A/N: Well hey, that was fast! Here's the next chapter- a nice, long, juicy one! Thanks for reviewing! Continue to R&R- it's for a good cause. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.
Chapter 13:
Kotoni looked around fearfully. The ground was shaking so hard that she could barely think straight, and her body felt as though it were slowly sinking into the earth. Kotoni very faintly heard shouts and screams from the other Mews and aliens back in the clearing.
The earthquake must have reached them, she thought, I hope they're all okay.
Suddenly the ground around Kotoni and Kisshu cracked and created fissures. The fissures criss-crossed each other and formed only horizontal and vertical lines. Kotoni was just about to shove Kisshu off of her when something shot out of the fissures, straight towards the air. It was a glowing blue wall, made of something unknown. The wall rose up out of every crack in the ground, rising up to about ten feet. It was almost translucent and did not seem to be made of a solid substance. One wall appeared right in front of Kotoni's face, blocking the shock absorber completely.
After a few more seconds, the ground stopped shaking and Kotoni could see nothing of the forest around her.
"Kisshu, get off!"
Kisshu looked down, having completely forgotten that he was sitting on Kotoni's back. He stood up slowly, looking around him. Kotoni jumped up as soon as she was free, and held up her fans in defense. Or she would have, if her fans were still in her hands. Kotoni yelped and looked around the small space her and Kisshu were in. They were basically in a small room with three walls. Through the space where the forth wall would be was another wall, further away.
A maze, thought Kotoni, in awe.
Her awe did not last long, though, when she did not find her fans. Kotoni shoved Kisshu in the stomach as hard as she could.
"Where are my fans, asshole? Give them back!"
"What the hell?" answered Kisshu, "Why would I need your fans? I have my-"
Kisshu looked down at his empty hands and glared at Kotoni.
"Give back my Dragon Swords, bitch."
Kotoni looked around the tight area they were again, still finding nothing.
"Quit ignoring me and tell me where you put my swords."
Kotoni stepped around Kisshu to see what was past their closed space.
"I said stop ignoring me!"
Kisshu shoved Kotoni against one of the wall, hard. As soon as he did, though, Kisshu gasped in pain and yanked his hands off the wall. Kotoni looked behind her and experimentally touched the wall.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, "The wall doesn't feel like anything. Just kind of cold."
"Ugh, it sucks out energy deposits," said Kisshu, looking at his hands, "I can't use energy in here."
"Huh," said Kotoni thoughtfully, "Guess it did me a favor, then."
Kisshu grabbed Kotoni's wrists and shoved her to the ground, growling, "If you think that makes me any less able to kill you…"
Kotoni stared up at Kisshu, taking in his expression.
Every time he looks pissed, all I can see is his pain. Do I actually have it in me to try and kill him? All he wants is to save his people- I can't judge him for that. But I'm trying to save my people, too, so I can never stop fighting but… gods, why am I feeling conflicted? I should just imagine stabbing him and be able to do it. Why can't I even picture it? This is his fault, I'm sure. Asshole.
"What's with the staring, foxgirl?" asked Kisshu, looking amused, "Are you hoping I'll kiss you? Sorry, but you'll just have to kiss me again. I'm not that easy."
Kotoni scowled and pushed Kisshu off of her.
"I did NOT kiss you! I fell! And I heard what you were saying earlier about how easy the Mews are. Well, if we're so easy you'd already have Ichigo, wouldn't you?"
"Don't talk to me about that bitch!"
Kotoni cocked her head and took in Kisshu's expression again. More pain.
"Wh-Why do you keep staring? Did that quake leave you with brain damage?"
"No," Kotoni answered simply, "Staring is a good thing. It shows that I'm thinking. After all, I'd have to be lost in thought to look at your face for long without vomiting."
Kisshu glared and asked, "Why haven't killed you yet?"
"Because of my charming face and sparkling conversation," Kotoni answered, sarcastically, "Truth is, I'm not all that interested in killing you right now, either. I'm interested in us getting somewhere near our friends and making sure none of them got hurt. It makes no sense for us to fight when we have no weapons."
Kisshu scoffed and said, "Like I'd need weapons to kill you."
Kotoni rolled her eyes, clearly done wasting time and walked right up to Kisshu, stopping only inches from his face.
"Then do it. Do it and go wandering off into a maze by yourself. Make sure you drop by after and tell my body how much fun you're having, walking around aimlessly."
It was Kisshu turn to stare, as he took in Kotoni's serious face and grinded his teeth.
"Fine. Let's go."
Kisshu turned around and began walking into the maze, turning right.
Kotoni raced ahead of him, and yelled, "Ichigo, Zakuro, Pudding, Mint, Lettuce! It's Kotoni! Are you okay?"
Kotoni frowned when she heard no response and turned to Kisshu, who was clinging to his long ears.
"Give some warning, please!" he yelled, letting go of his ears, "I'm right next to you and myy ears are a lot more sensitive than yours are!"
"No promises," was Kotoni's quiet response, as she turned another corner in the endless maze.
In the clearing:
"Keki! Call back if you can hear me!"
"I don't think he can hear you, Taruto!"
"But he was right in the clearing with us, he couldn't have gotten far!"
"It was probably those Mew Mews! They probably snuck up on him and knocked him unconscious!"
"Or it was the earthquake, na-no-da! Pudding wouldn't hurt Keki- she has no Pudding Ring!"
"Pudding! You don't tell them that!"
"I-It's alright, Pudding. My castanets are gone, too."
"Lettuce!"
"Gomen, gomen! It's just… I think all of our weapons are gone. I saw mine fly away when the earthquake started. Magnets, maybe?"
A sigh was heard and then, "My whip is gone, as well."
"Okay, then, um, Pai?"
There was a long pause.
"Hai?"
"If your weapons are gone, as well, then, um, I don't plan on attacking anyone on your side. That is, until we find the weapons. It won't do any good, for us to be fighting with members of our teams missing and no weapons. We should focus on finding everyone first."
"Fool! Pai, don't agree to anything. You know we can kill them with our bare hands."
"For all you know, we have members of your team! Like you said, we probably knocked Keki unconscious. Killing us could lose you your team!"
"Geez, Ichigo. Play dirty, much?" This voice was very faint, and could barely be heard. The girls were separated further than they thought.
Pai thought for a moment and called, "We'll resume the fight after we escape the maze."
Just then, Lettuce crossed paths with Pai. She froze, not knowing exactly what to do, until Pai nodded in her direction and continued on his way. Lettuce exhaled and turned a different corner, looking down each open path, hoping to see an ally.
"Kotoni!"
There was no answer.
"Ichigo, we'll have to go further for her to hear us!" The faint voice again. Mint.
"We have to keep trying, Mint! Otherwise we won't know which way to go!"
Mint sighed and pressed on, feeling irritated and nervous. She hated feeing caged, which was probably because of her bird instincts but it couldn't be helped. Mint looked down one path to find a surprise. It led to a dead end but crouched in the corner of that dead end was a blonde-haired alien, covering his eyes, and shaking. Mint watched him for a moment, trying to see if he was trying to trap her, then stepped cautiously toward him.
Mint was within a few feet of him when Keki spoke.
"Get away from me."
Mint continues to stare at him but made to motion to leave.
"GET AWAY!"
"I don't take order from you," she finally answered, "I'll do as I please, thank you."
Keki growled, sprung from his corner, and pushed Mint to the ground. As soon as he did, though, Keki looked around him and gasped, running back to the corner.
Mint stood up and stared at Keki, who was shaking and covering his eyes again.
"What's wrong with you? You- you're claustrophobic, aren't you?"
Keki shook his head 'no' but did not look up at her.
"Hmm… you fight very well so that must be why you weren't chosen for the first mission, right? Claustrophobia?"
"Shut your mouth!"
"I'll say what I want."
There was a long silence, broken only by Keki's hyperventilating.
Mint walked over to Keki and grabbed his hand. She then started to pull him into the maze with her.
"I'm not your hostage!" yelled Keki, pulling his arm away, but Mint held on tight.
"I never said you were. And keep your eyes covered!"
Keki covered his eyes again with one hand and let Mint wheel him through the maze with the other- partially because he was desperate to get out and also because he had no real way to fight her. If he fought her, he'd be trapped here himself where one of his teammates might see him in this state.
"Why are you doing this? What's your angle?"
"I told you- I do what I want. And I'm not exactly comfortable being in here, myself, though I seem to have more control than you."
"Shut up! …This makes no sense. You could have killed me when you had the chance."
"Attack you in that state? Please! It's beneath me! I want to win this war just as much as you do, but I'm the type of girl who won't be giving up her dignity to do it."
"…Idiot."
"Baby."
Mint and Keki fell silent after that, listening only to their footsteps and breathing.
Back again...
"I still think we should've gone right."
Kotoni was behind Kisshu, arms crossed, looking pissed.
"Well, we didn't so suck it up."
"I wouldn't have to if we went the right way."
Kisshu grabbed Kotoni's shoulders and whispered, clearly annoyed out of his mind, "If you don't SHUP UP, I swear I'm going to wring your neck."
Kotoni rolled her eyes, and pulled his hands off.
"Why don't you just fly out of here anyway?"
Kisshu looked at her like she had grown a second head and said, "You really think I haven't tried that yet? You must be a total idiot."
"Geez. No need to be rude!"
"There's no need for you to be talking. Do you ever shut up?"
"Well, I would but every time I do- you say something like three seconds later. You're doing that out of guilt, right? 'Cause you figured out we should have gone left?"
Kisshu growled and grabbed Kotoni's arms.
"Enough already! I should just snap your spine while I have the chance!"
"You need to learn to control your temper," she said, now walking backwards away from him, "I mean in some way so you don't invade personal space. Every time you get pissed, I'm worried you're going to hug me or lick my face or something."
Kisshu shook his head and said, "You wish."
"Ugh. You're awfully full of yourself for someone who was rejected."
Kisshu clenched his fists and looked down.
Ack, pain again. What do I do?
Kotoni sighed and stopped right in front of Kisshu. Kotoni poked Kisshu's lower lip.
"Pouting is not becoming."
Kisshu stared at her for a second and walked ahead with a, "You're crazy."
Kotoni smiled and followed behind.
"Wait, we should go right at this turn."
"Gah! SHUT UP!"
"Well, okay, let's do it your way then."
Kotoni was about to turn left with Kisshu when something caught her eye in the path to her right. She could see the end of the maze, the edge of the generator from where she was.
I knew it was right! Hmm… I can't figure out how to shut it down with him here…
Kotoni watched as Kisshu continued walking, and peered around the corner until he turned and was out of sight. Then, she ran as quietly as possible up to the generator. She was delighted to find her fans, sitting on top of the circular glass, along with the other Mew and alien weapons. When she reached for her fans, she was surprised to find that they were stuck to the top of the generator and wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pulled.
Crap. It's magnetic? How am I supposed to turn it off?
Kotoni circled the machine until she found a tiny keypad and screen on the ground next to it. She started pressing random buttons, until some words appeared on the screen.
"Foxgirl? Hey, Kotoni!"
She could hear Kisshu calling her, and he didn't sound very far away. Kotoni read the screen, willing the words passing by to move faster.
It read: INSERT PASSWORD HERE. FOUR CHARACTERS.
Oh gods, oh gods…
Kotoni started trying some popular passwords- 1234, 4321, etc…
This isn't working!
"Kotoni! Are you okay?"
He's getting closer!
She tried abbreviations of Ryou's last name.
SHBN, SHRG, SGRN…
The screen flashed: PASSWORD INCORRECT.
"Kotoni! Where the hell are you?"
Kotoni was getting desperate and started going random.
KDJE, MWJF, SOPQ…
PASSWORD INCORRECT.
What is it?
PO7W, NDBA, HR93, 179P…
PASSWORD INCORRECT.
"Kotoni!"
48FG, MJ67, SU14, 5K3E…
PASSWORD INCORRECT.
Wait, it couldn't be… could it?
"Kotoni!"
He sounded even closer now, probably heading right down the path to her.
RYOU.
PASSWORD ACCEPTED.
The machine made a short beep, and the ground began to shake again. Kotoni dove for her now-freed fans and positioned them at the path opening to the maze.
Slowly, the blue energy walls sunk into the ground, where they disappeared inside the fissures. The ground gave one last tremor, as all of the fissures suddenly closed.
Kotoni stayed in front of the weapons, her fans held high. She could see Kisshu. He was very close. Close enough that if she had taken just a few more seconds, she'd have been toast.
"Hmm… not bad, foxgirl," he said with a smirk. The smile didn't reach his eyes, which were giving Kotoni a hard glare.
"Kotoni!"
"Kisshu!"
The two could hear their friends now, who were probably sprinting toward them at that second. Kisshu strolled up to Kotoni, his hands raised, as if surrendering.
"Stop."
Kisshu kept walking.
"I'm warning you- I'll use these."
Kisshu waltzed right up to Kotoni, getting very close, and whispered the same thing she had said to him earlier.
"Do it."
Kotoni was shaking, and felt as though her mind was clouded. Kisshu leaned in close to her, almost touching her, reaching behind her back to retrieve his swords.
What are you doing? Attack! Come on!
"Kotoni!"
Ichigo had reached the scene and was running to help Kotoni. Kotoni gasped and sprang into action, pushing Kisshu as hard as she could.
She found herself on the ground with Kisshu for the third time that day. She had her fans up against his neck, and was trying to keep from shaking. Kisshu stared up, daring her with his eyes. Daring her to do what- Kotoni wasn't entirely sure.
Ichigo ran behind her and grabbed her Strawberry Bell.
"Kotoni?"
Kotoni was shaking now, entirely torn.
Come one! Just swipe your fans! It's not like he wouldn't do the same to you. Finish him! But… no. He feels pain. He's a total asshole but he feels pain just like I do. He's too…
"Human," said Kotoni aloud, without realizing it.
Kisshu cocked his head, paused, then shoved Kotoni off of him and grabbed his swords off the machine.
Ichigo held up her bell and yelled, "Ribbon Strawberry Flash!"
Kisshu dodged and pulled his swords around Kotoni's head.
Ichigo froze and Kotoni stiffened.
Suddenly Pai's voice was heard calling, "Kisshu! If you can hear me, get over here! We don't have weapons and we need reinforcement!"
Kisshu smiled at the frozen Ichigo and disappeared.
"Kotoni?" asked Ichigo, placing her hand on Kotoni's shoulder.
"The bastard made me lose my nerve- that's all. I'm fine."
Ichigo nodded, but still looked worried.
All of the other aliens and Mews were in sight now, the aliens taking advantage of getting their powers back and floating to each other. The Mews got to the weapons first, but only by seconds. Soon everyone had their weapon back, and the Mews were standing between the aliens and the shock absorber.
Pai looked them over in a calculating way, trying to decide their odds in a fair fight. There was a long pause as the other aliens waited for an order. Keki looked at Mint, not with hatred but confusion. Kisshu had his head cocked and seemed somewhat pleased with what had occurred with Kotoni. Kotoni had her head down and was refusing to meet his eye.
"Port to the ship."
Shukurimu cussed but disappeared, as told. Kotoni finally looked up at Kisshu who, in turn, winked at her before disappearing with the aliens.
The girls stayed where they were, breathing heavily, until Zakuro finally spoke.
"It's over for now. Let's go home."
"Thank god!" exclaimed Mint, storming off and mumbling to herself about a worthless, ungrateful jerk.
Kotoni sighed and started to leave when Ichigo stopped her.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Kotoni gave her a wavering smile.
"Of course, I'm okay, Ichigo."