A/N: Aha! Got it done, and pretty quickly this time too. Also, new characters incoming!
Ichigo craned her neck, attempting to peer over Kisshu's shoulder at whatever he had turned his head to look at. The lighting had scared her almost half to death, but what set her fur on edge was the person—at least, she assumed it was a person—who had…spoken?... just before it hit. It was a human-sounding voice, but there were no words, just notes, rhythms and pitches, each enunciated on a different tone. But all of it had sounded angry: a brisk, harsh trill, followed by rapidly descending thirds and a sharp, high whoop at the end of the second repetition.
Kisshu responded in kind. A low, bassy rumble, followed by three slightly higher pitched churrs and a birdlike chirp. The second voice—higher pitched than Kisshu's, Ichigo noticed—replied with an irritated-sounding hum. Seconds later, Kisshu had leapt off of her and was fleeing on foot.
The newcomer followed in a whirl of blue fabric and black hair, jumping over Ichigo's prone form to pursue the fleeing Cyniclon. As she sat up, she caught a good look at the newcomer. Long, black hair in a ponytail, a blue trench coat of some sort, and the unmistakable Cyniclon ears. Ichigo's jaw dropped. What's an alien doing attacking other aliens?
Ichigo rolled to all fours, balancing in the mud on her fingertips and the balls of her feet, tail swishing behind her. She grabbed her knives and sprang upright, tensed and listening for the slightest sound. Nothing but the wind and rain lashing at the trees and her own ragged breathing. The Mew stood, rubbing her wrist. She could still feel the icy touch of Kisshu's sai against her bare skin, and every nerve tingled in expectation of his return to finish what he'd started.
Then, unexpectedly, the wind carried a scent to her nose—an unwelcomely familiar one. Blood, accompanied by the sound of someone screaming.
Ichigo turned and ran towards what she assumed was a fight, keeping alert for the aliens the whole time. A vine lashed for her, and she ducked under it just in time. It swung back for a second pass. Ichigo dodged again—but not quite fast enough. The vine wrapped around her ankle, yanking her to the ground before pulling her up into the air. Ichigo twisted, slashing at the vine with her smaller knife, growling with frustration as she missed again and again. Then she felt resistance, and her knife slashed through the vine. She dropped to the ground, the length of vine around her ankle uncoiling limply. The severed end flailed in the air, straining to reach her. She stared at it, then looked around.
All of the trees were draped with unnatural lengths of vine, and every vine was stirring, the ends turning to aim at her. A trail of cold sweat trickled down Ichigo's back. She'd never seen anything like it before. It was eerie, unnatural…unearthly. The only cause she could think of were the aliens, but the energy required for this had to be enormous—
A vine coiled around her knee as someone laughed behind her. "Looks like I caught an old hag!"
"You brat!" Ichigo retorted, twisting to face Taruto. The alien was hanging upside down in midair, russet pigtails hanging and grinning like a fiend.
"Hey, granny!"
"Midget!"
"Witch!"
"Put me down!"
"No way! I'm not gonna risk letting you down even after Pai and Kisshu handle the newcomers—"
"Somebody say something 'bout us?" a girl asked casually. Ichigo and Taruto both turned to face the speaker, who stood casually unnoticed under a nearby tree.
The girl was soaked from the rain, hooded jacket drenched and hanging heavily from her slim frame. She was armed to the teeth, as evidenced by the machetes in a cross-sheath on her back, a pair of extra knives in addition to the standard-issue Project knives, and the handguns on her belt. Her auburn hair clung to the sides of her head, making her foxy ears look even bigger. Mismatched eyes blazed out from underneath white-tipped bangs. She smirked, exposing elongated canines.
"Who the hell are you?!" Taruto yelped, flipping back upright. Ichigo noted the look of mild panic on his face.
"Lyra Vixen," the fox Mew replied. "And I'm here to keep you distracted until my partner can get into position to knock you out."
Half a second after she finished speaking, a pebble the size of the end of Ichigo's thumb struck Taruto in the back of the head. The alien dropped out of the air, but before he could hit the ground a black-and-grey blur zipped out of the trees and caught him. The blur resolved into an unfamiliar Cyniclon, who touched down right beside Lyra and deposited Taruto at the base of the tree. He shot Ichigo a hard, wary look and moved half a step closer to Lyra, golden eyes flashing.
Ichigo took the opportunity to cut the vines holding her and drop to the ground, twisting midair to land on her feet. She stood absolutely still, eyes locked with the newcomer's. Neither of them moved a muscle…that is, until someone yelled something incomprehensible somewhere nearby. Lyra's ears twitched, and her expression shifted almost to excitement.
"C'mon, Hell," she said, elbowing the unfamiliar Cyniclon in the side. "That's Calli's signal, we gotta go." He nodded, tilting his head just enough that long, shaggy bangs obscured his eyes, before darting after her. Ichigo followed after a moment's hesitation. It didn't take long to catch up with Lyra, who shot her a sharp azure look out of the corner of her right eye.
"Mew Ichigo, right? Leader of Tokyo Mew Mew?"
"Yes," Ichigo replied, switching to English. "Have you seen my teammates?"
"Yep," said Lyra, popping the 'p'. "One of your alien buddies controls plants, hey? He had 'em all tied up in vines, and me and Hell here had to cut some of them down. He wishes Calli would 'a let him handle the chimaera instead, right Hellebore?" The Cyniclon reached over and tugged at her left ear, eliciting an irritated yelp.
"Are they alright?" Ichigo asked, trying to steer the conversation back on topic.
"Pissed off, especially Mew Zakuro, but they're fine."
At that, the three burst out of the park and onto the main street of the town. In the middle of a plaza at what Ichigo knew had been the town center, a huge fight was going down between the Tokyo Mews, the remaining chimaera, and Pai and Kisshu. As usual, Lettuce and Pai duked it out a little way away from the others; while Mint and Zakuro tag-teamed Kisshu. Berry and Pudding fended off the remaining smaller chimaera. But Calliope and Ichigo's mysterious rescuer were nowhere to be seen.
Lyra whooped. "Let's do this!" She unsheathed her machetes, and Ichigo's eyes widened as the edges began glowing red-hot. The fox Mew leapt into battle, tail flying behind her as she hurled herself at the nearest chimaera. Hellebore followed a second later, pulling twin swords from nowhere and darting into the fight. Ichigo paused, watching the fight to figure out where she was needed—and then froze, noticing a flash of movement atop a nearby roof.
The thing moved again, and through the sheeting rain Ichigo recognized her rescuer. He—she assumed it was a he by the breadth of his shoulders—was standing on the ridge of the roof, arms folded. A second person stood with him, the gigantic black wings rendering her instantly recognizable as Calliope.
The blonde hurled herself off the roof, wings snapping open and pulling her aloft. Ichigo watched her wheel sharply in midair, pulling up with her right arm, and her partner was swung off the roof in a long arc aimed for the nearest mega-chimaera. Ichigo initially thought this was some new flight technique, but then a fine, glittering strand of something connecting Calliope and the blue-clad Cyniclon caught her eye and she realized he was using the bat Mew as the pivot point on a swing of some sort.
Thunder roared, and in almost the same instant a bolt of lightning arced down from the sky towards the two. Calliope pulled her wings in, dropping past her companion like a stone. He too began to fall, aiming straight for the gigantic chimaera—but not fast enough to avoid the lightning. He was struck, tumbling from the sky—and slammed into the base of the chimaera's skull, wielding a sword Ichigo hadn't even seen him summon. The electricity ripped through the chimaera, and down it went. The Cyniclon landed next to it, bouncing once to dispel his extra momentum. Ichigo turned away to keep her insides from coming outside as the chimaera's had done. Then, ignoring the stink and steam, she pulled her knives and raced into the fight.
She somehow ended up fighting beside Calliope. The blonde ducked under the oncoming chimaera, laser sword swinging in a low arc. Ichigo, on her right side, had to jump the blade to avoid having her legs cut off at the knees.
"Watch it!" Ichigo yelped.
"Sorry, didn't see you there," Calliope replied. Abruptly, she flipped her sword back into its holster on her belt and tackled Ichigo into the mud. A second later, a burst of electricity shot over their heads and hit the chimaera they'd been fighting. "Nice shot, Lor!"
"It's nothing," the blue-clad Cyniclon said, skidding to a stop and reaching down to help them up. Calliope flipped back to her feet on her own, but Ichigo accepted the assistance. Her eyes met those of her rescuer, and she froze, struck by the sheer unnaturalness of them. They glowed faintly, as if lit from within, and were a bright, eerie blue. Ichigo shuddered, and he released her forearm and turned away to help Lyra with one of the remaining chimaera.
Ichigo paused to catch her breath, staring at the remains of the plaza. The bricks had, for the most part, been torn up by the chimaeras' claws, and several buildings had been smashed. Ichigo could only hope the people had taken shelter in their basements.
Mint fired an arrow through the head of one of the remaining chimaera, killing it instantly. Zakuro kept Kisshu occupied, her whip flickering around him in a dazzling array of purple energy. Lettuce had Pai backed against a nearby building. Taruto had re-entered the fight while she'd been distracted, and Pudding was fighting him. Berry, Lyra, Hellebore, and the other newcomer were finishing off the last of the chimaera as she watched. It collapsed, the edges of the wound that killed it searing shut from the heat of Lyra's machetes. The fight stopped dead as the remaining combatants froze. Then, Calliope spoke up.
"Okay, now that we're done with the mindless mutant animals, can we calm down and have a conversation like sane, civilized people? 'Cuz I don't feel like killing anyone today."
A/N: A quick note on the aliens' language: since in canon it's all translated for the viewers, I had nothing to go on for a basis; and rather than base it on a human language or have it be an alphabet cipher for English, I went with something a little 'out there' both to avoid offending people and make them seem a bit more...alien.
