Chapter One: The Return

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete," sang Queen Luchia softly to her husband, Kaito. He was resting his head on her lap…so sweetly, like a little child. "Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta…" They were in the Mermaid Kingdom again, for it was Luchia's duty to protect the sea from evil once she had become queen.

Their daughter, Shinju, swam into the room. "Mama, I can't sleep. There's a storm outside." Kaito sat up and took Shinju into his arms. Luchia looked through the underwater window, and sure enough, there was a black storm raging outside.

"Shinju, stay with your father. I'll be right back." Luchia was worried; there were never storms in the kingdom at this time of year, especially not black storms. She clutched the pendant around her neck that held her pearl. But what could it be? She wondered. We defeated the evil angels, and Gakuto and the sea demons…so why? Her thoughts were interrupted when a huge crash echoed through the halls. A large chunk of the ceiling crashed down right behind Luchia. Her heart stopped. She could only imagine what kind of monstrosity floated behind her now…breathing hot steam down her neck. She couldn't move…fear had taken hold of her from head to fin.

"Luchia…" someone hissed. "You've been a very bad mermaid…"

"I know that voice!" Luchia said to herself. She began to have a cold sweat, and her body tensed up. "It's-" then she was cut off.

"You must remember me, your brother-in-law, Gakuto." He hopped down from the back of whatever he was riding (it looked like some gigantic mutated sea-worm with purple-ish spiky fins) and grabbed Luchia's face. "Care to tell me where my dear brother is?" He leaned into her as if to kiss her, and then he whispered into her ear, "If you don't tell me, I'll have to do something about that daughter of yours." He pulled away from her, although he still held on to her wrist tightly so that she would not be able to swim away, and motioned with his hands towards the corner of the room. Two women with shark tails instead of feet or fins were holding Shinju captive.

"Shinju!" screamed Luchia. "I thought I told you to stay with your father! Oh, Shinju, they better not hurt you!" then she turned to Gakuto. "If they lay a single hand on her, I'll kill you with my own two hands."

Gakuto just laughed at her. "Do you really think you could defeat me as I am now? All alone, without the help of your precious mermaid friends?"

"No," said Luchia. "But I can drive you back!" She ripped the pendant from her neck and chucked it towards Shinju. "Shinju, catch!" she screamed.

Shinju caught the pendant with her open hand. Then her entire body was engulfed in a pink light. Within moments, her fins had become legs, and she was wearing an adorable little outfit and holding a pale blue microphone with a pink pearl in the center of it. The force of the light had sent the two women hurtling back into the walls, and Shinju was free.

"Sing!" shouted Luchia. Then Gakuto twisted back Luchia's arm so far and so hard that it snapped. Luchia screamed out in pain as he ran towards her daughter.

Shinju looked terrified. She opened her mouth to sing, but no words would come out. She was virtually frozen in place.

"Sing!" Luchia cried again, though this time her voice was filled with pain and fear as well. This did nothing to boost the morale of her young daughter.

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete…" sang Shinju in practically a whisper. Her voice was quivering badly.

"Shinju, you must sing strong! Hurry!" cried Luchia as Gakuto came ever closer to her daughter. She feared that Shinju would not be able to save herself in time, but then something miraculous happened.

An aqua colored light filled the room, and the words, "Aqua Pearl Voice!" could be heard throughout the sea. It was Hannon. She swam over to Shinju and said, "Come on, let's kick some bad-guy butt, aye Shinju?" and then she started singing. "Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete!"

Shinju quickly joined in. "Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta!" Pink light emanated from all around her body as she sang. Hannon noticed this, and began to wonder, is it really time for us to hand our pearls to the next generation? My pearl no longer glows when I sing as it once did. But she didn't alter her singing. She had to keep Shinju confident enough to drive back Gakuto on her own, since apparently Hannon no longer had her powers as a mermaid princess.

Gakuto was stunned right as he was about to grab onto Shinju, and then he was thrust back into his giant worm-thing. "Don't think this is the end!" he screamed. "I'll be back for you!" and with that, he, his two shark maidens, and his worm-thing were sucked up into a swirling black vortex.

Hannon and Shinju de-transformed, and Hannon said, "That was a close one. I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time."

Shinju swam over to Luchia and tried to hand over the pendant, but Luchia would not take it back. "No, it is now your duty to hold on to the pink pearl. It is your destiny to become the Pink Pearl Voice, my daughter," and with her one functioning arm, she closed it into her daughter's hands. "Only you may control its powers now," and then she collapsed from the pain in her arm and passed out.

"Mama!" cried Shinju, but Hannon put her hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, she's going to be alright. We'll carry her to her bedroom so she can rest, but after that, we need to find your father. Understand?"

Shinju nodded, and proceeded to lift up her mother with Hannon's help.