That night, Leon and the five Mew Mews spread in teams of two and approached the so-called Legendary Inn from different routes…
"So this is Hinata House…" Leon said as he stared at the Legendary Inn's front…
"Hinata House?" Retasu, his partner, asked him…
"That's the Legendary Inn's real name. This place has been giving Andr nightmares ever since his only visit there. It affected him so badly he told every guy he met to never go there" Leon said. "That must be why only women ever come here…"
"But it looks like an ordinary traditional Japanese inn" Retasu said…
"And as far as I know, it is. But if Andr's description of its tenants is to be believed, that inn may as well be inhabited by hellspawn" Leon said…
Retasu gulped. "Are they that bad?"
"Andr once said a former friend of his has been held prisoner inside under extreme torture conditions for 7 years and he's still being tortured to this day" Leon said…
"Sounds like a horror story to me" Retasu said, shivering…
Meanwhile Minto and Zakuro were approaching Hinata House from the back. Minto flew high in the dark sky, while Zakuro moved silently among the trees and bushes of the forest like a night predator. As for Ichigo and Bu-Ling, they had arrived at the closed teahouse…
"Is everyone in position?" Andr asked via the comm…
"Team 1 is in position" Leon replied…
"Team 2 is in…" Zakuro was about to say, but the sound of heavy artillery interrupted her…
"Waaaaah!" Minto cried as she was able to barely dodge anti-air cannon ammo aimed at her. She had to make an emergency landing inside the forest to avoid getting blown to bits…
"Team 2! What happened?" Andr asked over the comm…
"They've got freaking anti-air cannons in their hot spring! These people are completely insane!" Minto replied…
Retasu gasped and covered her mouth in horror…
"Told ya" Leon said to Retasu…
"They must have installed those to prevent perverts from peeking in from above" Andr explained…
"That's some over-the-top protection of female privacy there! No wonder Leon grew to be so violent in a neighborhood with people like that!" Ichigo said…
"Welcome to my world" Leon replied sarcastically…
"By the way, Team 3 is in position" Ichigo said…
Minto reunited with Zakuro. "Team 2 is in position" Zakuro said…
"It worries me that splitting the Mew Mews might diminish their effectiveness. They are team players" Ryou pointed out…
"We're trying to cause enemy forces to spread far from each other so they can't reinforce in time" Andr replied…
"How big do you calculate the enemy force defending an inn can possibly be?" Keiichiro asked…
"No more than 10 people, I hope" Andr said. "Alright. Proceed with caution. I bet those anti-air cannons aren't their only defense mechanism"
"Roger" Leon said as he walked towards the inn. He soon heard a blip under his foot where he stepped. "What the fuck?"
Retasu was quick to pull Leon away a split second before the landmine exploded…
"They've got a fucking minefield in their front garden!" Leon screamed over the comm. to mission control…
"That's very unwelcoming from a so-called Legendary Inn…" Ryou said…
"Hmmm… It must be because rounding the inn must be the path perverts would take to spy on the girls in their dorms. The only safe route would be to enter from where girls wanting to stay would: the cobblestone path to the front door" Andr said…
"How do you know all that stuff?" Ryou asked in disbelief…
"Get into the enemy's head. Calculate their moves based on their own way of thinking" Andr said…
Minto and Zakuro found themselves in front of a wire fence. "Let me guess: Electrified fence to prevent perverts from climbing up the hot spring wall" Minto said with sarcasm…
Andr analyzed it from the base "Indeed electrified" he replied…
"If I ever want to go skinny-dipping in a hot spring without being peeped on, I'll do it in this inn" Zakuro joked, even though her voice and expression were as cold and emotionless as usual…
"Well, luckily Bu-Ling and I got the teahouse. There's no way anyone will do anything perverted in here, so there mustn't be any anti-pervert traps" Ichigo said…
"Don't get cocky. Remember that's the place where they gave out the Parasite Aliens to those girls" Ryou told her over the comm…
The front door of the teahouse was closed, but there was an open window in plain sight. "We can enter through this window" Ichigo said…
"That's weird. Kitsune wouldn't leave such an obvious opening unless she wanted you to go in from there" Andr said…
"Kitsune?" Ryou asked…
"That's her nickname because of her cunning and her facial features. The one handing the Parasite Aliens to the girls has to be her" Andr said…
Leon and Retasu walked carefully, staying on the path as if they were going to actually stay at the inn…
"We're in" Ichigo told to mission control. The small teahouse had only a few tables. "Work would be so much easier if Mew Mew Café were this small"
"No. It would be boring" Bu-Ling objected. "Mew Mew Café has enough space for my acrobatics show"
"The Parasite Aliens would be too dangerous to carry out in the open, so their supply should be coming from some kind of underground tunnel. Look for a passage taking you to an underground storage or something and destroy all the Parasites you find" Ryou said…
Both girls checked the entire place. Bu-Ling checked behind the counter and found a small metallic robot turtle, but it was turned off. "What a curious turtle-shaped robot" she said casually…
"Quick! Smash it now!" Andr suddenly shouted…
"Hey, I found it!" Ichigo said as she opened a secret path taking to an underground tunnel. When she did, the little robot turtle's eyes lit a menacing red…
"Destroy…" the robot turtle said, and soon many others emerged from behind every piece of furniture and from inside every drawer, until they formed a small army. They then each opened various compartments in their little bodies to deploy laser guns, missile launchers and mini gatling guns…
All that mission control and the rest of the team could hear was the screams of pain of Ichigo and Bu-Ling as well as the sounds of weapons and explosions you would normally hear in a warzone, before communication cut off…
"Ichigo! Oi, Ichigo!" Ryou screamed…
Horrified, Masaya immediately took a strange sword that was on the bunker's table and ran out of the house…
"Wait! I haven't finished it yet!" Andr shouted, but Masaya was already gone…
"Dr. Seto, what happened?" Ryou asked, worried…
"Mecha-Tama…" Andr replied as he laid both hands heavily on the control panel, with fear in his eyes. "It's a flying combat robot drone designed after a certain turtle, armed with lasers, missile launchers and mini gatling guns. Dr. Su must be working with them too!"
"Dr. Su?" Ryou asked…
"Of course! Only she could have the scientific expertise to genetically alter the Parasite Alien. She had to be with them on this! The entire house must be involved, which means…" Andr said, his hands trembling, his eyes getting tearful. He turned off his comm. so Leon and the remaining three Mew Mews wouldn't hear him sob. "I'm sorry, Shirogane-san… your magical girls are dead" he then stated tearfully, completely horrifying Ryou and Keiichiro…
Leon and Retasu had finally arrived at the front door, which of course was locked…
"What are we going to do now, Leon-san?" Retasu asked…
Leon simply kicked the front door of Hinata House down. Right behind the door was another Mecha-Tama waiting in ambush, and it immediately launched a missile at them. Leon and Retasu barely dodged it, complete with Retasu letting out a scream. As soon as he had the chance, Leon shot at the Mecha Tama with his arm cannon, successfully stunning it. "Now, Retasu-chan!"
"Ribbon: Lettuce Rush!" Retasu shouted as she blasted the already-sparking Mecha-Tama with her water attack, causing it to short-circuit and break…
"They knew we were coming…" Leon said…
"Negative, Leon. They have their defenses this high every night in case any perverts want to peep on them while in their rooms" Andr explained…
"Aw, come on! Who would want to peep on this trash dump anyway? Why don't perverts in this city just use the Internet like normal people?" Leon complained…
"That's the joke… Perverts have stopped going there long ago. Not since the most terrifying hellish beast from a man's worst nightmares came to live in it 7 years ago" Andr said…
"I have a feeling you're talking about that woman…" Leon said seriously…
"She has the looks of a woman… but she's a creature so vile and bloodthirsty that the word 'monster' doesn't even start to describe her!" Andr said, sounding more and more terrified as he spoke…
Somewhere deep in a secret underground tunnel under Hinata House, a path led to a cage of the type you would use to keep an animal. The door of the cage was open, and the 24-years-old woman with the ahoge that we had seen before was on top of someone, roaring fiercely and brutally punching the poor victim on the face with such strength that it sounded like a sledgehammer. The woman's fists were soaked in her victim's blood, and the victim's body twitched as if he still were alive even after such brutal punishment…
"She is only known as…" Andr said nervously, meanwhile the woman with the ahoge slowly raised her furious, murderous glare, camera focusing on her face. "…Naru Narusegawa!" Andr revealed. "She must have ordered to have all those crazy anti-pervert defense measures installed into the inn and its surroundings"
Retasu gulped again. "M-Maybe when she was younger someone… um… 'took advantage' of her, and she's traumatized because of it" she said…
"Yeah, but the bitch is extending her revenge to the entire city! There's no excuse for that!" Leon said…
"Actually, it may not be Naru that's behind the Alien Parasite operation. You see, Naru has been 'happily' married for 4 years now. Her husband would never cheat on her, no matter what" Andr said…
"What? …If Narusegawa-san isn't the mastermind behind the murders, then who is?" Retasu asked…
Andr started to sob through the comm. "Someone who also loved Naru's husband. Someone whose tender and loving heart was shattered into pieces when the man she loved married another woman. Someone who might secretly harbor a grudge and want to get revenge on every boyfriend… Someone that I…"
Retasu gasped in horror. "Dr. Seto, no! I'm sure she would never do that to you! …Andr-san?"
"The communication was cut" Leon said…
Andr was crying, the comm. turned off so the team wouldn't hear him…
"Dr. Seto…" Ryou said…
"It's okay… I suppose my greatest fear has been confirmed" Andr said, trying to fake a smile even though he couldn't stop crying…
"Dr. Seto, do you know who the mastermind behind the recent atrocities is? Please tell us!" Ryou asked…
"It's… Shinobu Maehara" Andr revealed, shocking Ryou and Keiichiro…
Meanwhile Leon and Retasu explored the eerily empty inn as they discussed the same matter…
"If Andr told you anything about Shinobu Maehara, it surely is how full of kindness and generosity she is. Someone like her could never mastermind a series of murders" Leon said to Retasu…
"I agree with you, Leon-san. There must be a mistake. Someone Dr. Seto loves so much couldn't possibly…" Retasu said, but she was interrupted by a thick root that crashed through the window, snatched her and pulled her away screaming…
"Retasu-chan!" Leon screamed, but before he could go after her, a girl with short light blue hair suddenly burst through a nearby door and blocked his way…
"You're not getting out of here alive, pervert!" the girl with light blue hair and a psychotic look said, soon transforming into a floating mermaid Chimera Anima with a big broadsword and a shield, though still conserving the face and naked torso of her human form, but with blue scaly skin and fins where her ears were. Retasu, meanwhile, had been pulled outside by a flat-chested tomboy with pink hair, green eyes, red shirt and black boots, who had the root she pulled Retasu with coming from her body…
"Do you really depend on a man? That's so pathetic. It makes me wanna crush you! Cha!" the tomboy with pink hair said, and transformed into a Chimera Anima shaped like a cherry tree, but with the tomboy's naked upper half as part of the trunk…
Minto and Zakuro fared no better. They were able to get past the electric fence, but the back of Hinata House was where most defenses were concentrated. Now an entire army of Mecha-Tamas was unleashing their arsenal at them, forcing them to desperately run for their lives…
"Team 2! Do you read me?" Ryou shouted desperately, but then he heard the sound of an explosion…
"We've lost contact with Minto and Zakuro!" an alarmed Keiichiro said, unable to keep his calm expression any longer…
"Nooooooo!" Ryou screamed in anger and frustration as he slammed his fists into the control panel…
Leon was barely able to dodge his opponent's sword swipes and jump back, but ended up cornered against a wall. "Andr! They've got Chimera Anima protecting the inside of the building! …Andr? Answer me!" Leon yelled, but the communication was still cut as Andr was too distraught and depressed to do his job…
"Team 1! Abort the mission! I repeat, abort the mission!" Ryou yelled over the comm…
"It's a little too late for that!" Leon replied before being slashed by the sword of the mermaid Chimera Anima, while Retasu got punched against the wall by one of the thick roots of the cherry tree Chimera Anima…
