Author's Note: Some big stuff happens in this chapter. All I'll say at this point is get ready to be blown away.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.


Chapter 7: Black vs. White

While Ichigo was having her visit with Moreau, Masaya was still with Alice. Masaya couldn't believe that Ichigo thought there was something going on between him and Alice. He was sure that he had made it clear that Alice was just a friend. Not long after Ichigo had stormed off, Masaya reentered the bakery with a dejected look on his face. Alice had since gotten back to her feet after Ichigo had knocked her to the ground.

"You okay?" Alice asked with a look of concern.

"Not really." Masaya answered, not once making eye contact with Alice. "…Let's get out of here."

A few moments later the two had exited the bakery. Alice was carrying what they had ordered there in a small paper bag, minus what Ichigo had ordered.

"So what happened between you two?" Alice asked.

"…She accused me of cheating on her." Masaya answered after a moment.

"I see…" Alice replied. "Well, she probably sensed what was going on between us. She's pretty sharp."

"Going on between us?" Masaya repeated with a look of confusion. "Alice what are you talking about?"

"Oh c'mon Masaya, you can't keep pretending that you still see me as just a friend." Alice said playfully as she suddenly took Masaya's hand. "You've made your true feelings for me very clear."

"I what?" Masaya asked looking even more confused. Without warning Alice planted a firm kiss on Masaya's lips. A very startled Masaya pushed her away. "What the hell Alice?"

"Why'd you push me away?" a very surprised and shocked Alice exclaimed.

"What do you mean why did I push you away?" Masaya responded. "Alice, do you think that I… have feelings for you?"

"Well don't you?" Alice replied.

"Alice, I only see you as a friend." Masaya told her. "Ichigo is the person I love most."

"Well then… why have you been leading me on?" Alice demanded.

"Leading you on?" a very confused Masaya repeated. "What on earth do you mean?"

"Don't pretend you don't know!" Alice angrily replied. "All those times you tried your hardest to sit next to me during those lectures. All those times you invited me over to your flat to have dinner."

"I kept inviting you over so we could work on our project together." Masaya explained. "And the reason I wanted to make sure we sat next to each other during the lectures is so we could compare notes better."

"Okay, then why did you not once mention Ichigo to me during all the time we spent together?" Alice demanded.

"I mentioned Ichigo to you lots of times!" Masaya insisted. "…Didn't I?"

"Not even once!" Alice told him. "And if Ichigo really means so much to you, why did you let me come along on your little 'date' today?"

"Well I… the two of you really hit it off when you met." Masaya answered as he just realized the enormity of his mistake.

With that, Alice slapped Masaya hard in the face and stormed off. After a few moments Masaya started walking aimlessly around the city. He didn't really pay any attention to where he was going; he had too much on his mind to care. Hours passed and the evening came, and before Masaya knew it he had found himself in front of Café Mew Mew. He went in, desperately hoping to find Ichigo there. But while Ichigo was unfortunately not there, the rest of the Mew Mews were, along with Tasuku, Ryou, and Keiichiro. When the others asked what was going on, Masaya told them about the whole mess with Ichigo and Alice. After the tale, the gang all looked at Masaya with dumbfounded expressions.

"…You moronic idiot!" Mint blurted out. "You and Ichigo haven't seen Ichigo in months! How could you even think of letting another girl come along with you on your date?"

"I don't know. I guess I've been so focused on that project I had to work on for the last couple of months I've been a little mixed up." Masaya replied. "I had no idea that I was giving Alice the impression I liked her as more than a friend."

"Well, she could've read too much into things." Lettuce told him.

"I didn't even think Alice was interested in me in that way." Masaya admitted.

"Dude, you're a babe magnet." Tasuku told him. "I've seen the way a lot of the girls who come to this café look at you."

"Are girls really that into me?" Masaya asked sounding surprised.

"I'd want to go out with you if you and Ichigo hadn't gotten together." Lettuce admitted before looking in Ryou's direction. "Plus I'm actually interested in someone else."

"I'd be into you if you were my type." Mint admitted. "Of course you're nowhere near my type."

"I've… never really been interested in guys." Zakuro revealed. "But if I were I guess I wouldn't mind going out with you."

"You've never noticed the way girls look at you?" Ryou asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To be honest I've never really paid any attention." Masaya revealed. "Until I met Ichigo I never really cared about what anyone else ever thought of me. I guess that's because back then I looked down on the human race for their disregard for the environment."

"Because back then you were Deep Blue in disguise." Ryou realized. "But after you developed feelings for Ichigo you became something more."

"I really want to make this up to Ichigo." Masaya told the group. "I was hoping she came her after what happened at the bakery."

"Ichigo quite working here a couple of days ago." Berry revealed with a troubled expression. "We haven't heard from her since then."

"Why did she quite?" Masaya asked sounding shocked.

"We're not sure." Lettuce told him sadly. "All we know is she hasn't been acting like herself the last few days. The last time she was here she blew up at everybody and even slapped Ryou in the face."

"When did this start?" Masaya asked.

"Now that I think about it, it was the day after we had that field trip to the museum." Mint realized.

"You mean the day you saw the exhibit on the Chimera Stone?" Ryou asked, not noticing that Keiichiro went into the back to check on something.

"Yeah, that was kind of a weird exhibit." Mint confirmed. "I really couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. It's not that pretty of a gemstone."

"That gemstone as you called it was stolen later that night." Ryou revealed, startling everyone.

"Who would want to steal that thing?" Berry asked.

"I'm not certain, but not long after that the Black Mew Mew showed up." Ryou replied with a grave expression.

"Black Mew Mew?" Masaya asked, not understanding what the others were talking about.

"She's some Mew Mew wannabe that's been beating up criminals for the last few nights." Mint explained.

"And looking at it now I think the Chimera Stone and the Black Mew Mew are connected." Ryou theorized. "If that's true… we need to find Ichigo quickly!"

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait Ryou!" Keiichiro said as he came back into the room. "I've detected three more Chimera Anima!"

"Where are they Keiichiro?" Ryou asked.

"Right outside the café." Keiichiro revealed, startling everyone.

Immediately Berry and the other girls transformed and rushed outside. Masaya, Ryou, Tasuku, and Keiichiro followed them to watch the battle. The three monsters were outside waiting for them. The first one was a dark-brown Minotaur-looking creature wearing black pants. The second was a grey furry man bat with massive wings for arms and also wearing black pants. The third was a humanoid wasp-like creature with a stinger on each forearm. The mere site of the thing made Zakuro's tail puff out.

Just as the Mew Mews began to charge at the creatures, the man bat let out a horrifying screech that knocked them to the ground. Though they were dazed, they managed to get back to their feet. In the meantime, the Minotaur was getting ready to charge at them.

"What's going on here?" a voice suddenly asked, getting the attention of the creatures, the Mew Mews, and the group on the sidelines. All of them turned to see Ichigo. "Before anyone asks I came back here because I forgot something in my old locker. I didn't expect to find you fighting more of these freaks."

"Get out of here Ichigo!" Lettuce begged. "It's not safe for you here!"

"Don't treat me like the spineless weakling you." Ichigo coldly told her. "I can take these things down easily. And right now I really need to let off a little steam. Mew Mew Chimera Metamorphosis!"

In a flash of green light Ichigo transformed into the Black Mew Mew once again. The rest of the Mew Mews were shocked, though perhaps not nearly as shocked as Masaya. Immediately the Minotaur charged at Ichigo. In a flash Ichigo leapt out of the way and somersaulted behind it. Before the creature could react Ichigo rushed at it and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to its side, knocking it to the ground.

The man bat then flew at Ichigo and fired another sonic blast. Ichigo dodged it by jumping high into the air at the creature. She then slashed at the man bat's right wing, sending it crashing to the ground. It was then that the wasp creature flew at Ichigo and fired off one of its stingers. The large stinger hit Ichigo in the shoulder, causing her intense pain. She then cried out and was suddenly enveloped in a flash of green light that caused the stinger to crumble and her wound to heal up in seconds. Ichigo's eyes then turned blood red, and in a berserk rage she charged at the wasp creature, leapt up, and delivered a devastating punch that knocked it to the ground.

Just as all three creatures were getting their second wind, Ichigo silently called for her weapon and hit all three beasts with a blast of green energy. When the attack ended, the Minotaur had turned into a very muscular man with a baldhead, the man bat had become a slender man with slicked back white hair, and the wasp creature had changed into a tan slender gentleman with short black hair. Ichigo turned back to face the other Mew Mews, her eyes still blood red.

"Ichigo… are you okay?" Lettuce asked as she cautiously stepped forward. "You still recognize us, don't you?"

Before Lettuce could react, Ichigo charged forward and hit Lettuce in the stomach. Lettuce fell to the ground unconscious and reverted to her civilian form. In a flash ichigo then charged at Pudding and with a powerful kick knocked her into the nearby wall of the café. Pudding was out cold and reverted back to her civilian form. Zakuro reacted to the situation by charging at Ichigo and attacking with her energy whip.

But Ichigo easily evaded the attack and then got in close to Zakuro. The Black Mew Mew delivered a powerful punch to Zakuro's face, followed by another hard punch to the gut. Zakuro fell to the ground and soon her transformation faded. Mint reacted violently by firing an arrow at Ichigo. But with lightning speed Ichigo not only dodged the attack, but also got behind Mint and delivered a hard kick to her back. Mint then fell to the ground as her transformation faded. Berry was the only one left standing. Ichigo turned to face her with a look of animalistic rage on her face.

"I don't know what's happened to you Ichigo, but it looks like I have no choice but to stop you." Berry told her.

Ichigo comprehended nothing Berry had said. In her berserk state she was being driven only by raw aggressive instinct. Berry called for her rod and fired a great blast of red energy at Ichigo. Ichigo responded by quickly raising her own weapon and firing off an equally powerful blast of green energy. The two attacks hit each other dead on and pushed against one another, neither one gaining ground over the other. This standoff lasted for two or three minutes until Ichigo cried out and put more power into her attack.

The green blast then overtook the red and hit Berry dead on. When it was over Berry was on the ground in her civilian form. Tasuku tried to rush over to her, but Ryou and Keiichiro held him back. With all her opponents defeated, Ichigo let out a very loud primal scream. Masaya was completely frozen in shock. He could not believe that the woman he loved was capable of such acts.

Ichigo stood catching her breath, her eyes slowly turning back to emerald green. Suddenly there came the sound of someone clapping, catching everyone's attention. They all looked to see Moreau approaching Ichigo.

"Not how I intended things to go, but beautiful none the less." Moreau said to Ichigo. "Once again you have proven yourself worthy of the Chimera Stone. You have truly evolved into a perfect being, and together we shall bring the world into a new age."

"Anton?" Ichigo said in a dazed state. "What's… going on?"

At that point, Ichigo reverted to her civilian form and lost consciousness. Moreau caught her before she hit the ground and picked her up bridal style.

"You poor dear. I guess I ended up pushing you a little hard." Moreau said to her in a gentle voice. "It wasn't even my intention for you to fight. The hybrids were sent to eliminate your former comrades. But in the end I suppose this makes things a little easier."

"So you're behind this Anton Moreau!" Ryou called out, getting the young mastermind's attention.

"Ah, Ryou Shirogane. I should've guessed that you were behind the creation of Tokyo Mew Mew." Moreau said with an amused smile. "It's a pity you didn't take your project further. You had the beginnings of a race of perfect beings on your hands, yet you only took the project so far. But it seems that the Chimera Stone has finished your project for you and has made Ichigo the perfect life form. In a way I suppose the aliens and those so-called crusaders were a test of the Mew Mew's power, and Ichigo proved herself the strongest. That is why the stone chose her."

"Are you still trying to create a world where animals rule over humans you psycho?" Ryou demanded.

"I am trying to bring the human race to a new level of existence." Moreau replied. "Of course my plans have changed a little due to recent events. My original plan was to steal the Chimera Stone and use it for myself, but Ichigo's unexpected involvement has created an even better plan. She and I will become king and queen of a new world."

"I won't let you take Ichigo!" Masaya shouted as he charged at Moreau.

Suddenly from behind Moreau came Montgomery, who rushed at Masaya and punched him to the ground. Masaya was out cold.

"Hmm, I thought he was interested in that blond girl." Moreau commented. "Oh well, it changes nothing. Now before you other three gentleman decided to try playing the hero I should point out that Montgomery is not the only backup I brought with me."

Ryou, Keiichiro, and Tasuku looked around to find that several men in black suits carrying rifles suddenly surrounded the café. It seemed clear that they were helpless.

"You won't get away with this Moreau!" Ryou declared.

"I believe I already have." Moreau said smugly. "Now if you'll excuse me, my ride should be here in mere moments."

As if on cue, a small helicopter approached from the air and landed behind Moreau. Moreau got into the chopper, still carrying Ichigo in his arms. Montgomery soon followed and closed the door behind them. With the passengers aboard, the helicopter took off. The men that Moreau had brought with his soon retreated as Ryou and the others watched helplessly as the chopper flew away.


Author's Note: That's a pretty good cliffhanger to leave things off at. I'd like to mention that I don't mean to bash on Berry so much. She's an okay character, she just wasn't developed enough. I think a big part of that is because Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode was so short. Anyway, I kind of implied a couple of other relationships were going on in this story if you looked closely. One was Ryou and Lettuce, which the anime has actually done as I recall. The other was Zakuro and Mint, which I've always been either way on. To me it always seemed like maybe they were, maybe they weren't. I'll most likely do more with those potential relationships in future stories.

Things look pretty dark for our heroes right now, but in the next chapter hope will return. So stay tuned and while you're at it, please review and let me know what you think.