A/N: This is going to follow the original anime's timeline since I'm most familiar with it. I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, only my OC. This chapter is dedicated to Mia Ikumi. She passed away this year and I hope that wherever she is, she can see how much her creation is absolutely adored and loved.

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Prologue: A New Test!

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The Mew Project was near completion. Ryou had used himself as a test subject to make sure the fusion was safe. Though it was, he was a failure of a Mew Mew due to his DNA's incompatibility. His father's life's work would be a success soon enough. Ryou roamed the library once more, looking through his father's research files all about the Mew Project. There was about 10 years of paperwork and diagrams he needed to overview with Keiichiro in order for this to succeed. He had barely returned to Japan two months ago. They had built a base. Once they worked out the final kinks they could get started with saving the earth.

Pulling out a certain file, he looked back through it like he'd done many times before and contemplated to himself what he should do with it. At the start of the Mew Project his father had dabbled in the possibility of using the genes of an extinct animal to create a superhuman. The idea was unfortunately scrapped due to lack of human compatibility. So, when Ryou continued his work he had just ignored it and moved on to using Red Data Animals instead. Still, it was a shame he had given up so quickly. He had procured some preserved fossils and if human compatibility was an issue, with more investigations they could've found someone eventually. Yet, Ryou knew his father was in a rush to help the earth, so time wasn't of the essence.

However, Ryou couldn't allow himself to just let this idea go to waste.

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Keiichiro advised him against the idea of opening up the possibility of creating a Mew with the extinct DNA. There were too many risks, and they needed to finish their original project if they were ever going to succeed. It would never come to fruition if they started getting distracted. But, Ryou was stubborn. He refused to listen as he started spending sleepless nights researching how this could work. Keiichiro, seeing this, gave in but told Ryou that he would only have one chance to see if the project would be a success. If they saw that at the next ruse exhibit they held, they were unable to find anyone compatible with the extinct DNA's, the idea would be abandoned once more.

Ryou agreed and they got to work. They planned on having a Red Data Animal exhibit held in the future to find and transform those who were destined to become Mew Mew's. So, Ryou decided that they should hold an extinct animal exhibit to hopefully find a Mew Mew this way as well. Keiichiro agreed, but they couldn't afford money on such a risky project so it'd be on a smaller scale and held only for 3 days, much to Ryou's chagrin. When everything was finally set in place, they held their breaths as they looked through the DNA's of all those who filtered through the doors first.

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Two days were gone in a flash. Keiichiro had given Ryou worried glances as his eyes remained glued to the monitors. He could understand the boy's desperation. This was his final chance. His father's note's theorized that much like with Red Data DNA, extinct animal DNA could be powerful as well. So the endless possibilities from a successful fusion is exhilarating and should be investigated. Yet, there was a reason why the man scrapped the idea. Red Data Animals received their power through near extinction. Their will to live was powerful, making them stronger than normal, non-endangered animals. Extinct animals have no strength, no resilience because they've ceased to exist. They've failed to survive in a modern world, so who knows if this fusion will bring any viable results.

Still, Keiichiro wished for at least Ryou's sake, this investigation would be a success.

The streets of Tokyo were bustling like always. Her friend's had long ditched her and she was relieved. She was annoyed today and couldn't bother having anymore patience for their stupid antics. They were all a bunch of idiots who didn't have anything better to do. She hated hanging out with them, but she knew hanging out with a bunch of jerks was what she deserved. She sighed, not sure what to do for the next couple hours. They had ditched school today and were planning on spending the whole morning at the movies. But once someone got word of their friend's from another school also ditching, they all left to go hang out and smoke at a nearby, isolated park. Disgusted by that, she lied about going to the bathroom. When she came back they were gone. She felt a bit hurt, but then she remembered who she was dealing with. They were all selfish, mean kids. Albeit harmless, but still rude nonetheless.

Now she was all alone, getting funny looks because clearly a kid her age should be in school. She knew how to avoid getting caught. She'd have to go hideout somewhere for a couple of hours. Deciding to just head to the nearby library, she made a sudden stop after turning the corner. There was a big sign advertising an Extinct Animal Exhibit. This piqued her interest. Her younger brother would definitely be into something like this. Quickly, she shook him out of her head, already feeling that familiar guilt creeping up. Having nothing better to do, she went inside to check it out. She'd grab a brochure, too, to not so sneakily forget on the table so her brother could see it once he's back from Kendo practice.

The exhibit was much bigger on the inside than she thought. Paying the fee and getting past security, much to her disappointment, today was the exhibit's last day and they were closing early. Debating on just leaving, she shrugged and stuck around. Maybe she could take pictures and have her mom show Masaya later. Wandering around, she was fascinated and a little disturbed by how eerie the real life replicas were. They were extremely detailed and the size of the extinct animals. Turning the corner, she let out a small noise and jumped at the sight of a large, fluffy elephant. It was terrifying. Mustering up some courage, she took a picture of it and looked at the description.

"Mammuthus primigenius…?" She said out loud, gaze wandering back up to the beast. "Woolly mammoth is pretty accurate, that's for sure."

Circling it, she shivered and felt like it was watching her every move. Stopping at the side of its face, the curled tusks were menacing and powerful, and as for its eyes, they were dark and small. For a moment, she thought they sparkled. Wanting to move on, she was walking to the next installation when the ground began to shake. Panicking, she lost her footing and fell to the ground. Unable to get up thanks to the rumbling terrain, she covered her head and did her best to wait out the earthquake. That's when it happened. The giant mammoth tumbled above her. She screamed as she braced herself and was trapped underneath its giant tusks. She lost her breath as its glass eye popped out and bounced away. It sparkled and a sudden flash of light engulfed the ground beneath her. That was the last thing she remembered before she passed out.

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Keiichiro stared in awe at the screen, then shifted his gaze to Ryou. The teen had sent his chair flying back at the mere sight on the monitor. His expression was unreadable as it stared and stared in disbelief.

They had found a match.

...

A/N: I came up with this while rewatching all the Ice Age movies. Like a lotta people, Tokyo Mew Mew means so much to me because it started my love of anime and magical girls in general. I love this story so much and I'm so happy it got a reboot even though I think the new magical outfits designs are ugly ;;_;; I'm really happy that I created Kiui because she was so easy to come up with and she's really fun to write. Bare with her a bit cause she's gonna be super bratty and angsty but I want her to have a nice flow of character development. I hope you really like her! I gave her a fruit name so when she's untransformed she's gonna be Kiui, and while transformed it's gonna be Kiwi. I know kiwi's aren't orange but like I wanted her to be orange bc it's the only unused color lol and it really suits her. I know they use orange for Pudding sometimes but her signature color's yellow so yeah. There is gonna be romance but I want it to be a shoujo type romance so they're gonna be canon at the end. They'll have cute moments here and there though! I do plan on making a sequel with A La Mode that'll divert from the original story. Let's hope I finish this so that'll happen!

I haven't published a story in years, so I'm fairly rusty. I have an Ouran fic up too if ya wanna read that. Review and follow if you liked it, thanks!