I missed the chance to do an Autumnal Equinox post. T.T So, late happy fall! Enjoy, my dears!
Chapter Nine:
"Berry!" Mint exclaimed with a large grin, throwing her arms around the blonde's neck with a laugh.
"You don't know how happy we are to see you!" Lettuce said as she also gave Berry a hug.
"Hey, what about me?" Tasuku asked as he took off his own helmet, pressing the button on his cuff that gave him skates again. "Anyone happy to see me? Whoa!"
His answer came in the form of a tackling hug from Pudding, which made them roll a few feet backwards.
"Yare, what a mess," Berry said with a sigh as she looked at the carnage around them. "I've never heard of so many in one place before."
"I'll call in the clean-up crew," Tasuku said, tapping a button on his cuff. He gave Berry a look. "This is much more serious than we thought. There's got to be more. They're really prepared for this one."
"Agreed," Berry said.
"Um, what exactly is going on?" Pepper asked. "And who is she?"
Zakuro started the introductions, first introducing Berry and Tasuku to the group.
"This is Rin, Rirī and Rōzu Ikisatashi," Zakuro said. "Their brothers were the ones who attacked Earth a couple of years ago."
"And left their parasites for us to clean up," Berry said with a smile.
"Sorry about that," Rin said on behalf of her brothers.
"No hard feelings," Berry said. "A couple of parasites led to a lot of great things."
"And this is Otsu Homare and Fukumoto Jade. Homare is Masaya's girlfriend and Jade is Lettuce's cousin." Zakuro continued.
"Nice to finally meet you both," Berry said. "I've heard quite a bit about both of you."
"Same here," Jade said with a grin.
"And that's Topaz, Chile, Bell and Pepper," Zakuro said. "They're, well, they're not friends but at the moment not enemies."
"Oh. We know exactly who they are." Tasuku said. "They're a little infamous."
"Cool," Bell and Pepper said excitedly at the same time.
"The Mews were telling us about you earlier, Berry-San," Rōzu said. "They said you used to be a Mew Mew, too."
Berry smiled sadly.
"It's true, I was a Mew Mew," She said. "Before I lost my powers."
"How did that happen?" Bell asked.
Berry's smile became more sad and she explained,
"I was infused with two animals, the Amami Black Rabbit and the Andes Mountain Cat. Not on purpose, it just happened. It shouldn't have been possible, but it did happen and we found out why it shouldn't happen. My body, while able to take the mutation, couldn't handle two animals. They both fought for dominance. It was fine, for the first few months. When I transformed, I had features from both animals. But then my cat genes would take over, and then the rabbit. Sometimes I would transform and have cat ears and a tail like Ichigo. Or I would have bunny ears and a cottontail. It would go back and forth, but I was never getting the combination again. It was starting to get dangerous for me to fight, because as the animals constantly went back and forth, my powers weakened and I couldn't keep myself protected. Then, after a while, I couldn't transform at all. Both DNA pieces eventually faded away. They both just couldn't exist together."
"That's sad," Bell said with a frown.
"Yeah, well," Berry said, her smile becoming happy again. "It did lead to a lot of great things. Really good friends, for one thing." She then wrapped her arm around Tasuku's waist. "And we started dating as another."
They gave each other a peck on the lips, both smiling happily.
"However, it also led to something else, something not so good," Berry said after the kiss. She gestured to the puddles on the sidewalk. "The Sues."
"Which are… what exactly?" Homare asked.
"Where's Ichigo?" Berry asked. "We need to get her in on this, too."
"Yeah, I noticed you were lacking a cat-girl," Chile said.
"She's been out sick all day," Mint explained. "She doesn't have any idea of what's going on."
"We need to go to her, now," Tasuku said seriously. "Not only to get her up to speed, but because she might be in danger as well."
No one liked the sound of this, and quickly made their way to Ichigo's house.
Pudding knocked on the front door and they waited for a response.
"Can't we just teleport in?" Topaz asked, hand on her hip.
"I don't think Ichigo's mom would appreciate that," Rirī responded.
Slowly, the door opened. It wasn't opened by Ichigo's mother, however. It was opened by a very sleepy, very annoyed, pajama-clad Ichigo.
"I was asleep," She griped. She looked around with half-lidded eyes at the group in front of her. She sighed. "You should all be glad that my parents have to work tonight."
"Can we come in?" Lettuce asked. Ichigo blinked and then opened the door more.
"Might as well. I want an explanation," She said.
"I'll make tea," Mint said, going towards the kitchen instantly.
"You'll have to forgive me for being a bad host," Ichigo said as she led the rest to the small living room, where she had evidentially been camping out. There was a mug and glasses on the table, as well as some food wrappers and Ichigo grabbed the blanket off the couch and wrapped herself up in it before sitting down.
"When was the last time you took some medicine?" Rirī asked.
"Uh, couple hours ago, when my mom made me eat lunch," Ichigo said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "I've been sleeping ever since. Till Mint called earlier, at least, then I went back to sleep."
Rirī nodded.
"That's what I thought," She said, pulling out potions and herbs from thin air and seating herself at the table to set up what looked to be a pharmacy.
They waited until Mint brought in the tea pot, Lettuce and Rin behind her with the tea cups. Ichigo quickly drank the potion Rirī gave her and then accepted the cup of tea.
"Seriously, I want an explanation," Ichigo said. She glanced over at Bell, Pepper, Chile and Topaz, who had somewhat sequestered themselves into a corner. "Why are they here?" She then looked at Berry and Tasuku. "And why do you two look like roller-derby ninjas?"
"Actually," Berry said. "We need to hear this from the beginning, with Mew Mangosteen's arrival."
"Mew who?" Ichigo asked, blinking.
The story was told up to their leaving the Café and Ichigo frowned.
"That is really weird," She said. "And pretty much all the guys are attracted to her?"
"Even Kish, and we didn't think he could be that way with anyone other than you," Rōzu said, which made Ichigo's frown deepen, more with annoyance and confusion than hurt.
"And then when we followed her, all these other Mews came out of nowhere and attacked us," Homare said. "And then Berry and Tasuku came and helped us fight them off."
"What exactly are they?" Zakuro asked.
"And why did they turn into puddles of goo?" Pepper asked.
"They're Supreme Undocumented Entities, called 'Sues' for short," Berry explained. "And they are the creation of our old friends, the St. Rose Crusaders."
"No way," Mint said, her eyes going wide. "Them again?"
Berry nodded.
"The real reason I stopped attending our school was because, a few months before the end of the school year, Tasuku and I got attacked on our way home by the Sues. We were saved by a group that work for various national governments, and they asked us to join with them to defeat the Sues." Berry said.
"Sues can take on various forms, and they've appeared all over the world," Tasuku said. "New York, London, Paris, and other parts of Tokyo as well."
"The goals of the Sues are to replace groups of people who work in those cities, most of which are crime fighters, somewhat like Tokyo Mew Mew. By doing that, they seize control of those areas for the St. Rose Crusaders," Berry said. "And those pendants that they wear allow them to change forms, as well as affect people's minds."
"Why aren't any of us affected?" Rin asked.
"You would have been, if they were the Sues male counterparts, Stus," Tasuku said. "I'm sure you saw their sparkles."
"Yeah," Rōzu said with a nod. "That was what really made everyone go even more crazy for Mari."
"Well, those sparkles are essentially pheromones. They heighten how attracted you are to someone and manipulate emotions," Tasuku said. "They use their appearances to help with that."
"All those girls were really pretty," Bell said softly. At the same time, Mint lifted an eyebrow.
Ah, she thought. That explains it.
"And they've gotten stronger, apparently." Berry said. "That's why it lasted longer on your enemies. And she must have used her sparkles enough to keep everyone attracted to her long after she left. I wouldn't be surprised if she left orders with them to do her bidding, and did it enough times to make sure they didn't stop half-way through the job."
"The only way to be impervious to them is one of these," Tasuku said, rolling up his sleeve to show a yellow-and-pink bunny sticker that was attached to his skin. "Basically, they tell your body to not be attracted to anything or anyone for as long as you wear it. It's the only way to protect yourself." He looked very serious. "One ripped off the sticker during a battle. A Sue tried to convince me to kill myself and Berry. That was how we found out that if anyone touches a Sue or Stu's pendant, it kills them, because Berry managed to grab it just in time. One touch will do it, but it doesn't hurt to just get your hand on it and pull. It actually quickens the time for them to melt."
"However, a Sue or Stu can also move their pendants that store the pheromones, and can look like anyone." Berry said. She moved aside the collar of her shirt, where there was a long, thin scar along her shoulder. "A Stu pretended to be Tasuku and I fell for it. That was another too-close-for-comfort situation."
"Why didn't you tell us before now?" Zakuro asked. "Especially that you were attacked?"
"You guys have your own fight," Berry said. "And a very important one at that. We did want to tell you, but Tasuku and I decided that it'd be better to keep quiet about it for now, at least until your war is over."
"This is not good," Ichigo said, shaking her head. "Not only does that mean that the St. Rose Crusaders currently have all the access to the guys' powers and knowledge—and we already know Pie and Ryou can be mad scientists all on their own without any help—but if they think none of them can be useful, the St. Rose Crusaders can easily kill them."
"Oh no," Homare said, sucking in a breath. "Masaya and Shinji. Neither of them are really fighters, or have powers, or are as smart as Pie, Ryou and Keiichiro." She looked at the others frantically, extremely concerned for her boyfriend and brother. "You don't think—"
"This is a just-as-unpleasant thought, but she could use them as leverage," Tasuku said. "But we can save them, and stop the Sues. But we have to get a plan now and act on it very soon."
Homare still looked distressed, but nodded.
"But, wouldn't we have heard from them by now?" Lettuce said. "We killed Mew Mangosteen, right?"
There was a hesitant pause in which those at the battle tried desperately to remember.
"I don't know," Chile said. "There were so many. She could have escaped when all the fake Mews started attacking us."
"That wouldn't surprise me," Berry said with a frown. "Or if a different Sue took on Mew Mangosteen's appearance to trick them further."
"Wait a second," Bell said softly, looking very confused. "Chile Onii-Chan doesn't have a sticker like Tasuku-Kun."
Chile's jaw tightened and Pudding's eyes widened as Pepper frowned.
"Yeah," She said. "So why didn't he get put under Mew Mangosteen's spell, too?"
"It's Pudding's fault, na no da!" Pudding exclaimed way too fast, waving her arms wildly so that Rōzu and Rirī both had to duck to not get hit by her. "Pudding used a, uh, ancient, magical and somewhat illegal Fong kung-fu move on him a while ago, na no da! I mean, he's fine, but it, um, messes with hormones and nerves and other stuff and it'll totally wear off but it takes a couple of months and—"
"Alright, Pudding, we get it. Chinese kung-fu mumbo jumbo," Mint said, interrupting her. She rolled her eyes but looked at the twins, who seemed to have—to Pudding and Chile's relief—drank up every single word with serious looks. "It may sound crazy, but we've heard weirder from Pudding and it's all true. Somehow."
Ichigo got to her feet, stumbling some as she did.
"We can't afford to just sit here much longer," She said. "Let me find some actual clothes and I'll be ready to go."
As she headed up to her room, Pudding jumped to her feet and said,
"Pudding will take care of the dishes, na no da."
"Here, I'll help," Chile said quickly, helping Pudding gather up the empty cups and followed her into the kitchen.
They were quiet for a moment, carefully arranging the cups in the dishwasher.
"Thanks," Chile said. "For covering for me."
"No problem, na no da," Pudding said with a smile.
"So you're in the closet around your sisters, then?"
They both turned to see Tasuku as he approached, bringing over another cup.
"How did—?" Chile started to say, but Tasuku cut him off.
"The person who discovered what the Sues are is a gay man. He runs the agency that tracks them, alongside an asexual woman who figured out when the Stus were added in." He explained. "So, when Berry and I first saw you at the battle site, we kind of figured. But as long as your sisters believe the excuse Pudding gave, we'll go with it."
"Well, I figured it out without the Sues or Stus."
They all turned to look at Mint, who entered the room, arms folded over her chest. She stared at Chile with narrowed eyes.
"I've known since I first saw you."
"Pudding should have figured that out, na no da," Pudding said with a sigh.
"How?" Chile asked in surprise as he stared at Mint with wide eyes.
"Mint Onee-Chan just knows, na no da," Pudding said. "It's this weird super-power she has, na no da."
"Other than Pudding, who have you outed yourself to?" Mint asked.
"Just my brothers," Chile said, shifting his feet nervously. "Bell and Pepper… well, it's a bit of a long story so…"
"That's fine," Mint said. She studied Chile, who looked awkward, embarrassed and still a bit nervous. "You know, Mew Mangosteen affected me, too."
"But, you're a girl," Chile said, his brow furrowing. "And, I thought you had a boyfriend?"
"I do," Mint said with a nod. "I'm bisexual. I like both boys and girls. I just happen to be in love with a boy. That doesn't make me straight, nor would being in love with a girl make me a lesbian. It took me a lot of time to work up the courage to tell people that, especially my older brother. I just needed to wait for the right time, and when it came, I spoke up. I didn't feel like I had to. I wanted to. If you never want your sisters to know, that's fine. If you do, you'll tell them when you think the time is right. And I know I'm just a stranger, but I can tell your sisters love you. I think you have nothing to worry about. But I'm not you, and I don't know this long story. Just know you're not alone, okay? Enemies or not, you've got someone you can talk to."
"Thanks." Chile said.
Mint nodded and then turned to Tasuku.
"You said the Sues could manipulate emotions?" She asked.
Tasuku nodded.
"To some extent. The pheromones affect the limbic system in the brain, which controls emotions and memories. They can trigger memories of certain emotions. That's how the pheromones can work so fast, they bring back past memories of love. Or, more specifically, romantic love. Obviously not the love that comes from friendship or family. Why do you ask?"
"I've been trying to figure out how Pie got affected," Mint said. "He's a demi."
"Ah," Tasuku said, nodding with a small frown. "I'm glad you said that. Demi's take a bit longer to fall under the spell, but in some rare cases the sticker doesn't work right away. It takes a few minutes, but if he's the only one, that won't be too bad to handle."
"Um, what does 'demi' mean?" Chile asked.
"Demisexual," Mint explained. "I wouldn't have mentioned it, but Pie doesn't keep it a secret. And, yeah, desperate times, desperate measures. Basically, it means that he doesn't feel any sort of romantic attraction to a person until he's formed an emotional bond with them. He thought he was just asexual—having no attraction whatsoever to anyone—until he began spending more time with Lettuce."
A lot of things suddenly made sense for Chile. Even though he felt no attraction to girls, he could still admit that Topaz was a very attractive young woman. He had, for quite some time, wondered why Pie didn't reciprocate her feelings, even if she was a bit obnoxious at times. Just about anyone who saw Topaz fell in love with her. But now he understood: Topaz felt attraction very easily. She jumped headfirst into love. She didn't try to form a bond outside of a romantic one first. Pie didn't do that.
He suddenly felt somewhat sorry for Topaz. She had hindered her chances before she even started trying to win Pie's affection. And even then, there wouldn't have been a guarantee that he would feel attracted to her, that he would fall in love with her.
"You and I are going to need to find a time to sit down and talk," Chile said to Mint. "Now I've definitely got a lot of questions."
Mint smiled.
"Like I said," She said. "You've got someone to talk to. And I'll look forward to when we get this little chat."
With that, she started to leave the kitchen, promptly followed by the rest. They came back in to see Berry showing the others a sheet full of stickers shaped like flowers, hearts and little animals.
"So we take a sticker and we slap them with it," Pepper said with a nod. "And they snap out of it?"
"Yes. The sticky part is what the antidote is, really," Berry said. "And each sticker has the right amount, so it's not good if only half a sticker is adhered to their skin, because it will only be half the—"
"Smack back to reality," Jade finished.
"Exactly." Berry said with a nod. "So it's important to make sure that it doesn't tear and that it's fully touching, no folds or anything."
"So we slap them with it," Pepper said, very seriously.
"Well, I don't think we'd have to actually slap them…" Lettuce said.
"Yeah, we do." Ichigo said as she came down the stairs, fiddling with the zipper on her jacket as she did so.
"I agree with Mew Ichigo," Topaz said with a nod. "They need slapping. A lot of it."
"That's a little harsh, Topaz," Bell said.
"You didn't have to convince Mylo to not create a Chimera Animal for the sole reason of professing his love for Mew Mangosteen. And he had a whole nine-step plan laid out, too." Topaz said.
"So, the one thing Berry and I haven't thought of is this: how exactly are we going to find them?" Tasuku asked.
"Well," Homare said, looking up from her phone screen. "With any luck, they'll all be at the same place that Kish, Pie and Tart are, given the tracers' current location."
"Alright then," Ichigo said with a nod, still looking like she was about to drop any second. "Tokyo Defenders, let's go."
"You going to make it, Ichigo?" Zakuro asked in concern. Ichigo grunted some before coughing into her fist.
"I'll live," She said, voice hoarse. "I'm serious, let's go, Tokyo Defender or not."
"She's right, time is of the essence," Berry said.
"No, my dad is supposed to be home any minute now and I'm not explaining why the aliens from TV are in our living room." Ichigo said as she headed for the door.
One Magical Girl transformation sequence later, the motley crew was ready to invade the warehouse that the trackers led to.
"Any idea what this place really is?" Jade asked as they kept to the shadows, waiting and watching for signs of any more Sues or Stus.
"If I had to make a bet, I would say that this is the St. Rose Crusader's new headquarters," Berry said with a frown.
"New?" Mint repeated.
"They move every once in a while. They were at one point living in this old abandoned mansion. Then a really nice hotel, and a couple of other places. We think it's just down to Happy Child and Duke here in Japan. The others have scattered so as to scatter the Sues and Stus," Tasuku explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if this is where they create the Sues, either."
"Creepy," Rirī said, wrinkling her nose.
"But a good thing," Berry said with a grin. "We haven't had a chance like this before, to see what kind of process the Crusaders use to make the Sues. This will reveal so much, and also give our agents in other countries some insight as to what they're up against."
"I'd like some insight as to what we're up against," Ichigo said with a frown. "A Chimera as the combination of Kish, Pie and Mylo is not something I would like to face blind."
"If there are any Chimeras, leave them to Bell and me," Pepper said with a nod. "We can extract the parasites."
"Just be careful," Chile said. "Kish's Chimeras are about as bad as the ones you two can make together, and he's on his own."
"That's how we know we're going to be able to beat it," Bell said. "Two of us, one of him. Easy."
"And the rest of us will focus on the Sues and making our lovesick idiots come back to reality," Zakuro said. "Jade, Homare, can you try and find out as much as you can about any technology involved during the fighting?"
"Sounds like you'll be creating the perfect distraction for us to do so," Homare said. "We'll wait outside until it gets started, so hopefully we don't even get noticed."
"Sounds like we've got a good plan," Lettuce said with a nod and an optimistic smile.
"Let's just hope this one is one of our better plans," Mint said.
"Well, compared to ours, your track record is great," Topaz pointed out.
"And we plan on keeping it that way," Jade said.
"Stay right here, I'm going to scope out an entryway," Rin said, beginning to float. She flew off and teleported back a few minutes later, hovering in the air.
"There's an open skylight," She said. "I saw something like solar panels on some sort of machine inside. I guess they couldn't install the panels to the roof."
"Can't take those with them when it's time to move," Tasuku said with a nod. "And it wouldn't surprise me if they were using the moon as an energy source as well."
"Well, we can sneak in easily through the skylight," Berry said. "If nothing else, we just quickly drop down."
"And there was a door at the side that might be unlocked," Rin said. "So Homare and Jade can go in that way."
"What if it is locked?" Lettuce asked.
"Don't worry, we'll get in, one way or another," Jade said, throwing her arm around Homare's shoulder.
"Why does that make me worried?" Homare asked with a sigh.
"Alright, then, let's split up," Ichigo said.
Leaving Homare and Jade on the ground, the rest of the oddly assembled team went towards the roof.
They had apparently made it just in time, too, because as they were getting on to the roof, they heard a familiar voice.
"Why have you brought us here, Mari-San?"
"That's Pie!" Rōzu whispered.
Unfortunately, his voice was quickly followed by Mari's.
"Well, now, each of you claim to love me. I need to know who loves me the most."
"That's me!" Shinji said. By now, they were able to look down onto the floor and see Shinji raise his hand to accompany his declaration.
"Of course it's not you!" Ryou snapped. "My love for Mari has no bounds!"
"Mari-San, please marry me and let me have your babies!" Kish cried out dramatically.
Ichigo gave a low, frustrated growl.
"I love that stupid alien, I love that stupid alien," She muttered to herself.
"What can I do to prove my love for you, Mari-San?" Cayenne asked, his eyes wide and a little teary at the thought that she doubted his love for her.
"Cayenne-Kun, you ask all the right questions!" Mari said, coming over to give him a kiss on the cheek as a reward, which made him blush and the other males glare at him in anger.
Bell and Pepper stuck out their tongues in disgust and Topaz scowled in ire.
"Well, it just so happens that there's been some meanies who have been trying to hurt me lately—" Mari started to say.
"WHO DARES HARM A PRECIOUS HAIR ON YOUR HEAD!?" Mylo roared in outrage. "TELL ME WHO IT IS AND I WILL DESTROY THEM!"
"That is exactly what I want you to do," Mari said with a small smirk. "Some of you, I believe, are already familiar with my harassers: Shirayuki Berry, the former Mew Berry, and Meguro Tasuku."
"I will kill them both for you, Mari-San!" Masaya proclaimed bravely.
"The heck are you talking about, Aoyama?" Mint mumbled. "You won't even kill a spider."
"And don't worry if you aren't number one for me," Mari said with a flirty smile. "Everyone else will get a very lovely consolation prize. In fact, my good friend is working on them right now."
"More Sues," Berry said with a frown. "We need to go, now."
"Agreed," Zakuro said with a nod. "Let's end this now. Stickers ready?"
"Ready!" Came the whispered response, accompanied by a few wicked grins.
"Then let's go!" Ichigo said.
"Now let's see which one of you lovely gentlemen loves me the most," Mari said sweetly.
"Oh please," Topaz said as her boots touched the ground, landing between Lettuce and Chile. She gave a small smirk towards Mari as she said, "We'll see how much they love you when that pendant is gone and you're nothing but a pile of slime."
"Yeah, you don't look as pretty as a puddle of goo, na no da," Pudding said.
Mari frowned.
"I thought my sisters took care of you," She said irritably.
"You thought wrong, 'Mew Mangosteen'," Berry said. "And you have messed with the wrong, very much real Mew Mews."
Mari snarled before giving the order.
"Kill them all! Use any means necessary!"
That, of course, made Kish think that this was the perfect time to make a Chimera Animal.
"Well, Pep, that's our cue!" Bell said and Pepper nodded.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let's give these guys a wake-up call," Rirī said, drawing an arrow.
"Right!" Came the response.
"Lettuce, Zakuro, Rirī, with me!" Ichigo said as she leapt to avoid Tart's click-clacks. The two followed her and she quickly pointed towards Ryou, Keiichiro, Masaya and Shinji. Lettuce and Rirī quickly understood why she wanted to get to them first: the faster they did so, the faster they could get out of the way. And, better yet, maybe help Jade and Homare, who were already at work on the large machine.
"Sorry for this," Lettuce said as she adjusted the sticker in her hand and swiped out at Keiichiro, who in turn was trying to hit her. Unlike his, her hit landed and Keiichiro blinked twice, a sticker in the shape of a pink cupcake on his cheek, his arm still out and his fist a few inches away from Lettuce.
"What?" Keiichiro said in confusion, bringing back his arm. "What just happened?"
"St. Rose Crusaders, fake Mew Mews, evil pheromones," Ichigo said as she had to do some more aggressive dodging, as Masaya had found a long plastic pipe and putting years of Kendo into practice trying to hit her. Finally, though, she managed to turn the tables, grabbing hold of the pipe and pulling on it as hard as she could, making the now-off-balance Masaya fall forward, just enough so that Ichigo could slap a yellow star-shaped sticker onto his face.
"Ow, what the?" Masaya grumbled as he tried to pick himself up off the ground. Ichigo put the pipe underneath his chin, to his confusion.
"Who is the best leader of the Mews?" Ichigo demanded, half because she was annoyed with what Homare had told her he had said while under Mari's spell and half because she wanted to make sure that the stickers actually worked.
"Is this a trick question?" Masaya asked, brow furrowing.
"It's one you should answer, and answer quickly."
"Well, then, you, of course, Ichigo," Masaya responded.
"Don't forget it," Ichigo said as she hauled Masaya to his feet. "Go help Jade and Homare."
"With what exactly?" Masaya asked.
"Just go," Ichigo said, then went over to help Rirī. Shinji looked very confused, and was rather stuck to the wall, thanks to Rirī's arrows that had pinned them there. A sticker in the shape of an ice cream cone on his cheek.
"You are an amazing markswoman, Rirī," Ichigo said, grabbing hold of an arrow that was pinning only the fabric of Shinji's shirt to the wall.
"Thanks," Rirī said with a small smirk as she raised her bow and released another arrow, successfully pinning Zen to the wall with it before going over and smacking him with a sticker in the shape of a small reddish bird.
Ryou blinked and tried desperately to discover the reason why he was wrapped up in Zakuro's whip, and why said girlfriend was looking just a bit murderous. He also really wanted to know why his cheek hurt. Said cheek bore a purple heart sticker.
"I don't know why," He said slowly, keeping a cautious eye on Zakuro. "But I feel the need to apologize profusely to you."
"Trust that feeling," Zakuro said with a small nod, still not letting him loose from her whip.
"I am so sorry for whatever it was that I did and I love you, you are the most beautiful woman in the whole entire world. And by any chance, did you slap me and did I really deserve it?" Ryou asked.
"I did slap you. And you did kind of deserve it," Zakuro said. "But apology accepted."
"I will never do it again?" Ryou said as she flicked her wrist, unwrapping him.
"Trust me, you won't," Zakuro said, touching the sticker on his cheek. "We're trying to make sure of that."
Ryou felt like this answered none of his questions, but still said, "Okay."
Rin easily bounced Pie's attack off on her own fan.
"Ooh, nice, I forgot about that one," Rin said musingly, observing her brother. "Tell me, when was the last time you used that attack?"
Pie started to answer, but was cut off when Rin teleported and slapped him, and slapped him hard, with a sticker that depicted a pink, glittery version of her own fans. Pie blinked and responded,
"It has been five years, three months and two days."
"Oh, I thought it was that mission," Rin said with a nod. "Well, nevertheless, your form's off. Need to work on that."
"Noted." Pie said with a nod. Then he looked around. "Rin, where are we? And what is going on?"
"We'll explain later," Rin said before she rushed off to help Topaz, who was dueling with Mylo, who was undoubtedly the better sword-fighter, something that Topaz knew when she engaged him in combat.
Mylo definitely did not see the side-attack coming, and not in the form of a glittery red heart sticker. Topaz squealed and quickly moved out of the way as he fell forward some, trying to regain his balance.
"What hit me?" Mylo asked in surprise, rubbing his cheek and his brow furrowing at discovering the sticker there. "And what is this?"
At the same time, Topaz and Rin swatted at him, Rin being more successful at hitting his arm with her folded fan and making his fingers move away from the sticker before he could remove it.
"Don't touch that!" Both girls yelled at the same time.
Mylo wisely decided to do as he was told while he marveled at the fact that Rin's fan hadn't broken his wrist.
Pudding closed one eye and squinted, watching carefully for the perfect moment, as Tasuku and Chile took on Tart. Then she smirked and called out,
"RIBBON PUDDING RING INFERNO!"
Her timing was perfect, as was her aim, as all of the loudly protesting Tart from the neck down was encased in gelatin. This gave Tasuku the opportunity to put on the yellow daffodil sticker.
"Nice shot, Mew Pudding!" Chile said, giving her a thumbs-up as Tart shut up and looked around very confused.
Pudding just grinned.
Rōzu was holding her own against Cayenne. She had seen him fight enough to have a general idea of how he fought, and her two short swords gave her an advantage against his one long sword. However, she knew she couldn't keep this going forever, and was grateful when Topaz decided to return the favor Rin had given her and smacked Cayenne with a pink bow sticker. However, she got a bit carried away and hit him with a bit more force than she had intended, making Cayenne topple backwards in shock. He laid on the cement floor for moment and stared up at the two girls above him.
"Oops," Topaz said, her eyes wide. "Sorry, Cayenne-Chan."
"He'll live," Rōzu said with a shrug. "And it could be worse. You could have given him a black-eye."
"I feel like there's a story there…" Cayenne said with a grunt as Topaz helped him to his feet.
"There is, but we've got other things to worry about right now," Rōzu said.
Berry and Mint took on Jalapeno, and Jade couldn't stop glancing away from the screen to watch. Then, Jade suddenly had a mischievous smirk. She had a few stickers, too.
Berry and Mint both paused in confusion as Jalapeno teetered backwards, blinking a few times and looking around like he wasn't sure how he got there. Which he didn't. Or why he had a sticker shaped like a cellphone with a smiley-face emoji on it.
Jade's smirk just grew as she said,
"Hey, I wanted to smack one of them, too."
"Fair enough," Mint said with a shrug, and Berry laughed.
Pepper side-stepped the Chimera, letting it fall forward before she seized the parasite within.
"You're out of practice, Kisshu!" Pepper taunted. "This is just lame! If this was your best against the Mew Mews, no wonder they kicked your butt!"
The infuriated Kisshu was about to make another Chimera when a pink blur came out of nowhere, smacking Kisshu very hard in the face and sending him falling backwards.
"Ow…" Kisshu groaned as he sat up, holding his jaw, his cheek now bearing a pink kitten sticker. "Koneko-Chan, I think you dislocated my jaw."
"Good!" Ichigo yelled at him, before dissolving into a fit of hacking coughs.
"I don't think it matters how good Kisshu's Chimeras are, Pepper," Bell said softly. "Because Mew Ichigo can always do that."
"Good point," Pepper said, nodding some.
"Will someone please explain just what the heck is going on?" Tart said as he flicked remaining bits of pudding off his arms.
"And why did you all feel the need to slap us with… actually, what is this?" Shinji asked, rubbing the sticker on his cheek.
"Berry?" Ryou said when he looked up, for the first time realizing that the former Mew was there. Then his brow furrowed. "Why are you dressed like that?"
"Tasuku?" Keiichiro said, realizing the same. "What are you two doing here?"
"Who are they?" Mylo asked, gesturing to Berry and Tasuku.
"I think Tart's question takes priority," Cayenne commented.
Meanwhile, the silently fuming Mari was no longer going to be silent.
"You ruin everything!" She screeched, stamping her foot. She angrily raised an arm to point at Berry. "You are going to regret this!"
Mari's anger only grew when eleven male eyes turned to her and simultaneously said, in very confused voices,
"Who is she?"
"Those stickers work really well," Mint commented.
Fuming, Mari yelled,
"Sues, attack!"
Just like before, fake Mews seems to pour out of the woodwork.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Zen yelled in horror.
Rin sighed and almost lazily flicked out one of her fans, which easily cut through three of the nearest fake Mews, who dissolved into puddles to the horror of the males who hadn't seen this yet.
"They're not really alive, or human, or anything," Zakuro yelled in explanation as she unfurled her whip.
"They just look like it, na no da!" Pudding said in the middle of a backflip.
"If we live, we'll explain!" Pepper said, jumping on a Sue—who was dueling Topaz—from behind and yanking on the Sue's pendant.
"But for now, we need to stop these Sues!" Berry said as she slashed at a Sue.
Still having no real idea of what was going on, Kish, Pie, Tart, Zen, Mylo, Jalapeno and Cayenne decided to join the fight while Ryou, Keiichiro, Masaya and Shinji continued to follow Jade and Homare's orders. They still weren't sure why they were slapped, but they decided that this was the best course of action in order to prevent the experience from happening again.
Within minutes, the Sues' forces were decimated. It appeared that there were no more. They were victorious.
"Yay!" Bell said cheerfully, clapping her hands excitedly as she bounced up and down on the spot. "We got rid of them all!"
"No reinforcements, so it looks like we cleaned them all out, including the ones from earlier," Tasuku said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Um," Lettuce said, her eyes wide. "Perhaps… not all of them…"
For there were two Mew Ichigo's standing a few feet apart, glaring the other down.
They were identical down to the hair. Matching grimaces, matching stances, tails twitching in unison. They both looked sick as well, with labored breathing and red noses. They both clutched identical Strawberry Bells.
And, somehow, they both had matching Mew Pendants.
"Oh no," Chile groaned, putting his hand to his head.
"I guess it would be fruitless to ask which one of you is the real Mew Ichigo," Masaya said.
Both Mew Ichigos turned to him at the same time and said, "I am!" They even sounded alike.
Masaya sighed.
"I thought so," He said.
"We just need to ask a question that only the real Ichigo knows the answer to, na no da!" Pudding said optimistically.
"Mother's maiden name!" Jade threw out.
"Kaihori," Both Ichigos answered together, then glared at each other for knowing the answer.
"Oh. Okay." Jade said, blinking once. "That… didn't go according to the plan in my head."
Mint suddenly thought of something and turned to Berry and Tasuku.
"What are the chances," She said. "That the St. Rose Crusaders have been spying on us lately?"
"Kinda highly likely?" Berry said, biting her lip. "Why?"
"Because just about any question we could ask, the Sue already knows the answer to," Mint said. "Not helped by the fact that Kish gave more than half of them away a few weeks ago in a creepy stalker version of trivial pursuit."
"It seemed like such a good idea at the time…" Kish said sadly.
"Well obviously it wasn't!" One of the Ichigos snapped.
"Ooh, she's sassy, I think she's the real one," Chile said.
"Of course she's being sassy, she wants you to think she's the real me!" The other Ichigo snapped.
"Obviously you're not! I am!"
"No, I am!"
"My fuzzy tail you are!"
"Great," Mylo said irritably as the two Ichigos continued to spat. "Now how do we find out which is the one we need to kill?"
"We could see which melts with Rōzu's fire," Pepper suggested.
"But then the real Ichigo could get burned," Cayenne said.
"Rirī can fix that," Bell said with a small wave of her hand. Then her eyes widened with an idea. "Ooh, ooh, we just need to see which one bleeds for real! Just a small cut with a sword…"
"I believe we can do this without bodily harm," Pie said with a small frown, contemplating the puzzle before him.
"Why don't we just have Kish try to kiss one of them?" Rōzu suggested, causing everyone to turn to her.
"Why?" Tasuku asked. "What will that do?"
"Kish can't kiss the real Ichigo," Homare said, eyes widening as she saw Rōzu's point. "If he can kiss one of them, she's the fake."
"How?" Zen asked, confused.
"Long story," Rirī said.
"That would definitely work," Ryou said with a nod.
"It wouldn't work for me!" Kish said, glaring at Rōzu. "If I pick the fake one to kiss, the real one is going to kick my butt into next week! And I pick the real one, I'm going to get flung across the room!"
"Um, what?" Mylo said, blinking once.
"We told you, long story," Rin said.
"Either way, there is a highly chance of there being bodily injury, to me!" Kish said. "And apparently I'm already in hot water for something, and I'm still not quite sure what, but I really, really don't want to add to the real Ichigo's anger towards me."
"Oh, grow up and pick one to kiss," Mint snapped at Kish. "It's the only way we're really going to solve this." She turned to the Ichigos. "If he does pick the fake one, the real one has to promise to not kill him, got it?"
They both seemed to consider it.
"Fine," The one on the left said.
"Depends on how long the kiss lasts," The one on the right said.
Kish's ear twitched.
He instantly knew which one was the real Ichigo, his Koneko-Chan.
He took a deep breath and took a few steps forward, all the while everyone wondered which direction he was going to go: left or right.
Kish stood in front of this Ichigo and stared deeply into her eyes. She watched him as he brought his hand up to her head, stroking her hair before he leaned in for the kiss.
Before his lips touched hers, he whispered two words.
Seconds later, he was flung backwards.
The very real Mew Ichigo took some deep, stabilizing breaths in the arms of Ryou and Masaya, both of whom had moved very quickly to catch her. Shakily, she got to her feet, the echo of Kish's whisper in her head.
"I'm sorry."
He was sorry, because he picked right. Literally.
He was sorry, because he knew sometimes picking the right thing was hard. Painful. And that was a sensation she was not eager to feel again anytime soon.
After a few shaky steps, she broke into a run to Kish's side as Pie and Mylo helped him get to his feet. She threw her arms around his neck, nearly toppling him.
"Have I told you lately that I love you? Even if you are a stupid alien?" She asked, burying her face in his shoulder.
Kish smiled and hugged her tightly.
"I can't remember," He said. "I think it was the sparks I felt with you."
"Then let me tell you this. I love you. Even though you are a stupid alien."
"I love you, too, Koneko-Chan,"
The fake Mew Ichigo, fuming, turned back into Mew Mangosteen. Her pink hair whitened and lengthened at the same time, her outfit changing colors and drastically changing the amount of coverage.
"So, what?" She demanded bitterly. "Are you just going to kill me now? Because for every one of us you kill, there's a thousand more ready to come after. You'll never be able to win."
"Actually," Jade said. "We just might. We just totally crashed your bosses' computer. And I installed a virus that is completely un-hackable. No one is going to be able to break the code. No more Sues."
Mew Mangosteen scoffed.
"So you broke one computer, big deal. There's more than one," She said.
"Let me elaborate, then," Jade said with a wicked grin. "Your bosses made a big mistake in that they connected all the computers to the same network. Probably controlled by one or two people, right? Well, now they're all hacked and useless. Not to mention, the hard-drives now have instructions to self-destruct, which should happen in three… two… one…"
There was a loud bang from inside the computer that Jade had been messing with the entirety of the battle. Black smoke was emitting from it.
"Oh yeah, and now the authorities in each of these places, and those in this super-secret Agency, have been alerted to exactly where these factories are and the exact movements of the St. Rose Crusaders. Funny how they thought that staying connected to the computers wherever they go was going to be a good idea. Well, live and learn, right?"
Mew Mangosteen gaped for a moment, then her pretty face twisted with anger.
"Why you little—"
But she never got to finish her sentence. Her eyes widened as a sword blade came out from her chest, which was then was quickly withdrawn before she crumpled to the floor in a pile of goo.
Topaz scowled down at the goo as she sheathed her sword. She took a deep breath and then smiled up at everyone.
"I've been wanting to do that all day." She said rather cheerfully.
And for one brief moment, everyone present was terrified of Yuuka Topaz.
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Scene Divider)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
"Today has been a weird day," Zen observed as they left the warehouse.
"I really wish I remembered more of it," Keiichiro admitted. He was not alone.
"That's okay, we're gonna fill you in on absolutely everything you bakas did under Mew Mangosteen's spell," Rōzu said, hopping up onto Pie's back.
"Yeah, you guys aren't going to be living this down for a while," Mint said as she gave Shinji's hand a squeeze.
"Fair enough," He said with a sigh. "It does sound like we weren't the best people to be around. Or the nicest."
"Yeah, I think we all owe you guys apologies for having to put up with us," Ryou said, wrapping his arm around Zakuro's waist.
"And, thanks, for breaking the spell," Tart said.
"No problem, na no da," Pudding said, kissing Tart's cheek.
Suddenly, there came a beeping sound from Berry and Tasuku's wrists. They both brought up the wrists with the watches and pressed buttons on them.
"Sorry to run off on you guys like this," Berry said, looking up. "But we've got to go."
"Apparently, we're needed as back-up somewhere else," Tasuku said. "Apparently the Sues and Stus are going nuts after Jade blew up their computers."
"Do you want help?" Ichigo asked.
"Nah, we'll be alright," Berry said with a smile. She grabbed Tasuku's hand. "Like I said, you guys have got your own problems to deal with. This one's ours. And it's looking like it's coming to a close."
"Well, then, good luck and be safe," Rirī said. "It was nice to meet you!"
"Same! We'll meet again, you can count on that!" Tasuku said as he and Berry turned to run in the opposite direction from whence they approached the warehouse, their shoes converting to skates as they left.
"I forgot how much I missed fighting with Berry," Ichigo said with a wistful sigh. "She was a great addition to Tokyo Mew Mew."
"Tasuku as well," Masaya said with a nod. He glanced at his own watch. "Ah, man, it's so late."
"Eeek, Mom and Dad are going to kill us, Shinji!" Homare said, her eyes widening when she saw the time.
"Better them than those Sues," Shinji said with a shudder.
"So, I guess whatever temporary truce we had is over, then?" Topaz asked.
"Eh, let's give it a day or two to recover," Rin said.
"Good," Chile said. "It will take Zen, Mylo, Cayenne and Jalapeno that long to clean up my kitchen."
"What did we do to your kitchen?" Mylo asked.
"It's not what you did," Pepper said. "It's what Zen did, but since you all were stupid today, you can all clean it up."
"Fair enough," Cayenne said with a sigh. Then he turned to his younger brother. "But you're exaggerating, right? About it taking a few days?"
Chile grinned wickedly.
"I'll let you see before you decide if I'm exaggerating or not," He said.
"What have I done?" Zen asked in horror.
"See you in a few days, then," Ichigo said as the Tokyo Defenders headed in the opposite direction.
"Oh, and we have totally earned a day off from work tomorrow," Mint said.
"Again, fair enough," Keiichiro said with a sigh.
"Girls' day!" Jade said enthusiastically, throwing her arms around Lettuce's neck from behind, causing her cousin to stumble some but then laugh.
As they continued on the walk before teleporting, a thought suddenly hit Bell from where she rode on Jalapeno's back, her arms around his neck.
"Jalapeno," She said, turning her head to look at her brother, resting the side of her face on his shoulder. "You also need to send an apology to that girl."
Jalapeno didn't stop walking but turned his head some, giving Bell a questioning look. Bell was extremely pleased that she could understand him again.
"For acting stupid and not being in love with her for a few hours, and I know you love her," Bell said.
Jalapeno gave her another look and Bell said defensively,
"You know exactly who I'm talking about. The one you write all those poems for. The one who has grass-green hair and eyes like the sky."
Jalapeno stopped walking and looked absolutely horrified.
"Hey, I was trying to figure out what was wrong with you, that's the only reason I read them! And the poems you wrote for Mew Mangosteen were way too mushy, by the way. There's cute love poems and then there's gross love poems and those were definitely gross. Not like the ones for the—"
Bell was surprised to find Jalapeno's hand clamped over her mouth. Cayenne turned back at noticing Bell stopped talking. He had heard Bell speak, but wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. He asked,
"Is something wrong?"
Jalapeno said nothing, not even with his eyes, and pulled Bell off his back and dropped her into Cayenne's arms, teleporting off without a word. But, was it Cayenne's imagination or was Jalapeno's face red?
Bell sat stunned in Cayenne's arms, then looked up at her brother, who was just as confused.
"What was that about?" He asked.
Bell just shook her head, truly not knowing.
So, yeah, it's been my headcanon for a while now that Mint is bi (which her crush on Zakuro helped her realize). And that Pie's demi.
But thus ends Mew Mangosteen's reign of terror. Hopefully I'll get another chapter out soon!
