The first thing Ichigo realized as she approached the park was that it smelled terrible. The pungent smell of compost hung in the air – like rotting melon rinds mixed with manure. She coughed and held a hand over her face as she ran up to the rest of her team.

"What is that smell?" Ichigo cried. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her face. She heard Masaya and Ryou stop behind her as she looked around at the rest of the mews.

"It's super gross!" Pudding added. "Big bro Pie says it might be a bunch of bugs or something!"

"Pie, it's the trees," Quiche called out from the air above them. Ichigo looked up and watched Quiche perch on the top of one of the stone columns at the park entrance. Pie, still floating just above the ground, narrowed his eyes and glared up at Quiche. Quiche nodded to the park. "It's just like the chimera with the poisonous pollen. The one I created just before you and Tart first arrived on Earth. It has to be."

"It's not an insect?" Pie called back, glancing back at the park briefly. Tart crossed his arms next to Pie and listened intently.

"If it was an insect swarm, it would have spread out further from the park already," Quiche mused.

"Wait, is this the same chimera you attacked me with in the park a few years ago? With the poisonous pollen?" Masaya interjected. Ichigo drew a breath, tensing as Masaya yelled up at Quiche. "It can't be! All of the trees turned black during that attack!"

"You think I haven't thought of that, idiot?" Quiche barked back.

Ichigo glared up at Quiche. His eyes flicked to hers for a brief moment. He rolled his eyes and sighed before continuing.

"The parasites still on Earth aren't going to be exactly like the ones we made a few years ago, but some of them are similar. This one sounds just like a prototype of the one I infected those trees with."

"Well, let's go check it out then!" Berry chirped. She bounded into the park and began to look around, with Pudding right behind her. The rest of the mews followed hesitantly, with Ichigo lingering at the back of the pack. The smell seemed to get stronger, more pungent the closer they got to the center of the huge city park. The visitors seemed to have already cleared out, much to Ichigo's relief. The smell must have been enough to drive out any tourists and park visitors.

Ichigo glanced over her shoulder and saw Ryou and Masaya walking side-by-side, eyeing their surroundings cautiously. As much as she hated to admit it, Quiche and Pie were right – having Ryou and Masaya at the scene of the battle was much too dangerous. She regretted letting them tag along.

"I don't see anything unusual," Lettuce remarked just ahead of Ichigo. "Other than the smell, everything looks strangely … normal?"

"Right," Ichigo agreed. "We can't let our guard down, though. We don't know exactly what this chimera can do, but it's not going to be easy."

"Wait, guys," Mint called from up ahead, "do you hear something weird? Like a crackling noise?"

Everyone stopped walking to listen. A faint chatter was barely audible over the city noise. It sounded like crinkling plastic, or popping popcorn. Ichigo looked around frantically, searching for the source of the sound.

Suddenly, Berry let out a shriek. "Everyone, get off the grass!"

The mews all looked down at their feet. There, Ichigo saw little green and brown mushrooms sprouting, swelling and bursting in puffs of gaseous fumes all around her feet. She coughed at the sudden smell and the disgusting visual – one that reminded her of popping a pimple. Ichigo found a patch of cobblestone to stand on, but soon the cracks between the stones were sprouting with the vile growth. As the mushrooms grew faster, the smell was almost overpowering. It was undoubtedly poisonous. Ichigo crinkled her nose and tried to focus.

"Don't stand in one place too long!" she barked at her team. She summoned her Strawberry Bell in one hand and whirled around to make sure her whole team had heard her. "We have to keep these things from growing too fast! Aim for the ground!"

"You got it!" Mint called out from beside her. She drew her bow and fired it at a patch of mushrooms that had managed to grow to an impressive foot and a half tall. The patch of fungi burst and wilted, but smaller mushrooms immediately began to grow in their place.

Ichigo turned just in time to see Pudding frantically firing her Pudding Ring Inferno into patches of grass, trying to contain the mushrooms to patches of grass. It appeared to be working to slow their growth, but the fungi seemed to grow up and around the gelatinous surface like a mold. Tart was just above Pudding, trying to stitch a cross-hatched web of vines over the ground to contain the fungi. But just like Pudding's Pudding Ring, Tart's vines only served to contain the growth for a few moments before it wiggled its way between the cracks of his creations.

Zakuro lashed out at the ground with her Zakuro Spear, but like Mint's Mint Echo, it only burnt the ground briefly before the fungi spread to cover the charred grass. All of their efforts seemed to be slowing the poisonous chimera, but unless they could find a way to stop the growth, it was sure to continue to spread.

Ichigo turned to see Ryou and Masaya backing out of the park, coughing. She was secretly relieved to see they were moving further away from the mews. Masaya caught her eye as he held his arm over his face, coughing.

"Masaya, wait for me outside the park!" Ichigo yelled to him. "We got this!"

For once, he didn't try to argue with her, only nodding before turning and running out to the entrance of the park with Ryou. Ichigo's shoulders relaxed in relief that Masaya was safe. She turned and surveyed the park again with an open mind.

What could it be? she thought to herself as she scanned the chaos of the battle. What's the key to destroying this thing? The last time she battled the chimera with the poisonous pollen, she had discovered her ability to use Strawberry Check Healing. Wondering to herself if the answer was really that simple, Ichigo readied her Strawberry Bell and rushed towards a larger patch of speckled brown and green mushrooms, now nearly a meter tall.

"Ribbon Strawberry Check … Healing!" she yelled. She felt a surge of power leave her weapon and erupt in a wave of pinkish light. Squinting into the light, Ichigo could see the mushrooms shrinking. She was momentarily thrilled at the sight of clean, uninfected grass around her. But no sooner had she let out a breath of relief than little brown mushrooms began to bubble to the surface again.

Ichigo groaned in frustration and retreated to a patch of cobblestone, scanning the park again for any hints. If Strawberry Check Healing hadn't worked to keep the chimera at bay, she wasn't hitting the chimera at its source.

That's it, she thought. I need to find the source.

Ichigo turned in a circle, scanning the horizon for anything unusual. She saw Pudding's Pudding Ring Inferno sprouting orange, gelatinous mounds all over the surface of the park. Pie and Quiche appeared to be flying overhead and trying to cover a large surface area with lightning. Lettuce followed closely behind them, using her Lettuce Rush to keep the trees from setting on fire in their wake.

This battle was going to be short if she didn't figure out how to defeat this chimera – and fast. The mews were being quickly overpowered, and the poisonous miasma would soon spread to the rest of the city.

Ichigo was about to give up on her pointless searching and go to help her friends when she noticed something unusual off to one side of the park. The mushrooms on that side were growing taller, thicker than the rest of the fungi. Some of them looked to be nearly her height, maybe even taller. They bubbled up and formed a miniature forest of sorts. And in their center, Ichigo could make out the top of a huge, thick cherry tree.

It's that tree, she thought. It has to be. The source of the chimera. It had to be latched on to the large cherry tree near the center of the park, with the fungi spreading out from the roots and the branches.

Without thinking, Ichigo took off in a sprint towards the direction of the tree. She knew that if she could hit the tree with her Strawberry Check, she could cut off the source of the fungi. All she needed was one good shot.

She didn't realize how hard that would be until she was growing closer to the thick patch of mushrooms growing around the cherry tree. The growth was up to her knees now, and the smell was nearly unbearable. Ichigo felt herself retching inadvertently as she struggled to breathe. Just a little closer. I'm almost there.

She felt the slimy, cold surface of the mushrooms sliding over her legs as she struggled into the thick of the growth. She was beating back the overgrown mushrooms with her elbows now. One burst in her face when she hit it too hard, and she threw up in her mouth a little at the smell.

Coughing, Ichigo spit on the ground and wrestled her way further into the mushroom growth. They were taller than her head now. She thought about turning back and getting help, but she felt like she was so close to the center, that it would be a waste of time to fight her way back to the outer ring of the mushrooms. She could almost make out the trunk of the three through the dark, thick stems of the fungi. Almost there.

Ichigo shoved her way between two thick mushroom stems, but shrieked as she tripped over something hard. A tree root, or something else growing on the ground. She stumbled and fell, gasping. She swallowed thick, deep breaths of poisonous gas. The air around her felt hot and wet. She scrambled to stand, but her mind whirled and spun to the point where she couldn't determine which way was up. She pushed herself up on her elbows, but found herself falling back down on her side. Get up Ichigo! she told herself, screwing her eyes shut. Get up! Now!

Her vision grew fuzzy and dark around her. She felt like a fish out of water, like there wasn't any air left to breathe. She reached a gloved hand up into the furthest reach of her fading vision, but felt nothing.

Her hand fell; her vision quickly grew spotty, the sound in her ears fading into the distance, as if she was falling into a deep, dark hole. Her mind screamed at her to fight, but her limbs wouldn't obey. Her vision was gone, and the only thing in her ears was the distant ringing of the battle beyond the mushroom growth.

Ichigo felt her consciousness slip away from her. Then, she knew nothing but the dark.

"Are you sure you have no idea how to get rid of this?"

Pie fired a ball of lightning towards the ground and watched it spread out in a blazing flash of gold.

"Right, sure Pie, now that I think about it, I knew the answer all along!" Quiche yelled sarcastically. He fired another shot of blue lightning into a cluster of mushrooms. "I just needed a reminder to think more. You're so helpful!"

Quiche heard Pie sigh gruffly behind him. "This chimera is your creation, Quiche!" Pie called out. "You must have some idea on how to defeat it."

Quiche clenched his jaw. The past two weeks had served as a stark reminder for how many horrid creations he had spun up while he was on Earth. And now, they were kicking his ass.

Oh, the irony.

"If I think of anything brilliant," Quiche yelled back at Pie, "I'll let you know!"

Quiche glanced down and watched Zakuro's whip strike the ground just below him. The purple blast immediately wilted the growth around it. But in just a few moments, the grass began to bubble with the sickly brown mushrooms again, growing and bursting like boiling water. The chimera's fungi were growing back faster now, and taller. The mews would soon be overwhelmed, and everyone who couldn't fly would need to leave.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Quiche found himself searching the ground for the color pink. He hadn't seen Ichigo in a few minutes, but with the chaos raging around them, it was hard to keep track of who was attacking where. Flashes of multicolored lights shone all around them as the mews called out their attacks. But Ichigo was nowhere to be seen.

Quiche shot up higher in the air and scanned a wider area of the park. Panic began to bubble in his stomach. I should have never taken my eyes off of her.

Suddenly, he spotted a flash of bright pink. Ichigo was running towards the center of the park, far away from the rest of the mews. She looked to be already waist-height in the mushroom growth. Quiche grit his teeth and took off in her direction, furious that she was doing something as careless as running off on her own.

As he grew closer, Quiche realized what Ichigo was headed towards. At the center of the thick patch of chimera-infected fungi was a tall cherry tree. The fungi seemed to grow even taller, faster around the tree. It suddenly clicked in Quiche's mind: the source of the chimera. Ichigo must have realized the tree was what the chimera parasite had latched on to, and rushed to destroy it on her own.

Smart girl. But too brave for her own good.

Quiche dove towards the growth around the tree, scanning the thick growth for Ichigo's pink hair. She had disappeared somewhere in the depths of the bulbous masses of fungi. Quiche drew his tonfas and began to slash through the thick stems of the mushrooms. They erupted in gaseous clouds of poisonous gas – disgusting to smell, but not lethal to Quiche like it was to humans. Coughing, he frantically slashed his way further and further into growth. Ichigo wouldn't last long like this, the air thick with poison.

When he finally saw her, panic shot through him like a bolt of lightning. She was on the ground, her pink hair just barely visible between the thick, slimy stems of the fungi growing all around her. They squeezed her limp body between their trunks like a ragdoll. Quiche dove towards her and pulled her up by her arm. He felt his stomach drop when he realized she was fully unconscious, dead weight in his grip. Her skin was already turning a sickly, pale color. No, no, no, no, no.

He wasted no time throwing her body over one shoulder and shooting up through the infected fungi into the open air of the sky above them. Once out of the poisonous growth, Quiche let Ichigo's body fall into his arms so he could look at her. She looked like a ghost, and it terrified him. He ducked his head and put one ear to her chest.

A heartbeat. Thank god. He could also hear her breathing, but it was shallow, quick. Quiche raised his head to look around at the growing chaos of the battle around them. The mushrooms were coming in faster, stronger still. The patch he had just pulled Ichigo out of was nearly 3 meters tall. The surrounding sidewalk around the park was beginning to crack with the spreading growth of the fungi. Quiche could barely spot Ryou and Masaya just outside the park, trying to avoid the cracks in the cement. Idiots. They shouldn't have come.

Quiche knew they couldn't go on much longer without destroying the chimera at its source.

But more importantly, Ichigo needed to wake up. Her lungs needed full breaths of clean air to clear the poison from her body. Quiche gripped her body tighter in his arms. He couldn't believe this was all his fault.

This chimera was his creation, and it had nearly killed the one he loved. He had never hated himself more.

Quiche clenched his jaw and racked his brain for a way to bring Ichigo back to consciousness. The thought of sending a small electric shock to her fingers crossed his mind briefly, but it was too risky. He was about to consider getting Lettuce to hit her with Lettuce Rush — but an idea bloomed in his mind that he hadn't thought of before. He needed a way to try to pull Ichigo back to reality without physically hurting her. He just didn't know if this new idea would work.

He closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of Ichigo's voice calling out to him when she was in danger. Their strange mental bond, his ability to hear her when she needed him – it felt stupid to try to rekindle the connection now, but it was worth a shot. He didn't even know if the connection worked both ways. But some deep part of his subconsciousness urged him to try.

Quiche pictured reaching out to Ichigo in her mind, calling out her name. He pictured her bright pink irises when she turned into Mew Ichigo, the fire and light that danced behind her eyes during a battle. The champion of the Earth and the selfless leader of Tokyo Mew Mew. The girl with the power to defeat even the worst of his horrible creations.

Ichigo, we need you. I need you.

Please wake up.

Ichigo felt like she was drowning in a pool of mud.

Everything around her felt thick, suffocating. She couldn't move. Her muscles felt like they were made of lead. She couldn't see, darkness filling her vision like a thick stormcloud. She was vaguely aware of her own heartbeat, fluttering like a butterfly's wings. Small, light, barely perceivable. She felt like her lungs were filled with sand. It hurt to breathe, like her lungs were pushing up against sandpaper every time she drew a breath.

A wave of tiredness washed over her, and she felt the urge to fall asleep. But, wasn't she already asleep? Her body screamed at her to let go, to slip deeper into the heavy, sedated feeling eating at the corners of her mind. It would be okay to just sleep deeper, right? To just fall fast asleep for a while? To not have to breathe, and to not feel pain? Ichigo drew another breath and felt like she might cry. It hurt so much.

The darkness twisted and pulled at her thoughts until it was almost all she could think about. All she could think was sleep, now. Sleep. Let go.

A horrible feeling shot through her stomach all of a sudden, like a knife being twisted through her core. She felt the heavy, dark pulling recede from her mind. Her first thought was that she was being stabbed. But this was different – not exactly like a physical pain. It felt like a sudden twist of panic, fear had just suddenly lodged itself in her body. But why?

Something pushed at the corner of her vision – a small, cloudy patch of light. Something tugged at her consciousness, like a fishing line. Like a string attached to her mind. Ichigo felt herself pulled towards the dim patch of light slowly. It felt like she was returning to her body. A small sound echoed through the deepest depths of her mind. It was her name. Someone was saying her name.

Ichigo.

Ichigo.

Ichigo found herself able to move the tips of her fingers.

My name is Ichigo.

Everyone needs me.

I need to wake up.

A bright flash of light hit her like a punch in the gut, forcing her to gasp for air. Ichigo drew a long, choking breath and started coughing immediately. Her lungs burned with every inhale. She was vaguely aware of the putrid smell lingering in the air, mixed with grass and … cloves.

"Oh shit. No no no. Ichigo, are you okay? Can you breathe?"

Ichigo cracked one eye open. Worried gold eyes looked down at her, watching her intently. It was Quiche. He must have pulled her out of the poisonous fungi. Ichigo swallowed and nodded weakly. She drew a short, shallow breath and blinked as she regained her focus.

Wait. The fungi. They were still in the middle of a battle.

"Quiche, the tree," Ichigo croaked hoarsely. Her voice was weak, cracked. She watched Quiche roll his eyes and shake his head in disbelief.

"Listen, kitten, the chimera can wait. You almost died."

"I'm fine," Ichigo bit back. No sooner had she said that, she broke out into another coughing fit. Quiche gripped her tighter in his arms.

Ichigo looked down at the rest of the mews in battle. They were obviously losing, the chimera spreading out further by the second. The adjacent road to the park was split and cracked, the growth breaking through the concrete. The poisonous miasma was spreading all down the street and over a surface that looked like almost a square kilometer in size. Ichigo's mind began to catch up to what she was seeing. This chimera was out of control, much stronger than anything they had battled in years. How was she supposed to heal all of this at once?

A realization hit Ichigo like a ton of bricks. She wasn't supposed to do it alone. Not without the mews.

Suddenly, everything Ichigo had been worrying about for the last two weeks began to fall into place in her mind. When she was being pushed in different directions, when she thought she knew what was best, she had been rushing towards something she thought she could handle by herself. All this time – in the battles over the past fourteen days, and in navigating what she wanted to do with her life – Ichigo had been in her own head, relying only on herself.

She remembered how good it felt coming clean to Mint and Lettuce. She remembered the encouragement and support of her friends during her engagement, but also how they supported her when Ichigo thought that her and Masaya were through. She remembered how she struggled wherever a chimera came to attack and she was the only one battling it. She remembered how relieved she always felt when her friends came to fight by her side.

All this time, it wasn't supposed to be a battle she fought alone. It was never supposed to be about stupid fights between boys, or learning English over the summer, or fighting chimeras alone in London. Who was she when she didn't have her friends by her side to support her?

"Quiche," Ichigo called up in a hoarse voice, "get me closer to the mews."

Quiche hesitated, adjusting her body in his arms. "Wait, what? You sure? The gas is really bad down there."

"Trust me," Ichigo said. She looked up into Quiche's worried eyes. He nodded. His expression changed to one of determination as he flew them towards the center of the battle. Ichigo was secretly relieved that he wasn't arguing with her. The air grew worse around her as they got closer to the ground, and she began to cough again. She felt Quiche's hands tighten around her. She realized in that moment that he was terrified for her.

"Mint! Lettuce!" Ichigo barked out at her teammates. The two girls whirled around to see Ichigo in Quiche's arms, hovering just a few meters above the ground. Pudding overheard Ichigo's voice and whirled around, gasping.

"Everyone, big sis Ichigo is hurt!" she yelled out to Zakuro and Berry. All five girls rushed over to Ichigo as Quiche lowered her closer to the ground. Ichigo cringed as she struggled to get control of her breath.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Lettuce cried, hands on her chest. Her voice was hoarse, too.

"I'm okay," Ichigo replied weakly. "Everyone, I need your help. I found the source of the chimera, but it's strong. I can't defeat it alone. Please, lend me your power."

The mews looked at each other and nodded. They took hold of each other's hands – Zakuro, Mint, Lettuce, Pudding and Berry, all in a half-circle around Ichigo and Quiche – and closed their eyes. A warm glow emitted from their chests, one Ichigo hadn't seen since the final battle against Deep Blue. Slowly, small, glowing orbs appeared from each mew's chest. They all swirled around each other in a fairy-like dance before drawing closer to Ichigo.

Ichigo, still in Quiche's grasp, stretched out her arms to welcome the power to herself. She felt the warmth of the mews' energy hovering just above her heart for a few moments. Then, she pushed all of the glowing balls of light slowly, carefully into her aching chest.

An elated, euphoric feeling took over Ichigo's body. She felt like every happy thought she had ever experienced was suddenly filling her body with warmth. Her lungs felt healed, and her muscles no longer ached. She opened her eyes and drew a long, deep breath. The power flowing through her felt electric, like it might surge from her fingertips at any moment.

Ichigo knew what she had to do. Summoning her Strawberry Bell, she raised it above her head.

"Strawberry Bell, Version Up!"

Her small, heart-shaped weapon instantly glowed and began to transform. The glowing pink rings of her upgraded weapon descend around her and Quiche. Quiche looked up and watched her weapon change in fascination, pink and white light dancing across his face.

Ichigo turned her head to her teammates. "I won't be long!"

She looked up at Quiche and smiled confidently. She wrapped one arm around his neck. "Let's go finish this thing!"

Quiche hesitated just for a moment, stunned. But he quickly recovered, grinned and took off into the air. Ichigo shrieked at the sudden ascent. She moved her upgraded Strawberry Bell from above their heads and held it upside-down as they flew, with the weapon and its pink rings facing the ground. They were traveling fast, the infected tree coming into view through the thick growth of the chimera.

"Get me right above the tree!" Ichigo called to Quiche. Her strength had returned to her voice. "I need a straight shot at this thing!"

"You got it!" Quiche called back. He stopped directly above the tree, high above the thick growth, but close enough to see the crown of the branches cresting above the bulbous surface of the mushrooms.

Ichigo looked down and swallowed the fear gripping her throat in a knot. She turned her head to look up at Quiche.

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

"Always," Quiche replied.

He was wearing that stupid smirk again. The look in his eyes was pure fascination, like he was just seeing her for the first time.

Ichigo bit her lip and nodded.

"Then you're going to throw me right at that tree," she demanded. She readied her Strawberry Bell and looked down at the branches far, far beneath her. "On three!"

"Wait, what? Are you serious?!" Quiche yelled in disbelief.

"One…! Two…!"

Quiche flew even higher in the air and adjusted his grip on Ichigo. The greater altitude meant he was giving her more time in freefall, but it also made the fall more deadly. Ichigo took a deep breath.

"Three!"

Without hesitation, Quiche threw Ichigo directly towards the thick of the chimera growth. Ichigo knew she had only seconds to fall. One shot — it had to count.

She felt the power of the mews running through her veins. It felt like time stood still as Ichigo called out the attack. The sky lit up with a blinding flash of white. Her hair blew back from her face, and her body surged with an incredible warmth.

"RIBBON STRAWBERRY CHECK, HEALING!"

(A.N./

Oh man, I am NEVER writing another fic with this many battle scenes again! They take me FOREVER to edit, haha. I hope you all liked this latest chapter. Lots happening here, lots still to come in the next few chapters. We're nearly finished with the fic!

Thank you so much for all of the recent reviews! Please let me know what you thought of this update. Cheers!)