Author's Note: Without further delay, here is the final chapter of The Black Mew Mew. There will be two very special guest stars appearing at the very end of this story. I'm not going to name who they are, but I think the disclaimer will be a big hint.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew (or Sailor Moon).
Chapter 10: Back In Pink
As Ichigo and Masaya were about to face Moreau, the rest of Tokyo Mew Mew were on their way to save Ichigo, unaware of what had just occurred. They were out the door as soon as Ryou and Keiichiro found out the location of Moreau's mansion. Though the Mew Mews had still not recovered from their battle with Ichigo. When they arrived they found that all of the guards had been knocked out. They also found the hyena monster that was Dr. Marcus, which awoke right when the Mew Mews entered the house and lunged at them.
"Ribbon Loveberry Check!" Berry cried as she fired a blast of red energy from her wand.
The blast hit the already wounded Dr. Marcus, reverting him back to his human form and knocking him to the ground. After the attack, Berry fell to her knees.
"Are you alright Berry?" Lettuce asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah, but that attack took a lot more out of me than I thought it would." Berry replied. "I guess I'm still weak from fighting Ichigo."
"Maybe we should go back." Mint suggested.
"No, I'll be fine." Berry said reassuringly. "You girls go on ahead. Ichigo and Masaya need our help. I'll join you when I can."
The rest of the Mew Mews nodded and headed upstairs to where they thought Ichigo might be.
Meanwhile, Ichigo and Masaya were still about to face Moreau. The boy genius had an arrogant smile on his face as he held the Chimera Stone.
"So what do the two of you intend to do now?" Moreau asked. "In case you've forgotten I'm a mere mortal. At the moment I possess no superhuman powers like the two of you do. It would be an unfair fight, especially since I have an illness that makes me frail."
"We can still destroy the machine you plan to use to spread the power of the Chimera Stone across the planet." Ichigo pointed out. "Plus it would be pretty easy for us to take the stone from you."
"How very true." Moreau said as he suddenly put the Chimera Stone on around his neck. "But then again taking the stone from me might not be as easy as you first thought. For you see my dear Ichigo you are not the only one who can use the stone's power. I can use it as well. All one needs to activate it is a will to survive and become strong, and there is no one with a greater will to do that than I."
Suddenly the stone flashed and Moreau began glowing with an aura of green light. His white hair suddenly grew past his shoulders and his ears became a little more pointed. His eyes became emerald green with slit-like pupils, and his teeth became pointed. Moreau's fingernails suddenly turned into claws, and he ripped off his shirt to reveal a muscular upper body.
"Now then, this make things a little more fair." Moreau said in a deeper more bestial voice. "Think you still have what it takes to beat me?"
Ichigo answered his question by leaping at Moreau and hitting him with a roundhouse kick to the face. The kick was strong enough to knock Moreau to the ground. Ichigo was a little surprised. It wasn't as strong a kick as one she could've delivered as the Black Mew Mew, but it was a little stronger than kicks she could've given before.
"Well, well, it seems that the Chimera Stone was not a total waste on you." Moreau said with an amused smirk as he got up and rubbed his cheek. "That might actually leave a bruise. Still, you are no match for me now that I have become the perfect being!"
Masaya then charged at Moreau and raised his sword at him. Moreau caught the blade as it came at him and then kicked Masaya in the gut. Moreau then threw Masaya back against the far wall of the room. The impact was so strong that it left an impression. Immediately Ichigo went over to Masaya's side.
"Are you okay?" Ichigo asked with a very worried expression.
"I'm fine." Masaya said with a reassuring smile as he got back to his feet. "He's a little stronger than I expected though."
At that moment Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, and Zakuro entered the room. The four of them were very surprised about what they saw.
"Um, what happened before we got here?" Mint asked with a confused expression. "Ichigo is back in her old pink costume and that Moreau guy has turned into a monster. What's going on?"
"Ah, it seems that most of the other Mew Mews have arrived." Moreau stated. "This fight is getting more entertaining by the minute."
"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!" Lettuce cried as she fired a powerful stream of water at Moreau. Moreau was completely unharmed by the assault.
"How pathetic." Moreau laughed as his hand suddenly began to crackle with green electricity. "Let me show you what true power is all about!"
With that, Moreau brought his hands together and fired a massive green blast at the four Mew Mews. Ichigo quickly got in the path of the blast as she silently called for her weapon and blocked the attack with an energy barrier. The attack lasted for about two minutes.
"Are you girls okay?" Ichigo asked.
"We're fine." Lettuce told her. "It's great seeing you back to your real self again Ichigo."
"Weaklings, all of you!" Moreau boasted, interrupting the moment between Ichigo and the other Mew Mews. "None of you has the strength to defeat me, for I have gained true strength through the Chimera Stone!"
"You're wrong Anton!" Ichigo declared. "You may think that the human race has become weak and stagnant because we're no longer like the animals, but that's because we've evolved and gain something that makes us truly strong. The bonds we have with our family and friends and with those we love! That kind of strength is more powerful than the power of the Chimera Stone!"
"Love? Friendship?" Moreau laughed. "Those are useless emotions that the weak cling to! True power is being able to stand on your own and crush your enemies!"
"That's not true!" Masaya maintained. "Without the love Ichigo has for me I would've lost myself and destroyed the human race! She gave me a heart, and with that heart I was able to overcome the darkness within me! And tonight it allowed me to regain my powers to come here and save Ichigo!"
"Anton, you may think that you've evolved into the perfect being, but you've really devolved!" Ichigo declared.
"Enough of this!" Moreau shouted. "It's time I finished you pathetic Mew Mews off once and for all!"
With that, Moreau fired another energy blast from his hands. The heroes scattered to dodge the attack. Pudding hit Moreau with a beam of gold light that encased him in a large orange gelatin-like dome. Moureau quickly broke free however, but just as he did Mint hit him in the chest with an energy arrow. Zakuro then got in close and hit Moreau with her energy whip. Lettuce finished things off with another blast of water that actually knocked him to the ground.
"This ends now!" Ichigo declared as she brought her weapon forward and Masaya took a position next to her. "Ribbon Strawberry Check!"
"Indigo Comet Blade!" Masaya cried as he added a blade of blue energy from his sword to the massive pink energy blast fired by Ichigo.
Just as Moreau got back to his feet he was hit by the attack, causing him to cry out. The chain that held the Chimera Stone around his neck broke, causing it to fly back to the end of the room. When the attack ended Moreau had reverted back to his human form and fell to the ground face first. Ichigo walked over to Moreau and saw that he was unconscious but breathing. Masaya meanwhile went over and picked up the Chimera Stone.
"I think we should get this thing back to Ryou." Masaya said as he held up the stone. "It'll be a lot safer in his hands."
"Uh, hey girls?" Ichigo said to the other Mew Mews. "I'm sorry about… what I did to you back at the café."
"You don't have to say anything more about it." Zakuro told her. "We all know that the Chimera Stone was driving you crazy. So let's just forget about the whole thing."
"Thanks, all of you." Ichigo smiled.
"Miss Ichigo." A voice suddenly called, causing everyone to turn. The group saw that it was Moreau's manservant, Montgomery.
"What do you want?" Ichigo asked.
"I feel I must apologize for everything that's happened." Montgomery explained. "I did not think that Moreau's mad scheme would go this far. If I had known it would I would've stopped Moreau myself."
"Why did Moreau want to use the Chimera Stone to transform the human race?" Masaya asked.
"Because he thought it would make the world a better place." Montgomery told him. "He truly believed that regressing people back to an animal state would bring out their true potential. I suppose that belief came from his father. Mr. Moreau's father was a cold and ruthless tyrant. He never showed his son, which might have partly been because he blamed Moreau for his mother's death. But whatever the reason was, he taught Moreau that only those who're strong and ruthless can succeed."
"I guess that does explain a lot." Ichigo agreed. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I will take care of Moreau." Montgomery assured her. "Hopefully he has learned a lesson tonight from all of this. In the meantime you should leave and take the Chimera Stone with you. See to it that it never falls into the wrong hands again."
Ichigo nodded and with that she, Masaya, and the rest of the Mew Mews left. The war for the Chimera Stone had come to an end.
A week had passed since the final battle with Moreau. Life had more or less gone back to normal, though a few changes had occurred. One big one was that Masaya had decided to stay in Japan to continue his studies. He felt that after all that had happened he needed to be closer to Ichigo. Meanwhile, Ryou had given Ichigo a few weeks off from the café, and Berry and Tasuku had agreed to start working a few shifts there to make things easier for Ichigo. Masaya had started working there too for the same reason. That afternoon, Ichigo and Masaya were at the park sitting against a tree after having lunch.
"You know one of the good things about all the stuff that's happened is that I can now use my powers again without turning into a housecat." Ichigo suddenly said. "According to Ryou the Chimera Stone actually stabilized my wildcat DNA. Of course my cat ears and tail still pop out when I'm startled or excited."
"To tell you the truth I actually find your ears and tail to be pretty cute." Masaya told her, causing Ichigo to blush and said ears and tail to pop out. "But are you really glad to have your powers working again?"
"The thing that bothered me about not being able to become a Mew Mew was not being able to help the other girls when they were fighting." Ichigo told him as she quickly willed her ears and tail to vanish. "And it also bothered me not being able to help anyone else. I never wanted to become a Mew Mew, but I guess it was always my destiny. And maybe this whole thing with the Chimera Stone was all a test to prove I was still able to be one."
"I just don't want you to get hurt." Masaya told her.
"That's why I have you along to protect me, right?" Ichigo said before planting a kiss on his lips. Masha suddenly beeped and projected a hologram of Keiichiro in front of the couple.
"Uh, sorry to bother you two, but we have an emergency." Keiichiro said to the couple.
"What's up?" Ichigo asked.
"Another rogue Chimera Anima has popped up near Tokyo Tower." Keiichiro explained. "The others are already out there, but it's a lot stronger than we expected."
"We'll be right there." Ichigo told him, and with that the hologram vanished. Ichigo then turned to Masaya. "Ready to go?"
"Whenever you are." Masaya replied.
"Mew Mew Strawberry Metamorphosis!" Ichigo cried, causing her to be enveloped in a pink light, which faded to reveal her Mew Mew form.
At the same time Masaya was enveloped in a blue light as he changed into the Blue Knight. With their transformations finished the couple rushed off to the battle. Not too far away was another couple that had been watching them. One was a young and rather handsome young man with black hair wearing a black shirt, grey pants, and a matching grey sport coat. The other was a young woman with blond hair arranged in a style that had two long pigtails that ended just past her waist. She was wearing a white shirt, light-blue jacket, and a pink skirt that ended just above the knees.
"Well there they go." The young man commented. "Should we go help them Usako?"
"They'll be fine Mamo-chan." The blond replied. "Besides, this is the first day off you've had in weeks and you promised to take me out."
"You're right." The young man chuckled. "Let's get going then."
With that, the mystery couple went on their way as Mew Ichigo and the Blue Knight jumped through the city.
THE END
Author's Note: I think it's pretty obvious who my two "guest stars" were. I just couldn't resist putting them in. Plus it opens up the possibility of a crossover. As for leaving Berry out of the final battle, it kinda made sense to me since she got so banged up while fighting Ichigo. One of the purposes of this story was to set it up so Ichigo could safely use her powers again, and so that Masaya could once again become the Blue Knight. DragonKnight15 asked in a review if I was going to do something like that, and in truth that was something that was planned since Day 1 of this story.
So in closing I would like to once again thank everyone who read and hopefully reviewed this story. It was fun finally getting this idea off the ground. Still, I do think I may have disappointed a few people. One person wanted Ichigo to keep her Chimera Stone induced powers. But as much fun as it was to write Ichigo as the Black Mew Mew, it had to come to an end. Others wanted me to do stuff with some of the other characters. If this had been a longer story I probably would have. Still, I'm glad that so many people liked this story, and it's a good bet that this won't be my last Tokyo Mew Mew tale. I have a few ideas that haven't been fully developed yet. One is that crossover I mentioned I might do at some point. Another idea I have will depend on what I decide to do with Mint and Zakuro. So keep your eyes open, and in the meantime please review and let me know what you think. ~The Count