A book! What book? Give it here, I need it!"

"It's just a novel! A fiction novel!" Talia said. "Toward the Heavens, remember? You recommended it to me. It's not like any of the academic books you have out right now."

"Oh, right." Ruth visibly relaxed when she heard that. "And the next book in the series should be, hmm, it's somewhere around here... I forgot where I put it."

Talia carefully moved her way through the chaos to place the book into a space on Ruth's bookshelf. "Listen, what you're doing right now... This isn't healthy."

Ruth didn't say anything, but Talia continued.

"Why?" Talia asked. "Look at yourself. You're working far harder than you need to be. Why are you doing this?"

Ruth started shaking. "I hold sessions after school where I help people with their work, help them study and things like that... And I've been really swamped lately. I haven't had a lot of time for myself.'

"But that's not all of it, and I can tell," Talia said.

"The other day, a lot of stuff went wrong, I didn't have much time to study myself..." Ruth explained, "And then I got a C on the quiz I meant to study for. I have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"And that's what all this is about?" Talia said, in disbelief. "A C on a quiz?"

"You don't understand!" Ruth shouted. "You don't know what it's like to have these lofty expectations put upon you!"

"I assure you, I know all about that," Talia said. "But you need to ask yourself: are other people putting these expectations on you, or is it you putting them on yourself?"

Ruth wanted to say something in response- but then, they were interrupted by a loud roar from outside. Talia ran over to window to see.

"It's a Hadalis!" Talia exclaimed. "We can talk later. Right now, we have a city to save."

Ruth nodded. Under her breath, she muttered, "A Pretty Cure's work is never done..."

"Pretty Cure, Tidal Power!"

"The defender of the sea with an ocean of confidence... Diving in, Cure Pearl!"

"The defender of the sea with an ocean of intelligence... Swimming in, Cure Kelp!"

"We meet again, Pretty Cure," Karkinos called out from his vantage point. "Though only half of you this time. I'll be intrigued to see how you fare against my Hadalis this time."

The Hadalis was hovering in the air with the aid of several propellers, and gave off a deep blue glow.

"Kelp, wait," Pearl pointed to the Hadalis.

"It looks like it's made from... a drone?" Kelp said.

"Not that," Pearl said. "It's glowing blue. Doesn't that remind you of something?"

A flashback came over Kelp- one that made her frown. "That bird Hadalis we faced, the one that almost defeated us..."

Pearl nodded. "It swallowed a Gem of Tide, and was powered up by it..."

"And this time, there's only two of us," Kelp concluded.

But the time to talk about it was over. The Hadalis began speeding toward them, and the two leaped in opposite directions to avoid it. It turned to head toward Pearl, and she prepared herself, lining up to deliver a punch with both fists straight at it, but before her punch could connect, Kelp jumped in out of nowhere, intercepting the Hadalis. She tried to kick one of its propellers to disable it and send it down onto the ground, but her attack was ineffective. Instead, it knocked her off and sent her crashing into the ground, hard.

"Kelp!" Pearl called. She turned to the Hadalis. "You'll pay for that!"

Pearl started into a run, winding up and flipping off the ground to kick the Hadalis- but somehow, despite the hit she just took, Kelp was up once again and throwing herself at the beast before Pearl could. The Hadalis deflected this attack, but at least this time, Kelp seemed to anticipate it, landing on her feet and skidding some distance when it knocked her away.

"Kelp, stop it," Pearl shouted. "You can't handle this on your own!"

Kelp's answer came as, "Yes I can!" before she ran to engage the Hadalis once more.

"Pretty Cure, Tidal Power!"

"The defender of the sea with an ocean of bravery... Making a splash, Cure Coral!"

"The defender of the sea with an ocean of strength... Making waves, Cure Storm!"

"Sorry we're late!" Coral called, leaping in.

Storm followed after her. "You left plenty of butt kicking for us to do, right?"

"It's Cure Kelp," Pearl said. "She's, well... She's taking all the butt kicking for herself."

"And that Hadalis..." Onda said, her growing horror clear in her tone.

"I remember that glow," Costa said. "Cure Kelp... No, what is she doing?"

"How nice of you to join us!" Karkinos said. "Does it bother you that your friend here is hogging all the glory?"

A kick there, a punch there, then an attempt with her whole body when neither of those worked. Over and over, Kelp refused to stop throwing herself at the Hadalis- and it was taking an obvious toll on her, scrapes and scratches visible all over her body. When one bad hit sent her crashing onto the ground hard and left her lying there in a heap, her team members rushed over to her.

"What are you doing?" Coral asked.

"You've got teammates for a reason, you know!" Storm said.

"I think we've seen enough," Karkinos said. "Hadalis, finish this."

The Hadalis landed on the ground and pointed all of its propellers directly at the Pretty Cure. It switched them on to their fastest speed- and they were all knocked off their feet and blown away. The Hadalis took the skies again, flying high, then immediately switched off its propellers- it was falling, fast, about to land right on top of where the Pretty Cure now lied and crush them all. And once again, Kelp struggled to her feet. She sprung from the ground and caught the Hadalis in the air, landing hard, but still preventing it from smashing down onto them. It wasn't good, still- Kelp was gritting her teeth, and the pavement beneath her was cracking. She wouldn't be able to hold it for long.

"Kelp, stop, let us help you," Coral said.

"NO!" Kelp bellowed in response.

"No? What do you mean no?" Storm said in disbelief. "Your strength is failing! Anyone can see that."

Kelp shouted, "You all need to get out of here before you get crushed! Just go!"

Pearl's hands balled up into fists. "Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?"

"...That I can do this by myself!" Kelp shouted. "That I don't need to rely on others, and they can just... Rely on me instead! I need to prove that... to myself!"

Pearl shut her eyes. "...I see. So that's your answer."

"Kelp, you can't do this on your own," Coral said. "You need our help."

"But I... I can't." Kelp's voice was wavering. A few tears were making her way down her cheeks. Sure enough, she was crying. "I can't be the one asking for help. I'm the one everyone looks to for help! It's always been that way! I'm the perfect one, and everyone always comes to me for advice or any other help they need."

"It doesn't have to be that way, though," Pearl said. "Say the word, and you know we'll be there."

"We're your friends," Storm said. "That's our job!"

"Please," Kelp begged. "Please, I need help. Help me."

Three pairs of hands joined Kelp's in lifting up the Hadalis.

"Let go," Coral told Kelp. "We haven't fought at all yet. We have all our strength still. You don't. Let us handle this."

"Okay," Kelp said, pulling her hands away.

Then, something strange happened.

Kelp's Soak Locket opened. A green light shot out of it, and she suddenly felt all her stamina restored. She stared down at it, amazed.

"What is this?" Kelp asked.

"You... You did it!" Costa said. "You unlocked your Oceanic Trident!"

"My what?"

"The words are already inside your heart," Onda said. "You know what to do!"

Kelp nodded. "I think... I get it."

Reaching for the light, it solidified in Kelp's hand, and she twirled it around as it transformed into a silver trident covered in green jewels, a strand of seaweed wrapped around it. She spoke the words, "Legendary weapon of intelligence, Algae Trident!" and posed with her new weapon.

Storm looked back at her. "So awesome! Where do I get one of those?"

Karkinos's eyes narrowed. "What is this?"

When Kelp leapt at the Hadalis, brandishing her trident, this time, the beast was unable to deflect it. She pierced through one of its propellers like a hot knife through butter, disabling it. Then, she sprung off from it, tumbling through the air and pointing her trident back toward it. "Get ready to throw, girls!"

"Everyone! Three, two..." Coral started the countdown.

"One!" The three holding the Hadalis tossed it with all their might. Above, Kelp maneuvered herself in the air and sent herself falling back down to Earth- and hitting the Hadalis square in the face with her trident. It tried, pitifully, to get away by hovering again, but with one of its propellers disabled, and it couldn't get off the ground.

"Now's your chance!" Pearl called out.

Kelp nodded. She took her trident and planted it into the ground. "Pretty Cure..." The seaweed that decorated her trident grew, and took root into the ground, growing thicker, stronger, and uplifting the dirt around her as the thick growth displaced it all. "...Kelp Overgrowth!" The seaweed growth burrowed at an incredible speed through the ground, toward the Hadalis. When it reached the beast, the seaweed, now massive in size, burst from the ground and wrapped around the Hadalis, tight as could be, cleansing it of the Hadal liquid and turning it back into a normal drone.

A bright light shown, reversing all damage done during the battle. Above them, from his vantage point, Karkinos looked on the scene in disbelief. "How...? This was not... supposed to happen," He said, before quickly disappearing in a bubble.

The other girls ran up to Kelp, but Pearl got there first, and threw her arms around the green Cure.

"That was amazing!" Pearl said. "Though I hope this at least taught you a very important lesson about asking your friends with help, right?"

Kelp laughed, and nodded. "Right! I promise." She looked at her friends. "On that note, I do, uh, have a question."

"Anything! That's why we're here," Storm said.

"There's been so many people showing up to my after school help sessions lately," Kelp explained. "It's been a lot for one person, and I've been getting out really late..."

"Is that all?" Coral said. "I can come help, you know. I can help anyone who needs help with biology, at least."

"Yeah! She's been helping me with that, and she's great at it!" Storm said. "And I may not be good at schoolwork, but I can at least ask around and see if anyone else might want to volunteer as a helper there, too!"

"See, Kelp?" Pearl said. "You're not without help."

"Everyone... Thank you," Kelp said, a huge smile on her face.

ED: Ride~The~Waves

ON THE NEXT EPISODE:

Talia: Just wondering, but what do you all dream about? What kind of thing did you want to be when you were grownup as a kid?

Marie: Well, for me, I've always wanted to be a marine biologist, just like my dad.

Natasha: I'll be a gold medalist swimmer one day, and nobody can stop me!

Ruth: And my goal is to become a surgeon! What about you, Talia? Since you asked and all.

Talia: Me? I mean... I guess I'll take over the family resort business. That's what my parents want.

Ruth: ...But that doesn't sound like what you want.

Natasha: Wait, I know! She's on her way to becoming a secret agent, so she can't say anything about it!

Marie: Are you really so sure about that, Nat? Next time on Pretty Cure Ocean Splash: Dreams of an heiress! Cure Pearl's new power! Let the waves rush over you!