Preoccupied

Ch. 1

"Zoey!" Elliot practically had to scream into her ear.

"AHH! What? You didn't have to yell!" Zoey turned to face Elliot.

"I tried my inside voice, but you didn't respond." He sighed. "I was just trying to let you know that you could have the rest of the day off."

"Huh?" Zoey didn't know what to say. She expected to work all day today, even though it was the first day of summer vacation. "Well… Um… are you sure?"

"Yeah, I gave everyone else the day off as well, because all of our possible costumers are down at the beach. I'm going to give myself a break to so…" He raised his eyebrows at the red headed girl still standing in front of him.

"So, what?" She asked innocently.

"So leave!" He growled kind of annoyed.

"OH! Okay." Zoey put the broom away and went to change into her regular clothes. "Thank you!" She told him as she ran out the front door.

She continued down the street on her way home, smiling like an airhead. "I wonder if I should call Mark and see what he is doing for the rest of the day."

Little did Zoey know, but a pair of golden eyes were following her every move. Brows drawn together the figure in the shadows stayed nearby, knowing that at any moment the perfect opportunity could present itself.

"Day off, Day off, Day off! I'm so happy!" She sung to herself while swinging her bag back and forth in front of her.

"That makes two of us!" A familiar alien voice came from a hovering figure just above Zoey. Her gasp and wide eyes locking with his made the whole thing worth it.

Zoey shook her head to snap herself out of it, "Dren! What are you doing here?"

He smiled, and then went down for the kiss, but instead of Zoey's lips he was met with a strangers cheek. Her eyes were facing forward, but soon they focused themselves on his. In the time it took for his breath to come back this stranger managed to knock him on his ass, leaving scratch marks on his face from her nails.

He looked at the blood on his hand and then back at the strange woman. "What the hell? Who are you?"

The woman was standing right in front of Zoey, but she had finally turned to face him head on. "Hands off the girl!" That was all she said, completely ignoring his questions.

Her voice had caught him off guard. It seemed to have a musical intonation. She had long legs, and seemed to be about two or three years older than Zoey. Her golden eyes, shaded by long, thick silver hair, and she was very petite. Dren growled at himself for noticing. "You didn't answer me!" He called for his dragon swords, and prepared to fight.

"Um…" Zoey said, feeling kind of confused. "I would like to know who you are as well, and why you're not freaked out by Dren's ears and stuff."

"Dren?" The strange woman said, looking confused. She wasn't all tense and ready for battle anymore. "Who is that?" At this point both Zoey and Dren fell on their faces. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Are you serious? You just attacked me, and you don't even know who I am!" Dren was furious, rising to his feet and gritting his teeth.

"Huh?" The woman's eyes went from Zoey to Dren. He eyes instantly lit up, "AWW!" Suddenly she was behind Dren tugging gently on his ears. "These are so cute!"

Dren screamed, and pulled back, jumping up into the air. "What the heck is going on? Zoey?" Zoey shook her head, she didn't have a clue either.

"Dren…" Zoey's voice floated into his head. "The pendent around her neck, look at it?"

His eyes followed Zoey's instructions. The pendent was similar to the Mew Mew's, but it didn't look like anything that someone would choose to wear. It seemed to be of a darker, more powerful nature. "I'm out of here, catch you later Kitty cat!" Dren said making a hasty retreat.

"The name is Shia," The woman said still looking at the place where Dren had just been levitating. "I'm a guardian." Her eyes fell back to Zoey. "You'll have to forgive me, I didn't mean for us to meet on such awkward circumstances."

"Wait, back up and slow down. What exactly is a guardian?" Zoey was so mixed up.

Shia's eyes went wide. "You mean… Elliot hasn't told you?" Now she was angry. "He told me to meet you here, but apparently he didn't even bother to fill you in!" Sighing Shia walked to the closest bench. "I was sent from… Well, I was just sent here to guard you and the other Mew Mews' lives with my own. As you've probably noticed, the aliens have been rather quiet lately, we think that they are planning something big."

"Okay…" Zoey walked over and sat next to her. "Now could you explain the strange behavior around Dren?"

"Oh, well… I'm not used to this planet, and it seems to be having some strange effect on me. I kinda black out for a couple minutes at a time. The last time that happened, I ended up mixing Elliot's clothes into a batch of chocolate." Shia chuckled slightly at this.

"Well…" Zoey thought a moment. "It's nice to finally meet you, I guess!" She smiled at Shia. "I'll have to introduce you to the other Mew Mews when we catch up with them later tonight."

"Sure thing, but I have something to do right now." Shia rose to her feet, "tell me where to be, and when, and I'll be there."

Zoey looked at Shia, with wide eyes. 'Wow… she's so cool!' Zoey took out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down the information and gave it to Shia. "See you then." She said while waving at the figure of Shia walking away. Then all of the sudden, Shia was gone in a ripple of space.

"That was weird…" Zoey said to herself, blinking in confusion.