GPPC02

The Academy's Princess! Cure Mermaid Appears! (学園のプリンセス!登場キュアマーメイド!) is the second episode of Go! Princess Pretty Cure and is the 537th episode of the Pretty Cure franchise overall.

Synopsis
The episode continues from last time, where Cure Flora just found out that Kanata, the young boy she met a few years ago, is the the Prince of Hope Kingdom. She tells Aroma and Pafu that he gave her the Dress Up Key, which shocks them. Aroma says they do not know of his whereabouts because the kingdom has been invaded by Dys Dark and he told the two mascots to locate the three legendary Princess Pretty Cure. Pafu then tells Flora that she had merely inherited the power and it order to become a full-fledged princess, she needed to be strong, kind and beautiful. She then vows to help them defeat Dys Dark and save Hope Kingdom and Prince Kanata. Yui starts to wake up and the mascots leave. Flora de-transforms to Haruka and goes to Yui's side. She then tells her about her dream to become a princess.

The next morning, Minami is watching the ocean as she oversees Haruka running to increase her strength. She starts to run faster when Pafu follows her and trips over her ears again. Meanwhile, Minami discovers a Dress Up Key washed up on to the shore. Later that morning was the entrance ceremony, which Haruka arrives late for because of her training. The headmistress scolds her and deems her an unfit student when Minami arrives and suggests that Haruka should decide her punishment because the school wants their students to be independent. Haruka decides on weeding the garden.

While she does so, she and Yui overhear some students inside of the buildings and they look into the window, seeing Minami ballet dancing. The two admired her grace and technique, and Haruka believes she would help with the kindness and beauty aspect of being a princess and decides she would ask her to help. Later that day, she hands her apology work to Minami. As Minami walks away, Haruka blurts out her request for her to teach her ballet, and she accepts, to Haruka's delight.

Haruka begins her lesson, but she is subpar at first, with her being not as flexible as Minami is and her technique not so great. However, she kept practicing and slowly gets better at it, even practicing the steps throughout the day. Even after all she went through, she is still determined. During one practice session without Minami, Haruka sprains her ankle while working on a step she had not been taught yet. Minami arrives and though she is upset at first, she bandages the ankle. As she does so, Haruka reveals her dream of becoming a princess like she is as soon as she can. However, Minami says she is far from perfect and that she was thankful for Haruka asking her to teach ballet because no one had ever did so before.

Outside, Close is hesitant to attack again because of Cure Flora when he spots a group of soccer players running to prepare for a regional tournament. He targets one of the players whose dream is to become the top scorer and locks it, creating a soccer trophy Zetsuborg that immediately starts attacking to draw the Pretty Cure out. Minami tells everyone to evacuate calmly and notices Haruka going the other way and follows her without her knowing. Haruka sneaks outside and transforms into Cure Flora, with Minami watching from behind. She is surprised as she takes the Dress Up Key out of her pocket.

Flora started to fight the Zetsuborg and all seemed well until she kicked it, which caused her sprained ankle to hurt again. The Zetsuborg kickced a soccer ball her way when Minami pushed her out of the way and called her by her civilan name, which shocked Flora. She tells Close to stop his attack, but he does not and has the Zetsuborg attack again. Flora pushes Minami out of the way and takes the hit. Minami then tells them it is her responsibility to protect the academy's students. With that, her Dress Up Key reacts and opens up, meaning she has been chosen as a Pretty Cure. Aroma gives her a Princess Perfume and Minami transforms into Cure Mermaid.

She immediately starts squaring off against the Zetsuborg and the battle even went underwater. During the fight, the last Princess Perfume falls out of the chest. Mermaid effortlessly counters the Zetsuborg before purifying it with Mermaid Ripple. An angered Close retreats as she unlocks the cage holding the soccer player. The two de-transformed and Haruka was incredibly happy that Minami is now a Cure as well. Aroma then opens his chest, only to find that the third Princess Perfume has gone missing.

Major Events

 * Minami catches Haruka transforming into Cure Flora.
 * Kaido Minami transforms into Cure Mermaid for the first time.
 * Cure Mermaid uses Mermaid Ripple for the first time.
 * The third Princess Perfume goes missing.

Pretty Cures

 * Haruno Haruka / Cure Flora
 * Kaido Minami / Cure Mermaid

Mascots

 * Pafu
 * Aroma

Villains

 * Close
 * Zetsuborg

Secondary Characters

 * Prince Kanata
 * Nanase Yui
 * Amanogawa Kirara

Trivia

 * Haruno Haruka and Kaido Minami can be seen de-transforming. Haruka at the beginning of the episode and Minami at the end of the episode.
 * Like the Heartcatch Pretty Cure! counterpart episode, Minami witnesses a Pretty Cure transformation.
 * In the opening, Yui is seen walking with Haruka in the middle of it.
 * When Cure Flora de-transforms back into Haruka, she still has the earrings on.
 * The background music from both Doki Doki! Pretty Cure and Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! can be heard in the beginning of the episode.