Chapter 7
Fall, Again
Early the next morning Keiichiro found Ryou staring at his computer. Either the blond had gotten up even earlier than Keiichiro had – a rare occurrence – or he had been up all night. A quick glance at Ryou's haggard, unshaven face told Keiichiro that the other had indeed been up all night.
Ryou looked up at him. "Well, it's started," he muttered through clenched teeth. There are reports of something wreaking all kinds of destruction just west of here. Look." He switched screens on his computer, and a map of the area around the Café Mew Mew appeared. And on the map there were several blobs of ugly light.
"Sensor returns!' Keiichiro said. "At least four of them!"
Ryou nodded. "I just got done analyzing them. These three here –" He pointed to the screen before continuing. "These three here are our alien 'friends.' Their magical signatures are pretty much the same as they were before, though there are a few changes that I haven't analyzed yet." Then he pointed again. "This big one here, in front of them, seems to be some sort of chimera anima. But it's different from the ones we used to fight, and I haven't been able to analyze the differences yet. Anyway, it's getting into the park behind the Café, and it's coming this way."
"We have to call the Mew Mews now!" Keiichiro gasped.
"No time for phones – use their pendants!" Ryou said. And then he went back to trying to analyze what was on his computer screen. He had very little time to do this, but they had to know what they were up against.
And each of the Mew Mews got the summons. Lettuce was jerked awake out of a sweet dream of Masaya. She was groggy for a second, but when she realized what message was coming through her pendant, she leaped out of bed and, still in her pajamas, she kissed her pendant and began spinning as she transformed into Mew Lettuce. She smiled as she did so, and was thankful that transformation always left her hair and make-up perfect. After all, it would not do if she looked like she had just crawled out of bed. Masaya might show up at this, and she had to look good!
Minto, too, was in a sound sleep when the alarm came. She groaned angrily when she heard it; she wanted to sleep late. But she forced herself out of bed, transformed, and flew out of her bedroom window, heading for the Café.
Pudding was up, of course, making some breakfast for her five younger siblings. She was cooking oatmeal, and it wasn't quite done when the summons came. But there was no time to waste. In a matter of seconds she used two spoons at once to ladle the non-quite-hot-enough stuff into bowls, put the bowls on the table, called the kids, and slipped out of the door. She had to find a place where she could be alone to transform; she would never let her young siblings see that.
And Zakuro, too, was awake, alone in that old church where she always went when things looked bad. She glanced around, and seeing no one, quickly transformed and bounded out of the door, heading for the Café.
And back at the Café, the two men watched their computer screen with ever-growing concern. The thing, whatever it was, was clearly moving toward the Café. And without the girls present, they had no defense against it. It was not moving too quickly, though; and Keiichiro said, "You know, we could grab the Mew Aqua, jump in the car, and run for it."
Ryou continued staring at the screen. "We might have to, I suppose. But that thing, whatever it is, is destroying everything in its path, and probably killing people. We have to try stopping it if we can."
"Are the Mew Mews coming?" Keiichiro asked.
The blond nodded. "All four of them. Here, I'll go to a larger scale…" He clicked something on the computer, and the map grew much larger in scale. And four shining dots were now visible: yellow, blue, purple, and green. All were headed for the Café at high speed.
Keiichiro shook his head. "No pink dot. I know it was foolish, but somehow I kept hoping that Ichigo would come."
"As for me, I'm just happy she hasn't appeared over on the other side, behind the chimera amima," Ryou muttered.
"Maybe she's just late, as usual," Keiichiro said with a small smile.
Ryou sighed. "You miss her, too, don't you? Her and her foolish ways…"
Keiichiro nodded, and said, sadly, "Yeah, I miss her. But there's more than that involved. Without her, will the girls have the power to stop that thing, whatever it is? I mean, in the last war, it was always Ichigo who had the power to finish off the chimera animas. And that thing on your screen seems a lot bigger and more powerful than the chimera animas we fought last time."
"Zakuro finished a lot of them herself," Ryou said.
"Little ones," Keiichiro said. "Only little ones."
Ryou sighed again and became silent; but then the front door opened. The surveillance camera showed that Minto had arrived, and the computer screen showed that the other three were not far behind. "You'd better go get them in here right now," he said; and Keiichiro left to do just that.
And so within two minutes the four Mew Mews were gathered around Ryou's computer, watching the thing get closer and closer to the Café. "What is it?" Zakuro asked.
Ryou shrugged. "Some kind of chimera anima. But not quite the same as in the last war, to be sure. The magical signature is a lot bigger and brighter. And last night, when the aliens made their demands, the dumb kid blabbed something about their power having grown since the last war. So I suppose this is some kind of super-chimera-anima. In any case, there seems to be only one of them, unless they've invented some kind of stealth monster. The three signatures behind the chimera are the three aliens."
"Taru-Taru!" Pudding shouted. "Pudding wants to see Taru-Taru!"
"Pudding has to fight Taru-Taru today," Ryou said, grimly. "But there's one more thing about this picture that is strange. Just as the chimera anima registers as more powerful than the ones from the last war, the aliens themselves register as less powerful. And it's not just a trick of the computer screen; I checked their measurements against those we measured the last time. They're distinctly down, by a third or more. Strange."
"Well, in any case, we have to fight them," Lettuce said. "What we'll do is this: Mew Pudding, you go out and go to the right, and approach the thing from that side. When you get close enough, throw a Pudding Ring at it. You probably don't have the power to actually hold it, but that will distract it. When it goes after you, do your monkey thing, make yourself hard to hit, stay away from it. We other three will go to the left and come in behind whatever it is, and fry its butt."
Pudding and Minto apparently were ready to obey Lettuce's commands; clearly they had accepted her as the new leader of the Mew Mews. But Zakuro scowled openly, and stared at the girl in green with a look so sour that it could have curdled milk. Just as clearly she had not accepted Lettuce as the leader; and very likely there was going to be trouble between the two girls. But Ryou cut that conflict short with a simple command: "Tokyo Mew Mew: Go!"
And at a run, the girls piled out the back door and headed into the woods behind the Café.
Pudding slipped away into the bushes on the right, and in a matter of minutes she could see their adversary. It was huge, eight or ten meters high, and it was horrible: a true chimera, composed of not one creature magically enlarged and perverted, but three. Partly it was a spider, black and ugly; Pudding could see its multiple legs clearly, as well as its loathsome face and horrible fangs. Partly it was some kind of a hedgehog, for it was covered all over with sharp spines for defense. And partly it was a snake, for the thing had a tail, and of course the tail was a long and deadly viper. Poison on the front end and poison on the back, thought the yellow Mew Mew; and probably poison spines as well. It was crushing and destroying everything in its path, and, it seemed, eating anything edible. Pudding thought that it would probably find monkey-girls especially delicious.
In the air behind the thing she could see the three aliens: Pai, Kisshu, and her "friend" Taruto. Ryou had said that they were less powerful than they had been before, but they looked the same size to Pudding. She really wanted to talk to Taru-Taru, but first she would have to stop the rampaging monster. She should have been terrified of it; but fear and Pudding really did not go together.
So she leaped into the air and chanted, "Ribbon: Pudding Ring Inferno!" And she sent the biggest pudding ring she could generate against the thing.
It didn't work. The monster allowed it to strike, but when it hit the spines, the pudding disintegrated. Still, the thing saw what had attacked it, and turned toward Pudding, crushing some park benches and trash cans as it did so. Then it charged forward, roaring, smashing trees and brush out of its way. For all of its huge bulk, it moved quickly; but it was not as quick as Mew Pudding.
The thing raised its ugly head and its fangs spewed a stream of venom at the monkey-girl. Wherever the venom hit, things burned and withered: the venom was acidic as well as poisonous. But Pudding it did not touch; with sudden quickness she danced out of the way to her right. Then the thing reared up and brought down its two huge forelegs upon the girl in yellow.
The legs hit the ground with a crash, but again Pudding escaped, bouncing back and to her right. This was actually becoming fun to her! But more importantly, she had the thing completely distracted, and the other three would now be able to strike from the rear…
Then, suddenly, the super-chimera stopped moving. The crashing noise of destroyed objects and fallen trees ceased. It stood stock-still, as if waiting for something. It was clearly still alert, but would not move. Pudding wondered why, but could think of nothing. Then she realized: the monster was no longer distracted by her.
And in the silence, she heard voices: "Lettuce Rush! Minto Echo! Zakuro spear!" She herself leaped again into the air to attack again, to make one more wild effort to distract the thing; but it was too late. The serpent's head that was its tail belched out a huge cloud of vile, poisonous gas that gave off an awful stench – not at Pudding, but at the three that were attacking from behind.
Zakuro's wolf-senses could smell something coming, and she dove for cover as best as she could. Lettuce saw the gas cloud – a vile green vapor – and threw up her Castanets to withstand the attack as best as she could. But Minto was exposed, up in the air, and when the gas engulfed her, she fell to the ground, hit hard, bounced, and lay in a heap. The thing breathed in to belch again, but Zakuro leaped out of her hiding place and seized the fallen Minto before it could. She lifted her friend's battered body, now all covered with black marks, and fled, bounding back through the woods. Lettuce, hurt and gasping from the gas that leaked through the inadequate defense of her Castanets, stumbled after them while the ugly green poison filled the air behind her.
And Pudding let fly another Pudding Ring; but it simply impaled itself of the thing's spines, and fizzled. Then she ran, too, heading back toward the Café.
There she found Ryou and Keiichiro, still fretting over their computer. Over her shoulder she saw Zakuro come out of the woods, no longer bounding, but panting heavily as she carried the broken Minto. And following them came Lettuce, limping, half-dragging herself across the ground. Her face, like Minto's, was all covered with black marks. She was clearly badly hurt.
Still, the girls gathered around Ryou and Keiichiro, and Zakuro laid Minto upon the ground. There they stood, gasping, their eyes filled with fear and desperation. Ryou looked over all of them, and said, "Well, what happened?"
"We did almost no damage," Zakuro muttered between breaths. "We hit it with Minto's arrow, my whip, and Lettuce's Rush, and all I think we did was break off a few of those defensive spines."
"The Pudding Ring Inferno did nothing to it," Pudding muttered in return.
Zakuro spoke again. "And we couldn't surprise it. It has a snake for its tail, so it has eyes in the back. It saw us coming. We didn't have a chance against that gas attack."
But Pudding said, quietly, "Pudding wonders if there's more. The monster was chasing Pudding, and Pudding was staying away really well. Then it stopped, and waited. Like it was waiting for you guys."
"It's as if the thing is intelligent!" Lettuce moaned.
But Ryou said, "No, not in itself. We've finally got some decent data to analyze on that thing. It's composed of three creatures, as you no doubt have noticed. But neither a spider nor a hedgehog nor a snake has intelligence to speak of. Its intelligence comes from how it's made." He shook his head angrily. "There are three parasite aliens involved, one for each of the three creatures that got united in the beast. I'm thinking that each of the three aliens infected one creature; but something had to provide the means of putting the whole thing together."
The girls looked at him, waiting and hoping that he had figured something out. And he went on, "I think it was the aliens themselves that put it all together. That is, they've put some of their own – whatever – into it. That's where the intelligence comes from. And I think that's how they at least somewhat control it."
"What do you mean, their own… whatever?" Lettuce demanded.
Ryou shrugged. "Part of their own spirits, or souls, or energy, or minds, or magic power, or whatever you want to call it," he said. "That's why their own signatures were weaker. Their energy is tied up in that thing."
"Then the weakness isn't in the super-chimera, it's in the aliens themselves!" Zakuro said.
"Then let's get 'em!" Lettuce declared. "We'll have to distract the thing, but we can't be obvious about it. Then suddenly we'll turn on those three damned aliens, and let them have it!"
Zakuro glanced at Lettuce from under her eyelids. The Lettuce of old would never have used foul language like that. But then, they were all desperate – and afraid. So she said, "We'll try to surround it, hit it from all sides. Keep your distance, don't let it hit you directly – with anything. We'll all work our way toward the back, and then suddenly turn on the aliens, and get them."
"One of you will still have to keep the thing distracted when the others go after the aliens," Keiichiro said.
"Pudding will do it again!" the monkey-girl said.
But Lettuce said, "No, Pudding. Your attacks don't affect it. It has to be someone that can hurt it, to keep it distracted. Once we have the aliens themselves under attack, they might have trouble controlling it, and if someone can hurt it, she might get it to chase the wrong person."
"Then I'll stay with it and keep it distracted," Zakuro said.
"No!" gasped a voice. And Mew Minto pushed herself up from the ground. "That will be my job."
"Minto, you can't go back in there! One more hit, and you'll… you'll - you'll be… toast," Zakuro objected.
Minto stood now, and shook her head. "I think I can still get airborne. That will let me keep my distance, and allow me to hurt it without it finishing me off."
"You hope," Keiichiro said. "If it doesn't work, you'll die."
"We lose this battle, we die anyway," Minto said. And then the others nodded.
"Then… Tokyo Mew Mew – go!" Ryou shouted. And the girls sped off again. In front of them there was a great noise. Trees were crashing as the horrible thing approached.
This time the girls spread out, moving swiftly in spite of their injuries. Minto did get airborne, and got up as high as she could, considering her injuries. She hoped she was high enough, as she looked down upon the aliens' horrid creation. It was truly ugly and terrible, beyond anything else Minto had ever seen. She was in pain, but she spun and chanted, "Ribbon: Minto echo!" And she sent a magic arrow into the great beast.
She saw the flash when it hit, and the monster yowled, a frightening and ugly scream. Then it saw her, and raised its spider head. A stream of deadly, acidic venom sprayed up at the bird Mew, but it fell short; and the ground hissed and burned where it hit. Then the serpent head that was its tail reared up and belched its deadly breath; but there was wind up where Minto flew, above the trees, and the vile green cloud blew away on the wind. Minto smiled through her pain as she spun again and let fly the Minto Echo. Another hit! She was not damaging the thing much, but she was distracting it – unless it had still other attacks to throw against her.
Then the other girls attacked it from three sides, and the Lettuce Rush, Zakuro Spear, and Pudding Ring Inferno all hit. None seemed to do much damage, but the thing became far more enraged, if that were possible. Then Minto shot again, aiming carefully. She was good at what she did, and she hit the serpent head directly.
But that did not stop the super-chimera. Enraged, it belched another cloud, this one at Pudding; but that was a bad mistake. The Monkey-girl leaped up into a tree and then jumped higher into another, and the deadly gas spread out on the ground below her, leaving her untouched. And then another Zakuro Spear lashed it, and the beast screamed in rage.
And while all of this was happening, the three girls on the ground were working backwards, past the horrible monster and toward the aliens.
Lettuce got in range first. She was on the left, and Pai was the alien on her side. There was a time that she liked, even admired, the tall alien. But now she was filled only with anger, and she sent a Lettuce Rush attack at him.
The alien blocked it with his magical fan, and then, seeing what the Mew Mews were doing, he shouted, "Kuu-Rai-Sen!" And his magical fan sent a powerful blast of air at the Mew in green.
But his attack was weaker than it would have been, since so much of his power was tied up in controlling the monster, and Lettuce deflected it with her Castanets. And again she struck at the adult alien with her Lettuce Rush.
And as she did so, little Pudding, far off to the right, spun her airborne somersault and chanted, "Ribbon: Pudding Ring Inferno!" And she hurled it upon little Taruto; and the child alien, already weakened by the effort to maintain and control the super chimera, was engulfed by the magical pudding, and crashed to the ground.
Mew Zakuro saw this. She saw the child alien helpless, and she struck without mercy; "Ribbon: Zakuro Spear!" The alien brat couldn't defend himself while engulfed by the pudding, and she lashed him with everything she had. The alien's body flew through the air, and bounced, and lay still upon the ground. His bolo-toy lay beside him, as still as he was.
Kisshu, the middle alien, saw it happen, and he crossed his Sai daggers and fired a lightning bolt at Zakuro. But the wolf-girl met the attack with her magical whip, and broke it. Then the alien crossed his daggers again, and fired; but not at Zakuro.
For little Pudding had seen Taruto fall; and with a pained shout of "Taru-Taru!" she ran to him. She knelt beside him and shook him. "Taru-Taru! Are you all right? Say something!" Tears were pouring from her eyes.
She was defenseless, and Kisshu's lightning bolt blasted her with as much power as the evil alien could generate. She exploded into the air, and then bounced along the ground, where she lay broken and still. And the alien smirked; but Zakuro saw that, and let fly the Zakuro Spear. Yet the alien blocked it again.
And just then there was a great roar behind the Mew Mews, and the super-chimera came crashing out of the woods. For Minto had been too weak to start with, and she had expended far too much magic energy in her attacks on the monster. She started losing altitude, and maybe she should have withdrawn. But she kept up her attacks, though each Minto Echo drained more of her dwindling energy supply. Lower and lower she fluttered, and then the beast spit venom one more time. And this time some of the acidic poison reached her.
The pain of the magic burning was worse than anything Minto had ever felt, and she crashed to the ground again. It should have been the end of Minto, for she lay completely helpless; but just then the aliens regained control of their magical monster and turned it back upon the other three Mew Mews. So Minto lay there in the dirt, and then finally crawled away. She had done her best, but that had not nearly been good enough.
And the monster fell on the rear of the two still-standing Mew Mews. Zakuro turned and lashed it with her Zakuro Spear, but that opened her up to an attack by Kisshu, and she was barely able to dodge that. Then she watched in horror as the horrible thing's great forelegs raised up and came crashing down on Mew Lettuce. Lettuce tried to dodge, but she took a hit, and her body flew into the woods.
For a second Zakuro looked around. She was the last Mew standing, and that would not be for long. It was all she could do to fight off the attacks of Pai and Kisshu, and now that thing was coming up behind her. She suddenly raced forward, scooped up the fallen Pudding, and ran into the woods. The great monster pursued her in wrath, and sent out a long stream of acid venom; but she outpaced it through the trees.
And a few minutes later she came upon the fallen Minto, trying to drag herself through the bushes back toward the Café. Though she was strong in her wolf transformation, Zakuro was exhausted; but in her desperation she found strength that she did not know she had. She threw Pudding's body over her left shoulder, and grabbed Minto by the back of her Mew Mew dress; and she dragged them both away. She was staggering weakly by the time she made it back to the guys; but she brought both of the smaller Mew Mews out. Then she collapsed and lay helplessly on the ground, gasping for breath.
Keiichiro ran to the three fallen girls to see which ones, if any, lived. Zakuro was clearly breathing, and he left her there. Minto was badly hurt, burned by the acid venom, and all covered with black marks; but she was alive. But poor Pudding was hurt the worst of all. She was burned and broken, and blood streamed from a gash on her head. Her left eye was damaged and closed. But Keiichiro embraced her, and begged: "Pudding-san! Don't die! Say something!"
The child's eyes didn't open, but a few words did escape her lips. "Taru… Taru…" Then she lapsed into silence.
And finally, out of the woods to their left, one last figure emerged. Mew Lettuce, battered and crushed, staggered out, fell, struggled to her feet again, fell again. Yet she was coming. She made it back to the guys before collapsing on the ground next to Zakuro.
There they lay, utterly defeated, gasping for breath. Pudding was hardly breathing at all. Magical girls are notoriously hard to kill, but Pudding was about as close to death as one could be, and still be clinging to life. They had put a tremendous struggle, but they had been matched against an enemy too powerful for them. And now it would all end.
An awful crashing sound was coming closer through the woods, and Ryou and Keiichiro began to see trees falling. Then, suddenly, it burst out of the woods, looking like a nightmare from the depths of hell. The two guys looked at each other. They knew: this was the end.
