Long chappie today!
Chapter Thirty-Six:
"So, not only did we miss the reveal of Pie-Chan's hybrid parasite, but we also missed the arrival of a new knight, na no da?" Pudding said. It had been two days since Mylo's attack, and Pie, Kish and Pudding were completely healthy again.
"Yep," Rin said, staring at the parasite in the glass container sitting on the countertop. It was the same size and shape as any other parasite, but it was a pale blue in color. It bobbed up and down in the container, not caring that over a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at it.
"Okay, this thing seriously looks like one of the ghosts from that Pac-Man game," Ichigo said. "And it's creepy."
"That was part of the point," Pie said. His dark eyebrows furrowed as he looked up from the glass. "You said the Green Knight extracted it without even touching the Chimera Animal?"
"Yeah," Zakuro said. "His palm glowed, and so did the Chimera Animal's chest, and next thing we knew he had the parasite in hand and Shinji was on the ground unconscious."
"Is that something, um, normal?" Lettuce asked. "Being able to remove parasites from what you've fused them with?"
"On small ones, yeah," Kish said. "When Cyniclon children are small and their powers are developing, one of the first skills they are taught are how to use the parasites we create to make Chimera Animals. Usually, the first ones are small enough that a teacher or an older student could remove the parasite at the end of the lesson."
"But if you're like Kish, you make a Chimera Animal that nearly eats your classmates on your very first try," Rirī said with a smirk.
"Let it go, Rirī!" Kish growled. "I was five, I didn't do it on purpose, and Pie and Rin got it to drop you before it could kill you!"
"Uh, everybody did go home alive that day, right?" Ichigo asked, her brow furrowed.
"Yeah, but we got a new teacher the next day," Rin said. "Our old one went on a 'mental health' holiday."
"Never did see her again," Pie said distractedly.
"A lot of our teachers took those trips," Tart said. "Just ours. None of the other teachers."
"Don't know why," Rirī said innocently.
"Sounds like you all were the bane of existence for teachers," Zakuro commented.
"That term may have been used once or twice," Rin admitted. "Let's just say, no one was too particularly sad to see the bulk of us head to the Academy early and leave it at that."
"So, do you think you can learn anything from what we have here?" Ryou asked Pie. Pie nodded.
"I believe so," He said. "But even if I do dissect this parasite, I fear it may not be enough to learn how to defeat it once it is inside a human host."
"Whatever we can learn from this is more than what we had before," Keiichiro said. "And we'll gladly take it."
There was a knock at the back door. A look through the glass revealed Massaya, a box in his arms.
"Hi," He said as Lettuce let him in. His brown eyes instantly found the parasite. "Is that the thing that turned Shinji into a Chimera Animal the other night?"
"The very one," Ichigo said.
"It's creepy," Massaya commentated, setting down his box full of everything he thought he would need for the afternoon of information gleaning for the sensors.
"Thank you for contributing to the general consensus," Mint said sarcastically, trying to focus on her fashion magazine, though her eyes kept rising to glare at the parasite that had ruined her date.
"Don't mind her," Rirī said, getting to her feet. "Don't know why she's grumpy, she got a second date out of the experience. Anyways, I wanted to show you something before we got started."
She teleported, and returned a second later with a microscope and a box of slides.
"We did blood typing in science class this week, and that gave me a perfect excuse to gather samples to show you something you need to know for this project," Rirī said, opening the box of slides. She pulled out the first one, labeled MH. "This is a blood sample of a healthy sixteen standard year old human female, courtesy of Miwa Honjo."
"You never did say how you got that one," Keiichiro said, knowing what all the slides were of and had seen them all.
"Told her I was working on an extra credit project, involving examining different blood types under a microscope," Rirī said as Massaya studied the slide.
When Massaya was done looking, he lifted his head and Rirī brought out another slide, this one labeled IM.
"This one is healthy sixteen standard years old Mew Mew blood, taken while in human form, courtesy of Ichigo Momomiya," Rirī said, putting this one under the microscope.
Massaya's brow furrowed.
"Huh," He said. "There isn't much difference from the first slide."
"Exactly," Rirī said. "The mutation from the Mew Project is very subtle while the Mew Mews are in human form, but you can still see a drop of blood similar to the animal they are fused with, the faint trace in this case being feline."
She pulled out another slide, labeled MI.
"This slide, however, shows more cat blood than human blood, as this sample was taken while Ichigo was in her Mew Ichigo form." Rirī explained as Massaya studied the slide. She reached into the small box and pulled out the last slide labeled RI.
"And this last one," Rirī said with a grin. "Is of the blood of a healthy sixteen year old Cyniclon female. Or, to be more precise, is of my blood."
She put the slide under the glass and sat back, waiting for Massaya's reaction.
Massaya looked up with wide eyes.
"No offense, but what the heck?" He said. "It looks like the Mew Mew sample."
"Exactly," Rirī said, wearing a self-satisfied smile as she sat down. "That is because, in a sense, Cyniclons are highly evolved Mew Mews."
"What do you mean?" Mint asked, shoving her magazine to the side.
"Well, the first thing you must know is that the Cyniclon race originated as humans," Rirī said.
"Really?" Lettuce said, her brow furrowing. "We thought that the Cyniclons were here before humans."
"We were here before modern humans, but the Cyniclons and early humans lived during the same time period," Rirī said. "Recently, a group of Cyniclon historians evaluated that the Cyniclons left Earth just prior to a world-wide catastrophe, which probably saved our race from being completely wiped out."
"A catastrophe?" Keiichiro repeated. "What kind of catastrophe?"
"A large and violent flood," Rirī said. "Our historians were surprised to learn that there were a few humans that survived, who later documented the flood. The descendants of those survivors are what our people refer to as 'modern humans'. Nevertheless, both of our races can be traced back to the first two humans on earth."
"So, then, are your powers evolved?" Zakuro asked.
"According to legend, the first Cyniclons were a pair of sisters—twins—and their lovers," Pie said. "The girls' father did not approve of his daughters' desired mates, as they were tied to nature and possessed no wealth, nor cared to. They chose to live in the wild, wanting to get away from other humans who mocked them for their love of nature and simply could not understand why they did not care for material possessions. The girls shared the males' opinions and expressed their interest in joining them. However, when their materialistic father learned of this, he prepared to wed his daughters' off to men twice their age with a number of wives already in hopes of receiving material wealth."
"So, of course, the boys helped them escape, 'kidnapped' if you will," Kish said with a grin. "Pursued by the father's men, they hid in deep in a cave. There, they found a large cavern like no other. In the middle of the room was a large pool of pure, cold water. Surrounding the pool was grass, trees, flowers, rocks. There was even a volcano, but the lava that oozed out did no harm to the grass and there was no smoke. There was also a strong, continuous burst of wind throughout the room."
"The oldest twin went to the pool and drank from it, while her sister picked flowers and climbed the trees. One man approached the volcano and was surprised to learn that he could walk through the lava with no harm, while his friend allowed the wind to lead him around the cavern," Rozū said. "Little did they know, their bodies were changing."
"A short time later, they found that their teeth were sharper, the canines elongated," Tart said. "Their sensitivity to light, sound and smells intensified. They found they could fly and teleport. Their limbs and fingers were longer and thinner, and their fingernails longer, sharper and unbreakable. They looked at each other and could see the changes in the shape of their eyes and ears, all not sure what to make of them."
"Then they saw a bright light and heard a disembodied voice," Rin said. "They were told that they had been granted physical traits of the animals they loved. And that finding the cavern meant they and their descendants were given a task: guard the elements they had found."
"And they did so," Rirī said. "The woman who drank of the water married the man who walked in the lava, and the woman who picked flowers married the man who followed the wind. Together, the two couples went and built a city devoted to protecting the elements and had many children, all given the same task as their parents."
"That is the coolest story I have ever heard," Ichigo said, her eyes wide with wonder.
"It was the story we heard the most growing up," Rin said with a fond smile. "The Healer who had trained our mother would tell it to us when she watched us while Mama-San needed to perform Healers' duties."
"Still, it goes beyond just being a story," Rirī said. "Back then, the Cyniclons and humans had a bitter rivalry, one that our people continued long after the humans forgot about us. But animosity aside, we are very much the same.
"Anatomy wise, humans and Cyniclons are identical and function the same way. There are just a few slight differences between us. Our bones are slightly denser, our skulls in particular. Our bodies cannot tolerate certain herbs, but it is only a small list and consists of nothing common. And if we were to come in contact with one of these herbs, we would have what humans consider to be a minor allergic reaction," Rirī grinned suddenly, her fangs flashing slightly. "And, like sharks, we have the ability to replace teeth."
"Seriously?" Zakuro said, her eyes wide. Rirī nodded.
"We don't lose our teeth as children like humans," Rirī explained. "However, it is not uncommon to lose a tooth at any point in life, whether it be by decay or through a fight. Regardless, it would take a few weeks, but a new tooth would grow into place."
"That is so cool," Ichigo said. "I wish humans could do that."
"Anything that gets us out of going to the dentist," Lettuce said with a shudder.
"Alright, can you answer a question I've been wondering for a while?" Mint asked.
"Fire away," Rirī said.
"Are you born with your powers, or do they come in when you're older?" Mint asked.
"The powers develop as the child gets older," Rirī said. "It's like puberty. It comes when it wants in various amounts of strength. The standard age when powers manifest is around five years old. However, also like with puberty, there are late bloomers and early bloomers. Pie, Rin and Tart are all examples of powers developing not at the typical age. Tart is the only known Cyniclon to have powers manifest at the age of three."
"Pie and I weren't so lucky," Rin said. "We were two months shy of turning seven when our powers came in. While we were yelling at each other, nonetheless."
"Seriously? How did that happen?" Zakuro asked.
"All I remember was that Rin materialized a rock in her hand and threw it at my head," Pie said.
"And instead of ducking, you teleported and pinned me to the ground. I think we wrestled and tried to hit each other for five minutes before we realized that we had used our powers. Mama couldn't decide whether to punish us or celebrate," Rin said, smiling vaguely at the memory. Then she frowned. "Do you remember what the heck we were arguing about anyways?"
"Vividly," Pie spat. "You told all your friends that I liked Topaz, because you were mad at me for reasons I have yet to discover. That, by the way, is partly the reason why she has been stalking me for the past thirteen years!"
"Ooh," Rin said, biting her lip with memory. She reached over and wrapped her arms around Pie's neck. "Sorry 'bout that, Pie-Chan."
Pie just rolled his eyes.
Rirī turned to Massaya, who was drinking in the information and had even made a few notes.
"I hope this information can help you in any way," She said.
"It helps a lot," Massaya said with a grin. "Now all we need are the statistics."
Rirī nodded and turned to Zakuro, Pie, Pudding and Rozū.
"You guys go get changed and meet us downstairs," She said.
The four nodded and all left the room, Pie and Rozū heading upstairs while Zakuro and Pudding went to the locker room.
While Pie, Zakuro, Rozū and Pudding went to get changed, the others followed Rirī and Massaya down to the basement. Rirī, with some help from Ryou and Keiichiro, had set the large room up for them to conduct their experiments.
Four recliners were set up, with several devices with different colored wires coming out of them nearby, all connected to a computer with four monitors. On the desk was also a microscope, slides and some empty syringes with needles.
"Now this place really looks the part of a mad-science lab," Ichigo said with a grin.
"Ha-ha," Ryou said as he helped Rirī turn on equipment.
"It's not that far off of a statement," Zakuro said as she came down the stairs dressed in sweatpants and a tank top, followed by Pudding who was wearing shorts and a tank top.
"Yeah, now we're just missing a creepy little hunch-back assistant named Igor," Mint said with a smile.
"Everything in here serves a purpose, and at this point I am in no need of a creepy midget aide named Igor," Rirī said, looking over her shoulder briefly as Pie and Rozū teleported into the room. Rozū wore her pajama shorts and a tank top while Pie wore sweatpants and a t-shirt.
"You all ready?" Massaya asked.
The four nodded and ten minutes later, each had had blood drawn and were waiting patiently to be hooked up to a machine.
Massaya, however, had made the mistake of asking Pudding what was new in her life, and so she told him everything that had happened since the last time she had talked to him. Massaya was now staring in disbelief at the heart monitor that he had just hooked the small teenager up to, which was now going haywire as Pudding babbled on excitedly.
"Pudding, we kind of need you to be calm for this," Massaya said, interrupting Pudding. She looked confused and tilted her head.
"But Pudding is calm, na no da," She said, then continued on her rant.
Zakuro sighed as Rirī put the last wire in place on her arm.
"Tart, do you mind?" She asked.
"Not at all," Tart said. He swiftly picked Pudding up mid-sentence and sat in the recliner, Pudding on his lap. She instantly snuggled into him and stopped talking, the lines on the heart monitor rising and falling at a steadier rate than before and her monkey tail and ears came out.
"How does that work?" Massaya asked, stunned. He knew Ichigo's animal features came out when she was excited or scared, Zakuro's when she was annoyed, Lettuce's when she was sad or in water, and Mint's when she was embarrassed. But up till then, he had never seen Pudding's animal features appear while she was in human form.
"One of the mysteries of life," Pie said as Rirī went on to hook him up to his set of monitors. However, because of the collar of his shirt, the wires were not hanging the way either of them liked. Rirī removed the electrodes and was about to start over, but Pie stopped her.
"This is ridiculous," He said, then took off his shirt.
Rirī simply shrugged and proceeded, satisfied when the wires finally lay right. With a nod, she stepped away and went over to the monitors with Massaya.
Zakuro pulled out a book and began to read, while Pie closed his eyes in hope of getting some more sleep. Kish pulled out a deck of cards and played with Rozū, Ichigo, Rin and Keiichiro. Pudding and Tart had a whispered conversation, giggling occasionally. Mint flipped through her magazine while Ryou typed away on his laptop. Massaya and Rirī spoke in low voices, making notes and comparing them.
Lettuce sat and tried to read her book, but found that extremely hard to do when she knew that her boyfriend lying half-asleep beside her was currently shirtless. She tried hard to focus on her book, but her mind's eye kept going back to the glimpses of Pie's naked torso and telling her it wasn't enough, her eyes needed to see more. She finally closed her book and stood up, giving into the temptation.
No one will see me looking, She thought. Everyone's doing their own thing.
And that was why she was standing there, staring at Pie's bare chest as it rose and fell with steady breaths. She had never seen him completely without a shirt, and liked what she saw. His pale skin was tight over muscles that she knew were there from years of combat training. The only word she could use to describe him was beautiful.
Almost unconsciously, Lettuce stretched out her hand, trailing her fingers over his paneled chest. The muscles were firm and warm under her fingertips.
Pie's eyes snapped open at the touch, but Lettuce took no notice, running her hand up and down.
A million thoughts and emotions ran through Pie's mind, one of the most prominent being enjoying the feeling of her soft skin against his and he felt his heart pick up pace slightly.
Unfortunately, Pie misjudged how fast his heart was beating. Rirī jerked her eyes back to the monitor, looking shocked. She instantly turned to look over at her brother. She scowled slightly and turned back to her work. She called over her shoulder,
"Lettuce, I'm afraid I need you to stop touching Pie. You're throwing off absolutely all of his vital signs."
Lettuce jerked her arm, clasping her hands behind her back and ducked her head as her face burned scarlet. Pie pressed his palm to his forehead in both embarrassment and anger with Rirī as he heard snickers from throughout the room.
"Sorry Rirī," Lettuce murmured.
"So, to get rid of the elephant in the room," Massaya said, trying to hide his grin. "Pudding, Pie, you two have extremely high white blood cell counts."
"Is that a bad thing?" Tart asked, his brow furrowed as he pulled Pudding closer to him.
"After spending the entire week with the stomach bug and still recovering? No," Massaya said. "It's just unusual to see this high of an amount at this stage."
"It's not really unusual in Cyniclons," Rirī said. "So considering the similarities between us and the Mews, I'm not surprised that the samples are similar."
An hour later, Rirī and Massaya were done. The group went upstairs for an early dinner.
"So, when do you think the chips will be done?" Zakuro asked as she gathered a clump of ramen noodles into her chopsticks.
"It depends," Massaya said. "I'm waiting for certain parts to arrive. Hopefully a month from now, they'll be completed."
"If you need it, don't be afraid to come use the lab," Keiichiro said. "And know that Ryou and I can help you if you need it."
"Same goes for me and Pie," Rin said, and Pie nodded in agreement.
"I will take you upon those offers," Massaya said. "The more help I have, the faster these are finished."
"And the sooner they're finished, the closer we get to defeating Mylo," Rozū said with a grin.
"Thank goodness for that," Kish said, raising his drink in toast.
"We're getting closer to the end every day," Ichigo said. "And I cannot wait for the day to come that this war is over."
Everyone agreed with silent nods.
*drooling slightly at the thought of Pie without a shirt, then snaps back to reality, hastily wiping off drool* Uh, I apologize for any fainting, giggling, drooling, daydreaming and anything else that may have occured while reading my description of shirtless Pie.
And, no, this chapter wasn't just an excuse to have shirtless male aliens running around the Cafe! Okay, so maybe just a little bit, but the information Rirī gave is important, and that story will become even more important later on.