Author's Note: I'm sure many of you reading have realized that I'm borrowing a good deal from Egyptian mythology. I've also taken a few liberties with these mythological figures, as you shall soon see.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.
Chapter 1: Evolution
Ichigo Momomiya stood in what seemed to be the corridor of a ship with golden walls. She didn't know how she knew it was a ship, or what kind of ship it was. She didn't even know how she had gotten there. All Ichigo knew for sure was that the place was somehow familiar to her. Suddenly walking towards her was a young-looking man with black hair and long pointed ears. He had on ancient-looking sleeveless gold armor that made him look like he had come out of a movie set in Ancient Egypt. But what surprised Ichigo most was the young man's face.
'What's Kish doing here?' Ichigo wondered to herself.
Just as Ichigo opened her mouth to speak, the young alien she thought was Kish walked right through her as if she was a ghost. When she turned around, Ichigo saw a young woman that looked exactly like her coming down the corridor from the other end. There were some major differences with her look alike though. Her hair was black instead of red and she had striking emerald eyes. She had the cat ears and tail that Ichigo sometimes had, and around her tail was a golden ring. Her outfit consisted of a shimmering Egyptian style emerald dress, along with golden sandals and ornaments. She even had on a tiara with an eye-like symbol on the front that covered her forehead.
"There you are Drenos." Ichigo's double spoke to Kish's look alike.
"Oh! Princess Bastet!" Kish's startled double responded. "I had no idea you were looming for me."
"Never mind that." Bastet told him. "Do you know where my sister is?"
"I believe Princess Sekhmet is in the alchemy lab." Drenos answered. "She's finishing her special project as we speak."
The name Sekhmet seemed to ring a bell in Ichigo's mind. She felt she had heard the name somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it.
Bastet gave a heavy sigh. "I should've known. To think that she would still be going through with that project even after Mage Lord Thoth warned her not to."
"Your older sister is only doing what she feels is the best way to protect this world." Drenos pointed out.
"I know, but sometimes her approach can be a little… messy." Bastet reminded him. "Well no matter. That will be all. Thank you for your help Drenos."
Drenos bowed before turning and walking off. Bastet meanwhile headed off in the opposite direction, causing Ichigo to follow. In moments, Bastet and Ichigo were inside what looked like a large laboratory with what looked like a tank in the center. Standing before the tank was a young woman who looked to be about seventeen with long raven hair that went down to her waist and striking ruby eyes. She also had a pair of what looked like lion ears on her head, along with a lion's tail with a gold ring on it. The young woman had on an outfit almost identical to Bastet's. The difference was that the dress was ruby red and it had a slightly longer skirt.
The young woman turned her head in time to see Bastet enter the room. "Ah, there you are Bast. You just missed me putting the finishing touch on my little creation."
"So you really went through with it, eh Sekhmet?" Bastet replied as she went up to the tank.
"That's right, little sister." Sekhmet confirmed. "I'm calling it the Eye of Sekhmet. What do you think?"
Ichigo looked inside the tank and saw a small round green gemstone sitting atop a pedestal. Immediately Ichigo remembered where she had heard the name Sekhmet before upon seeing the stone. For the Eye of Sekhmet was also called the Chimera Stone, a mystical relic which two months before had restored Ichigo's Mew Mew powers, but also had turned her into the savage Black Mew Mew.
"Sekhmet, you know Lord Thoth warned you against making this stone." Bastet reminded her. "I'm getting a bad feeling about it."
"Oh please, you worry to much Bast." Sekhmet replied. "Besides, what does that old wizard know anyway?
"A lot more than you might think, young lady." A voice interrupted, causing Ichigo and the other two to turn.
Walking into the lab was a being that stood about seven feet tall with a blue bird-like face that had a long beak that curved downward. He had on a silver Egyptian headdress and robes made of a shimmering blue fabric. In his right hand, the birdman carried a long silver staff with a round blue gem on the top.
"Mage Lord Thoth." A surprised Bastet identified.
"What do you want, old man?" an annoyed Sekhmet demanded to know.
"I had come to try one more time to talk you out of this little folly of yours." Thoth answered as he walked up to the tank containing the Chimera Stone. "Though I see my efforts were in vain."
"I don't see why you're so against this." Sekhmet replied. "I've just created the perfect replacement for that precious Silver Crystal of yours."
"The Legendary Silver Crystal is not something that can be duplicated or replaced." Thoth told her.
"Well then that air headed princess who as its heir shouldn't have killed herself!" Sekhmet argued. "Otherwise we wouldn't have lost the damn thing!"
"The Silver Crystal will return when the time comes." Thoth told her. "In the meantime, I suggest you destroy that stone before it brings chaos."
"I'm not going to destroy something I've spent months trying to perfect!" Sekhmet told him. "Besides, father approves of what I've just done."
"Father really approves of the stone?" a surprised Bastet asked.
"I'm surprised that King Ra would approve the creation of such a dangerous item." Thoth replied. "I will have to have a word with him on this matter."
Before the conversation could continue, Drenos suddenly ran into the lab. "Forgive the intrusion, great ones! But I have important news. We are approaching the evil one!"
"I see… so the final battle with the chaos bringer is about to begin." Thoth realized. "We will have to table the matter of the stone for now. But do not think that this conversation will be forgotten, Sekhmet."
"Whatever." Sekhmet replied. "Let's just kill that damn snake for now."
With that, Bastet left the lab with Sekhmet, Thoth, and Drenos. Ichigo was about to follow, but she suddenly froze when she heard a very irritating sound. Whatever the sound was, it was getting louder by the second. As the noise got louder, Ichigo recognized it as the sound of her alarm clock. That's when she realized that she was dreaming.
Ichigo awoke and quickly shut off the infernal device that had disturbed her sleep. It took her a moment to shake off the strange dream she had just had. But soon enough, reality came back into focus and she went to the task of preparing for school. After having a full breakfast, Ichigo was out the door. But she couldn't shake the dream from her mind.
'I don't know what's weirder. Seeing myself as some kind of Egyptian princess, or the fact that Kish was there.' Ichigo thought. 'Then again, I think the weirdest part was the Chimera Stone being there. Why the heck would I be dreaming of that after all this time?'
The sudden ringing of her cell phone interrupted Ichigo's thoughts. Upon looking at the caller ID, the redhead sighed heavily. It was her boss, Ryou Shirogane.
After the third ring, Ichigo finally answered the phone. "What's up, Ryou?"
"We've picked up more Chimera Anima near your location." Ryou answered on the other end of the line. "Masha can lead you to the location. Masaya is already on the way."
"Okay, I'll take care of it." Ichigo assured him before hanging up. "Great! Now I'm going to be late for class!"
Ichigo ducked behind a nearby bush, and with a flash of pink light silently transformed into her Mew Mew form. The small white fur ball that was Ichigo's robotic companion Masha began to lead her to where the Chimera Anima attack was occurring. After a few minutes of jumping on rooftops, Ichigo had finally arrived on site. There she saw three mutated blue iguanas, each one the size of a minivan, wreaking general havoc.
"Stop right there, you freaks!" Ichigo called out as she struck a dramatic pose from the roof. "How dare you cause all this destruction and make innocent people late for school and work? For your evil actions, I will make you pay!"
One of the mutated iguanas responded by launching a prehensile tongue up at Ichigo. The pink-haired cat girl quickly jumped into the air before the tongue could strike, and after flipping through the air delivered a powerful flying kick that knocked the lizard back almost six feet. Soon after, she leapt at the second iguana and struck the beast on the snout with her fist. Just as the third iguana was about to attack from behind, a streak of light shot past and slashed the beast along the side. The light was from a glowing sword wielded by a young man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a long blue coat. The public had come to know this young warrior as the Blue Knight, but Ichigo knew him as her boyfriend, Masaya Aoyama.
"You okay?" Masaya asked the cat girl.
"I'm fine." Ichigo assured him. "Let's just wrap this up."
Just as the three iguanas recovered, Ichigo silently called for her ring-like weapon and raised it at the beasts. "Ribbon Strawberry Check!"
"Indigo Comet Blade!" Masaya called out as he slashed his sword.
Both attacks sent waves of pink and blue light that hit all three lizards at once. When the energy faded, all three had turned back into normal iguanas. As Masha quickly retrieved the jellyfish-like creatures that had caused the mutation, the civilians present on the scene began taking pictures of Ichigo and Masaya with their phones.
"We sure have been getting a lot of attention lately." Masaya noticed.
"I guess. But because of those darn lizards, I'm going to be late." Ichigo replied.
"Not if I can help it." Masaya told her.
Before Ichigo could respond, Masaya picked her up bridal style and took off into the air. After leaping across a few rooftops, the couple had finally arrived at Daikanyama Junior High. Once near the front gate, Ichigo changed back and Masaya transformed into his dark-haired civilian form.
"Isn't this going to make you late?" Ichigo asked with a somewhat worried expression.
"Don't worry. Our old school actually isn't all that far away." Masaya assured her.
"I wish we still went to the same school." Ichigo admitted.
"I know, but this way you and the others can do a good job of protecting Berry's friends." Masaya pointed out before kissing her on the forehead. "I'll see you at work, okay?"
"Yeah, later." Ichigo replied with a heavy blush.
After the two said their goodbyes, Ichigo went into the building. In moments she had arrived at her homeroom. Waiting for Ichigo were two of her fellow Mew Mews, Mint Aizawa and Berry Shirayuki.
"Hi girls." Ichigo greeted as she sat at her desk. "I hope I'm not too late."
"Actually you just made it." Berry assured her. "I was actually thinking you'd be late too after having to take down those Chimera Anima."
"Masaya carried me here." Ichigo explained. "He's pretty fast at leaping across buildings."
"I guess that explains why your hair looks a little messed up." Berry observed.
"And why you have that goofy grin on your face." Mint added. "Seriously though, how long did that battle of yours take?"
"Oh… I think only a couple of minutes." Ichigo answered as she went over the battle in her mind. "But then those were some pretty weak Chimera Anima."
"I don't know Ichigo. Ever since the Chimera Stone fixed your powers, you've been a whole lot stronger." Mint pointed out. "I don't ever remember you having that kind of power back when Kish and his friends were here causing trouble."
"It's probably just because Masaya's been helping me." Ichigo assumed.
"Well whatever the reason, you getting stronger is a good thing." Berry pointed out. "It means we can keep people a lot safer."
"Yeah. Plus with you and Masaya handling things, the rest of us don't even have to lift a finger." Mint remarked.
"You know Mint, Ryou still has the Chimera Stone. Maybe I should try becoming the Black Mew Mew again." Ichigo teased. "We could do a little sparing with each other. What do you think?"
"Uh, no. I don't think we need to do that." Mint replied. The dark-haired girl went a bit pale at what Ichigo had implied.
Before the conversation could go further, the teacher entered the room. The other students quickly got to their seats as she walked to her desk.
"Class, I'm afraid I have some bad news." The teacher announced. "Due to some important personal matters, I'm afraid that I will be gone for the rest of the year. But there is some good news. While I'm gone, a prominent American scientist and teacher will fill my post. Please give your warmest welcome to Dr. Archibald Trojan."
Walking into the classroom was a bald and somewhat overweight man in his late fifties. He had a bushy grey mustache and a somewhat large nose. His outfit consisted of a white lab coat with a yellow shirt, blue tie, and grey slacks. After exchanging pleasantries with Trojan, Ichigo's normal teacher left the room.
"Good morning, students." Trojan greeted. "As your former teacher just informed you, I am Dr. Archibald Trojan. I realize that this sudden changing of the guard is a great shock to you all. But let me assure you that I will perform my duties as your teacher as best I can."
"He seems okay so far." Berry whispered to Ichigo.
"Yeah." Ichigo whispered back to the blonde. "This whole thing seems a little bit weird though."
It was a typical afternoon at Café Mew Mew. But while Ichigo and the other Mews performed their normal duties, Ryou and Keiichiro were down in the lab looking at something on the screen of their super computer.
"Are you sure about this Keiichiro?" Ryou asked with a troubled expression.
"I've gone over the data a hundred times." The dark-haired gentlemen told him. "Each of Ichigo's battles shows an increase in power. And her most recent DNA scan shows a change in her wildcat genes."
Ryou sighed heavily and looked over at a darkened corner of the lab. Suspended from a chain inside a glass canister was the Chimera Stone, the source of this recent development.
"And here I thought that damn stone had only stabilized Ichigo's DNA." Ryou spoke. "And now this happens."
"The good news is that there's no sign that she's going to start turning into a housecat like before." Keiichiro informed him. "But one thing's pretty clear Ryou. She's evolving."
"Yeah. But what worries me is what she might be evolving into." The blonde pointed out.
"Hey Ryou!" a voice interrupted. Ryou and Keiichiro turned to see Ichigo walking into the lab with Masaya.
"What do you two want?" Ryou asked.
"Masaya and I were just talking, and we've been wondering why there are still all these rogue Chimera Animas running around." Ichigo explained.
"Oh, that." Ryou replied. "Well we're not sure, but Keiichiro and I think that somehow the things are reproducing. There's no good way to get rid of them all at once."
"Looks like we'll be busy for awhile then." Masaya observed.
"I guess so." Ichigo agreed. "But hey, at least we don't have to deal with some psycho trying to take over the world."
Trojan entered the dimly lit lab that he had set up in Tokyo not far from the Mew Mews' school. It was a good-sized lab, filled with the most advanced equipment needed to achieve his goals. As Trojan fired up the computers, he also turned on the television set on the wall. The screen was showing a news broadcast showing Ichigo and Masaya taking down the three mutant iguanas. Trojan couldn't help but think about how they would make the perfect subjects to test his experiment.
"Trojan!" a snake-like voice suddenly spoke.
The old scientist turned around to face the wall behind him. In front of that wall was a large red orb on a pedestal. Slithering around inside the orb was a thing that looked like a shadowy black snake with round white eyes.
"How may I serve you, Lord Apep?" Trojan asked the serpent in the orb.
"I'm growing impatient, Trojan!" Apep told him. "The day of my revival shall sssoon be upon usss. For that day I will need an army if I am to make thisss planet my own."
"Do not worry, my lord. Very soon I shall have the first of your legion created." Trojan assured him. "It's taken months of gene splicing and genetic testing on one of the mutant creatures that have been plaguing this city, the Chimera Anima. But at last I am ready to produce my first Serpent Anima! All it needs is to be tested to see if it can outperform Tokyo Mew Mew."
"Then deploy it!" Apep ordered. "We shall sssee how your creation fairsss againssst thisss Tokyo Mew Mew."
The day was starting to wind down at Café Mew Mew as Zakuro went out back to take out the trash. As she finished, Zakuro could hear a familiar voice talking nearby. Curious, the purple-haired model followed the voice and saw that it was Mint talking on her cell phone. Zakuro noticed that the dark-haired girl seemed upset.
"Yes dad…" Mint spoke into the phone. "I know dad, but… dad if you'll just listen!" After the next pause, Mint gave a defeated sigh. "Okay dad, I understand. Bye."
"Something wrong Mint?" Zakuro asked, startling the younger girl.
"Oh! Uh, Z-Zakuro!" Mint responded as her face turned red. "I, um, I didn't see you there."
"I didn't mean to scare you." Zakuro replied with her usual emotionless expression. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I… I was just having a conversation with my father." Mint explained.
"So is everything okay with him?" Zakuro asked.
"No… no it's not." Mint answered with sadness in her eyes. "I think… maybe now is the only time I'll have to tell you this. Zakuro… I…"
"There you two are!" a voice interrupted. Zakuro and Mint both looked to see Ryou rushing up to them. "Keiichiro just picked up another Chimera Anima! Ichigo and the others are already on their way."
"Then I guess we better go too." Zakuro decided. "You up for this Mint?"
"Uh… yes." Mint sadly answered. "Yes of course."
Ichigo, Masaya, and the rest of the Mew Mews arrived on the scene where the monster was attacking. The creature was the size of a semi-truck and had the body of a dog and the head of a snake with pointed dog-like ears. Its eyes were red and its body was covered in black scales. Small fires had already broken out on the scene from the thing's rampage. Ichigo tensed up upon seeing the creature. She could sense something incredibly evil about it, though she couldn't tell what.
"You okay Ichigo?" Masaya asked upon noticing Ichigo's tension.
"This Chimera Anima… it's different somehow." Ichigo answered.
"I'll take care of this!" Pudding declared as she raised her weapon. "Pudding Ring Inferno!"
The young Mew Mew's weapon encased the beast in what looked like a large orange jello mold. But with a twist of its body, the monster freed itself, shattering its prison to bits.
"Hey! What the…?" Pudding exclaimed.
"How could it break out?" an equally surprised Berry wondered.
"We have to stop that thing now!" Mint decided as she raised her small bow and arrow at the creature. "Ribbon Mint Echo!"
"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!" Lettuce called out as she sent a torrent of water at the creature.
"Ribbon Zakuro Pure!" Zakuro cried as she swung her purple energy whip.
All three attacks hit the creature in the face, but the thing was completely unharmed. The dog snake opened its mouth and spat out a glob of green slime at Mint, Lettuce, and Zakuro. The three Mews managed to jump out of the way before they could get hit. The glob struck the concrete where the three were standing moments before and melted a large hole into it.
"We're not even making a dent in that thing!" Berry observed.
"Masaya! Berry! Let's end this!" Ichigo decided as she silently called forth her weapon. "Ribbon Strawberry Check!"
"Indigo Comet Blade!" Masaya called with the swing of his sword.
"Ribbon Love Berry Check!" Berry cried out as she shot a blast of red energy from her wand-like weapon.
All three energy blasts his the creature in the side. But while the thing was dazed by the attacks, it quickly recovered from them and continued its rampage.
"No way!" Ichigo exclaimed. "How could that not have stopped it?"
The snake dog creature roared at Ichigo, Masaya, and Berry. The force of the sound blast was so strong that it knocked them into the building behind them. The other four Mew Mews leapt in to attack, but the beast swung its tail and flung them into the building on the opposite side of the street.
'No… I… can't let that thing win!' Ichigo thought as she staggered to her feet. When she looked, she saw the thing towering over Mint, Luttuce, Zakuro and Pudding. 'No… stay away from them! STOP!'
Kish leaned against the wall of the silver tomb with his arms crossed. There was very little to do inside the tomb. Tart was taking a nap, while Pie and Montgomery stood at opposite sides of the room, occasionally glaring at one another. Moreau meanwhile was busy studying a line of hieroglyphics on the wall.
"How much longer is this going to take?" Kish impatiently asked.
"Patience, Mr. Kish." Moreau told him. "If we are going to save Ichigo and the rest of the world, we must find that other tomb. The key lies in these hieroglyphs, but first I have to translate them."
Before Kish could argue, the sarcophagus in the center of the chamber began to rumble. The disturbance was loud enough to wake Tart from his nap. Suddenly a burst of golden light shot up from the coffin through the ceiling.
"What the heck was that?" Tart wondered.
"Damn! I was hoping we'd have more time!" Moreau cursed.
"What's going on, human?" Kish asked.
"Bastet's powers are returning to her." Moreau explained. "It's beginning."
Just as the dog snake creature was about to grab Pudding in its mouth, a ray of golden light shot down from the sky and struck Ichigo, causing the beast to look. The light faded after a moment to reveal that Ichigo's costume had changed. Bands made of gold had replaced the frilly bands on her upper arms, and her furred collar had turned gold as well. Her dark-pink gloves now reached up just below her elbows. Covering the back of her right forearm was a piece of green armor with three gold blades extending from the end. On Ichigo's forehead was a golden tiara with an eye symbol carved on the front.
Masaya regained consciousness and was surprised to see the cat girl's transformation. "Ichigo?"
Ichigo looked down at him, revealing that her eyes had turned from pink to a striking emerald green. The snake dog roared, regaining Ichigo's attention. With the thing's focus on her, Ichigo dashed out into the street. The beast spat out another acidic glob, but Ichigo jumped into the air before it could hit her and delivered a powerful kick to the thing's snout. The creature was knocked backwards at least twelve feet. By this time, the other Mew Mews had regained consciousness.
"Foul creature of darkness! For your wicked acts, I shall make you pay!" Ichigo declared. The blades extended from the end of her armored gauntlet. "Ribbon… Strawberry Slash!"
With a swing of her arm, Ichigo sent forth a massive blade of pink energy that cut into the ground as it headed for the creature. The beast was struck and roared as it seemed to be torn apart by the attack. When the energy finally faded, the monster had turned into a skinny dog with matted grey fur. A green jellyfish-like creature fluttered down to the ground next to it and burned into a pile of ash. The dog meanwhile ran away yelping.
"Ichigo?" Masaya's voice called again, snapping her out of what seemed like some kind of trance.
Ichigo turned around and saw Masaya and the other Mew Mews looking at her with shocked expressions. She glanced at the window of a building next to her and saw part of the reason why they looked stunned. Her costume had changed, as had her eye color. Thinking back, Ichigo remembered exactly how she defeated the monster, but it was all on instinct.
"Ichigo… what happened to you?" Masaya asked.
"I… don't know." An equally stunned Ichigo answered.
Trojan looked at the video screen in his lab in disbelief as the surveillance drone he had deployed with the Serpent Anima sent him the images of Ichigo transforming and defeating the creature. It was inconceivable that his creation could lose. Frantically, the scientist began checking the data on his computers.
"This is impossible!" Trojan declared. "I've done countless studies on both Tokyo Mew Mew and the Chimera Anima! My Serpent Anima should've been far stronger than both!"
"SSSSSAAA HA HA HAAAAA!" came a hideous laugh from Apep's orb. "Ssso, she hasss been reborn."
"Lord Apep?" Trojan responded.
"Basssstett!" Apep responded. "She isss the leader of thisss Tokyo Mew Mew. To think that Ra'ssss wretched daughter would return in thisss modern age."
"So this girl is the reborn daughter of your enemy?" Trojan asked. "Will this cause problems for us?"
"She may be an enemy, but she isss ssstill a pathetic little girl." Apep answered. "But making her sssssuffer will amussse me. And after thousssandsss of yearsss of being sssealed, I can ussse sssome amusssment."
Author's Note: It's been a long time since I've written a story like this, so I'm not sure if this chapter is my best work. Anyway, back in the spring of 2005, I did a lot of research into Egyptian mythology during my spare time (though in retrospect, I probably should've used that time to study for my math classes). I was really into the original Yu-Gi-Oh! at the time, so the subject fascinated me. Apep was one of the mythological figures I ended up doing the most research on. At the time I had never even heard of this great serpent that was known as The Enemy of Ra.
I was also really into Tokyo Mew Mew at the time, and somewhere along the line I got the idea that Apep would be an awesome enemy for Ichigo and the other Mew Mews. I really ended up putting a lot of thought into what his character would be like. Especially the way he talked and his distinctive laugh. Had I gotten into fan fiction back then, this probably would've been one of my first stories. But I think sitting on the idea for so long has given me some time to refine it.
Please review and let me know what you think.
