1: Enemies and Allies
Ichigo turned around as she heard the door open.
"Welcome to the café!" Pudding exclaimed, leaping in front of the new customers. "Wanna see my performance?"
"No, I'm gone," a girl with wavy orange hair and a black and red striped sweater tried walking back out the door she had all but kicked open.
"No, no, no, you promised…" a boy with black hair chided, grabbing her hood and dragging her inside. "Table for two please," he said in perfect Japanese.
"Aw, Dustin! You know I hate crap like this!" the orange-haired girl whined, clawing for the door.
"You know, you're a terrible girl," the boy, Dustin, commented as he pushed her towards a chair. "Girls are supposed to love stuff like this," he spread his arms, indicating the entire café. Lettuce came to take their order and he stood up. "See? Isn't this outfit cute? Hi, I'm Dustin."
"Only for you, Gayman…" she scoffed, leaning back in the chair and propping her feet on the table.
"Um, could you not do that, please?" Lettuce asked shyly. She watched as the girl rolled her eyes but obliged. "What can I get you?"
"I'll have apple tea and a strawberry parfait," Dustin smiled.
"Something with lots of chocolate, I guess…" the girl sighed. "Preferably dark chocolate, if it's not too much trouble."
"Right away," Lettuce nodded.
"Welcome!" Mint greeted another customer as they entered the café. She blinked a few timed before realizing that the boy standing in the entryway was real. He had flawless skin that was beautifully pale, with ice blue eyes and black hair streaked with a deep orange around his face.
"Hello, I'm looking for my friends," the boy smiled. Mint felt her cheeks heat up slightly at his charming smile. "I believe they arrived a few moments ago. A boy with black hair and a girl with orange hair."
"Oh, you mean the couple in the corner?" Ichigo asked, pointing to the two mentioned people.
"Yes, that's them. Thank you very much, miss. And since you have been so kind, I'll introduce you to my other friends," he smirked, raising his hands. Black puddles appeared on the polished floor, bubbling and spreading. Black, misshaped humanoid forms emerged from them, wicked grins on their featureless faces.
"Girls, let's go!" Ryou cried.
"What's going on?" Dustin cried, brushing a black thing off his arm.
"Brilliant idea, genius! Great place to pick!" Nova hissed, grabbing his wrist and dragging him away from the black things. The two ducked inside a hallway, Nova hoping to find an emergency exit. They emerged in a room with a strange statue in the middle.
"Hey, this is for employees only!" a man with long brown hair tied back in a pony tail said.
Bright light flashed, blinding the two Americans and making Keiichiro stare. Dustin opened his eyes slightly to see an eagle made out of light hovering before him. Before he could think the eagle dissipated and the particles went inside him. It was a wonderful feeling, sort of warm and fuzzy. He let his eyes close as the warm bliss overpowered him.
"Geh! What the heck is this?" he heard Nova exclaim disgustedly. He opened his eyes to see her wearing a skintight silver miniskirt and bikini-style top, trimmed with orange frills that matched her hair. Dark orange fox ears protruded from her head and a fox tail twitched behind her in nerves and shock. Her fingerless-gloved hands touched the outfit and animal parts carefully. "What are you wearing?"
He glanced down at himself. He was wearing tight-fitting black pants trimmed with gold ribbons and a cropped top in the same color scheme that exposed his stomach. A large gold ribbon was tied around his neck. He cautiously fingered the bow with his gloved fingers, more gold ribbons spilling from the gloves wrists.
"Wow…" he breathed.
"Dustin, you have wings and a tail!" Nova cried, pointing incriminatingly at him. He glanced over his shoulder to see a pair of wings that resembled spilled oil in a parking lot: black but shimmering rainbow colors in the light. The feathery tail was the same color.
"Keiichiro, I n…" a blond boy burst into the room, a cut on his arm bleeding. "What happened in here?"
"It appears we have new teammates," Keiichiro smiled, gesturing at the awe-struck Dustin and panicking Nova. "The gold and silver Mew Mews."
"Mew Mew?" Dustin repeated. Weren't the Mew Mews the super-girls he saw an article about in the newspaper that morning?
"You've got to be joking!" Nova barked, her ears standing up straight. "There's no way in heck I'm gonna fight monsters as some sissy superhero!" she stormed out of the room.
"Ribbon Double Berry Check!" a girl in a pink outfit and a girl in a white outfit cried. The light generated by the supposed attack bounced off the mass of black humanoids like a basketball off the ground.
"They're too strong for us!" a girl in green whimpered.
"Woo hoo! I'm riding a shadow!" a small girl in yellow whooped.
"Pudding, get down from there!" the girl in pink snapped.
"Geh!" Nova blanched. The sight of six girls in frilly outfits was a bit too much for her. "Sickening!"
"Who are you?" the tall girl in purple demanded.
"I'm… I'm…" Nova hesitated, trying not to say the words worming their way into her brain. "I'm Mew Nova and I'm going to dish out one major butt-kicking to relieve my stress!" she blurted, striking a pose with one leg bent at the knee and her hands curled up near her face.
"Mew Nova?" the girl in white repeated.
"Agh! What the heck is wrong with me? What the heck am I talking about?" she screeched, slamming her head into a nearby table.
"Nova!" she heard Dustin cry out over the din of the battle. She turned around to see a large black monster looming over her, maw open wide and dripping saliva. "Ribbon Golden Symphony!" a blast of gold and black light pierced the beast's belly, shredding it to pieces what evaporated into the air.
"Dustin!" she cried, pointing at said person. He carried a gold and black electric guitar and had a stupid grin plastered on his face. "What are you doing?"
"Saving your skin, that's what!" he said, strumming the strings as if to prove a point. She continued pointing, this time behind him. "Hm?"
"Ribbon Silver Bullet!" she barked, magically whipping out twin guns and firing small bullets made out of silver light. "Okay, I've got guns. I might be able to pull this off just this once," she sighed as another monster evaporated.
"Ribbon Strawberry Check, Level Up!" the girl in pink cried, thrusting her arms out and pink light shooting from the heart-shaped thing in her hands.
"We better get moving," Dustin grinned, grabbing Nova around the waist and flying into the air, making her screech in fear. "Just shoot at the monsters, kay?"
"No way! Put me down!" she struggled against him. "I told you I didn't want to come in here; now look what's happened!"
"Nova…" he warned.
"Ribbon Silver Bullet!" she snarled, firing her guns at another monster. The last one evaporated and the others sighed in relief.
"Yeah! New partners!" the small yellow one cheered, throwing her arms in the air.
"Say what?" Nova cried. Dustin accidentally forgot he was holding her and threw his arms in the air as well.
"Careful," a gentle voice said as strong arms caught her. "Foxes don't fly, you know."
"I… um… heh…" she stammered, unable to think. The man had long brown hair, shiny grayish-brown eyes and the most charming smile.
"Are you alright?" he inquired, looking at her curiously. She felt something warm and wet running down across her lips and pressed a hand to them. She pulled it away to reveal fresh blood.
"I'm fine!" she laughed nervously, covering the lower half of her face and letting blood pool in her palm. "Just dandy!" she chirped unnaturally, swinging her arms around randomly and flinging blood across the room. She chuckled weakly and collapsed against Keiichiro's chest.
"Nova!" Dustin exclaimed landing neatly on the table and rushing over to her.
"She'll be fine, it's just the sudden shock," a female voice said suddenly, making him jump. He spun around to see a girl with red hair and a red waitress uniform addressing him. "My name's Ichigo Momomiya. I guess this means you'll be working with us from now on."
"I'm Dustin Leary. This is my cousin Nova," he said awkwardly. "Um… how do I…" he gestured at his outfit.
"Think about returning to normal," the girl in a purple uniform said blandly. Quicker than he would've thought, he was no longer wearing his black and gold outfit but was in his T-shirt and cargo pants.
"Wow, super cool," he grinned. "So, who do I ask about what that was?"
"That was my introduction, dear friends," an icy voice smirked. Everyone turned to see the boy with orange and black hair standing in the corner, his back ramrod straight as if he had been brought up to be a prince. Instead of a smart green dress shirt and black slacks, he wore a deep purple suit with a black shirt and blood red tie. One hand was clenched around the edge of a long cape with scalloped edges, making it resemble bat's wings, and the other was hovering over his heart.
"Who are you?" the girl in blue with black hair buns demanded.
"I am servant to Lord Nergal, supreme ruler of this planet and soon to be your master. You may call me Abdi-Ili, Tokyo Mew Mew," he sneered. "Now that your previous enemies have left, and the four millennia-long seal has weakened enough, my Lord and Master shall be able to rise once again from the grievous downfall he suffered so long ago. Sit back and watch as his demon minions evoke the curse he placed on this planet's people and your thriving civilization crumbled beneath your feet!" he cackled, vanishing into a black puddle on the floor that vanished within seconds.
"Another enemy?" the redhead, Ichigo, sighed.
"Things were so peaceful…" the girl in blue added wistfully.
"You're right, Mint," a girl with green hair and glasses agreed. "I was so looking forward to starting high school without having to fight all the time…"
"Our powers didn't leave our bodies after beating the Saint Rose Crusaders so it's only natural to assume we have another enemy to fight against," the tall girl in purple mumbled.
"And our new buds gave us a major power boost!" the energetic small one added, swinging from a rope. "I'm Pudding Fong!"
"My name's Lettuce Midorikawa. It's nice to meet you, Dustin," she struggled with the foreign name a bit.
"I am Mint Aizawa," the girl with the hair buns said regally.
"Zakuro Fujiwara…" the tall one muttered, tossing a lock of hair over her shoulder.
"My name is Ryou Shirogane. This is Keiichiro Akasaka," a teenage boy with blond hair and blue eyes nodded to the man with long brown hair.
"I'm Tasuku Meguro and this is my Berry!" a younger boy announced, hugging the girl in the white uniform, making her blush.
"Right… Dustin and Nova," Dustin repeated lamely, pointing to his unconscious cousin. "We're from Cleveland, Ohio."
"Like… America Ohio?" Ichigo inquired. "What are you doing in Japan? Are you on vacation? Your Japanese is really good."
"We're going to school here starting tomorrow," Dustin grinned. "Well, she is. I just tagged along for the ride."
"I'm going to give her an antibiotic so she can get back to normal," Keiichiro announced. He jerked his head slightly, indicating for Ryou to come with him.
The two men entered the back room, Keiichiro setting Nova on the table gently. He busied himself with assembling a syringe filled with clear antibiotic.
"What happened? I thought only girls could become Mews," the pastry chef asked as he removed the American's left glove. He absently traced the mark on her palm with his fingers. Bad attitude aside, she was rather pretty. He wiped the skin of her wrist clean and injected her with the syringe.
"I don't know. Perhaps it was just compatible with him, like how Berry was fused with two genes. That's the only logical answer I can come up with," the blond shrugged, absently fingering the thick collar around his neck.
"Regardless of compatibility, we have a new enemy and it looks like we have new Mews just in time. We need to make sure they stick together in case of an attack," Keiichiro said as Nova changed back to normal.
"What do you suggest?" Ryou sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Enroll everyone in the school Nova and Dustin are going to attend. It's not simple or cheap to move to another country for school; I don't think their parents would like a last minute school change. And have the Americans start working here," the elder man decided firmly.
"Alright, I guess I'll get to work," Ryou huffed, walking away to go upstairs and muddle through everything away from his hyperactive employees.
"Ugh, my head… I feel like I have a hangover…" Nova groaned, slowly propping herself up on her elbows and rubbing her head. She glanced around the room, wondering what had happened.
"Feel better?" a male voice asked. Nova whirled around to face the owner, nearly blacking out from the sudden movement. "Easy…" strong arms caught her and steadied her, gently easing her back onto the table.
"Who are you and what kind of drugs did you give me?" she asked, her voice croaky.
"It was just something to help you change back to normal. And my name is Keiichiro Akasaka. Please entrust me with your destiny," he replied, kissing her hand.
"Say what?" she asked. She had meant it to be shocked and slightly disgusted, but it came out weak and perhaps a bit confused. "I-I have to go. I start school tomorrow and I need sleep."
"Interesting…" he mused out loud, watching her orange hair bounce as she ran down the hall.
"It's so cute!" Dustin exclaimed. He was wearing the same black and white uniform Tasuku wore, only a few sizes bigger, consisting of black slacks, a black vest, a white shirt and a large bow tie. "Ah, Nova, look!"
"Oh god…" she muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. "No, I've had enough of this crazy stuff. Nice to meet you all, but I'm not going to become some frilly girly superhero and go around zapping aliens."
"Aw, but we have to! The DNA already bonded with us and there's no going back," Dustin whined as Nova grabbed his collar and began hauling him out the door. "We have to stop Lord Nergal! You can't walk away from your destiny Nova!"
"What an interesting couple," Pudding commented after the Americans had left.
"They're completely different. Are they sure they're related?" Lettuce inquired thoughtfully.
"That doesn't matter. Dustin seems more than willing to accept this, but Nova is the complete opposite. I wonder if all American girls are like her," Ichigo jumped in. "Fighting this Nergal guy will be harder without her, even if we do have Dustin helping us."
"Ichigo…" Mint started. "Could it be that you like Dustin?"
"W-w-what?" the redhead stammered, her face flushing. "N-no! We just met; I don't like him. Besides, I have Masaya!" she punched the air. Still, the dark haired American was slightly intriguing… she self consciously lifted a hand to her burning cheeks, her cat ears flattening against her head. There was no way she would fall for the American like that. She had Masaya… she shouldn't even be thinking about such things! Moreover, she had a new enemy to worry about… and something much bigger…
"Tomorrow we start high school!" she squeaked, just realizing the historic event. "Man, what a way to kick off the school year…"