Chapter Three:

"Yeah, being stuck in this cave is a pretty big problem," Masaya said as they looked around the room, almost desperately looking for something to prove Mint and Lettuce wrong. "But air is still getting in, dust has gathered on the bones and the floor."

"So there's got to be some way that air is getting in," Ryou said. He went over to the nearest wall and started feeling it with his hands. "Maybe we're missing it, over-looked it with the way the flashlight hit it. If we don't find anything in here, we'll go back the way we came."

"Right," Kish said in agreement. He floated up and said, "We'll look up high. Maybe there's something up here."

"Great, you guys look high and we'll look low," Ichigo said, starting to feel along the walls, carefully avoiding all the niches.

"Pudding will check the floor, na no da," Pudding said, using the flashlight beam to aid her search.

"I'll help Pudding," Homare said.

"Um, guys?" Mint said, arching an eyebrow.

"You just stay put, Mint," Rirī said from up above. "You actually probably need to rest anyway. Just let us look around and stay put."

Mint huffed but didn't say anything else.

"Well," Tart said after a few minutes of searching, sounding irritable. "I think I found it."

"You did? That's great!" Lettuce said.

"Unless one of you Mews can turn into a snake or a rat, it's not great," Tart said. "I found this hole and I can feel wind coming in, and can see a bit of light. But I can't even get my arm in."

"Great," Shinji said with a frown. "Just great. We're never going to get out of this stupid cave now."

"Are we gonna die in here?" Rōzu asked with a sniffle as she floated back down.

"No, no," Ichigo said reassuringly. "Maybe… Maybe we can melt the snow after all. I mean, according to you guys that's basically what we did to find this cave in the first place."

"Guys," Mint said, now very annoyed. "I think you've already overlooked our way out."

"Wait, you see it?" Rin said surprised as she floated back down as well.

"Yeah," Mint said. With her good arm, she pointed at the air underneath Rin's feet. "I'm not an expert on Cyniclon powers, but I'm fairly sure that if you can do that, you should be able to teleport us out of this hole."

There was a painfully awkward moment when they all just stood there for a moment. Suddenly, simultaneously, hands smacked foreheads with various curses, groans and grumblings. Needless to say, none of them felt very smart in that instance.

"Let's get out of here," Kish said, irritated.

"Let's go back to inside the hut," Rin said. "That is probably the safest place."

"Good idea," Keiichiro said with a nod of agreement.

"You know what?" Tart said once they touched the floor of the hut that they had slept in only the night before. "We should fly all the way to the top, then teleport back here, then there. If nothing else, we'll scope out the area and if we need to go back further down we can."

"Great idea," Ichigo said in agreement as she slumped to the ground. "We'll have lunch ready when you get back."

"Food. Great, I'm starving," Jade said.

While the older five Cyniclons disappeared up the mountainside, the humans and Rōzu worked on fixing food as well as tending to Mint's shoulder.

It didn't take long for Pie, Rin, Rirī, Kish and Tart to return.

"We've got trouble," Rirī announced.

"Don't tell me, Mylo and company?" Homare said with a frown as she looked up.

"Of course," Rin said. "The trail is clear of snow, but we're going to do this teleportation in three steps in order to get you used to the air. Come on, we've got to go now."

Quickly dropping everything, the humans rushed over. The five Mew Mews paused only for a second.

"MEW MEW ZAKURO!"

"MEW MEW LETTUCE!"

"MEW MEW PUDDING!"

"MEW MEW MINT!"

"MEW MEW STRAWBERRY!"

"METAMORPHO-SIS!"

Mint hissed momentarily after transforming. Her shoulder hadn't liked that, and apparently you couldn't transform with a sling on. She knew it'd have to come off anyway. She couldn't use her bow without both her hands. Her wings though… she wondered how that was going to go.

"Mint, are you going to be alright?" Ichigo asked as they waited about a minute at the first way point, getting used to the different air pressure. "You don't have to fight."

"I do, Ichigo," Mint said, eyes hard. "Mylo is after an element. My element. I'm not just going to stand back and watch that happen."

"When I told you, consciously or not, to get your element, I didn't mean at the risk of your own personal safety." Ichigo said with a frown.

"Oh, but Ichigo," Mint said with a smirk. "We've already established this: you can't get an element without putting your own neck on the line. It just simply isn't done. It'd be a serious faux paus to do otherwise."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile at Mint before she grabbed hold of Kish's wrist as Mint grabbed on to Rirī's.

At the second way point, Mint met Shinji's gaze.

"You know I don't want you to do this," He said softly to her, eyes hard.

"But you're not going to stop me, are you?" Mint said.

"I can't do that," Shinji said, shaking his head. "Because I know you won't listen, and because I know this is what you need to do."

He took a step forward, cupped her cheeks, staring directly into her eyes.

"All I ask," He whispered, the fog of their breath mixing in front of them. "Is that you be safe."

Then he pressed his lips to her, kissing her deeply, lovingly, passionately.

It felt like a timeless moment. Like it could have gone on forever.

But it didn't.

Within seconds, they were at the top of the mountain.

And the fight was on.

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Mint didn't realize just how painful putting her neck on the line would be.

Her left shoulder—and, by association, her left wing—was slowing her down. Strategies and attacks that worked perfectly before were making her more of a hindrance than help. She was too slow, proven when she was struck by a stray un-mutated parasite, hitting the ground and rolling.

She painfully tried to push herself up out of the snow. She gritted her teeth, fingers wanting to curl as she tried to put more weight onto her right hand, get to her scrapped knees faster. Her hair was coming loose with the tumble, falling out of the buns messily. Her skin was starting to tinge blue all around in response to the cold. The air itself was making it hard for her to breathe. She sucked in a breath as she saw a dark color on the ground mixed into the snow. She momentarily wondered if she would have been relieved if it was red instead of blue.

But there it was. Scattered all around her were long, dark blue feathers.

Her feathers.

She looked over her shoulder and said a very un-lady-like word.

Her left wing was completely bent out of shape, and she could feel this fact threaten to dislocate her shoulder once more. But both her wings and tail seemed to be stripped of the feathers. It was almost as if she had molted with the blast. Not to mention her arms and shoulders were covered in scrapes and bruises. She hadn't known snow could hurt that much.

She bit her lip, closing her eyes to hold back her tears. She was in pain, yes, but that wasn't why she was crying.

She couldn't do this.

She couldn't fight.

As much as she wanted to, it wasn't going to happen this time.

"Fly."

Mint's eyes snapped open and she got to her feet.

It was impossible.

The sudden change in air pressure was playing tricks on her.

The low air pressure and pain together was making her hallucinate.

Because she knew there was no way there could be a small little blue bird sitting in the snow in front of her.

"Fly." The little bird told her again.

"I can't," Mint said, shaking her head. The tears were blinding her now. "I've told you. I can't. I thought I could, and I was wrong. I can't do this."

"FLY!" The bird ordered in a screech.

"I CAN'T!" Mint screeched back, feeling hysterical and knowing that she looked and sounded foolish right now, yelling at a bird that may or may not have actually been there. "I JUST CAN'T! I CAN'T FLY!"

She hung her head.

"I'm not brave enough for this.

The bird was quiet, tilting its head and then,

"The only one," The bird said. "The only thing that is holding you back, is you, Aizawa Mint."

Mint froze, feeling her entire body tightening.

She was Mew Mint, who was cool and fearless in the face of a Chimera Animal. She could protect the city of Tokyo, hundreds of thousands of strangers, without a blink on an eye.

But she was also Mint Aizawa, who was useless in helping her friends when blood was involved. She couldn't help the people she cared about the most when they were hurt.

She was Mew Mint, who could put on an act. Who could play the part. Who was proud, cocky. Who loved to be center of attention.

But she was also Mint Aizawa. Who pretended not to care when the deepest cuts were made. Who could play the part of the perfect daughter and spoiled teenager at the flip of a coin. Who acted superior so that she wouldn't have to put her trust in anyone.

Who didn't realize just how lonely she was.

She didn't realize just how lonely she was until Ichigo entered her life, then Ryou and Keiichiro. Lettuce. Pudding. Zakuro. Masaya. Kisshu, Pie, Taruto. Jade. Homare. Rindou, Rirī, Rōzu.

And Shinji.

She knew there was an emptiness within her, a feeling she couldn't explain or even truly recognize. Not until he filled it. He was the missing piece in her life. How he taught her to trust people again. To not play some predestined role created by someone else. To be the prima ballerina of her own life.

But still she held back.

Because the last person, the only person she no longer trusted…

Was herself.

Mint put her right hand on her left shoulder. She gently felt it as she looked up the sky.

"It's up there, isn't it?" She said in a whisper, not even waiting for a response.

She knew what the answer was.

She glanced down at her shoulder. She didn't know how it was supposed to feel, how it was supposed to look. Probably not swollen and black and blue from her tumble.

But she had no choice.

She made eye contact with the bird again. She didn't say a word, just nodded. The bird bowed its head and spread its wings. Mint felt her own do the same. She watched as the tiny blue bird left the ground, flying higher and higher.

Fly. Fly. Fly.

Over and over and over in her head, like a drumbeat, like her heartbeat, getting faster and faster to get to her prize.

She didn't even know what it looked like, the element. She just kept following the bird, now spiraling in the air. She didn't think about the pain, she didn't even think about how much she was struggling to breathe, to stay conscious. The only thing she could think was:

Fly. Fly. Fly.

Then, she saw it.

Little blue and silver swirls in the air, dancing lightly and freely, like a ribbon in the wind. Like tiny, wispy ballerinas, leaping and twirling and spinning.

Mew Air.

She reached for it, jutting out her good arm but she couldn't reach. She struggled, wings flapping as hard as they could, still reaching. She was dizzy, she was going numb.

She couldn't stop it.

She couldn't stop the darkness from coming, eyes closing, her head lolling back, body limp, her wings stop beating.

She was falling from the air.

She didn't hear Shinji yelling her name.

She didn't see the fight stop beneath her, eyes all suddenly wide and terrified at seeing the limp form fall from the air.

She didn't hit the ground.

Shinji ran, some desperate hope that he would be able to get to her before she fell out of the sky. He didn't think, just knew where to go.

And, to his utter surprise and relief, he got to where he thought she would land first.

But she didn't come down.

All that he could see upon looking up was a large white cloud.

He didn't even need to be told that Mint was somewhere inside that cloud.

He just knew.

Suddenly, that cloud began to glow blue, the mist dissolving away to reveal Ultimate Mew Mint, in her toe shoes and feather-like gown, her large, beautiful blue wings spread out like an angel behind her.

And in her hand was a blue rod.

The Mew Whirlwind Rod.

Mint opened her eyes with a dazzling smile on her lips as she said,

"I am Mew Mint, bearer of the Mew Whirlwind Rod, controller of Mew Air. I have found my element as my sister and leader, Mew Ichigo, instructed me to do. And now, I call her to my side as I use my element for the first time."

Ichigo, with her Mew Element Rod in hand, a blue section now joined with the the green and orange, rose to the air beside Mint. She studied Mint, noting that the girl carried herself with pride, but she also had this air of happiness that Ichigo had only rarely seen in her friend and was more than happy to see in that moment.

"Ready?" Mint asked, almost challengingly.

"Always," Ichigo said with a grin.

Together, they put the tips of the rods together, and with them still touching turned so that they were standing back to back. Raising the Mew Element Rod and Mew Whirlwind Rod over their heads, the girls cried out together:

"RIBBON WHIRLWIND TORNADO!"

The ribbons of air swirled around the girls, enveloping them in a tornado, blowing snow and clouds and mist everywhere. The ribbons spun around Mint and Ichigo, getting faster and faster and faster…

Until they disappeared into the heavens.

And slowly Mint and Ichigo descended back to the mountaintop.

While Shinji grabbed hold of Mint tightly, making her giggle as he kissed her, and the rest of their teammates followed suit with various hugs, Topaz, Bell, Pepper, Zen and Chile all glanced warily at Mylo who just floated in the air with a frown on his face. Jalapeno stared at the Tokyo Defenders, but his eyes were not on Mint and the Mew Whirlwind Rod. Cayenne stood deadpan, staring directly at Mylo and with fists gripped tightly around his sword handles as if he was waiting for something.

However, the only comment Mylo had about the turn of events was,

"Wonder what that did."

He turned to the small group that was watching him nervously. They had all been wary around Mylo since he yelled at Topaz only two days before and weren't sure how he was going to react, especially to any of them.

"Let's go," He said, looking as if he was bored.

"But, Mylo, the element," Bell squeaked.

"Lost cause," Mylo said with a shrug. He focused in on Ichigo's Mew Element Rod, clutched in the girl's hand as she threw her arm around Mint's neck. His eyes gleamed. Perhaps he could still turn the Tokyo Defender's victories into his own. All he would need is to let them win one more… "There are bigger and better things that are waiting for us."

With that, he teleported away, quickly followed by Topaz and the twins, Chile and Zen. Cayenne and Jalapeno disappeared from the mountainside last, exchanging a glance before they did so.

"We thought you were dead for sure!" Homare said as she got her turn to hug Mint.

"So did I," Mint admitted as she leaned against Shinji awkwardly, her new, larger wings getting in the way. She ran a finger over the gem in her Mew Whirlwind Rod. "Three down."

"One to go," Zakuro said solemnly.

This last element, earth, would be for Zakuro to find and face.

"So what do you think the Mew Air did?" Jade asked as they ate in the mountain hut, all desperately ready for a meal and to go home. "I mean, so far every time the other elements have been used, something happened: people come back to life, stuff gets blown up, tsunamis get stopped, heck even vampires became Cyniclons. It had to do something."

"That would be interesting to find out," Keiichiro said. "Air is mostly invisible. You can't quite see what it's doing."

It didn't take them long to find out, though.

They were well over halfway back to Tokyo when Masaya's cellphone buzzed, announcing a new text message.

"Who's it from?" Kish asked, leaning over the backseat to read over Masaya's shoulder.

"It's a friend of mine from England, Danny," Masaya explained. "We were in the same environmental studies program." His brow furrowed and then his eyes widened. As he quickly typed out a message to those riding in the other car, he said, "And I think we might have the answer to what the Mew Air did. Zakuro, change the radio station to a news one!"

Zakuro did so and everyone got quiet as a female voice came through the speakers.

"—on board the International Space Station have just witnessed something incredible. Using radar equipment, they captured something no one could have ever dreamed possible: the holes in the ozone layer, not growing, but shrinking down to be nothing at all. They have been recording continuously for the past three hours and there is no sign at all that the holes are reopening. Scientists are at this point unaware of what caused this phenomenon but did notice that there seemed to be some sort of increasing but unknown activity over Japan. NASA will be sending up both astronauts and similar equipment to make sure this is not a glitch."

Immediately, Ichigo's phone rang and she put it on speakerphone.

"Ichigo, did we just fix the ozone layer?" Mint demanded.

"I think so, Mint," Ichigo said. She couldn't stop grinning. "I guess for the fate of the world, we really are at your service."

"Hey, wait, shh!" Lettuce said over the line, voice crackling from the distance.

"This isn't the first bizarre phenomenon that scientists have seen over the past few months. Oceanologists have been reporting that the oceans have been cleaner, with less beaching of whales and dolphins as well as healthier underwater populations. Oceans aren't the only cleaner water. Rivers, lakes, even reservoirs that have been tested recently are showing to be vastly cleaner. This isn't just in one or two countries either. Every country has had a similar reporting in the various bodies of water. What has been the most confusing, however, was after a underwater earthquake with a 7.5 on the Richter scale, Hawaii's big island should have been struck with a large tsunami, which was being tracked. And then, suddenly, it disappeared. Scientists have no answers for any of these strange occurrences, but for the future generations of Earth, and the planet itself, I know I hope they keep happening."

"So do we," Zakuro said softly to the reporter on the radio. "So do we."