So, there'll be an update on Monday, and then there'll be one every other Monday till the end of June, when my class ends. I don't have a clue what I'll do after that.

Chapter Eleven:

"Again," Ryou ordered.

"Give it up, Ryou," Ichigo snapped, de-transforming from her Mew Ichigo form wrapping her jacket around her tighter. "We've been working on this for over an hour."

"We just can't do it," Mint said, de-transforming as well, shivering slightly. "It's not like we're not trying."

"You did it back on Cynnth," Ryou argued.

"And we still don't know how we did it," Zakuro said, also de-transforming along with Lettuce and Pudding.

"We just can't go Ultimate, na no da," Pudding said.

"What happened that made you go Ultimate?" Shinji asked.

"That's part of the problem, we just can't remember," Lettuce said. She sighed and looked over at Pie and Masaya, both sitting cross-legged in the grass, Pie's eyes closed while Masaya's eyes were open. "How is the whole 'Find-Inner-Knightly-Self' thing going over there?"

"Okay," Masaya said.

"Horrible," Pie said bitterly.

"Well, okay then," Lettuce said.

Pie sighed as he climbed to his feet.

"I have been trying for days now to transform into the White Knight again, but nothing seems to be working," He said.

Masaya sighed.

"And I don't know what to tell you," He said. "To be honest, I never truly figured out the exact science as to how the Blue Knight thing actually worked."

"Well, we know the transformation was more or less connected to Ichigo," Kish said. "So, shouldn't that mean that the White Knight transformation is connected to Lettuce?"

"Don't look at me, I don't know anything either!" Ichigo said, making her way towards inside the Café, tired of being in the cold.

"I just don't get it," Tart said, picking up the soccer ball he had been juggling. "It's like every time we turned around, there was the Blue Knight. So, why hasn't the White Knight made more appearances? Or the Green and Red Knights?"

"Probably because unlike Ichigo, Lettuce and Pudding know to stay away from potentially deadly situations instead of running headfirst into them," Ryou said in a low voice. "Fortunately over the years, we've gotten better at stopping her from doing so."

"I heard that!" Ichigo yelled, sticking her head out the door. "And in the end, it's your fault I end up in those situations, Shirogane!"

"Believe it or not, Ichigo, I can live with that," Ryou retorted. Ichigo stuck out her tongue before slamming the door.

"Come on, it's cold out here," Rin said as she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets as she headed for the door.

"I think we have more important things to worry about than going 'Ultimate' or getting Pie to transform into the White Knight again," Zakuro said as they sat around the kitchen counter, each with a hot drink in front of them. "Like getting our hands on more Mew Aqua."

"I thought we had found it all, na no da," Pudding said as she wiped the whipped cream off of her upper lip with the back of her hand.

"Well, apparently not," Keiichiro said. "There's very little left here in Tokyo. Very little left in Japan for that matter."

"So, we just have to find it first," Rōzu said as she played with the spoon in her mug. She thought for a second, then said, "How do we do that?"

"Well, for better or for worse, the Mews are sensors for the Mew Aqua," Ryou said. "Ichigo and Lettuce in particular."

"It reacts best with Lettuce out of the two of us, though," Ichigo said as she poked at a marshmallow in her mug. "To the point that it changed her form."

"Changed her form?" Shinji repeated, turning to look at Lettuce, who smiled shyly.

"I turn into a mermaid if I'm in water in close contact with the Mew Aqua," She explained. "It's proven to be very helpful, especially since I can only swim in deep water when I'm in Mew Lettuce form. Being a mermaid just makes me faster and able go deeper under water."

"So, what else does the Mew Aqua do?" Rirī asked.

"Well, as you've seen, it can restore practically anything," Keiichiro said.

"Even life, na no da!" Pudding said with a grin. She looked at the other Mews, Kish, Pie, Tart and Masaya. "Thank goodness for that, or we wouldn't be sitting her, na no da. We couldn't have survived the last battle otherwise, na no da!"

Pie, Kish and Tart started shaking their heads with wide eyes, silently begging for Pudding to shut up, but it was too late. There was the sharp sound of porcelain hitting wood as Rin stared at her twin with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.

"Pie-Chan," She said in a painfully calm voice. "Would you care to elaborate on Pudding-Chan's statement and, at the same time, give me a complete answer as to why I could not feel you on the day of this battle?"

"No," Pie said simply.

Rin's eyes went into slits.

"Let me rephrase my request," Rin said, her voice still viciously calm. "Please give me—in full detail—a complete narration of this battle."

Rirī and Rōzu both looked up in interest, both curious to know what their brothers were keeping a secret from them. Pie gulped silently and looked to Kish and Tart for help.

"Oh, do not fret," Rin said, noticing the silent pleas. "I am going to have them give their story, as well. Full story. Now."

Pie sighed, then said,

"Fine. But, you have to swear to never, ever tell Mama and Papa."

"Oooh, it's one of those stories," Rirī muttered.

"I've never got to hear one of 'those' stories before!" Rōzu said excitedly.

Rin sighed.

"Fine," She said. "Start talking."

The humans sat in awkward silence as the three boys told their story, which quite truthfully did not put Pie in the best light, particularly when it came to explaining how Tart had been killed in the battle. Pie was unable to look at anyone for the most part, while Rirī and Rōzu's eyes got wider and wider as the story went on. Rin, on the other hand, had a completely blank expression and she lowered her gaze to her lap as well.

After the tale was told, all was silent.

Then Rin, still gazing down, slowly raised her arm and snapped her fingers.

From the window, they saw a pale haze covering the building. The Mews, Ryou and Keiichiro recognized it as a teleportation shield.

"Uh oh…" Kish, Tart, Rirī and Rōzu whispered, all having a bad feeling that they knew what was about to happen next. Pie gulped.

Then, sweetly, Rin said,

"Pie-Chan, my dear, darling brother, you have thirty seconds."

"To do what?" Pie asked warily. Then Rin lifted her head, her indigo eyes glowing blue with a large, scary grin on her face.

"To run, of course," She said.

Pie took a millisecond to process that information, then jumped up and indeed began running. Rin took off after him—apparently not having truly intended to give him a full thirty second lead—and chased him around the Café with a frying pan (where she had gotten it, no one was quite sure), occasionally landing a blow to the back of Pie's head.

"Now I see why you made us promise to not tell Mama and Papa," Rōzu said softly as they watched the scene.

"Should… we stop her?" Shinji asked.

"You want to get in the middle of that?" Rirī asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Good point…" Shinji admitted.

"Give her a while to cool, then we'll try talking to her rationally," Tart said, then winced as the frying pan met the back of Pie's skull.

"Oh, come on, Rin, we just finally got him nursed back to full health, and here you are giving him a concussion," Kish said softly, clicking his tongue disapprovingly.

"I thought Rin felt pain whenever Pie is in pain, so, isn't she also hurting herself technically?" Lettuce asked.

"Well, I would say she's probably cut him off, but she's also probably mentally screaming at him, therefore making the pain worth it," Rirī said.

"Makes sense," Zakuro said.

"So, back to the Mew Aqua," Masaya said. "We have any idea what these other elements look like?"

"That's what makes this a bit of a challenge," Keiichiro said. "We're not even one-hundred percent sure they exist."

"That does make this difficult," Ichigo said. "At least we still have a bit of Mew Aqua as a reference point."

"What exactly is it?" Shinji asked. "I mean, what's it made up of?"

"In short, it's pure, crystalized water," Ryou said.

"So, what you're saying is, right now everyone's frantically searching for ice?" Shinji said, incredulous.

"It's magic ice," Mint said.

"Magic ice," Shinji said, still looking doubtful.

"Wait, you're going to accept aliens that create monsters made out of animals, souls and human beings, some who are trying to take over the world, some who are trying to protect it, that your own girlfriend has bird DNA in her, and that this extremely pink and girly café is the secret headquarters of superheroes, but you're going to be skeptical when we say 'Magic ice'?" Ichigo asked.

"Call me crazy," Shinji said with a shrug.

They winced as they heard tables get knocked over in the other room.

"Heh, I actually thought that by now he'd either be unconscious, or she'd have cooled down enough to stop chasing him," Kish said. Tart sighed and stood up.

"I'll go stop her before she breaks his skull," Tart said.

"Thanks, Tart," Rirī said.

Tart jumped out of the way as Pie came flying through the swinging doors, Rin hot on his trail, her eyes still glowing. Tart flew up and grabbed her wrists, her frying pan above her head.

"Rin, Rin, stop!" Tart yelled. Rin froze, the glow in her eye diminishing as she looked at her brother curiously.

"But… but Taru…" She whimpered.

"Rin, it's done," Tart said in a firm voice. "It was done two and half years ago."

"But… but he…" Rin whined again.

"Rin," Tart said, even firmer. "This is why we didn't tell you before now. Because you have a tendency to react first and ask questions later."

"It's a philosophy that's gotten me this far in life," Rin muttered, studying the back of her frying pan, running her thumb over the edge. Tart face-palmed.

"Look, the point I was trying to make is that he's already apologized, and I've already forgiven Pie. And we haven't let it get between us at all since it happened. I advise you do the same," Tart said.

Rin lowered her frying pan and her head with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Taru," She muttered.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Pie, the one you've been chasing around and hitting with the frying pan," Tart said.

Rin turned on her heel and floated over to Pie.

"Sorry Pie-Chan," She muttered.

"Apology accepted," Pie said.

Tart nodded and turned to head back to his chair. As soon as his back was turned, Rin gave Pie a final smack on the back of the head with the frying pan before making it disappear.

When Pie gave her an incredulous look while rubbing the back of his head, Rin glared at him out of the corner of her eye and hissed,

"I'm not apologizing for that one."

With that, she sauntered back to her seat, Pie grudgingly following.

"So, seriously, this magic ice," Shinji said. "Exactly where did it come from?"

"Well, we're ninety-nine point nine percent sure that the Cyniclons who originated on Earth created it," Ichigo said. "The Mew Aqua Rod, too."

Suddenly, the six Cyniclons stared at her with wide-eyes, all clearly surprised, Pie, Kish and Tart especially.

"You… you didn't know that?" Lettuce said. The siblings shook their heads

"No, which is odd," Pie said, frowning. "I would have thought that our history would cover something like that."

"Maybe most people didn't know and only a few did, the ones who created it, that's why it wasn't documented," Keiichiro said. "Which I guess goes the same for the other elements."

"I know we stumbled onto Mew Aqua by complete accident," Ryou said. "But it didn't take long to figure out it's uses."

"Same with us," Kish said. His brow furrowed. "It's weird; almost like something or someone only wanted us to find the Mew Aqua, not anything else. I mean, what are the odds of two groups, enemies of each other, finding the same magic substance when there are three other ones that could be found?"

"Maybe the other ones are hiding, na no da," Pudding said. "They don't want to be found until later, or in a specific place, na no da."

"So, then," Rirī muttered. "Where do we begin our search?"

No one had an answer.

"What about the Mew Project?" Kish said softly.

"What about it?" Ryou asked.

"You said you and Keiichiro no longer have any control over it anymore," Tart said.

Keiichiro sighed.

"Not that we had much to begin with," He said somberly.

"The Mew Project was not intended for use on humans," Ryou said. "Our original target was other Red Data animals. But, the day we launched the project, we ran into an unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstance. There was an earthquake. Not big enough to cause any real damage, but enough that instead of the animals, the girls were hit."

"Dumb luck, really," Keiichiro said with a dry chuckle. "That their DNA was compatible. Otherwise, they would just be able to turn into an animal for a few minutes, like Ryou."

"You know about hindsight bias, where everything is perfectly clear and predictable after it has already happened?" Ryou said, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He grinned. "Yeah. Thinking back on it, that earthquake was a warning. That we'd never be completely in control."

"We didn't know who had what animal, or even who had been hit," Keiichiro said. "All we knew was that there was five, because that was how many samples of DNA we had put in, and there were zero when it had finished."

"Weapons, Mew Marks, attack names, even the uniforms was dependent who got what. Since they weren't the intended targets, we never did and still don't have any control over things like that," Ryou said. "We had no control over any of that, not even with how the girls transform. But recently, we've been seeing other signs that something has changed. Like how Pudding formed a shield a few weeks ago on Christmas Eve."

"So, what does this mean?" Ichigo asked. "The fact that you aren't in control over any part of the Mew project anymore?"

Ryou frowned.

"It means something has changed. But we don't know why or how," He said. "We just have to hope that time will tell."

They were all silent again, the conversation having come to a complete and total dead end, leaving them all with more questions than when they had begun.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( (Scene Divider))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) ))))))

Rōzu yawned as she floated half-asleep up the stairs, a glass of water in her hands. She slowly flew down the hall towards her room, then paused and flew backwards a bit. She frowned as she looked in the open doorway of her brothers' room. Kish and Tart were sound asleep and snoring, but where was Pie?

After thinking for a second, Rōzu teleported. Sure enough, she was right.

"Why are you on the roof?" She asked, floating over to her brother, who sat with a blanket around his shoulders, gazing up at the stars.

"Why are you awake?" Pie responded.

"Needed a drink," Rōzu said, sitting beside him. "Your turn to answer."

"Needed to think," Pie said, opening the blanket so that Rōzu could be wrapped up in it as well.

"How's your head?" Rōzu asked, snuggling into Pie.

"Fine, thank you," Pie said. He grimaced. "Though I cannot deny that Rin chose a good weapon to back her strength."

Rōzu chuckled. They were silent for a moment, then Pie said,

"Rōzu, I have a question for you."

"Uh huh?" Rōzu said, looking up at her brother.

Pie averted his gaze for a moment before speaking again,

"Rōzu, am I a good big brother?"

"Of course you are, Pie-Chan!" Rōzu said, squeezing her brother as tightly as her small arms could. "You're not perfect, and you make mistakes, but so does everybody else, right? You're good at taking care of us, and protecting us and always being there when we need you."

When she saw that Pie still wasn't convinced, she continued,

"The thing with Tart was a mistake, right?"

Pie nodded.

"One I wish I had not made," Pie muttered.

"Well, you weren't trying to kill Tart, right?"

Pie shook his head.

"I did not think I hit him that hard," He admitted. "I was just trying to injure him so that he would be forced to retreat. I just… lost control…"

"Everyone does at some point," Rōzu said. "And then you did something that you knew wouldn't fix the problem, but it would help others."

Pie finally looked down at his younger sister, to see her smiling up at him.

"The Mew Aqua gave you, Tart and Kish a second chance. It didn't do so for nothing. I think it would be a waste if you and Tart never spoke to each other again, or if he hadn't forgiven you, or if you hadn't said you were sorry. But, I also don't think that dwelling on it is a good use of this second chance. Past is past, and there's nothing that can change that. So you've got to look forward, to what lies in store, right?"

Pie smiled.

"And just where did you get to be so wise?" He asked, pulling Rōzu onto his lap and hugging her.

"I think I was born with it," Rōzu said, grinning as she hugged Pie back.

"Thank you, Rōzu," Pie said softly.

"You're welcome," Rōzu said. Her eyes twinkled as she smiled up at him. "That's why I exist as your little sister, you know."

They sat there together, watching the stars until Rōzu fell asleep again, a contented smile on her face.

She loved her strange and often scary family, no matter what. And she was just glad that they loved each other too, no matter how badly one of them messed up and how angry one was with another.

They weren't perfect, but no family was. And that was alright with her.