*faint gasping and coughing sound…*

SLAM. A hand appeared on the table top, trying to grasp something to steady… it?

"Pueah- cough cough…I'm back…"

A head appeared, coughing and choking from the dust all around it…

Hey people…. I'm back!!! And alive!!! I'm SO SORRY I couldn't update any sooner!!!!!! You see, my house was under renovation and everything, yes EVERYTHING was wrapped up and under layers of debris… even my computer... I didn't realize until I got back from my holiday… I went home and BLAM everything was dusty and it seemed that all I owned were my clothes and stuff I brought for my holiday… so LEARN TO TREASURE WHAT YOU HAVE!!!!!!!! You have no idea what it felt to be separated from all your belongings for like, 10 DAYS!!!! 10 days of boredom to DEATH!!!!! As you probably guessed that was me just now, finally in reach of my computer… hehe… very lame I know… I think I blabbed enough of my sorrows… ON WITH THE STORY!!!!!


Last Chapter:
They stopped when they saw the monster. Keiichiro noticed a hooded stranger standing nearby…


Chapter… 4!!!! :

"Reborn Lettuce Rush!"

BANG.

THUD.

"Owww!"

"Pudding Ring Inferno!"

Ouch.

"I don't like you, na no da!"

"Stop talking to the monster, Pudding!"

The mews were weakening, bit by bit. The monster… it was winning…

"What type of Chimera monster is this anyways?!?!?!? Is it even a Chimera?!?!?" shrieked Ichigo as she fired yet another strawberry check.

No one knew the answer, but this Chimera did seem… unusual.

Keiichiro had been looking at the hooded stranger all the time, out of the corner of his eyes. He was quite sure that this was the hooded person from last time. But the question was—

"Where the hell are the ALIENS?????" Ichigo continued rambling. "Shouldn't they be here to be, gloating at us or someth—"

Suddenly, a flash of green light almost blinded everyone. Ichigo's pendant was glowing again. Ichigo's eyes shimmered white, blank and empty, before she collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

"Ichigo!" several voices cried at once. Lettuce immediately ran and picked up her unconscious companion and brought her to a safer place, passing her to Ryou.

She had saved Ichigo just in the nick of time. The monster struck the ground where, just a moment ago, Ichigo lay.

Just then, Zakuro got slashed in the belly.

Injured, she was unable to move quickly enough to dodge a blast from the monster. It quickly spread all over her body. She was warped in… something. It seemed like a cross of jelly-like substance and an aura of light. It wasn't beautiful or anything. It stuck fast to Zakuro menacingly, while she struggled to get free.

"Reborn ZaCross Pure!"
It was no use. She was unable to destroy the substance, especially when she was right in the centre of it.

"Zakuro-san! Your hands! They are disappearing, na no da!" Pudding pointed.
She was right. The tips of Zakuro's fingers were fading slowly, little by little.

"Reborn Lettuce… Rush!"

"Reborn Pudding Ring… Inferno!"

"Reborn Mint… Echo!"

The three mews desperately tried to destroy the green substance, without avail.

Minto shrieked in pain as she got hit by the monster, not able to dodge quickly enough as she concentrated on rescuing Zakuro.
"Attack the monster first!" Zakuro commanded, calm despite being wrapped in some unknown substance.

Suddenly the air around Zakuro shimmered and the hooded figure that Keiichiro had been observing appeared next to her.

"I'll take care of her for now." His (her?) voice resounded deep in their minds, as if it was etched in. With those words and an evil, echoing laugh, the monster disappeared, along with Zakuro and the hooded person, their companion still struggling to get out.

Lettuce, Pudding, and Minto dropped to the ground, exhausted and panting. They were dazed by the shock.

Zakuro? Captured? It was almost impossible to believe.

They trooped back to the café, with Ryou carrying the still-unconscious Ichigo, bridal style.


Ryou laid Ichigo gently on a chair, rousing her. She blinked, eyes getting into focus, asking, "What happened??"

Keiichiro had gone to run a scan of the fight and the green substance. The rest filled her in with what happened. "ZAKURO GOT CAPTURED?!?!?!? HOW IS THAT EVEN PO—"

"Calm down, Ichigo! We're all in shock! Calm down and try to figure out what to do!" Minto yelled at her, tears glinting in her eyes.

Ryou groaned and stared at the ceiling. "How did it come down to this?"

They sat in silence as each tried to think of a way to save Zakuro. Keiichiro came back from the basement-lab and told them of the results, shaking his head in puzzlement.

"I scanned the green substance that wrapped Zakuro. It has different texture to the aura of light that was around Ichigo. It doesn't seem possible, but… this substance could not have originated from this planet."

"Well it's probably from the aliens, na no da!" Pudding chipped in.

"No, I meant, like, it couldn't have originated from anywhere even remotely near here. Not even from the aliens we know. It is a totally different substance, different matter. The, the particles shouldn't even be able to form like that, but yet it is. I mean, after all, there seem to be at least 100 protons in that element, (if it is even considered an element) which is not physically possible as it should not be able to stay in that form for so long—"

"So… you're telling us that this… green substance is not from the aliens, and not from anywhere in this… universe?" Lettuce asked, interrupting Keiichiro's enthusiastic speech.

"Well there is a slight possibility that it originated from a black hole, but it must be that the equations are balanced, as nothing can really be near a black hole—"

"—yes, but, so it's a new enemy." Ichigo interrupted again.

Keiichiro took a deep breath. "Yes. I highly doubt that the enemy is even from this universe."

"You mean… they're from another universe, one parallel to ours, like you said the other day?" Ichigo asked.

Ryou clapped. "Pronto. Now you've finally understood, let's actually get to the point." He said, annoyed.

"What is that supposed to mean?! HUUH?!?!?" Rising from her seat, Ichigo glared at Ryou. She was pissed, alright. And angry at herself for losing Zakuro, though she didn't know that. Or, maybe 'pissed' was an understatement.

"I…" Ryou muttered. That girl was dangerous.

"…"

"don't—"

"—REEE-OWWWW!!!"
Cat shriek. Cat battle shriek.

"NO!!!"

*hiss*

"Ow, that hurts, no, NooooooooOOOOOO!!!!!!"

*me-ow!!!!!!!!!!*

!#Y#^#&^*#)^*$)($&^*$&(^*%*&$(+-*

(#&$*#%^!)#*$#*%^$&%^~*$#^%#(~(&!()$+


*In the background*:

"So how are we going to save Zakuro? How are we going to find her in the first place?" Minto asked.

Keiichiro was deep in thought.

"Well… from what I know of the green substance and particle formations naturally occurring on this planet and other galactic star systems within about 20000000 light years away from us, and also what I know of—"

"Er—skip to the point, and English, please?" Minto snapped. None of them were in a good mood to hear scientific arguments.

"—I would say that Zakuro is now sealed in a 2-dimensional world somewhere within a 2 km radius of where she disappeared, held by the force of someone's willpower—"

"—willpower, na no da?!?!" Pudding exclaimed, not understanding.

"Yes, willpower, but from someone definitely not from this universe." Keiichiro finally managed to finish what he meant to say.

Silence.

"You're done?" Lettuce asked in surprise.

Then they realised that there had been utter silence. Utter silence. Which meant that someone had stopped fighting.

They turned around and realised that Ryou was holding Ichigo in her cat form with his hands loosely over her mouth. She was staring at Keiichiro with her tabby eyes, stunned by the "scientific-ness" of his speech.

Pudding ran up to Ryou and took Ichigo from his hands.

"Kitty Ichigo!!!"

She started doing acrobatic tricks with the poor little cat.

"Cartwheel spinny, na no da!"

"MeoW!!!!!!!"

"Double back-flip!"

"Me~~~OOWW~~"

"Riding the elephant!"

"Me…owww…"

"Single hand top spin!"

"…"


==10 mins later==

"MEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW~" He finally decided that she'd had enough. After watching Pudding bounce Ichigo up and down for 10 minutes, Ryou finally caught the black tabby. She seemed to faint in his hands.

He sighed.

He tickled her and pulled her twitching tail. Moving much faster than would have been thought of a cat who just fainted from exhaustion, Ryou received a cat scratch on his face, feeling lips brush against his and suddenly Ichigo was back in her human form with a 'poof'.

"WAIT!" Ryou shrieked before Ichigo could assault him and probably cause permanent damage.

"You have 5 seconds."

"I—

"Five."

"—have—

"Four."

"something—

"Three."

"—important—

Ichigo kept going.

"Two."

"—to say—

"One."

"—about the green particle matter!!!!!!!"

"Zero."

"It's to save Zakuroooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ichigo's hand/claws stopped millimetres away from his face.

"It better." She said. She was in a state where so got so worked up that she became strangely calm. Maybe emotionless was a better word.

"Well…" Ryou pushed Ichigo's hand away from his face. Staring at her seriously with the full power his crystal blue eyes, he started speaking.

"Since she is, right now, trapped inside a 2 dimensional world like Keiichiro said, the only way we can rescue her is to use your powers. You have to concentrate them at different angles and fire them in a certain order."

"Well that's… very… specific… 'concentrate them at different angles and fire them in a certain order' " muttered Minto. Ha-ha, ha.

Ryou sighed. "I will work out the order to fire later. But remember, do not use the full strength of your powers. If it is too strong, it may harm Zakuro and shatter the 2 dimensional plane she is on, losing her forever. "

The 4 mews gulped, realizing the full severity of the situation.

"But… how are we going to find her in the first place??" Lettuce inquired.

Ryou smiled. Gathering them into a sort of huddle, he leaned forward and started speaking in a hushed voice.

"All we have to do…"


End of chapter!!! Phew that was one long chapter…

I know it sucks but PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! NO SILENT READERS PLEASE!!!

Sorry I can't update it sooner cuz my internet connection was also down and chapter 4 was just sitting in my computer, and I wasn't able to upload it…

But next chapter will be up soon!!!