I'm back!

This is one of the longest chapters I have ever written!

Thanks to everyone that have reviewed so far. I really appreciate it!

On with Chapter 14!

PS: I DO NOT OWN TOKYO MEW MEW!

BEFORE:

This can't be happening! she thought, closing her eyes, trying to somehow wake up from this nightmare. But it was no nightmare, and so knew so with every fibre of her being. The gas started to strangle her, like an imaginery hand, tightening its grip on her neck. Mia collapsed onto the ground in total defeat, blinking her eyes a few times before closing them; probably forever.

But before surrendering to death itself, she looked up to the sky.

"I'm sorry guys," she whispered softly to herself, tears starting to form in her eyes. "But this is just too much."

PRESENT TIME:

Mia started sobbing. She didn't want to die; at least not now. And she didn't want her life to end this way. But Mia was unable to do anything, but wait till the darkness arrives to claim her forever.

Even though Mia's life is slowly slipping through her fingers, she hadn't regretted becoming a Mew Mew; not at all. A small smile managed to appear on her face as she remembered everything that had happened to her since that life-changing night: Fighting aliens, almost always losing her nerve, out of control cat genes, receiving Masha, finding Kisshu in her bed, Kisshu kissing her (PS: Her first kiss, might I add), Kevin taking her home and . . .

Mia sobbed again; her whole body shaking uncontrollably.

And . . . meeting Taruto. She allowed her mind to wander back to the times he hugged her, comforted her and saved her life multiple times. Every time Mia saw him, her heart would start beating like crazy. Mia knows she likes Tart; maybe even more than a friend.

But now, she'll never see him again.

And I haven't even said 'goodbye'.

Mia's breathing started to become ragged; barely audible. She coughed, her whole body shaking violently.

Her eyes slowly started closing . . . . . .

Wait! What-what's that?

In the corner of her eye, Mia glimpsed the faintest trace of an eerie blue light. She weakly lifted her glowing hand, examining it more closely.

Am I hallucinating?

The strange light started to spread across her whole body; covering every inch. In some way, Mia's strength started to return to her tired body.

Such a warm feeling! she thought, while sitting in an upright position. Mia gripped the vines, pulling herself to her feet. Yudikai stared down at her, flabbergasted.

"What!? That's not possible!" he yowled, clearly confused and frustrated.

Mia suddenly spotted a figure, coming closer and closer. She squinted her eyes, trying to recognize the approaching person.

Her eyes stretched wide, followed by a gasp of surprise.

"Kevin?" she whispered, leaning forward, making sure her eyes are not deceiving her. But it was Kevin.

He was staring down at his own body glowing, just like Mia's. Kevin lifted his head and saw Mia trapped inside the strange den. He didn't recognize her at all and just kept on staring at her, trying to process what his own eyes are revealing to him.

Mia couldn't believe her eyes either. Kevin was glowing!

She pushed her pink-gloved hand through a gap in the cage and reached out to him.

"Kevin! Please help me!" she pleaded, her voice shaking. Although the blue light did provide her with more strength, she could feel that borrowed strength slowly starting to evaporate, leaving her vulnerable to death once more.

"M-Mia?" Kevin instinctively took a step forward. Her glowing body was calling to him, in a way. Yudikai snarled and pointed at Kevin's glowing form with his finger.

"Chimera! Kill that boy!" he ordered, smiling wickedly at the idea.

Several of the Chimera's vines charged straight for Kevin, but before they reached him, the blue light created an invisible force field around Kevin's body, protecting him from the Chimera's attack. Kevin stared at the uncanny scene in front of him, wide-eyed.

Mia released her held-in breath.

I thought Kevin was going to die! she thought shivering.

The Chimera growled in frustration as he attacked Kevin again and again, but not managing to break through the unseen wall. Kevin hesitated a little, before taking another step forward. He knew Mia was in trouble and he had to rescue her, one way or another.

A few feet away from Mia, Kevin paused and reached out to grab Mia's outstretched hand. Yudikai screeched in fury, diving down to stop Kevin from ruining his plan.

But he was too late. Kevin took Mia's hand in his and an amazing force clashed against Yudikai, sending him flying against the wall with a sickening thud.

Mia screamed in pain as huge waves of some unseen power filtered throughout her whole body, making it numb. But she held on, refusing to release Kevin's helping hand. With much effort, she slightly opened her eyes to see the same pained expression on Kevin's face.

The blue light got bigger and bigger, destroying the Chimera completely and enfolding Kevin and Mia's body. Mia gritted her teeth, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.

This pain's excruciating!

Without warning, Kevin grabbed her other hand and pulled Mia closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. Mia stood rigid for a moment. She didn't understand this behaviour at all, but sure enough, she also wrapped her arms around his body, resting her head on his shoulder.

Suddenly a huge electric bolt traveled through Kevin's body, making him yowl in pain. He could feel his body changing in a way. His brown hair turned as dark as the night, and his light brown eyes turned darker, revealing dark chocolate-coloured eyes. Kevin's school uniform disappeared to be replaced with a short navy top, long navy pants and dark blue boots, as long as Mia's. Long fingerless navy gloves appeared on both of Kevin's arms. And lastly two black panther ears and a long, thin panther tail appeared.

Two small, sharp fangs formed in his mouth. A panther-like growl escaped his lips and he pushed Mia away, falling on the ground, while gripping his head in his hands.

Mia fell next to Kevin on the ground and gasped when she saw him. Her eyes were closed the whole time while he transformed, so she was quite shocked when she spotted Kevin's new look. Kevin crouched on the ground, still holding his head, trying to somehow squeeze the pain out of it.

Mia crawled closer and gently rested her hand on his shoulder; worry clouding her gaze.

"Kevin? Are you alright?"

His right ear twitched; freaking Mia out a bit, but she ignored it.

"Kevin?!" Mia repeated, a little louder this time, detection of panic in her voice. Kevin groaned and lifted his head, looking at Mia with dark eyes. She flinched a bit, but pushed her doubts down and moved forward to embrace Kevin in a warm hug. Kevin, caught off guard, gaped in surprise, but his shocked expression was quickly replaced by a smile. He hugged her back, his tail swinging back and forth; unaware of his new feline look.

"I'm so sorry!" Mia sobbed into his shoulder, her whole body shaking uncontrollably.

Kevin nearly fell backwards in shock, not really understanding what Mia meant. He gripped her shoulders and pushed her back, looking her up and down.

"What do you mean!? You're not to blame for any of this!"

Mia pointed at Kevin and cried even louder.

"But just LOOK at you!" she said, specifically referring to his panther ears and tail. "I'm pretty sure I'M to blame for that!"

Kevin gave her a puzzled look before looking down at his own body. His eyes grew wider and wider when he saw his new navy costume. He nearly fainted when he spotted his black tail, still swinging back and forth.

"What-what happened to me!?" he asked Mia, carefully touching his new uniform, scared it might burn him or something.

"That's not all," Mia said, pointing at his big black panther ears.

Kevin froze in place when his hands also touched the ears on his head.

"Oh my . . ." he said, looking right past Mia at nothing in particular.

"What happened to us?" he asked Mia, returning his gaze to hers, desperately needing an answer; any explainable answer.

Mia giggled nervously, looking down to avoid his penetrating gaze.

"Well, actually, I was in this state for a long time now. It's not really something new for me."

She looked up again, to see his reaction, but he showed no emotion. Kevin just lifted his hand and reached forward to gently touch her cat ear; making sure it's real. Mia flinched when his hand made contact with her sensitive ear. But once he started rubbing it, she purred softly and closed her eyes.

Wow! This feels so nice! No wonder cats like this!

Kevin quickly pulled his hand back again. Mia mentally whimpered, instantly missing that comforting feeling.

"Unbelievable!" Kevin said, touching his own ears again. "They're actually real!"

Duh! Mia thought, but didn't speak that word out loud. Instead, she just nodded in agreement and stood up. She really needed to stretch her legs and clear her mind.

Mia lowered her hand to Kevin, offering to help him stand. Kevin took hold of her hand and pulled himself to his feet.

"Thanks," he said, bending down to remove the dust from his clothes. When he had finished, Kevin grabbed Mia's arm.

"Mia, do you have any idea how I turned into an animal?"

"Half-animal, actually," Mia corrected him.

Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes, half-animal. Now, do you know?"

Mia concentrated hard, trying to remember everything that had happened only a few minutes ago. Suddenly a triumphant look came into her eyes.

"The blue light!" she exclaimed. "That's the only explanation!"

Kevin's gaze turned puzzled for a while, before he remembered the strange glowing light that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere only a few moments ago.

"Yes! That must be it! Do you know anything about THAT?"

Mia suddenly looked disappointed.

"No. Not at all. That blue light had appeared two times before though, protecting me from deadly attacks. And today, it happened again! But this time you were in the picture as well."

"I don't know if you'll believe me, but the same has happened to me."

Mia stared at Kevin in disbelief. Could it be possible that the blue light's linked between them somehow?

"When did it happen?" she asked.

He thought for a moment, before replying.

"Uhm, after school . . . I think it was before I came across you, just standing on the field, and I think last Friday, when I found you in the park and took you home."

Understanding suddenly flashed into his dark eyes.

"It always appeared right before I found you! Is it just a coincidence or is there more meaning behind it?"

Mia definitely knew the answer to that question. Somehow, Kevin must be the blue light's medium or something; appearing through him and protecting her from attacks. It didn't seem rational at all, but so far, it's the only explanation.

"I don't think it's a coincidence," she replied. When Kevin asked her to explain, she told him everything: her becoming a Mew, fighting aliens and the blue light that had protected her from deadly attacks.

It felt nice to tell someone her secret, which she had kept for so long.

"So, the blue light is like a guardian, only showing itself when you're truly in trouble?"

Mia nodded.

"Yes, exactly! And I think that the blue light might work through you; you're like its medium, because every time I was in serious trouble, you were always somehow there."

Kevin didn't reply and stared out in front of him, not really looking at anything. This whole thing seemed so far-fetched and unreal. But the proof was there, and as much as he wanted to forget this entire thing ever happened, he knew he won't be able to.

He stared down at his new clothing again. Kevin had to admit, it was kinda cool, but he can't look like this forever. His eyes traveled back to Mia.

"How do you change back to normal?" he asked, truly curious. Mia giggled and gripped the strange golden object around her neck with her hand. She glowed and changed back into her school uniform. Kevin was relieved to see her back in her normal self. She was just too pink for his liking, but he also had to agree that her cat features were kind of cute.

He blushed when that thought came to settle in his mind and he quickly turned his head away. Mia frowned at his sudden reaction, but ignored it.

"Your new appearance look kawaii," she said, blushing. "What kind of animal are you anyway?" She leaned forward to inspect his ears and tail. Mia reached out her hand to touch them and gasped at their softness.

They're so warm! She started rubbing them, managing to get a purr out of Kevin. When she released them, the same puzzled expression still clouded her gaze.

"Sorry, I have no idea! It must be a cat, but I don't know which kind."

Kevin shrugged. "That's not important right now. What IS important is, how do I change back?"

Mia's eyes scanned his entire body, searching for any sign of a pendant or some transformation device. She sighed in disappointment when her search was unsuccessful.

"Nope. No transformation device," she said, and added softly to herself, "Hopefully this isn't permanent."

Then an brilliant idea came to mind.

"Why don't you think about turning back to normal? Concentrate real hard!"

Kevin didn't think that it would work, but he tried it out anyway.

What do I have to lose? he thought while closing his eyes. Kevin tried to create a picture in his mind of his school uniform and his normal body, without the weird cat features. He balled his hands into fists as he could feel his body changing.

"Yes! You're doing it!" Mia cheered.

When the strange feeling had subsided, he looked down at his body again, to find it back to normal. He sighed with relief.

"I can't believe that worked," Kevin said.

Without warning, Mia crashed against him, hugging him with all her strength.

"We're a team now!" she shouted, jumping with joy. Kevin didn't know how to react to this sudden outburst.

Mia released him, smiling widely. "Aren't you excited?!"

Kevin didn't really know what's so exciting about that, but he returned the same smile.

"Sure. But you do know that this can be dangerous, right?"

Mia's joyous expression turned serious again. "Of course I know. I'm not daft!"

Kevin chuckled at the silly expression on her face. "Of course not," he said.

Meanwhile, Yudikai had recovered from his previous incident, and stared at the two smiling forms in pure hatred. He didn't know where the boy suddenly came from, but one thing he knew for sure: That boy must be destroyed!

And with a last look at his new target, Yudikai teleported out of the school.

What a strange turn of events! I bet none of you expected that to happen!

*Evil laugh*

Please review!

Till next time. Bye !