Mew Generations: A Tale of Two Dragons
Darkness.
Mew Ichigo walks along the bright road, illuminated by the golden light of the flames crumbling every building. Screams echoed from every direction, people running, convinced that movement will somehow let them escape certain death.
Ichigo looks up, the towering figure casting a shadow that seemed to engulf her. She had long since dropped her Strawberry Bell. Long since retracted her claws.
She walks slowly, burns aching on every inch of her body, moving forward only to rid herself of the pain in one last blast. Any resemblance she had to the Ichigos of the past were gone. What was left of her pink hair was dark and singed. Her pink dress, covered in soot. Her ears, burned away. Even the bell that used to shine brightly on her tail was long gone.
She trips, stretching her arms out in front of her, instincts apparently unaware of her intentions. Her hands land in a sea of bodies. Men. Women. Children. Those not dead counting the minutes until their last breath.
She feels nothing in her heart as she uses them to rise again. She couldn't feel anything. There was nothing left to feel.
She walks forward.
She calls out in a voice she can no longer hear. Taunting the figure.
It turns to her, seeming to smile.
It opens its mouth.
And engulfs her in flames.
Darkness.
A voice. A sea of voices. Muffled...
"I-ch-go!"
She can almost hear.
"Ichi-!"
"Mew Ichigo!"
Nora sits up in her bed. She finds herself surrounded. Doctors galore, top members of the guard, Mews and Knights...
She breathes heavily and starts to talk, but finds no words will come out.
Her right eye begins to sting and she wipes it, discovering her forehead is covered in sweat.
Layla, the Mew Zakuro, hands her a towel, and Nora wipes her head only to discover her whole body was soaked.
"Nora," Nora turns to her left to come face to face with Felipe, her Red Knight. "How are you? Are you ok now?"
"Y-yes," Nora responds, noting that with that one word, the whole room seemed to let out a sigh of relief.
She tries to get up, but is quickly helped to lay back down by almost everyone in the room.
"You mustn't get up yet!" A doctor warns her. "Just rest."
"How long have I been out?" Nora asks.
"Three days," another doctor replies. "We were so worried about you. First you just fainted, then an hour ago, you began to have horrible convulsions-"
Behind her, Nora hears a door open behind her.
"Mommy!" Felicity, the Mirai no Ichigo calls.
Nora spreads her arms out wide as the leader of the guard picks up the preschooler and hands her to her mother. "Filly!" Nora rubs her hair gently, "No need to worry, Darling. Mommy's all better now."
"I'm glad you're better, Mommy!" Felicity hugs Nora tightly. "Please don't get sick again!"
Soon, the posse leaves and Nora is left with only her doctors and husband.
He stroaks her hair and gives her a relieved smile. He then bends over and kisses her forehead. And takes her hand. "I was really worried about you..." he pauses, overcome with emotion. "I was afraid, Nora." he rubs her hand.
Nora puts her other hand on his cheek and caresses it. "I'm okay now."
"The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with you. We... we don't know how to make sure this doesn't happen again..." he seems as though he is struggling for the words, "I-"
Nora gives him the best smile she can muster, "I've just been overworking myself. I'll cut back and make sure I take more vacation. Okay?"
He kisses her again. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Two years later.
"You wanna do archery again!" Felicity laments. "Angela, is that all you like to do?
Angela, a short girl with a graceful build picks up her child-sized bow, "In the future, I will be Mew Minto. In other words, a superheroine. Unlike the Mew Ichigo who is born with certain abilities, the rest of us must work hard."
"Hey! I work hard too! All day... non-stop," Felicity kicks a small rock, "So, I at least want to enjoy my free time..." she mumbles.
"I am enjoying my free time," Angela retorts as she collects her arrows and quiver. "By doing something useful." She walks off.
Felicity sighs, then catches a glimpse of Jasmine, the future Mew Zakuro and Jenna, the future Mew Purin running into the house.
"Hey!" Felicity calls, "Wait up!" she races toward them, but stops once she gets close. Her eyes land on two heart-ridden letters, one in each girls hand.
"What do you want?" Jasmine starts. "Timmy is going to be at the playground soon. We're gonna see which of us he chooses."
Jenna nods.
"...Uh..." Felicity starts, turning around, "Nevermind..." She races into the kitchen to nab a cookie.
After completing her task, she sits in the den, bored out of her mind until her thoughts are shattered by the cry of the three-month-old future Retasu. She sighs again and lets herself roll off the couch and onto the floor.
"I wish I had a sister..." she says as she lets the remainder of her cookie roll out of her palm.
"ROARRRRRrrrr..."
Everyone in the eastern guard turns to face the sound.
"What was that?" a faun asks a werewolf in a whisper.
He sniffs the air before responding, "I don't know. But it is striking fear into all the animals in the forest."
The Centurian captain of the guard approaches them, "Come. We will check out the noise."
The two follow him, careful not to make a sound.
As they get closer, the growl seems not only to grow louder and louder, but to take on the sound of an something in pain.
They continue to approach cautiously.
Finally, the faun speaks, "It sounds like a wail." he whispers.
The others don't respond.
They see a clearing up ahead. Slowly, they push away the last pieces of brush that block their view.
A cave.
The eerie wail echoes out from inside it.
"I'll go first," the centaur volunteers, "cover me."
The werewolf and faun nod, raising their guns.
So as to not alert what is inside with the sound of his hooves on the stone, the captain changes into his human form as he approaches.
Closer and closer he moves toward the cave.
He reaches the entrance and peeks inside.
Darkness.
All at once, the head of an enormous red dragon emerges with its mouth wide open.
The captain quickly changes back into his centaurian form, leaping out of reach in a matter of milliseconds.
The werewolf and the faun begin to shoot, but the bullets just bounce off, not even fazing the dragon.
The centaur starts to race back toward cover just as the dragon prepares to strike again.
The centaur races frantically, hooves pounding the ground.
The dragon strikes.
In a second, it was over.
The dragon spots the two hiding in the trees and starts toward them, but doesn't make it more than a few steps before gasping hard and collapsing, flattening the trees beneath its fall.
No longer hearing the monster approaching them, the werewolf and faun stop and turn around, still keeping their distance.
A baby cry echoes through the cave.
The dragon doesn't move.
For a while, the two guards just stand there.
Finally, the faun speaks, "Maybe we should check out the cave."
"And end up dragon food like our captain! No way!" the werewolf retorts.
Without a word, the faun creeps closer.
"You idiot!" the werewolf admonishes. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
The cry becomes louder.
"What if the dragon was harvesting babies for food?"
"What!"
"I mean, what if he figured out they would be more filling if he let them grow up?"
By this time, the faun had reached the dragon.
"I don't know about-... HEY!" the werewolf about jumps out his skin.
The faun reaches out and rests a hand on the dragon.
"It's okay!" the faun calls out. "Look! Its eyes are dilated. It'd dead."
Cautiously, the werewolf approaches, smelling the air with every step.
"Come on you scaredy cat..." the faun jokes as he walks toward the cave.
As he passes the dragon, the werewolf notices deep cuts all around its body, forcing himself not to think about the creature that did the damage.
The faun enters the cave and moves out of sight.
"Wait!" the werewolf calls as he races to catch up. When he enters, he finds the faun cradling two babies.
"Look! I was right!" the faun says as he strokes one of their heads, "it was harvesting humans!"
The werewolf looks around, taking note of all the bones of various animals littering the area. His gaze sets on the set of human bones lying near the babies. It was still covered with the shreds of a red dress.
"Look!" the faun turns the girls to the werewolf. "This one has such beautiful blue eyes! And this one, green! Otherwise, they are perfect twins!"
The one with green eyes catches his gaze. The werewolf steps back, every iota of his instincts moving into fight or flight. He feels the hairs on his back rise and his lips beginning to bare his teeth. Without a thought, the first words emerging through his mouth were, "kill them."
The faun looks up at him, astonished.
The werewolf sees his expression and lowers his head, ashamed. "I-"
The faun clutches the children, rises, and carries the children to the exit. "Whatever happens to them will be decided by Mew Ichigo." he states matter-of-factly.
The werewolf follows slowly, still facing the ground as he struggles to understand why he would say that.
"NEXT!"
The call rang out through the hallway.
Sitting behind a large desk at the front of a line at least 200 people long sat Nora next to Felipe and several of the other Mews and Knights.
After waiting in line for several hours, it was finally time for the faun and werewolf to approach.
Mew Ichigo-sama, Akai Kishi-sama, Mew Zakuro-sama, Murizaki Kishi-sama... the faun addresses each of the Mews and Knights, then begins to relay his story:
"We, along with the Captain of the Guard, Elrod-sama, heard a frightful noise earlier this morning. As it is our task to protect the grounds, we elected to check it out. Upon our investigation, we discovered the noise had come from a dragon. Sadly, the dragon killed our captain, but due to injuries it had obtained prior to our visit, the dragon also passed away.
Not long after, we heard the cry of a baby coming from its cave. After assuring the dragon was indeed deceased, we entered the cave and found twin baby girls. This soldier," he points to the werewolf, whose head was still hung, "suggested we kill the children. But I decided we should bring them to you."
"Why did you think they should be killed?" Cara, the Mew Retasu inquires.
The werewolf slightly raises his gaze, "I do not know, Mew Retasu-sama. I..." he furrows his brows. "When my eyes met the green-eyed one's... I... I felt fear like I'd never felt before. A deep fear even worse than when I was chased by the dragon... I..." he lowers his head again.
"Where are the children?" the Blue Knight asks.
The faun replies confidently, "I left them with the Mirai no Ichigo."
The whole table's eyes seem to widen immediately. Mew Ichigo and the Red Knight race from behind the table and out the room.
The faun watches them as they go then turns back to the others.
"Never take any werewolf's senses lightly! How could you be so daft!" Mew Zakuro admonishes, then leaves the table to follow Ichigo.
"Filly! FILLY!" Mew Ichigo and the Red Knight call desperately.
They hear laughter coming from the den.
They race toward the room deeply relieved to see their daughter playing, her back to them.
She turns around and smiles, "Look!" she turns the two babies around, their faces covered in makeup.
Ichigo's eyes meet one of the babies. She begins to breathe heavily and her memories start to form a forgotten picture... Something about a bright road...
"Nora?"
She looks into the eyes of her knight and smiles having been jerked out of the vision, "I'm okay."
"You sure it isn't happening again? Maybe you should lie down."
She puts a hand on his shoulder. "No, I'm okay."
"I wanted a little sister, and I got two!" Felicity giggles and returns to applying blush. She begins to hum a little tune.
Mew Ichigo reaches down and scoops up her daughter, "Come on, Sweetie. It's time for your bath." As Mew Ichigo walks her away, Felicity looks over her shoulder and watches as the Red Knight scoops up the babies.
"Are Saphiiru and Jade coming too?"
Mew Ichigo stops and looks at her daughter, "Saphiiru and Jade?"
"Yes, Mommy. Jade is the one with pretty green eyes and Saphiiru has pretty blue eyes. Charles told me they didn't have names, so I made some pretty ones up for them. Sisters need names."
"Filly... Baby..." Mew Ichigo strokes her hair. "Sweetheart... they..."
Mew Ichigo takes Felicity into her room and takes a seat on her bed.
"Remember your lessons?" Mew Ichigo starts. "The part about trusting people with certain transformations?"
"Yeah!" Felicity starts, "Like the sight of those who have the bird transformation! Or the hearing of the bat transformation!"
"Remember the werewolf's?"
"Mm hmm! The werewolf, like other dog types, can feel when someone is good or bad. Trust their instincts over your own," Felicity smiles.
Ichigo talks a bit softer, "Well, Baby. Those two girls..." She freezes as she sits their facing her daughter, Felicity's big, doe eyes staring right back into her own.
"What about them, Mommy?"
Mew Ichigo embraces her daughter, "Forget them, Filly..." she whispers. "I'm so sorry..."
"Mama? Why? Why do I have to forget them?"
All is silent.
"NO!" Felicity's outburst surprises Mew Ichigo, and she escapes her mother's grasp.
"Filly!" Mew Ichigo calls, trapped between letting her daughter save the two innocent children and the knowledge of the fear she felt from them.
Felicity races down the hall and leaps over the rails and out the door, "SAPHIIRU! JADE!" she calls.
She hears the faintest baby cry.
"The lab..." she says as she takes off through the fields. She was already halfway there when she hears the order of her mother.
"STOP HER!"
Felicity wills her short, seven-year-old legs to move faster and faster, knowing that the guard would catch her any second now.
She reaches the lab just in time, slamming the door on a shapeshifter behind her and locking it. She breathes heavily against it for only a second.
Two cries mixed with the voices of three men came from down the hall.
"Hold her!"
"She's strong!"
"I knew the Mews and Knights wouldn't authorize this for no reason, there is definitely something wrong with these two!"
"OW!"
"Look at her eyes! They're- AHHHHH!"
Mew Ichigo reaches the door outside, "Filly! You don't understand!" She bangs on the door, "Please trust me, Sweetheart! Please! Please!"
Felicity walks forward down the hall. Murderer...
She walks forward and enters the lab room finding men in lab coats trying to inject something into Jade.
Enraged, Felicity approaches them, grabs the siringe and throws it into the corner. She turns to them, "What do you think you are doing?"
"Mirai-no-Ichigo-sama, I'm sorry, but we were following the orders of the Ichigo..."
"I am ordering you to stop this!" Felicity stares each one in the eyes. "Leave them ALONE!"
"As we said, Mirai-no-Ichigo-sama-" another starts.
A loud boom sounds and Mew Ichigo bursts in accompanied by several guards.
"Sweetheart, you do don't under-" Mew Ichigo starts.
The babies cry louder.
"I don't understand! You are going to have my sister's killed!" Felicity starts, "Why would you do something like that?" she scoops them up. "What did they do to you!"
"It is not what they would do to me, but what they could do to you!" Mew Ichigo responds. "Please! I know this is very hard for you to understand, but there is something very fearsome in those two. Please, Filly! Please trust me!"
"You tell me to always be a good ruler and give everyone a chance, and you try to kill babies! I don't think ANYONE could understand!" Felicity responds, eyes filling with tears. "I wanted sisters so badly, Mommy. Why can't you just love them too?"
"I'm sorry, Filly," Mew Ichigo approaches.
Jade stops crying and looks Mew Ichigo in the eyes.
Mew Ichigo freezes, feeling her heart rate elevate.
The repressed memories refresh themselves in her mind. She once again finds herself on the glowing road, stepping over the wounded and corpses alike. Fire blazing all around her.
This time, she takes a moment to look to her left, then her right. She recognizes the once prosperous town she and her ancestors thought they had perfected. The town tens of thousands of hours were spent on in researching the toughest materials that were most resistant to natural and human disasters. The town that was being demolished by one lone being.
She looks up. This time able to see the large figure clearly.
Though the form was different, the eyes were the same. Those deep, haunting green eyes.
Mew Ichigo waives her hands, taunting her. The giant turns to face her, nostrils emitting smoke, mouth opening wide.
In the corner of her eye, she sees another with deep, blue eyes approaching.
Her last thought was of her daughter.
"Mom!" Felicity tries to rouse her mother. "Mom! MOM!"
By now, all the scientists had gathered around trying to bring her back.
"She doesn't have a pulse!"
"Electricity! We need electricity!"
"Over here! Use this!"
"Place it on her heart. A little to the left. Yeah... right there!"
"CLEAR!"
"Blow gently! Lungs are delicate!"
"1...2...3..."
"CLEAR!"
"Come on, Mew Ichigo!"
….
"Call it."
"But-"
"...call it..."
"6:48pm"
Felicity sits there, crying, clutching the two girls as the golden transformation piece rises and lands before her.
(Please note that it will be quite some time before this story is continued. I still have a few older ones I need to finish first.)
