Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Back on the Father ship, after seeing the new mews victory over Penny and squads of foot soldiers (The wooden soldiers and penguins) Wiretox sits on his throne, boiling mad, his eyes flaming green, brighter then before. The monsters look up at him, hoping that he wouldn't loose his temper on them.

"I told you she'll turn it around." replied T 2.0 to Isaac.

"Yeah, yeah." said Isaac.

Just then, Penny, stumbling his way inward, dazed over his defeat. "May I approach thy, your majesty?" asked Penny.

"You may." said Wiretox.

So he move towards his king, fearing the worse. "Your highness, I'm so sorry about..." replies Penny, but is cut off by Wiretox, who stood up and replied, "Save your Excuses!!" Penny stumbles back. Wiretox continues, "Because of your arrogance in battle, we now have a man captured by our enemies!"

"Sir, please forgive...” said Penny.

"No need, for I'm giving you the royal treatment." replied Wiretox.

"Oh, thank you Wiretox!" said Penny, thinking that it's a good thing, but it is not at all! Just then, two guards begin to drag him away.

Penny asks the king where they are taking him and he replies, "Why, to the torture room of coarse. Give him ten lashings from a laser whip!" Penny pleas with him, but Wiretox smiles, sitting back in his throne and says, "Consider yourself lucky, I'm not the one torturing you." Penny screams as the guards throw him into a nearby room, then the doors slam with an echo.

"Well, I hate to him right now." said Fred, breaking the silence.

"And I would hate to you at any time!" replied Shadow.

"Hey! That wasn't nice, big head!" then they go into a loud, long argument, until Wiretox finally had enough.

"Enough! I'm sick of your bickering!!" he said, standing up and sending lightning out of his finger tips, electrocuting Fred and Shadow. They fly backward into the control panel. Wiretox jumps, landing like a ninja, then he grabs the two by their throats, holding then up in the sir with his long, lingering arms and replies, "Now then, if you two can't play nice, I just have to separate you two, understand!?"

He squeezes and Shadow replies, "Yes sir, what ever you say!"

"It will never happen again...or at lease in this kind of circumstances!" said Fred, unable to breath.

Wiretox lets them go and walks back to his throne.

"Well, that could have been worse." replied Fred.

"Amen to that pal." said Shadow, rubbing his head.

Wiretox stopped half way to his throne, turned to Isaac, who was still standing by T 2.0 and replies, "Isaac, who is the next monster on your list?"

"Well Wiretox, Penny was the last one." said Isaac.

"He was the last?" asked Wiretox.

"Well, it was short notice sir, and not many monsters volunteered for the job." replies Isaac.

Wiretox rubbed his chin for a moment, pondering over this and then exclaims, "Vary well, on with phase two!"

But then, a voice from the far end of the room cries "Wait!!"

The monsters turn to see a marionette type monster with a tall, blue hat, much similar to those of a wooden soldier's, but lighter and it had a ruby on the front, his head was a sphere, he had Groucho Marx like eye brows, wooden of coarse, his eyes plastic looking and black, he had stubs where ears should be, his limbs are thick, vary thick, he wears a blue vest, the same color as his hat, his joints were like that of a puppets, his feet were tall and rounded in the front, his heels were rocket engines, making him able to fly, on his back he wears a puppet controller with strings hanging from all four ends, purple in color, he can actually the ways, one I already told you, the other is that he can use his controller has a propeller, his nose was a curved piece of wood.

He continued, "May I approach, Wiretox?"

"Ah, Governor Woody Forrest, you may come forward." said Wiretox with a grin. "Tell old boy, to what we owe to this unexpected visit?" continued Wiretox as Woody stepped forward.

"Your majesty, I come to you, wishing to fight the new mew." said Woody.

"You?" asks Wiretox.

Woody replies, "Yes! As you recall, I am the first of our kind to face her mother."

"But you lost." replied Wiretox.

"Okay, I only lost because those rainbow warriors assisted her, that and Tomahawk used my head as a golf ball, knocking both me and my comrade Question Mark out cold!" said Woody.

"Good point there Woody, Tomahawk 2.0, would it be a good idea for Woody to fight Seka?" says Wiretox.

"Oh, it would! I think we should listen to what he has to say." replied T 2.0.

"Vary well then, carry on governor!" said Wiretox. Woody shows them a purplish, glowing ball. Wiretox replies, "Is that a challenge sphere?"

"Yes it is Wiretox, but I had my workers back at Planet X improve upon it, now this little baby has the capacity to enclose the entire city of Tokyo within a challenge dome." replied Woody with a wooden grin.

"An entire city as your personal battle ground? What an ingenious plan you have Woody!!" said Wiretox, happy as clam.

"Oh, but there's more to it then that your highness, as I fight Seka, I will send forth wooden soldiers dissipated over the city, looking for our lost comrade." replied Woody.

"But, you can't beam soldiers into a challenge dome!?" replies Wiretox in shock.

"We can now, Wiretox!" said Woody, with an even bigger grin on his face.

Wiretox laughs and replies, "I love it! Tomahawk 2.0, when would it be a good time for Woody to attack?"

"In one week, the night after Woody attacks would be an excellent time to snatch the baby Wiretox." replied T 2.0.

"Then let it be done, in one weeks notice, Woody shall have his battle with the new generation of mew, after that, Fred will go to her apartment and take the baby!" ordered Wiretox. The monsters cheer, waving their hands in the air, shouting at the top of their lungs. But it was short lived, for Wiretox then replies, "But if you fail miserably again, just like Penny...well, you get the idea. Remember the last time you failed me miserably?" right on cue, screams could be heard from the torture room.

"I shall do my best your highness!" said Woody, leaving rather quickly as more screams echoed through the halls.

Tomahawk 2.0 steps up to the king, telling him that he has something he would like to show him, so Wiretox follows the chap to a place known as "The Arcades". Okay, this is what I'm going to do; I will explain what the "Arcades" are, then I going to introduce some new monsters to you, telling you what they look like and a bit about their fighting skill, I thought I'd tell you people this so there wouldn't be any confusion like last time!

The Arcades is a place where monsters train so they can fine tune their fighting skills. Like the monsters themselves, this training game consists of 5 levels, one being the weakest, and five being the strongest of all (the royal family are all level 5). To each level there is a time limit, except for level 1, where you can take as much time as you want, I will explain more in a bit. There are also battle robots, invented and funded by "Diamondeye Inc." (and so is the game), in each level of play.

Level 1, time limit: none, # of robots: 6, color of robots: black, height of robots: 3'

Level 2, time limit: 15 minutes, # of robots: 12, color of robots: orange, height of robots: 6'

Level 3, time limit: 10 minutes, # of robots: 25, color of robots: there are yellow ones with big hulk like hands, and there are blue ones, built for stealth, height of robots: 7' or 5' 5"

Level 4, time limit: 5 minutes, # of robots: 50, color of robots: all of the above, lead by these white robots with orange sticks they use as swords and they have spiky heads, height of robots: all of the above; whites robots are 6' 5"

Level 5, time limit: 30 seconds, # of robots: 100, color of robots: white with orange swords, and you know the rest, I just told you! But for level 5, it doesn't matter if you finish in 30 seconds, it only matters if you finish at all!

The arcade arena consists of twelve square battle arenas, with four walls and no roof, for those who can fly. With one wall having the entrance, and the one opposite of it is where the robots come in, through a garage looking door. Now that we got that out of the way, we can now go on with the story, sorry for any inconvenience!

Tomahawk 2.0 and Wiretox the arcades through a high hallway, looking down at the arenas.

"What did you wanted to show me boy?" asked Wiretox, looking down to see seven monsters, ready to fight.

"You see Wiretox, for the last three months I have been working with these seven monsters for battle these new mews." replied T 2.0.

"But isn't there 6 mews?" asks Wiretox.

"Yes, but after we're done with the mews, I thought we can use them against our old friends, the rainbow warriors!" replied Tomahawk 2.0.

"Genius idea you have came up with here Tomahawk 2.0.!" says Wiretox, "now tell, who are the lucky few to get fight them?" he continued with a bright, happy gleam in his green, laser panel eyes as they watch as the monsters prepare for the level 5 challenge.

The first one T 2.0 introduce was "Lord Whaler" a whale monster from Planet Alpha. Looks like: the stature of a man, blue skin, wears a traditional Japaneses Monk robe, with a tall, pointy hat and black shoes, his head is a smaller version of a blue whale's and he has a tail. His weapon: a harpoon, but the head is that of a whale with a golden spike coming out of the mouth and the other end in the tail, all blue.

The doors open slowly as the spike headed robots charge at Lord Whaler. He turns and slams his tail against the ground, causing a massive shock wave, destroying the first 3 or 4 rows, the rest came after him. He turns around again and begins to whack one robot after the other. Then he jumps into the air and throws his weapon, pinning a robot to the wall. Lord Whaler lands and his mouth grows to gigantic size and bites the nearest robots, chewing them and spits them right out. Of those that remained, they came charging, but he jumps again and starts running on their heads to his harpoon. He takes it out of the wall and throws the robot, making it fall on three others. He continues to whack the robots aside until only five are left. Four come from behind, but Lord Whaler hears them coming and send another shock wave, knocking them out. One charges from the front, but he spins and slices it down the middle, cutting it in two.

Lord Whaler goes into a battle stance as an automatic voice says, "Battle simulation over. Time: 49.7 seconds." Lord Whaler turns to T 2.0 and Wiretox, saluting them, in the traditional, monster way.

They move on to the next arena for the battle is about to begin. Tomahawk 2.0 introduces, though Wiretox already knew him, "Peace keeper" Duke of Planet G, the planet Wiretox's brother Pumpkinhead governs. Looks like: he looks human, wears a straw outfit, if you have ever seen Princess Mononoke you will know what I'm talking about, but with one of those triangular hats, the only part of his face that is seen is his eyes, brown eyes, for he has a bandanna thing over it like the warriors of Princess Mononoke. His weapon: a simple bo staff.

He is seen on one leg and his folded together, on top of his staff, which is standing upward, like he's in a form of meditation. Again, the doors open slowly and the robots come charging. He eyes open quickly, glaring at his robotic foes. He jumps and kicks his bo, sending it flying into five unsuspecting robots, making them fall over. The bo bounces off them and Peace keeper catches it in mid air. He begins to whack aside robot after robot. Then he flips out of danger and throws his staff, stabbing three robots in the gut. Two then come from the sides, he split kicks them, flips again, kicks another robot from behind, then Peace keeper retrieves his bo and whacks away. One last robot, he comes in close and Peace keeper bats his head right off, sending it out of the ball park. He jumps again and returns to his original stance.

A voice replies, "Battle simulation over. Time: 42.0 seconds." Peace Keeper jumps off one last time and salutes Wiretox.

Next up was the anime destroyer's greatest ninja, "The White Ninja" leader of the "Chi club". Looks like: well, he wears a super suit that is hard to describe, but I can tell you that it is geometric, he also wears a red cape with stylized tears on the end, his suit is white with golden rod markings all over in straight or zigzag lines, he wears one of those triangular hats like Peace keeper does, but golden rod. His weapon: again, hard to describe, but it's a cross between a sword and one of those hollow medieval blades, one end is a just a point of a sword with five inches under that is a samurai swords handle, a dark bluish handle, the other end is the hollow blade in which when he is using the sword half, the blade is used as a hand shield, like a French sword with the handle part being... well, golden rod. I hope I did a good job describing this guy.

The doors open once again, but The White Ninja turns and in his hands, appear six ninja spikes, the kind Naruto uses, swings around and throws them. The spikes stab seven bots, three in the neck, one in between the eyes, one in the forehead, and one had a spike go through his neck and into another robot behind him. The rest of the robots run at him, but in a flash of lightning fast reflexes and moves, he sends most of them packing. More come and The White Ninja does a battle pose and energizes a Chi blast. He fires and destroys all but one, who jumps into the air through the smokes, but in a blink of an eye, The White Ninja grabs his weapon and cuts the robot in two. He bows and the battle is over.

The voice replies, "Battle simulation over. Time: 32.9 seconds." He turns and salutes the king. Though they were old friends, they were still on an important mission.

They moved on to the next battle station to find a 20 foot monster by the name of "Driller mole". Looks like: A titanic, robotic mole monster with gold plating, his nose, hands and feet are all drills, hence the name, with the nose drill being the largest, with hydraulic tubes going from his arms to his back. His weapon: himself.

The doors opened and the robots came charging. Driller mole just stomps on them, then he begins to lunge at them with his bigger drill. Time after time, he does this; though he was slow, he was vary effective. He continues until one remained. The robots jumps, ready to strike, but Driller mole lefts his nose into sir and demolishes the final robot in one blow.

The voice replies, "Battle simulation over. Time: 39.0 seconds." He turns to the king and T 2.0 and instead of saluting he tilts his head, 'cause he can't get his arms up there because of his hydraulic tubes.

Tomahawk 2.0 and Wiretox move with Driller mole watching them. They now come to a monster named... "Full house", a card dealing monster. Looks like: human stature, cylinder shape head, wears a Chinese style robes with long sleeves with a hat that royalty might wear, green in color, wear a vest looking piece of clothing that looks like the ace of spades on the front and the back in the back side of a playing card, vary light green skin, darker green eyes with red pupils. Weapon: 1' long cards that he uses as fans and long sleeves.

The doors open, yet again, and Full house crosses his arms in a X shape, his sleeves slowly lower revealing one giant card in each hand. He fans them out to show six cards instead of one in each hand. He jumps into the air, throws the cards and they come crashing down like missiles, pulverizing the first wave of robots. He lands and more come. Full house slaps them away with his sleeves. He then spins and throws a card from his hand, stabbing one bot in the gut. That robot explodes, destroying him and many other robots. Full house goes into the tiger formation as more robots come charging. Two more cards appear in his hands; he jumps and begins to spin like a helicopter, slicing the heads and sticks of the robots. Once it was over, he kneels and fans out his cards to reveal not two but twelve. The robots fall over. Three come running at him, he split kicks two and cuts the other one down the middle, ending the battle.

The voice replies, "Battle simulation over. Time: 45.0 seconds." Full house turns and salutes the king, like all the rest. Once again they move on to the next battle simulation. There they find the monster named "The Bunny Ninja". Looks like: a rabbit with a human stature, black ninja outfit, all that you see is his eyes, even his long ears are covered up, though you don't see much he has gray fur, big rabbit feet. Weapon: a samurai sword, though he doesn't use it much.

Once again, the doors open and robots come charging. The Bunny Ninja goes into the crane formation and waits. Once they are close enough, he pounds the bots with his kick after kick. After he beats up fifteen of them, he begins to use his ears, chopping and punching like hands. He head butts another and split kick two more. Then, one hits him the head, but he turn and counters, punching his head off, with his hands not his ears. He grabs one robot and uses it to fight off three, killing them all, and then stabbing the one robot he was using with the robot's own stick. He kicks away and battle five more, then six more, until only ten are left standing. One after the other, they came at him, but draws out his sword and slashes each and everyone.

The voice replies, "Battle simulation over. Time: 55.6 seconds." He then turns to Wiretox and Tomahawk 2.0 and salutes.

They move on to the final monster, whose name was "Universal". Looks like: a cross between a Venus fly trap, an oyster and a clam with muscular arms and legs, a grayish color all over and has large, sharp teeth that are in need of a dentist, up the rim of his body where he opens up! His face is on the inside and is rarely seen. Weapon: a bo staff looking type weapon with blades on the ends, the shape of those hard to describe.

One last time, the doors open and the robots come charging, but he just stands there. Then, he slowly opens up and once he is completely opened, he lashes out with powerful waves of pure energy over and over. The robots are obviated.

He slowly closes back up and the automatic voice replies, "Battle simulation over. Time: 31.0 seconds." making him the strongest out of the seven. Wiretox stands there, amazed of what he just witness, while T 2.0 stands right beside him, smiling away.

"What do you think?" asked Tomahawk 2.0, though he already knew the answer.

"What do I think!? I think I love this plan of yours, and we shall put into action as soon as possible!!" replied Wiretox.

Then form the far end of the room, crashing can be heard. They go to check it out. They find Shadow in the training room, destroying the equipment, though they go through a lot of it every week. Shadow kick and punches, screaming and yelling, showing off his impressive skill, he does this until he is out of breath. He sits there, feeling extreme enmity towards Seka, for what she did. She made him a laughing stock in front of his pears. The rage boils inside of him; all he wants in this universe is to have another shot at her!! T 2.0 went to step forward, but Wiretox stopped him.

"I think it would be best if we left him alone. He needs some time to think to himself." replies Wiretox. T 2.0 agrees and they go back to the bridge, discussing Tomahawk 2.0's plans for the mews and the rainbow warriors.

Back on earth, night has fallen and the roof tops of Tokyo, another worm hole has opened. Out come ten figures, the night concealing their appearances. The one with angel wings that shine strangely discusses with his pears about something about "Rings of destruction" and how to get them back or something like that. They talk for awhile before they all fly away into the darkness of night.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Tokyo, a teenage girl walks home after studying at the library all afternoon. On the way home, she hears a quiet call for help while she passed a dark ally. She turns to see a man in a blue suit at the far end of the ally, asking for help.

Against her better judgment, she runs up to him and asks, "What can I do to help?"

The man replies, taking a long breath of air, "I'm...so hungry!"

He wraps his hands around her, but his hands have become scythes and he lets out a roar like a hungry lion. The girl's screams could be heard for miles, but no one dares to notice!

Okay, your turn Mississppigirl13, have fun!!

At a hospital on the other side of Tokyo a dozen or so people sat in the lobby, anxious and waiting for news on one of their own. Ichigo and her husband Masaya both stood, Masaya's arms wrapped around the woman's waist so her back was pressed against his chest, both looking towards the large doors. Somewhere behind them their youngest daughter lay in a bed, possibly bleeding to death, and they were forced to stay in the waiting room.

Hina's fellow mews all sat together, sharing anxious glances every few minutes, and their parents would get up every once in awhile to try and reassure the upset parents, only to be sent away by a moody Masaya. You could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of the past months, first loosing his oldest daughter and then pretending she never even existed, not mentioning her at all, and now his youngest daughter was shot, on the brink of death. Of course, for all they were being told she could be dead. Nobody seemed interested in informing them of what was going on with their daughter and friend.

Finally, after many more hours of anxious silence and waiting, a nurse came in and informed them that Hina was doing fine and was awake now, wanting to see them. After much badgering they were all allowed to go to the room where Hina was being kept. Ichigo was in the lead, holding her purse strap tightly as it rest on her shoulder, practically running, while Masaya was a little farther back, looking stormy, as if expecting the worse. What they were met with was a pale, sickly looking girl with jet black hair that contrasted quite harshly with her new complexion and many bandages and cuts across her body, though the large bandage around her lower chest was the most noticeable thing about her. Ichigo rushed to her daughter's side, grabbing her hand quickly and planting kisses to it while Masaya came up behind her, placing his hands on his wife's shoulders as he looked down at his daughter with a strained smile. He hadn't smiled right since Seka had left.

"Baby, what happened? Are you okay?" the woman asked breathlessly, her voice soft and wobbly compared to her once bright and loud voice she had always used before Seka had left. Her departure had changed everything, and suddenly Hina wished her parents hadn't changed, and Seka was still there. On the thought of her sister she looked at everyone, searching for the bright red hair that always screamed "Seka". It was slightly darker in color then Ichigo's, but it shone brighter and fell in curls down past her shoulders, unlike their mother's, which only reached a little below her chin.

"Where's Seka?" she asked, too tired to try and avoid the subject.

Most everyone in the room stiffened, shocked by this question, though the new mews were less surprised. After all, they all knew their previous leader had been at the battle—technically it was she who was the start of it—but after so long of never mentioning her to the mew leaders' parents they were still surprised. It had become an unspoken law that Seka's name was never to be mentioned.

"She's gone, Hina. She's been gone for six months now." Masaya said in a tight tone.

"No, she was at the battle." Hina argued, trying to think back and remember what had happened.

"She was what?" Masaya now asked, his voice a low growl almost. He was very touching with this subject, and since his daughter's disappearance he had assumed she must have left the country since his searches for her had all proved useless. Now to hear she was, indeed, still in Tokyo not just hurt him, but infuriated him.

"At the battle. Actually, she was the one in the battle from the beginning, we were more the reinforcements." Suddenly a thought jumped into Hina's head and her eyes widened, turning her gaze to her mother, "Why didn't you ever tell us about fighting the Monsters?"

All the adults jumped with surprise, having not expected this question. "Where did you hear about that?" Ichigo asked, tracing a circle into her daughter's hand with her thumb.

"The Monsters themselves. Or more, just one monster. Some penny dude. Anyways, he didn't say much, but he did seem to know a lot about our private affairs, particularly about Seka and…" the girl trailed off, looking down, not wanting to continue. She may be in a hospital, but if her parents found out she had heard from her sister since her departure their father would flip.

"They said something about a love tragedy, and someone named Ryu." Kimie said, earning her a nudge and a scolding glance from Emiko, obviously telling her to shut up about things she didn't know anything about.

"Ryu? We don't know any Ryu…?" Ichigo said, her brows furrowing in confusion as she tried to think of someone she might know with that name. Masaya, however, saw the guilt in Hina's actions, knowing instantly she was hiding something.

"Who is Ryu, Hina." He said, a demand rather then a question.

She started fiddling with the blanket nervously, avoiding everyone's eyes as Masaya stood there, towering over his daughter with a dark aura surrounding him, so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.

Finally she looked up and replied, "You're grandson."

Everything was quiet, and though Masaya's face was perfectly straight you could practically feel his anger flowing off him in waves, his eyes glinting dangerously. "Excuse me?"

"You're grandson. Seka was pregnant when she left, remember? That's the reason she left after all. You wouldn't let her keep him, so she left. Or did you forget?" she added the last part with an edge to her voice, bitterness very noticeable. It was, after all, his fault her sister had disappeared from their life so suddenly.

"Don't you mouth off to me young lady. I don't care how bad of shape you're in, that gives you no excuse. Do you understand me?" his voice was hard, glaring at her hard.

"Wait, how did Seka become pregnant?" Kaya questioned, confused about the whole thing.

"She and Hayoto were sort of an… item you could say." Hina explained, turning away from her father. She was already a prisoner in her own home; he couldn't do much more to her. And if he resorted to violence she could just go AWOL like her sister. It had worked for her after all.

"What? I knew they'd been talking, and were on good terms, but… but dating?" Tami asked, sounding beyond surprised. Though they'd all known Seka and Hayoto were friends—Ichigo and Masaya had been quick to tell everyone that, leaving out the horrible disgrace of them actually being together—they hadn't even considered them being anything more.

"So why isn't she and Hayoto off on his planet?" Kimie questioned.

"Hayoto was ordered to leave her and so he did." Hina said darkly, feeling a cool hate for the alien that had stolen her sister's heart sink in.

"Okay, so we now know how Ryu came about and who he is, but why is he of any importance to these monster guys? And why are they even bothering Seka?" Emiko now asked.

"Because if the aliens destroy the mews the planet is practically theirs. Since Seka is out on her own, with no protection from anyone else, it makes sense they'd try to pick her off first. Not only is she the leader—no matter how hard we try to deny is she will always be this generation's true leader—but she is also the most powerful. Soon Emiko will be retiring from the mew team and be out of Tokyo, in Sapporo, a completely different island, and she'd be open for attack. That would leave only Hina, Tami, Kaya, and Kimie, and Hina is currently in no position to fight, so easily picked off. Tami and Kaya are a bit older and more experienced, but they honestly wouldn't be too hard to be attacked and killed if outnumbered, and then Kimie… well, you're practically still training, still having many things to master that would be your downfall. Hatsu and Fuuga don't fight enough to be a threat. As you can see, it wouldn't be too hard for the monsters to pick our mews off one by one. In fact, it would practically be a stroll in the park." Ryou said in answer to Emiko's question.

"That still doesn't explain why the monsters want him." Emiko pointed out.

Now the man shook his head, "I haven't the slightest idea. I can't imagine what they would want with an infant, other then perhaps causing Seka great sorrow, thus making their job of killing her that much easier."

"You said you guys fought them before. If that's the case, why are they back?" Hina questioned.

Now it was Mint's turn to answer, "I don't know. The war ended two decades ago, what they'd want with us now is beyond my comprehension. They conquered Earth so they obviously aren't coming back for a rematch. Perhaps they want to regain their superiority and rule?" she looked at Ryou, her eyes questioning, but he just shook his head, obviously just as puzzled.

"Maybe your husband knows Mint." Zakuro asked, glancing at the blue-eyed mew.

She nodded, "Maybe. I just got word from him a few days ago. Apparently he's headed home."

"Dad's coming home?" Kaya asked, excited. She and her brother, Fuuga, rarely saw their father. He was always out of town, working all over the world. She paused, then asked, "Why would Daddy know anything about this?"

The adults all shared looks, the kinds that parents could have entire conversations with. One glance and they would have had an entire argument on what to say, and this time it seemed the kids would be hearing an answer, rather then the many times when they'd just get a "it's none of your concern" answer.

"When the monsters came to take over they weren't just fighting us. A group of people came too, to try and defeat the monsters. These people were the Rainbow Warriors and a man named Tomahawk. The Rainbow Warriors are similar to us mews, the heroes on their planet, traveling around to try and defeat the monsters. Tomahawk was very much the same, going out to try and defeat them because they destroyed his planet. Tomahawk's secret identity, I supposed you could call it, was Tom A. Hawkins." Mint explained.

"Wait a minute, you mean to tell us that our father is some sort of alien?" Fuuga asked.

She shook her head, "Oh no, he's human, he just came from another planet is all. He still is working for the G.P.I., just like he was when we met, but we just decided to say he was a business worker because we didn't think you were old enough to keep it a secret."

"G.P.I.?" Kimie asked, furrowing her brows.

"The Galaxy Protection Institute. I guess when he found out the monsters were back he decided to wrap up his current assignment quickly. After the last time they were here it makes sense he'd do so."

"Why? What happened?" Emiko asked, now sitting on the end of Hina's bed.

"Well, we weren't as strong as you all were. Our attacks only really worked on the aliens and their Chimera Anima so we were easily overpowered. Your father might think that the same will happen to the new mews. Plus, if the monsters are here it's very likely that his longtime enemy is as well."

"Dad has enemies?" Kaya asked. Sure she knew people didn't like everyone, but she had never imagined her father disliking someone, much less hating the very core of their beings.

Min smiled slightly, "Oh yes, he has enemies all right. However, this isn't just enemy. Its his alternative self, Tomahawk 2.0, who is in every way your father, while at the same way in every way not him." She turned sober towards the end.

"How is that possible? And what's an alternative self?" Kimie now asked, her brows furrowing deeper. Sure she was thirteen, but she was still learning things, and currently her mind was still going over the possibility that Mr. Hawkins, or as he had them call him, Uncle Tom, could be from another planet.

"Well basically they have the exact same DNA and think in the same ways—pretty much the same exact person—but their views are different. They are both very competitive, both hating to loose, so being on opposite teams can pose as a problem. Tomahawk 2.0 works with the monsters, trying to conquer every planet they cross, while Tomahawk 1.0, our Tomahawk, tries to save the planets because of his being destroyed. Until Tomahawk 2.0 came into the picture he succeeded too, but for some reason the man is much, much stronger then him."

"I don't blame him. If there was someone who was exactly like me I wouldn't be too fond of them." Tami said, pushing back her black hair from her face as she frowned slightly, trying to imagine someone who was just like her in every way, only evil. It didn't seem too appealing.

"Hey, maybe Hina saw him when we left to fight those penguins." Kaya said, sitting up slightly from her lazy position leaned against a wall.

"Penguins?" Pudding asked, furrowing her brows in a way very similar to her daughter.

Emiko shook her head, raising up a hand, "Don't ask."

Everyone now turned to look at Hina, waiting to hear what had happened when the others had disappeared.

"I don't really remember what happened all that well. I guess I must have hit my head. I know that after you guys left I was trying to get some information out of that one guy," her she paused and looked at the other mews, "you got him, right?" the nodded affirmatively and she gave a small nod too, continuing with the story, "I couldn't get much information out of him, only his name and ranking. I think it was Herold or something like that. Anyways, then his communicator went off and I answered, and this British voice replied." The adults all shared a nervous, somewhat scared glance. "What?" Hina now asked, confused by their reaction.

Ichigo bit her lip, "The only British sounding monster I can remember was their leader, Wiretox. But we'll get into that later, love, just continue with the story." Ichigo added, trying to bring everyone's attention away from the monster leader to what happened to the mews' new leader.

Hina nodded slowly before taking a breath to continue, "Well, as I was saying, a British voice answered. We had some Smalltalk about… things," here she glanced at her father nervously, unwilling to bring up the topic of Seka and Ryu, "but then he asked to talk to Herold and I told him no, saying we were going to keep him for awhile. The British dude—Wiretox you said his name was?—got really pissed and threatened me, but I just mouthed him off, thinking he was full of hot air. I hung up and then smash the communicator," Ryou winced, obviously upset that such a valuable piece of equipment had been destroyed before he could even get his hands on it, "and started interrogating the guy again. Then, next thing you know I hear this loud gunshot and someone screaming and then I feel this horrible pain in my upper back, and then things just get kinda fuzzy. I think I heard some more screaming, stuff shattering, and I think someone was holding me, but I don't know for sure. Then everything goes black and I wake up what seems like a second later and find myself in a hospital room."

All the adults felt chills going through them by the end of Hina's story. They had always known the monster leader was powerful and quick to fight, but to have him send someone on Hina so quickly was insane. And they'd tried to kill the teenager too, without any fight on her side. They felt as though things had gotten a lot worse over the last two centuries, especially for them. If they didn't watch themselves, and make sure the kids did too, they could all very well end up dead. That wasn't something they wanted to happen.

Ichigo leaned back into Masaya, letting her eyes shut as she thought of all the possibilities of what might come now. The other elder mews copied her, leaning into their husbands while Mint just hugged herself, having no one to hold what with Tomahawk being gone. She loved her husband with all her heart, but she did miss him when he was away all the time. Being around her friends and their husbands, however good or bad they were, always managed to hit a sore spot in her, though she'd never let Tomahawk know that. He'd feel guilty, and he loved his work, so taking him away from that because of her own selfishness seemed wrong. Though she may have done that when she was younger, now she had grown up, learning to put others before herself.

"Mews, no more mew business for awhile. I think it'll be best if we stay out of the monsters' gaze for the time being. The less they hear and see us the better." Ryou said, his arms still around his wife, Zakuro's, waist.

"What about that monster guy we have captive? What do we do with him?" Kaya asked, still leaning against a wall, though now her arms were crossed and she was frowning, not thrilled with giving up her job as a superhero. What would all those people do if the aliens and/or monsters attacked? Seka had enough to worry about in just protecting herself and her son, she couldn't protect a whole city too.

"We'll just have to hope the monsters don't come looking too close to home." Keiichiro said, speaking for the first time, Lettuce leaning on his chest and nodding in agreement.

"Riiight," said Hatsu, looking unconvinced. Flopping down into an unoccupied chair he kicked his feet up onto the end of Hina's bed. "We're doomed."

One week later; Seka's apartment.

Seka jerked from her sleep to the sounds of her crying son. Glancing up she saw him in his bed, looking to be on a verge of a tantrum. As of late he seemed to enjoy throwing tantrums, so it wasn't too unusual, and usually he'd just teleport around the room before teleporting back into the crib to wait for her to pick him up and give him comfort. Still, she'd rather grab him before the teleporting started. Usually it was easier to calm him if you just got to him right away; giving him whatever it was he needed.

Groggily pushing herself from bed she walked towards the crib, stubbing her toe on one of the bed posts and hardly keeping herself from cursing as she hopped up and down for a few seconds before continuing her short journey to the crib, now with a small limp.

"I'm here now baby, I'm going to pick you up now and then we'll go and get our breakfast, okay love? Doesn't that sound great at," she paused to glance at her watch, "4:47 in the morning? I cant think of a better way to start a morning."

Ryu was still crying, but he wasn't in a full-blown fit yet, which was promising. Pulling the infant from his crib she put him onto her hip and made her way from the bedroom, stubbing her toe—again—on the doorway. She stopped, shutting her eyes against the pain, then let out a deep breath and continued walking. Besides, a stupid stubbed toe was hardly something to worry about. She was, after all, still getting over her many other injuries, though they had become much better over the last, uneventful week.

And that's just what she was worried about. Her last week had been so peaceful and havoc less it was really, really starting to worry her. The monsters wouldn't have just given up like that, even if she had shown crazy power in the last battle. She didn't take them for the backing down type, so she was now more paranoid then ever, expecting an attack every second. What were they up to? What was their plan? And whatever it was, why couldn't they just get on with it so she could stop going crazy with anticipation?

Walking into the kitchen the woman sat Ryu into his high chair before moving towards the pantry, switching the coffee maker on on the way. Pulling out some baby food she put a bit into a bowl and stirred it up with one of those baby spoons before moving back over to her son. Reaching over him to the counter behind him she grabbed the remote to the TV and switched it on to some old rerun of I Love Lucy. She put the remote back on the counter and then took a small spoon of the baby foot, bringing it to Ryu, who stubbornly sat there, his mouth closed tight.

"Common, Ry-Ry, its carrots and peas." That didn't seem to help at all and the girl sighed, running a hand through her tangled red hair. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to eat it for you, wont I?" she asked, bringing the spoon to her mouth and pretending to eat some. "Mmm, that's some good carrots and peas. I'd give you some, but you don't like them, do you?"

Ryu was watching her intently as she continued to pretend and eat the baby food, his eyes never leaving the spoon. When he licked his lips she decided to give in and end his suffering. Plus, now that he was actually licking his lips he wouldn't turn the food away. "Oh, I'm so full. Here baby, how about you have the rest?" she took the spoon and moved it towards him. He practically jumped towards her in his haste to get to the baby food. A smile tugged at her lips as she fed the infant, enjoying the simple task that had become so simple and carefree over the last week.

Once Ryu was fed she picked him up, poured herself a cup of coffee, and moved to the "living room", which was really just this open space by the front door that held her TV and loveseat. Setting Ryu on the ground between the loveseat and TV he began playing with some of his toys while Seka sat on the loveseat and reached over her head to the kitchen counter behind her head. Picking up the remote she switched through the channels, glancing down every now and then to let a small smile form on her lips as Ryu played, before she would look back up. She finally landed on the early morning news.

She pulled an annoyed face before looking down at Ryu, "Oh yeah, that's just what we need, more things to worry about, like a teacher strike and new law protests; like we don't have enough to worry about." She was about to change the channel when a news reporter came on and began talking.

"Last night another young woman went missing. Family claim that eighteen year old Kagura Ikeda was spending the afternoon with her boyfriend yesterday and called home at about 8:32 last night, on her way back, already having separated from her boyfriend. She never arrived back home, and any clues to her whereabouts are thus far unknown. Her boyfriend has yet to be brought in for questioning. She is the third girl to go missing in the last week, along with nineteen year old Yukki Hashimoto and sixteen year old Kisa Mori. Still no more news on the other girls."

During the report Seka had paused, her coffee cup halfway to her lips, and gradually it had lowered and she had leaned forward, her brows furrowing. Missing girls? No traces left? She couldn't imagine what the aliens would want with people, they usually preferred to terrorize and kill, and the monsters… well, she couldn't think of a single idea as to why they would want to kidnap people. Of course, she couldn't figure out what they wanted with her son either, but that was slightly different. He was the son of a mew and an alien. He was easy bait, plus it was obvious he would be powerful someday. They could possibly just want him for a soldier.

"Well, wherever they are, I hope they're safe. I'd better keep an eye out for those kidnappers though, and for the girls." She brought the coffee back to her lips and took another sip before picking the remote up again and switching channels.

Later that day

Ryu had been fussing all day, tired but refusing to take his nap, so Seka decided to bring him on a walk. That usually quieted him down and tired him out enough to make him fall asleep, plus she herself needed some fresh air. Pushing his stroller into the hallway she bumped directly into her neighbor, who apparently had been coming over for a visit.

"Mrs. Brooks, how nice to see you." she said, lying slightly. Dolly Brooks was American, but had lived in Japan since she was two. Her parents had come directly from the hippy age, and thus passed down their hippy traits to her. She was a good forty years old at least, but she insisted that she would be treated like someone Seka's own age.

"I told you dear, call me Dolly." She said, her hands moving around enthusiastically while the bangles on her wrists flew around, clinking together to form a sort of odd music or song that was all her own.

"Right." Seka said, knowing that no matter how often she told her to do so she would never actually do it. Dolly knew this too, but she seemed to enjoy hearing herself speak, so always corrected her young neighbor, even if she was in the middle of talking about something else entirely.

"Bo and I were just talking about inviting you and little Ryu over for some tofu." She said, smiling down at the frowning, cranky toddler. Bo was her husband, also an American. He, however, was born and raised in Minnesota, thus giving him little knowledge on Japanese culture and life. He always left any Japanese business to Dolly, probably to save himself from the embarrassment of failure.

Seka fought back a slight wince at the mention of tofu, instantly getting turned off from the idea. She'd spent one to many meals at their apartment, politely gulping down their tofu-filled dishes—tofu eggs, tofu sandwiches, tofu burgers, tofu spaghetti, and many other tofu things. Tofu and the redhead didn't get along anymore. In fact, they were worse then enemies, and she was content in keeping it that way.

"Thanks for the offer Mrs. Brooks—"

"Dolly," she corrected.

"—but I was just on my way out, and we're kind of in a hurry. Maybe another time though."

"Of course dear. Well, I'll see you later!" She had a feeling Dolly knew she was avoiding her, but she didn't let on in knowing, instead just grinned her big, wide mouthed grin and followed the younger woman with her eyes as she left, waving enthusiastically.

"I swear Ry, if she were any nicer she could pass as a saint." Seka said softly to her son as they made way to the elevator. The infant just grinned a gummy grin, spit bubbles and drool dripped out of his mouth. Pushing the stroller into the elevator she pushed the ground floor button and then reached into the diaper bag to grab a burping rag, which she used to wipe off the drool.

The elevator doors slid open and Seka turned, pushing herself back into a standing position. In the doorway was a man who openly let his eyes travel over her body. If he was trying to hide his thoughts he was doing a poor job at it. She gritted her teeth and made her face blank and passive, like she hadn't even noticed him. Grabbing the handles of the stroller she began pushing it out.

"Hey babe." The guy now spoke, blocking her path.

Seka stopped, now letting her thoughts of him show on her face as she narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me, I need to get through." She said in a would-be sweet voice.

"Why not hang out for awhile? We could go up to my apartment, maybe drop the kid off somewhere?" he waggled his brows suggestively.

You have got to be kidding me, she thought. Out loud she said, "I don't think so." She pushed the stroller forward, giving him no choice but to move. She thought she was free when she felt something grab her from behind. She froze in her tracks, hearing a slight laugh from behind her. Slowly she turned a sweet smile on her face. He grinned big, taking her smile as a good sign. Then, before he could say a word, her fist has pulled itself back and slammed into his face, making him stumble back into the lift. Seka was still smiling sweetly, but now her cruel, unimpressed expression in the smile was obvious.

"Enjoy the ride up." she then turned, her hair flying around slightly, and grabbed the stroller handles, walking away at a brisk, yet steadily normal pace.

"If you ever turn into a guy like that I'll punch you too Ryu, so make sure you remember this." She said to her boy in a tight voice, though she tried to make it as calm as possible. However, the tension and anger was starting to get to her.

Okay, I got to do something that'll bring my mind away from this. Something… and then her mind flashed to the day she'd moved to this apartment, and when she had lunch with that truck driver. She had never even learned his name, and he had helped her out a bit. At least she'd talked about what had happened. So, she decided reasonably, on their walk she'd stop by the truck place and talk to the guy, or at least get his name and number to call him and thank him via phone if he wasn't there.

Seka walked from the apartment and started down the street, pushing the stroller and looking around, studying store windows and watching out for anything that looked out of place or might be a threat. She was still expecting an attack on her at any moment, and so she wasn't about to let her guard down for even a second. She stopped and bought a few things, spotting a cute shirt she thought her sister might like—if she ever got to see her sister any time soon. She planned to, after all the trouble with the monsters and aliens was over, to visit her family. Maybe she could get back on okay terms with her parents, and perhaps even introduce them to Ryu. Of course, it would take a long time for her to ever trust her father to be anywhere near her son, but she wanted to at least see him again. Maybe she could talk some sense into him, and if not, at least she'd know how he felt about her and the baby. It was better knowing, after all, then having to always guess, and perhaps even guessing wrong.

Finally she made it to the truck service area. Pushing the stroller towards the main building she entered and walked over to the receptionist's desk.

"Yes mama, how may I help you?" the woman asked, smiling up at Seka and folding her hands on top of the desk.

"Yeah, my name is Seka Aoyama. I'm just trying to find the man who drove my moving truck a few weeks back. I never learned his name."

The woman smiled, "Of course, let me just look on the files." She moved her fingers over the keyboard quickly, typing in some information. A frown formed on her face and she looked up, "I'm sorry mama, but there is no information on file of any driver. You didn't pay for one so we didn't send one, just the U-Haul."

Now Seka frowned, shaking her head, "No, you must be mistaken. The guy, he had brown hair, was about my age, and wore this cowboy hat."

"I'm sorry Ms. Aoyama, but there is no mover here that is under the age of twenty-five, much less anyone who wears a cowboy hat."

"Well maybe he's new, or was a volunteer…"

"We don't accept volunteers here, mama." The woman now sounded annoyed her smile tight. She was obviously struggling to keep it in place. Seka sighed, looking around as she thought of a reason why the woman might not know of the man. He had been there, she remembered. If it wasn't for him that monster might have gotten Ryu.

"Is there anything else you need, mama?" the woman's annoyed voice cut through Seka's thoughts. The girl looked at her for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, but thank you for the information." She said, starting to pull Ryu's stroller around.

The woman smiled larger now, though it still looked slightly fake. Either that or she was released to be getting rid of the persistent woman. "Any time."

Seka nodded and pushed the stroller across the lobby and outside. Once getting there something whipped down on her, some sort of rope that wrapped around her, the stroller, and Ryu, pulling them off the ground and flying up through the air. She hardly kept back a startled scream. Ryu was now crying from surprise and fear, and the rope was very tight. It was likely hurting him.

Thet ended up on the roof with what looked to be some sort of puppet. He was tall, wearing a blue had that was very similar to the wooden soldier's only lighter, and it had a ruby on the front. His head was sphere shaped and his eyebrows her Croucho Marx like, just wooden. They overshadowed plastic, black eyes, and his ears were these little stubs, while his nose was a curved piece of wood. His joints were just like a puppet's. He had thick arms and legs, sporting a blue vest that was the same shade as his hat, rocket engine heels, and some sort of controller on his back with purple strings hanging from all four ends.

"So this is the famous 'New Mew' everyone has been raving about." The puppet said. "I am Governor Woody Forrest."

"Let me guess, you want to be a real boy." Seka mocked in a voice she usually only used with children, referring to the human fairytale of Pinocchio.

He sneered slightly, or at least Seka assumed he was sneering. He was made of wood, so making different expressions was a bit difficult. "Yes, you are very similar to your mother. Of course, you seem to far stronger than the weakling was."

The ropes had unwound from Seka and she now reached down and grabbed her son, using her nails to easily sheer off the rope from him. She turned to furrow her brows in anger and grit her teeth, "Don't you dare talk about my mother you pile of wood."

"Of course, I suppose anyone could be stronger than her. Honestly, I know infants that could put up a better fight then she did when we battled." The marionette continued.

"Oh yeah, and who won that battle?" Seka snapped back. In reality, she hadn't a clue as to who won or not, but even if he did—which at this point she wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if he did—that only proved that from his experience she was weak. That did not, however, prove that she was totally weak.

"She only won because Tomahawk 1.0 and those Rainbow warriors interrupted."

The teenage woman now had an advantage, and one she quickly took, "Oh yes, that's very appealing in a governor. Making excuses is always an admirable trait."

"Your one to talk, aren't you?"

"I'm a nineteen year old single teenage mother who hardly has enough money to pay the bills; I'm allowed to make excuses when I want to. You, however, have got to be what, 2, 300 years old? Maybe more, I don't know how to tell how old someone is when they're a monster. You're had plenty of life experience and you're the leader of a planet. I'm sure that you're supposed to take responsibility for your mistakes, not blame them on others."

"Ah yes, a teenage mother, I nearly forgot." He said mockingly, causing Seka to grind her teeth with annoyance and anger. "Really, you have only yourself to blame. Having an intimate relationship go to that level out of wedlock's? You should be ashamed." He said in a sort of fatherly, scolding voice.

Seka scoffed, "Right, thank you so much, I really need a lecture from a giant splinter."

"You see, this is how you got into this position. All you care about it what you think. You don't listen to what others have to say, you just insult them!" Woody scolded some more.

"Who exactly do you think you are? I don't even know you so I'm not about to actually show you some respect, as if you deserve any!"

"Oh yes, your just like your stubborn mother, never listening to anyone and always letting your mouth flap before your brain can do an ounce of thinking."

Seka took a threatening step forward, but then Ryu started crying loudly, his arms flying around in the air, and Seka stopped, looking down at him and calming him as she gathered her own nerves and kept herself from acting rashly.

"What do you want?" she finally asked, only stealing a small glance up to make sure he wasn't about to pull some sort of sneak attack.

"I'm here to propose a challenge." He said, having seemed to calm himself down as well.

Seka looked up fully now, looking through some of her strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail, "What sort of challenge?" she asked suspiciously.

"We fight one on won, no interferences. If you win the monsters will leave you alone forever." He said.

"And if I loose?" Seka felt she already knew the answer, but she asked anyways just to make sure.

Woody grinned—for at least Seka assumed he did, because again it is hard for something of wood to make facial expressions—and said, "You have to give us your son."

Seka's jaw set stubbornly, "What if I refuse?"

He laughed bitterly, the sound somewhat eerie, "Why, I'll just fight you and if you were to win by some miracle we wouldn't leave you alone, and if I won I'd still get Ryu. Really, this deal is merely for your benefit alone."

Seka didn't feel right about the deal. Something felt off, because for as long as she'd know the monsters they'd never done something for someone else's benefit, and especially not hers. She didn't understand why they'd start now. but then again, she'd end up fighting this guy either way, and if they really were planning to keep on their part of the deal this really would be her benefit. If they went back on their side it would be just like any battle. It wouldn't be much of a surprise really, just like any other fight.

"Fine. I accept. But not you or any of your buddies are allowed to touch Ryu during the battle. At all." She declared.

"It's settled then. Let the battle begin." Woody said in a odd tone before he threw down some sort of device, which instantly made a sort of dome form over all of Tokyo. Seka looked around, then at Woody, her eyes narrowed.

"What is this?" she growled.

"A battling dome. Don't worry, it's completely harmless, it just keeps out the interferences." He said good-naturedly. "Now then, are you ready to begin?"

Seka sat Ryu into his stroller and pushed it out of the way, a ways away from the battle area but within reaching distance in case Woody was planning to betray her. She then grabbed her pendent and transformed into her mew form, calling out her weapon.

"Bring it."

(short section done by Tomahawk 3.0)

"The challenger: Woody Forrest, age: 1500, occupation: third generation governor, warrior and leader of the gang, 'The Gangsters', number of fights won: 3675, number of fights lost: 4067 special moves: puppet strings, rocket head and hover!" said a female voice, echoing.

"Gee, that just makes me sound dumb." replied Woody, all depressed after hearing the number of fights lost.

"What was that!?" asked Seka.

"It's just the automatic announcer, these domes come with them. Now listen, you're up next." replied Woody, looking up to the sky.

"The challenged: Mew Seka, age: 19, occupation: super hero, number of fights won: 500, number of fight lost: none. Special moves: Mew Seka ribbon check! Battle shall commence in 5 seconds! 3,2,1, begin!!" said the voice and the fight was on!

Back to you Mississippigirl13!

"Well, I plan to make the first mark in your losses!" Woody said, and with no warning at all his foot caught fire and swung at her.

Seka barely had enough time to dodge and roll away from him, but he didn't stop and one kick, and soon both his feet her on fire and he was swinging them all over the place. Seka had no time to switch into the offensive as he attacked over and over. With all the kicks, however, all he managed to do was singe her hair. Soon the fire in his feet went out, but once again she didn't have time to catch her breath before four purple ropes came at her. she dove through the air, landing in a roll and throwing herself behind the wall of a stairway down into the main building. The ropes collided with the wall, making it shake roughly but stay up. Seka gripped the staff tight, her knuckles turning white.

"That's very much like your mother to do. Hiding instead of facing me? Really, very cowardly. I suppose you humans might call you a scaredy cat." He said, laughing at his own joke.

The teen mother gritted her teeth and jumped up from her crouching position, throwing a hard wind attack at him. He was brown off his feet but sent the four ropes out again, making them wrap around some poles to keep him from being blown off the roof.

"That was for singeing my hair," she said, then sent another wind attack, carrying some boxes that had been left on the roof soaring through the air so they collided with Woody, "And that was for insulting my mother."

Woody was momentarily stunned by the boxes, but managed to pull himself back onto the roof. He stood still for a few moments, just looking a the young woman. She looked back with narrowed eyes, one brow cocked up, daring him to make a move.

"Such an attitude, I must say. Though, that got your mother into trouble too. She never seemed to be able to keep her mouth shut. Really, if she'd just given up in the beginning things would have been so much easier. Heck, you wouldn't even have a kid to worry about because the aliens would have all died anyways. Of course, you wouldn't have even been born either considering we wanted to have your father killed…" he added, tilting his head to the side and looking up at the sky in though.

Meanwhile Seka's blood was boiling. This was beyond low. Not only had they tried to kill the aliens, but her own father. They would have killed everyone, and they would have hindered the possibilities of her even living. And he wasn't even slightly ashamed of speaking these thoughts in front of her. A national part of her brain was saying he was just trying to get under her skin, but then again she'd never listened to her rational thoughts. She followed her heart rather than her brain most of the time, which was probably what always got her into trouble. If she hadn't followed her heart she wouldn't have Ryu and she'd still be an ignorant slave to her parents' training and battling, not knowing true happiness. She wouldn't have to struggle with just paying the bills, and trying to hide her son's alien powers. She wouldn't have to live off a minimum wage salary. And most of all, she wouldn't even be in this battle. Yes, following her heart always got her in trouble, but then listening to her brain always made things more complicated then they needed to be. So, once again, Seka followed her heart, which was currently telling her to kick some wooden monster butt.

She made the first move this time, jumping forward and hitting him with her staff. He pulled out a barrel like thing, which quickly turned into a huge hammer. He swung at her, but she dodged under it and around him and hit him in the back. He swung around quickly and hit her in the side, making her fly through the air, landing hard on the roof concrete and rolled until she landed at the very edge of the roof. She looked over the side nervously, seeing the long drop down. Looking back up she saw the hammer flying high over her. She gasped and dove between Woody's legs to get out of the hammer's way. It hit the concrete hard, leaving a large mark. Seka took her staff and hit his arms, dislodging the hammer and sending it falling down the building's ledge. Woody looked down after it for a second before pulling out a double-edged sword.

"Gosh, how many weapons do you have?" Seka asked in exasperation.

"Plenty." He said before tipping his hat forward just to have missals shoot from it.

Meanwhile at the Aoyama residence

"Hina sweetie, be careful. Don't move too fast. In fact, just say on the coach. What do you want? Do you need water? Food? A new movie to watch?" Ichigo asked, moving all over the place, fluffing her youngest daughter's pillow, forcing her to stay lounging on the couch, hurrying to and from the kitchen with trays of food and drinks.

"Mom, I just need to go to the bathroom." Hina said with exasperation. "And no, I do not want you to bring the toilet to me."

Ichigo stopped in her tracks as a sheepish look crossed her face, "Sorry love, I'm just worried about you. the doctor said to move as little as possible, and I want you to heal quickly."

Suddenly the front door burst open and in came all the other mews, plus Ryou, who looked anything but calm and collected.

"Ryou? What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, instantly going back on alert and anxious.

"My computer has picked up Monster activity headed this way, and in case you haven't looked outside, we're inside a battle dome." Ryou explained.

"A what?" Hina asked, pushing herself up into a upright position on the coach.

"A battle dome. The monster's used one last time they came. Tomahawk and his alternative self battle inside it. Basically it traps the fighters inside and they get to use monsters to do battle. When a winner is found the dome goes down. But the last one was much smaller. This one seems to be going over all of Tokyo. And the last one also only allowed the two battlers and the Monster's that did their fighting. This one is allowing everyone inside, and it also allowed a large group of wooden soldiers inside after it was established." Ryou explained, looking anxious, "And those soldiers just happen to be the monsters heading towards us."

Hina started pushing herself from the coach, "We have to fight, they're here to get the wooden guy from down in the basement. We can't let him loose just yet, we haven't got much of anything out of him yet."

Ichigo was at her daughter's side in a flash and pushing her back down, "You can't fight, you're still recovering. The wound hasn't even fully healed up!"

"But Mom! I have to fight!" the teen girl argued.

"Your mother is right Hina. We've already lost one leader; we can't afford loosing another, not when none of the other mews are in the position to become a leader. None have been trained in that area." Ryou explained.

"But—" she tried to argue, but Fuuga cut in.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. You girls beat a bunch of penguins without you or Seka, and now there'll be Hatsu and me. We'll be fine, just trust us. And if need be we can even call for the senior mews, though I doubt the situation will call for it." Fuuga comforted.

Hina opened her mouth, as if to argue, but then saw reason and closed her mouth, looking down in defeat.

"Okay guys, enough talk and more action, the wooden soldiers are practically upon us!" Ryou snapped. All the new mews jumped into action and transformed into their mew forms, calling out their weapons. Running outside they formed and line and got into their fighting stances. It didn't take long before they saw the wooden soldiers, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

"Uh, Fuuga, I think you seriously underestimated them." Kimie said beside him, and all he could do was nod mutely as the group of nearly a hundred wooden soldiers charged towards them.

Back with Seka

Missiles came flying at the catgirl and she dove away from them, throwing herself from the building to avoid a rocket that landed right in her path and would otherwise blow her to smithereens. Flipping through the air she managed to land on her feet and avoid the last missile that had followed her down and landed where she had been only seconds after she'd jumped away. Concrete flew up and hit her hard, giving her scratched and bruises, but recently she'd had worse and was more worried about the wooden monster that had followed her down.

"Well, you're quicker on your feet then your mother was. If I was fighting her right now I'd already have won!" Woody said after he'd landed, his sword held out slightly, ready to attack or defend.

"Shut up about my mother, blockhead!" Seka hissed, throwing a huge wind gust at him, which made him topple over and have to grab for the alley's brick wall to keep from being blown away entirely.

"Really Ms. Aoyama, you must learn some self control. Your temper is as short as an inch worm." He scolded, shaking his head condescendingly.

Seka ground her teeth and had one brow cocked up, "You want to see temper? I'll give you a temper." And with that she was on the offensive once again.

She aimed a hit with her staff at his head, but he dodged down, swinging his sword around and giving her a shallow cut across her lower back, where the skin was bare. She stumbled forward in pain, but wasted no time in examining it. She'd do that later, for now she had to beat the monster. She dropped to the ground and kicked her legs out, knocking his feet out from under him. She then got on top of him and grabbed him by the nose and began to bash his head into the ground as hard as she could. After some time of useless struggling he finally managed to get Seka off of him and throw her across the alley. He then took the controller he carried around with him off his back and threw it at her. She barley dodged around it, then took off running from the alley. She needed a little time to try and think of a plan. He was wood, so she needed to find some weakness of wood to use against him. She was human—mostly anyways—so all he had to do was get a bomb in the right spot and she was gone. She had to have a plan if she wanted to win.

Skidding into the city streets she dodged around cars as missiles came flying after her again, blowing up cars all around her. She had to find a way to stop him so people wouldn't get hurt, but now?! A car beside her blew up and sent her flying through the air, fire going everywhere, and as she landed an idea popped into her head as she doubled over with pain. Gathering as much power as she could she looked up to see Woody advancing on her. He stopped about ten feet away from her.

"Well, it was more work then I thought it would be, but it seems you're just like your mother after all. Weak and powerless. It was fun while it lasted, but now that you're down I don't seem any point in entertaining myself any longer. Goodbye, new mew. I'll make sure the kid is well taken care of." He tilted his hat forward again and that's when Seka made her move.

Throwing out all her mew power she grabbed hold of an empty car and threw it at Woody just as a missile was coming out of the hat. The car was only a foot from Woody when the missile hit it and exploded, setting Woody on fire and making him fly through the air and into an alley. The voice of the woman who had announced Woody and Seka came on.

"Winner: Seka."

Seka sat there on the ground for a few moments, breathing hard and feeling weak from all the power and energy she'd put into that attack. She had already been weak from the explosion, and now she felt as though much of her mew power had been spent and would need to recharge for awhile. If any monsters decided to attack her now the chances of her winning would be very low. Pushing herself to her feet she looked around the abandoned street and shifted back into her human form. She could feel her shirt now starting to stick to her back where the large gash was along her back, but she'd deal with that later. For now she needed to go and get Ryu off from on top of that roof.

On her way people started coming out of hiding, and she had do dodge around many people who kept asking about if she was okay, if she'd gotten stuck out there, and if she needed to go to the hospital. Some were more persistant, even attempting to force her to stay put so an ambulance could come, but she managed to wriggle her way out. Finally she made it to the building that she'd left her son on top of and moved to the alley where Woody had slashed her back. Seeing a fire escape she began climbing up until she made it to the very top, where she found Ryu, still in his stroller, fast asleep. Seka sighed and let a smile grace her face as she moved over to him. He was still there. They hadn't cheated her. picking Ryu up from the stroller she held him close as he slept on, then with her spare hand she grabbed the stroller and made her way back down the fire escape.

Back at the Aoyama house

The mews set into battle quickly, each taking a group of wooden soldiers each while Ichigo transformed and guarded the front door so no one could come in to get their prisoner or Hina. If they had been fighting one wooden soldier each, or even two, the mews would be winning easily, but having a good dozen against one was setting them up for failure. Kimie was getting hit every which away, barely being able to dodge even one or two attacks, and Fuuga was fighting hard but being hit harder. They were all loosing and being badly hurt, and soon wooden soldiers were coming to the door, readying to fight the senior mew, who was well out of practice.

Then, out of nowhere, just when Kimie was about to be tackled by all the soldiers and likely be killed, and when the troops had almost grabbed Hatsu and were going to start beating him mercilessly, the troops all disappeared. It came so suddenly Fuuga even punched the air, stumbling forward and falling on his face when he found there was no target there anymore. They looked around, thinking it was a trick, but then the dome went down and Ryou came out, saying that all monster activity was gone.

Hatsu came to Fuuga's side and clapped him on the shoulder, "Next time you think we can handle a 'couple' wooden soldiers, remind me to do this." And with that Fuuga was given a big smack on the back of the head.

"What happened, Dad?" Tami asked as she held a heavily bleeding arm. Ryou moved to her side and ripped off some of his shirt, which he then wrapped around said arm to hold back the bleeding.

"I think that whoever was battling in this dome found a victor, and that all the monsters that came into the dome while it was up disappeared with it." He said logically.

"Who do you think was fighting?" the voice of Kaya asked, looking slightly hopeful that if it was her good friend Seka, like they all suspected, that she was the winner.

Ryou just shook his head, "I don't know, but what I do know is that the dome is down, and we are very likely one of the monster's prime targets now. if they sent that many wooden soldiers just to fight you all and regain one hostage that has to tell us they think we're a threat. We'll have to watch our backs even more now."

They all nodded, and then set off for their homes to get cleaned up and lick their wounds, as it were. Hina watched from the window, feeling despair build inside her at not having been able to help her friends. If the wooden soldiers hadn't disappeared they would have likely all been killed. And for what? Keeping a stupid prisoner. And there was nothing she could have done to stop it. She mentally cursed herself. She was so selfish. She was in pain, sure, but they had been being attacked and close to dieing! Watching everyone getting hurt, Kimie almost being clobbered and pounded to a pulp, Tami getting tied up with her own whip, Fuuga… she couldn't stand how she'd let them down. She was a failure as a leader. If Seka had been there she wouldn't have let that happen. She would have fought with them, bullet wound or no bullet wound. If Seka was there everything would be okay. She'd know how to keep them hidden, and how to keep the monsters away, and have the perfect strategy for attack and defense.

Hina didn't believe herself to be anything like her sister. And what ate at her the most was the fact that she expected this all from Seka. All her life, she'd never considered all the pressure these expectations has on the person's shoulders. Now that everyone was expecting these things from her, she suddenly wished she could take a leaf from her book. And maybe she would have run away, maybe to find Seka and stay with her, but she had something holding her back. Something stronger than just friendship and family was holding her back. Something stronger. Seka had had it, but when it was lost she'd lost all connections she had in this life. And Hina feared that she, too, would loose that very same thing if she wasn't careful.