I'm back again! Anyway, as always, Tokyo Mew Mew and all characters belong to Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida. I made up Flan/Peach.

You may be a little confused with the way I set this up, but at the end, you won't be confused anymore. Starting here, I switch back and forth between the Mew Mews and the aliens. Yeah, I know there are probably a lot of other fan-made Mews out there with the same name as mine. I probably should've just left her name the same, huh? It's too late now… I'm not really a fan of Ryou and Keiichiro, but I had to use them for the research. I know I make it seem like all they do is sit around in the lab all day… Sorry. Enjoy it anyway. Okay, I'll shut up now.

Oh! Wait! Thank you, KrysOfDeath! And to everyone else, if you read this, please review!

Chapter 2: A New Mew

The sun filtered through the opaque windows on the rounded walls, illuminating the plastic hearts and multicolored interior decorations. Down below, many customers, mostly girls, stood in the line at the entrance barred off by red rope barriers. They chatted happily to each other as they waited to be seated. However, there was one girl who only wished that she could be chatting and waiting to be seated.

"Aaaaaarrgh!" Ichigo yelled. "There are too many people!!! Where the heck is Mint?!?!" She zoomed over to another part of the café, carrying a tray for the customers in the corner.

"Chill out," another girl with green hair in braids advised her. "She's probably just taking lessons or something."

"Yeah, you're right, Lettuce," Ichigo agreed. "Could you go greet those customers at the entrance?"

"Sure," Lettuce said. She hurried up to the line that was waiting at the front of the café. "Hello, everyone! Welcome to Café Mew Mew! Just be patient, and I'll…whoa!" Lettuce slipped on a wet spot on the floor and went tumbling on her butt. The whole line laughed at her.

"Lettuce!" Ichigo cried, rushing over to help her friend up. "Are you okay?"

Lettuce slowly got to her feet. "Thanks, Ichigo." She blushed a deep shade of red. "Um…do you mind if I take a little break? I'll be right out to help you, I promise."

"Okay," Ichigo said, although her mind was saying, oh, great, more work for me to do!

"Wee!" a little voice cried. A young girl around 8 years old went running by, holding a very long pole. "Ichigo, watch this!"

"Not now, Pudding," Ichigo replied. "I'll watch later, for now can you help me out with these customers?"

"Aw, just this one trick!" Pudding insisted. "C'mon!" She began running, thrust the pole to the ground, and did a complete flip over to the other side of the café. The surprised customers waiting in line began clapping happily. "Okay!" Pudding cried. "Now, who's ready to get seated?"

Ichigo sighed. Well, at least she was getting the work done. The preteen girl walked over to another part of Café Mew Mew, sweeping the floor as she went. Suddenly, a blue blur rushed past her. "Hey, no running!" she cried. "You could get yourself hurt that way!"

"Sorry." A familiar girl with blue hair in two buns on the side of her head suddenly appeared standing next to Ichigo.

"Mint!" Ichigo cried. "When did you get here?"

"A minute ago."

"When did you change into your uniform?"

"A minute ago."

"Why were you so late?"

"A minute…I…I mean…stop asking so many questions!"

Ichigo stared at her ritzy friend. It was unusual for Mint to be so awkward and breathless. "Did…did something happen?"

Mint glanced around the café. "Where are the others?"

"Well, Pudding's seating the customers, Lettuce is taking a little break, and Zakuro…she's around here somewhere."

"Where's Ryou?"

Ichigo shrugged. "How should I know? He never tells me anything."

Mint finally rushed off into a side door, leading to Ryou and Keiichiro's laboratory.

Ichigo stamped her foot. "What is it with everyone today?" she cried. She fixed her shoulder-length pink hair and continued sweeping the floor in misery. Suddenly she wished her boyfriend Masaya were back already. She hadn't realized how much she needed him.

Later that day, Lettuce did come back out to help Ichigo with the work, but they didn't see Mint for the rest of the day. She didn't come out of the laboratory, even at teatime. "Maybe we should go check on Mint," Ichigo finally decided. "She sounded pretty worried about something."

"Why is she in the lab?" asked the tall, elegant, purple-haired Zakuro.

"We don't know," Ichigo replied. "I don't know why there's even a need for the laboratory anymore. The aliens all went home, we can't transform anymore…" Ichigo thought for a while. "For that matter, why are we still working at this café?!?!"

Pudding, Lettuce, and Zakuro all stared at each other. It had never even crossed their minds that after the aliens were defeated they could quit this job. This had become routine to them, part of their lives. Now what would they do? Just go back to their former lives- their lives before the Mew Project, their lives before they all knew each other?

"So, what are we waiting for?" Pudding spoke up, trying to break the uneasy silence. "Let's go see Mint!"

The other Mew Mews agreed, and the four of them made their way to the secret laboratory. When they entered the darkened room, they noticed Mint sitting in a swiveling chair, sipping from a teacup and chatting to the blond, teenage genius Ryou. Meanwhile, Keiichiro's long brown ponytail swished as he made notes and analyzed a pair of images.

"Mint!" Ichigo cried.

Ryou suddenly whipped around. "Who told you to come in?" he cried.

"Well, excuse us," Ichigo argued. "We were worried about Mint. She's been in here almost the whole day."

Ryou sighed in frustration. "Well, come in. I was about to come get the rest of you in a few minutes anyway."

Mint shrugged. "What business is it of theirs what we were doing in here?"

"Well, I think it's best we tell them now," Ryou explained.

Keiichiro finished his final note and rose to greet them. "Have a seat, ladies," he said, pulling up chairs for all of them.

Once all of the Mew Mews were seated, Ryou pulled out a long grayish paper. "So, I assume none of you get the newspaper?"

"Yeah, I do!" Ichigo cried. "Wait a minute, what has this got to do with anything?"

"Then you obviously don't read it," Ryou continued. "Thankfully Mint happened to catch this important information, because if we relied on you, we'd all be dead!"

"Hey!" Ichigo cried. "At least I do my work at the café, unlike some people I know."

Mint looked up from her teacup. "What are you talking about? I do my work, just not today, because I had something important to tell Ryou and Keiichiro."

"Settle down," Ryou finally interrupted them. "We didn't come here to have an argument."

"You started it!" Mint and Ichigo both cried.

Keiichiro calmly held up a small photograph, passing it to Ichigo. "This is what Mint acquired for us." Ichigo stared at the photograph, and then showed it to Lettuce, Pudding, and Zakuro.

The picture showed a starry sky, with a long, snake-like object glistening next to one of the stars. On the back was an article. "Another UFO Sighted?" the headline read. "Late last night, residents of Tokyo reported sightings of a long, silvery craft hanging in the night sky. The oddly shaped light seemed to drift up and down, described as "winding" between the stars. Many photographed or videotaped this object, believing it to be a UFO. Scientists have been unable to determine whether this was a real UFO or a trick of the light…" The article went on for another half a page.

"Our intense photo-analysis revealed that this object indeed was a UFO," Keiichiro explained. "So we believe there may still be some aliens present on our planet."

"How can that be?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, Tart and his friends went home," Pudding added, slightly sadly. "If there had been other aliens, we would've known about them."

"Excuse me, Ryou," Mint said, getting to her feet. "But I have to check something."

"What do you need to check?" Lettuce asked.

"BOOOO!" Mint suddenly cried, jumping in front of Ichigo.

"Aaaaugh!" Ichigo shrieked, a pair of black cat ears popping up on the top of her head.

Mint nodded. "Just as I had suspected. Ichigo, your ears are showing."

"What?!" Ichigo said. She felt around the top of her head. "But…but I thought my ears had stopped popping up now!"

Ryou stood up. "They had, because we thought you wouldn't have to use your wildcat genes anymore, but it looks like you'll have to use them again…"

The Mew Mews all stared at each other.

"That means the battle's not over yet," Mint announced.

"Maybe deep inside we all knew that, and that's why none of us quit," Lettuce suggested.

"Well, you all need to be on your highest alerts, in case more kirema animas start showing up." The Mew Mews nodded. "Okay, you're all dismissed now." Ryou sank back into his chair as the five girls exited the laboratory. He sighed.

"Ryou?" Keiichiro spoke up from beside him. "Why are you so worried? We aren't even sure that the aliens are back yet."

Ryou just stared at the top of his desk for a long moment in silence. Finally, he spoke. "I've got a feeling that I'm not the only one with materials for the Mew Project."

At last the new DNA was starting to take effect. Aside from the unusually large spring in her step, Flan looked just like an ordinary human strolling down the sidewalks of Tokyo. She hadn't told the king specifically what her plan would require, but she figured he'd understand once she brought back a bottle of functioning Mew Aqua…

Ichigo was racing home after work. She had already stayed a bit later to receive the news from Ryou and Mint. Was it true that there were still more kirema animas? Well, wherever they were, she hoped they would stay away from her at least until she got home. Still running, Ichigo stuffed her pink café uniform into a duffel bag hanging at her waist. As she was zooming, oblivious to the world around her, she suddenly bumped into something…or someone. "Aaugh!" Ichigo cried, crashing to the ground. She held her hands to her head just in case her cat ears had popped out again. "I'm so sorry!"

The person who glanced back at her was an older girl, around Zakuro's age with very light pink hair clipped up in the back. "Oh, that's fine," she said. "You were in a rush. Here, let me help you up."

Ichigo took the girl's hand and pulled herself up again. "Oh, thank you. You're so kind." She began to walk away, but the light pink-haired girl called back to her.

"Umm, wait a minute. What's your name?"

"Ichigo Momomiya," Ichigo answered.

The girl's face broke into a suspicious smile. It almost looked like she wanted to laugh. "Well, it's very nice to meet you. I'm…um, Peach."

"Nice to meet you too, Peach." Then, the two girls walked off down the street in opposite directions. Gee, Ichigo thought. What a strange girl. Will this weird day ever end?

Another day. Another rush hour. Another Sunday lunchtime. At least this time Mint didn't try to escape into the laboratory. She gracefully guided the customers to their seats, so Lettuce wouldn't have to risk embarrassment again. This time, the shy green-haired Mew Mew was concentrating on cleanup with Pudding. Ichigo and Zakuro were in charge of delivering food and being the servers.

There were a ton of people waiting to be waited on, but somehow Ichigo didn't feel as pressured as she had yesterday. She approached another table stuck in the back as Mint seated the next customer. "Hello!" Ichigo called, putting on her sunny smile. "Welcome to Café Mew Mew! I will be your server today…hey…" Ichigo paused as she got a good look at the girl sitting before her. "Hey…I know you! From the other day! You're Peach, right?"

Peach nodded. "Oh, yes, Ichigo Momomiya! So you work at Café Mew Mew? I never knew that."

Ichigo nodded, although she wondered why Peach had said "never". She'd only just met her yesterday.

"Ichigo!" Mint called as she went by with another customer. "Stop chitchatting! Get to work!"

"Oh, right," Ichigo remembered. Sometimes she forgot that she was working. "So, what do you want, Peach?"

"Well…" she thought for a while. "Well, um, you see, I wasn't planning on actually buying something…"

"Then why did you come to the café?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, uh…you can just get me a cookie, or a brownie, or…well nothing bad!"

Ichigo found it unusual how nervous Peach was acting. She was just about to turn around and fetch a cookie, when Peach interrupted.

"No, wait! Actually, you can get me a salad. Suddenly, I've got this weird craving for leaves…"

Ichigo didn't know anything about this girl, but there was just about something about her. There was something strange, and yet remarkably familiar about her. Whatever this was, it set an onslaught of curiosity upon Ichigo. She whisked into the back room to fetch a salad. There she found Lettuce sitting in a pile of porcelain pieces, practically in tears as Zakuro silently swept them up.

"I'm so sorry!" Lettuce cried.

"Oooh!" Pudding said, observing the disaster and putting down her stick-flipping trick. "What's the count now? Has she reached 150 yet?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Zakuro answered. "It was only a small stack."

Ichigo smiled, knowingly and grabbed the salad for Peach. She glided back into the café holding the salad and placed it in front of Peach.

The light pink-haired teenager smiled up at her. "Thank you, Ichigo."

"Can I get you anything else like something to drink, or…?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Ichigo looked down and watched as that girl unwrapped her fork and began to eat her salad.

"Hey, Ichigo? You go to school around here?"

Ichigo nodded and began telling her all about her junior high, maybe a bit more information that she would have wanted, but she felt very comfortable around Peach, as if she had known her for a lot longer than two days.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Peach asked.

"Oh, yeah," Ichigo said. "His name is Masaya, but he's not here right now. He went away to England to further his studies. He's so cute though, you should see him!"

Peach laughed a little. "Do you have a picture? I'd really like to see it."

"Okay, I'll bring it next time!"

"ICHIGO!!!" Mint yelled as she went by. "Didn't I tell you to get working and stop chatting?! You never listen, do you?!"

Ichigo turned and addressed Peach. "That's my friend Mint. She's nice, but she can be really bossy, like right now."

Peach smiled a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm holding you up, aren't I?"

Ichigo shrugged. "So, Mint breaks for tea every day, why can't I break to talk to a friend once?"

"Well, go along," Peach urged her. "I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Alright," Ichigo finally agreed. "I'll see you around!" The new friends waved to each other as Ichigo scurried back off to work. Mint glared at her, while Lettuce and Pudding gave her questioning stares, but Ichigo felt great and suddenly ready to tackle the café once again.

It was nighttime on the planet Mercury, although the sun still blazed in the sky outside. Since Pie was an official scientist to King Jubala, he had quarters in the upstairs portion of the palace. That day, he had invited Tart and Kish to share his room, but only Tart was with him at the moment. He stared into space, and although his exterior seemed cool and nonchalant, the interior was swirling and thrashing in confusion. He felt nervous, wondering if Lettuce would like his present, while at the same time he felt bad for the hurt look on Flan's face just before she left Mercury.

Meanwhile, Tart was pacing around on the plush carpet, worrying his red head off. "Pie, do you think Flan made it to Earth already? You think she's had time to explore yet? Hey, what about this Shadow Plague thing I didn't know about? How do you catch it? Do you always die from it? Where the heck is Kish???"

"Slow down," Pie told him. "I can only answer one question at once."

"Alright, tell me where Kish is."

"Well, I don't really know exactly where he is, but he said he just went out to get a few things. He should be coming back here soon…"

"Rrrrgh, I hate not knowing where people are! Anyway, what about the Shadow Plague? I'm afraid of catching it…"

"Don't worry," Pie advised him. "You don't have to worry about catching the Shadow Plague."

"Why not?" Tart asked. "What if I touch someone with Shadow Plague and I don't know they have it? What if they sneeze on me? Then I'd catch it, wouldn't I?"

"No," Pie told him. "You have nothing to fear, Tart. There is no way for you to catch the Shadow Plague. You're too young."

"So it only affects adults?"

"You could say that." Pie was trying to explain without really explaining. He stared out at the barren world around him, wondering, hoping Flan would return with a Mew Aqua to save their world. If not…everything and everyone could be in danger.

"Phew!" Mint cried, placing her broom over in the corner. "I'm glad that's finally over." Lettuce and Zakuro dropped their rags as they finished wiping the last table. It was the end of Sunday, after the café had closed- when the employees went to work cleaning the entire room after hours. Now, they were finally finished.

"Yeah, let's celebrate!" Pudding cried. She began twirling her broomstick around and marching around the room. "C'mon, join the parade!"

"Not now, Pudding," Ichigo groaned. "I'm too exhausted."

"Ditto," Mint agreed. She took a seat next to her partners. "I'm just going to have a little rest before I make my way home."

"That sounds like a good idea," Lettuce added, sitting down near them. Eventually, Pudding gave up on her parade and came to sit with the other Mew Mews. With nothing else to do, the five friends just sat and talked for the next few minutes (Except for Zakuro, who contented herself with staring out of the window, as much as Mint tried to get her into the conversation.) Suddenly, there came an odd knocking from the caf's front door.

"That's strange," Ichigo commented. "Didn't they see the "CLOSED" sign on the door? Oh, well, I'll go get it…" She took a few steps towards the pink decorated double doors, but before she could reach them, they both flew open.

"Huh?!" Mint cried. "I thought Keiichiro locked those doors!"

"Aaaugh!" Ichigo screamed, suddenly caught in a wind gust. The gray, cloudy swirls of wind wound around her body, trapping her in one place.

"Oh no, Ichigo!" Lettuce cried.

Mint closed her eyes. What can we do? She thought. We can't transform anymore…can we? Well, she finally decided, it's worth a shot. Mint thrust her arms to the ceiling. "Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!" In a dazzling blue shower, Mint was suddenly wearing her blue dress with its matching choker, bands, boots, and gloves. Her blue wings protruded from her back, along with a feathery tail from her behind. "Yes!" she cried. "Everyone transform while I help Ichigo!" Mint literally flew forward, grabbing Ichigo from the wind trap and fluttering as hard as she could to escape.

"Mew Mew Lettuce Metamorphosis!" "Mew Mew Pudding Metamorphosis!" "Mew Mew Zakuro Metamorphosis!" The other three Mew Mews stepped out, all wearing similar costumes, Lettuce in green, Pudding in yellow, and Zakuro in purple.

At last, Mint broke free, pulling Ichigo with her. "Huh?" Ichigo said, slowly coming to her senses. "Mint? You're wearing your Mew Mew outfit."

"Of course I am!" Mint cried, landing back on the café floor. "We're under attack! Hurry up and transform, Ichigo!"

Ichigo glanced back up and noticed the black, swirling cloud advancing on them. But, they couldn't be under attack…could they?

"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!" Lettuce cried, holding out her castanets. "Pudding Ring Inferno!" Pudding added, throwing hula-hoop sized rings over the concentration of black clouds. The two powers collided and clashed into the black swirl, but they seemed to have no effect.

I can't just stand here! Ichigo suddenly realized. Whatever this black cloud is, it's trying to attack the café! She called out, "Mew Mew Strawberry Metamorphosis!" and after a few minutes of morphing, she emerged from the pink surrounding wearing her pink Mew Mew dress.

"What is that thing?" Zakuro asked, dispersing a cloud concentration with her whip.

"I have no idea," Mint answered, releasing a blue ray from her heart-shaped arrow.

"Ribbon Strawberry Check!" Ichigo added her power to the mix. None of it seemed to be working, and the dark essence just advanced further on them.

At last, a familiar face emerged from behind one of the caf's walls. Ichigo was so shocked she stopped attacking for a moment. "Peach?!?!" she cried. "What are you doing here? The café is closed now."

"I know," Peach replied. "I just…I'm sorry, but I've been watching you."

"Augh!" Pudding cried, being captured by the swirling cloud. "Help! Someone get me out of here!"

"I'm sorry," Ichigo cried down to Peach. "I have to go! You should get out of here right now! Peach, it's dangerous here. You could get really hurt."

Pudding stared out at them from the choking blackness. "Help!" she coughed.

"I'm coming, Pudding!" Mint cried, flying up towards her captured friend.

I have to help! Peach thought, but how do I…use my powers? Do I have my powers yet?

At last, Mint yanked Pudding out from the middle of the black cloud. "Oooof," Mint panted. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

"C'mon, girls, let's get rid of this thing now!" Ichigo cried. "Combine!" The Mew Mews stood together in a circle, ready to mix their powers and create the second level Strawberry Bell.

As they were preparing for the merge, the evil essence glided over, this time trapping Peach inside. "Nooo!" Peach cried.

"Peach!" Ichigo cried. "C'mon, we have to save her!" She turned back to the circle, but realized that her other four friends were staring back at the trapped teenager. "What are you just staring for?!" Ichigo cried. "We have to help her!"

"Wait, Ichigo," Mint told her.

"Something's happening…" Lettuce added.

Bits of pinkish light were peeking out from among the clouds. "What…?" Ichigo said to herself.

At that moment, Peach suddenly emerged from the darkness, shining with a terribly strong pinkish-orange light.

"What?!" They all cried. "She's…one of us?"

Round black ears poked out from behind the top layer of her light pink hair. She had a choker and bands like the rest of the Mew Mews, but her shirt resembled a closed jacket, with floppy gloves. Her skirt puffed a little bit, with long, thin tails that reached almost to the ground. Instead of boots, Peach wore small shoes resembling ballet slippers. Her mark, with two little circles, arcing lines, and curved lines was on the inside of her arm, just above her elbow joint. "I…I transformed!" Peach cried.

"Yes!" Ichigo cried. "We need all the help we can get! C'mon, Peach, help us attack that essence!"

Peach closed her eyes and received the words she needed. "P…Peach…Frisbee!" A round, flat disc appeared in her hands, the same color as her costume, with two circles and floral designs in the middle. "Wow," she said, "I didn't know I could…"

"All together now!" Ichigo cried. "Ribbon Strawberry Check!" "Ribbon Mint Echo!" Mint added. "Ribbon Lettuce Rush!" Lettuce called. "Pudding Ring Inferno!" Pudding yelled. "Ribbon Zakuro Pure!" Zakuro said.

Peach took a deep breath and her battle cry popped into her head. "Ribbon…Peach Gust!" Her Frisbee shot forward to join the other Mew Mews' blasts.

Poof! At last, the strange cloudy wind disappeared, unable to take all of the attacks at once.

"Another Mew Mew?" Mint cried. "But there are only five of us. Ryou said so himself. How could there be more Mew Mews?"

"Just like how could we be under attack again?" Ichigo said.

"Yea!" Pudding cried. "Welcome to the club, Mew Peach!"

Peach blushed a bit and caught her Frisbee, as it acted as a boomerang, homing back to her. "Thank you…"

Just then, Ryou and Keiichiro came slamming through the lab door. "Girls!" Keiichiro cried, screeching to a halt. "Are you okay? We heard a commotion out here."

"We're fine," Ichigo explained. "There was this weird cloud thing that tried to attack the café, so I guess you were right about having a new enemy."

"Wait a minute…" Ryou said, glancing around at the Mew Mews. There's something wrong here…there's six of them?!"

"Yeah," Ichigo explained. "This is Peach, she's one of us now."

Ryou frowned. "So I was right."

"Right about what?" Peach asked, stepping forward to meet Ryou. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble…"

"How did you get your animal genes?" Ryou asked. "I am the one that injected the other Mew Mews you see here. Who was your scientist?"

"I…I don't really know. The only reason I knew about the Mew Mews was because I decided to stay at the café after hours, and I heard them talking…"

Ryou put a hand on Peach's shoulder. "Well, come with me into the lab. I need to test your genes and find out where they came from."

Peach suddenly looked very afraid and nervous. "Umm, could someone come with me? I've…well, I've never had my genes tested before. I'm not exactly sure what you'll be doing, and…"

"Don't worry, it's not going to hurt. I just need a piece of your hair or a fingernail, or fur from your ears…" Peach trembled in fear.

Ichigo stepped up to Peach's rescue. "Ryou, please. Why can't we save the testing for later? Peach just transformed for the first time, so she's probably freaking out."

Ryou took a deep breath. He didn't want the new Mew Mew to be uncomfortable, but he was also dying to find his rival scientist. "Alright, but next time, I need to test her DNA. We need to figure out what kind of DNA she's got."

"Giant panda," Peach replied.

Ryou's eyes widened. "You knew you had panda bear DNA? But you just said you didn't know about the Mew Mews…"

"I didn't know there were others like me," Peach said. "I knew I could transform, but I thought I was a freak or something."

"Yeah, kind of like I did," Lettuce told them. She smiled at Peach. "That's right, we never introduced ourselves, did we?"

"I'm Mint Aizawa," Mint introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you." Zakuro just remained silent, so Mint introduced her too. "This is Zakuro Fujiiwara. She's a famous model."

"Hi, I'm Pudding Fong!" Pudding called. "You'll have a parade with me sometime, right?"

A strange smile appeared on Peach's face. "Of course."

"And my name is Lettuce Midorikawa," Lettuce chimed in. Peach's smile suddenly vanished, and Lettuce backed away a bit. "Um, sorry?"

"Well, anyway," Ichigo spoke up. "We've got new enemies now, but we've also got a new ally!"

"Yeah!" Lettuce, Mint, and Pudding agreed. "We'll kick this new enemy's butt in no time!"

They all felt sure of it, but Peach slowly backed off from the group. She was losing her identity…becoming someone else. Flan was Peach, Peach was Flan, she reminded herself, but there was one thing she couldn't forget, as much as she tried.