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Pearly the Manta Ray is a female Manta Ray and the apprentice of Coral the Beta.
History[]
Waves of Change[]
Pearly was with Coral the Beta when Razor the Shark and Crusher the Chao returned to the outskirts of Meropis, escorting Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, and Rotor the Walrus (who were searching for Gaia Temples to restore Mobius to normal) to the Eusebes Shrine. After meeting the three Knothole Freedom Fighters, Pearly and her friends were surprised by the arrival of the Meropis City Guard under Captain Striker. Striker demanded that Coral and at least some of the Freedom Fighters appear before King Puff and Queen Angelica, and Coral volunteered Pearly to stay behind. The young apprentice soon received tragic news: due to a loss of royal confidence, Coral was to be stripped of her title. However, she overheard the Freedom Fighters talking about taking Coral with them aboard the Sky Patrol, and told both her mentor and Razor. After hearing Coral's objections about the shrine needing attending, Pearly suggested herself as a replacement, but an appreciative Coral informed her that their connection would probably put a black mark on Pearly as well. Unfortunately, as Coral attempted to perform the shrine's rites for a final time, she broke down from stress, and the inexperienced Pearly found herself unable to help. As a result, the protective shield over Meropis fell, allowing Dark Gaia's Minions to swarm the city. (StH: #260, #261)
After the Freedom Fighters and Razor fended off an attack by the Minions, Sonic and Rotor left to help protect the city while Amy and Razor remained behind to protect the shrine and allow Coral time to raise the shield again. Trying to help, Pearly did what she could to corral the Chao, but found the task difficult. Amy, noticing her struggle, managed to work a confession out of the young Manta: Pearly found Chao "creepy." Despite this, she managed to get the Chao to follow her lead, while doing her best to maintain distance from them. She soon discovered another problem: Sonic and Rotor had borrowed a pair of Air Charms that weren't fully charged, meaning that they were in danger of running out of air at the bottom of the ocean. Fortunately, Tikal and Chaos arrived to help both sets of heroes, with Chaos rescuing Sonic and Rotor while Tikal joined Coral, Pearly, and a revived Aquarius in raising the city's shield once again. For their part in saving the city, Coral was reinstated as priestess and Pearly remained as her apprentice, and they soon bid farewell to their new friends. (StH: #262, #263)
Pearly later joined several citizens of Meropis in watching the Chaos Emerald Championship, and unpleasantly surprised Razor by predicting Knuckles the Echidna's victory over Nack the Weasel in the semifinals. The crafty Manta Ray thus received everything Razor had won from his previous bets on the tournament with King Puff and Captain Striker. (StH: #270)
Personality[]
Pearly is a sweet, gentle-natured young girl devoted to her mentor Coral and to the Eusebes Shrine. However, her eagerness to help protect the shrine and its surrounding Chao Garden are hampered by one major problem: Pearly is afraid of Chao. Despite this, she tries her best to help her friends and be the best apprentice to Coral that she can be.
Appearance[]
Pearly is a gray-colored manta ray with celery pupils and black ires. She has an orange skirt, black leggings, and gray shoes. She has a white muzzle and spots on both of her sides on her head. She has a dark-gray oval on the top of her head.
Background Information[]
- Pearly is the second Manta Ray character to be introduced in the comics, after Ray the Manta, and the first humanoid Manta Ray to be introduced.
- Pearly is also notable for being the first character known to be afraid of normal Chao.
- According to Aleah Baker on the Bumbleking Forums, Pearly is about 7 years old [1]