As always, Tokyo Mew Mew and all its characters belong to Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida. Duh. I made up King Jubala, Flan/Peach, and Brownie.

Here goes the third chapter of Mew Galaxy. This is the one that the rating begins to change. There are no swear words, I hate swearing, but something happened. You don't actually see it, but… just by the little conversations, you can figure out what happened. …Unless you're Tart. Oh, and Peach is naked for a millisecond. That's all! This also introduces another character, Brownie. Brownie is evil. Evil with a capital E! When I first created him and he had this fight with Kish, it was more of Kish being the bad guy, but in this story I didn't want him to be viewed that way, so I made Brownie more evil. Oh, and he originally had blond hair.

Thank you to KrysOfDeath again. I really want some more people to review! Please? Do I have to get threatening? Um…review now or…or you'll be struck down with a bolt of lightning! Oh, I'm bad with threats… so don't make me do it again!

Chapter 3: Discoveries

After hours, all the lights went out. After hours, destiny is decided…but by who? A silent shadow slinked its way through the cold inner streets of Mercuritopolis. The speckled brownish material slipped across the smooth floor. His wet skin glistened as he passed under a lone overhead streetlamp.

Kish stumbled over the stone walkways, making no sound as he flew over the path. Darn it, I'm late, he thought. That lasted longer than I had expected…but I guess it was my fault… Pie and Tart are probably wondering where I am…not that it matters. He rounded another corner, trembling and almost tripping on the edge of the street. Well, I suppose it should matter. I can't let anyone find out about this…

"Ha ha!" a deep but screechy voice sang out. "Guess again, you burglar!"

Kish's body jerked to a stop. "Huh? Wh-Who's there?!"

Another Mercurian wearing a loose outfit that looked like it had been cut out of a leftover cloak slowly descended from above. It was baggy and stiff, draping over his shoulders and coming together just below his chest. His short brown hair was shaggy and unkempt, and he looked around Pie's age or older.

"Brownie!" Kish cried. "Where did you come from?"

Brownie grinned, crazily. "What do you think, bozo? I've been spying on you. I saw it all."

Kish's pale face suddenly turned a deep pink shade. "You're…you're a…nosy jerk!"

Brownie cackled as he floated down to the ground. He peeked out from his long, ragged bangs. "You've reached a dead end, Kish! A dead end."

"So," Kish said, determined. He pulled out his handled sticks from the pack strapped to his back. Thankfully, he'd remembered to grab that… "You wanna fight? Is that what this is? Well then, let's go!"

Brownie produced a threateningly sharp razorblade from under his cloak. "Since you asked so nicely…" He flew towards Kish, his razor pointing outward from his hand.

Kish flew up and out of the way. He pushed himself downward, pointing the ends of the weapons at Brownie's back.

The sloppy Mercurian whipped around at the last second, his razor digging straight into the ends of Kish's weapons. Kish yanked them out and swung at Brownie again. He rolled away and stooped in crouched stance, still holding the blade out.

In a fierce fury of motivation, Brownie whooshed forward with such speed that Kish didn't have enough time to properly react. He held the stick out, but missed Brownie's body. The crazed, strangely dressed Mercurian had him pinned to the floor.

He spit right onto Kish's forehead. "Here," he hissed. "You're dirty enough as it is. A little more filth won't hurt you."

Kish trembled in rage and humiliation. He had had enough of this. He concentrated hard and managed to transport behind Brownie's back.

"Huh?!" Brownie cried as he disappeared from underneath him.

As he glanced around, Kish floated off into the darkness, rubbing his forehead in disgust.

"Come back here!" Brownie yelled. "You get back here right now and fight like a man! You…" Suddenly, Brownie stopped short as a thought struck him. Slowly, his face twisted into a malicious grin. "Oh…but I know something you obviously don't…you'll get yours, Kish. Just you wait and see…or should I say, feel." Then the twisted Mercurian disappeared into the shadows, cackling in evil glee.

---

Ichigo yawned and stared absentmindedly at the TV screen. It was Monday, she had come from school, but in a few minutes she would have to leave for work. School. Work. Schoolwork. That was all her life had been after Masaya left. Ichigo sighed. She hoped he would come back soon. At least he occasionally sent her e-mails, and called whenever he had the money. Phone calls from England to Japan were expensive. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as a glamorous reporter appeared on the screen with the headline floating behind her head- "Big Archeological Find!"

"Archeologists in the rainforests of Africa have discovered many new evidence of the existence of an ancient civilization in the middle of this jungle." Pictures showed crumbling pillars and walls in the middle of the trees. "Although ancient records have been found, the archeologists are still unable to decipher the language or identify the tribe of people that used to live here. Efforts will continue as more artifacts pour in every day…"

Ichigo curled up on the couch, totally uninterested, and looking to get in a few more minutes sleep before she had to leave.

"Ichigo!" Ichigo's mother Sakura called. "Don't you have to get going to your little job?"

Ichigo glanced up at the digital clock sitting on the table beside her. "Oh my gosh! Why didn't you tell me it was so late?" She ran into her room, grabbed her uniform hanging up in her closet and rushed out the door towards the café.

---

By the time Ichigo reached Café Mew Mew, all of the other Mew Mews had arrived, all in their uniforms. There was only one missing.

"Hey, why do you yell at me for being late when you're just as late!" Mint cried.

"Sorry," Ichigo said. "I was falling asleep, watching the news…"

"Well, then don't watch the boring news!" Mint retaliated. She had a comeback for almost anything Ichigo could throw at her, so Ichigo just decided to give it up.

"Okay, we're finished," Ryou's voice came floating through the room from the back of the café. He led a very nervous-looking Peach up to the other Mew Mews. She was wearing her brand-new uniform- light pinkish-orange with darker stripes around the edges.

"Oh, Peach!" Ichigo cried, forgetting about her fight with Mint. "You're going to work here too, right?"

Peach nodded and tried to smile. "Yeah. I'm pretty excited; I've never been a waitress before."

"Your uniform is cute," Lettuce commented, trying to be friendly. "It looks good on you."

"Oh, thanks," Peach said, tugging on the lace around her heart-shaped apron. "Although it's a little frilly for me. I like nice, simple designs."

"So, we best get to work, eh crew?" Mint said, taking charge. "Which job are you going to tackle today, Peach?"

Peach looked a little confused. "What do you mean by 'which job'?"

Ichigo frowned. She was beginning to realize how air-headed Peach could act sometimes. "There are three specific types of jobs here: greeting people and taking them to their seats, serving, and cleaning. I'm on cleanup today with Mint, while Pudding and Lettuce are greeting and Zakuro is serving. Which would you like to do?"

"Oh…" Peach thought for a while "Well, it seems like you might need a little help serving, so I'll get on that front." She smiled at the cold, older Mew Mew. "Right, Zakuro?" Zakuro didn't say a word. Peach sighed. I guess this is going to be harder than I thought.

Mint, Ichigo, Pudding, and Lettuce stared at each other.

"Okay, let's go!" Ichigo finally declared. "Um…everyone to their stations!"

Mint picked up a mop. "I'm Mint Aizawa, fighting the ceaseless war against dirt and grime!"

Ichigo laughed. "But not until after teatime!"

"Hey!" Mint cried. "At least I'm not always chatting to anyone who cares to talk instead of doing my work! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

"Yeah, but if I hadn't talked to Peach, we wouldn't have known each other, and we may have never found the next Mew Mew!" The friends argued all the way into the back room.

"Well, I better get to my station too!" Pudding cried. She hopped right on top of a speckled ball and began to roll around near the entrance to the café.

"Pudding!" Peach cried, running up to her. "Get off that ball this second! You could get really hurt on that!" She began to reach up to grab Pudding from the ball, but Pudding jerked out of the way.

"Hey chill out, Peachy, I do this every day! I'm not going to fall off. Watch this!" Pudding suddenly flipped over and began handstand walking on the ball.

"Oh my God!" Peach cried, afraid for Pudding, but also shocked she could do such a feat. "She should be in a circus or something, not a café!"

Pudding hopped back off onto the ground. "Well, actually it's not perfect yet. I still need to be able to do that while balancing a monkey on my feet…" Peach was completely stunned as she listened to the little Mew Mew describe her latest trick in great detail.

Zakuro stared at her, wondering when she was going to stop yapping and come help her.

Lettuce slowly stepped up next to the two of them, almost wishing she could ask Peach to switch jobs with her. Peach seemed to be getting along good with Pudding, and Lettuce really didn't want to have to do greetings. The only thing that held her back was that she had become slightly afraid of Peach. She didn't know what it was, but she just didn't seem to like her very much.

"Okay, we need to get started," Zakuro at last spoke.

The sound of Zakuro's voice jolted Peach out of her thinking trance. "Oh, right! I have to get to my new job! I'm sorry." She waved to Pudding and Lettuce as she made her way over towards the tables. "I'll see you around, guys!"

Pudding and Lettuce stared at each other. "She's a little strange, wouldn't you say?" Lettuce whispered.

"Yeah," Pudding agreed, "But she's so fun to talk to!"

"We'll just have to keep an eye on her," Lettuce said.

---

The dark Mew Mew laboratory was alight with the glowing machines. Ryou placed the black hair pieces, from Peach's panda ears, into a test tube, mixed with some solution, and then entered into the computers. Codes of letters strung themselves across the computer screen. The blond scientist put his chin in his hands and thought hard. At last, he placed a marker, separating the long string into sections. "Here's her human DNA," he said, pointing to one section. "And here's her panda DNA." He pointed to the other letters.

Then, he zeroed in, analyzing every little detail of the panda DNA. This took quite a while, but after the process was through, Ryou had a list of dates. "Hmm," he said. "The DNA was extracted millions of years ago, has been transported four times, and injected into Peach about five days ago. Whoever first extracted this DNA is surely dead. The injector must be his-or her- descendant. But…millions of years ago, humans didn't even know about DNA. Humans were still cavemen! How can…?" Now Ryou was sincerely perplexed. He sat up straight in his computer chair and panned down the list.

Returning to the strands of DNA, he noticed that the bottom said that there were three strands. He scrolled down to see the third strand, but instead, a big error message popped up. "What?!" Ryou cried. "Why won't it show me the third strand?" He tried typing in "strand 3" in the "jump to" window, but again the giant error message flashed up. "ERROR: unrecognizable code." "What the…?" Ryou said. "But I programmed every possible DNA code into the computer! Unless…it's some new species, or something."

Keiichiro slowly appeared next to the computer stand. He had just arrived in the laboratory. "So, how's the analysis going?" he asked.

Ryou looked over at him, still in shock. "Keiichiro, you're not going to believe this…"

---

"Waitress!" a young couple called from a table on the side.

"I'm coming!" Peach called, scuffling up. This job was so tiring and her feet were killing her. She wished she could just start floating around, like she normally would when her feet hurt, but then everyone would know her secret. She felt sure none of the Mew Mews would help her if they found out she was really an alien named Flan. She zipped by, carrying a tray with various instruments on it, but when she reached the table, found out they had only needed some salt. Peach sighed, set down the tray, and fixed her pale pink hair, pinned up with a clip.

Just then, she noticed Zakuro, tired out and with nothing to do, sitting on a bench near the side. Peach looked around, and noticed that everyone was eating, and no new customers had arrived, so she sat down next to Zakuro. "Taking a little break?" she asked. "I don't blame you. This place can get so hectic! But I like it anyway, don't you?"

Zakuro still remained stony silent, staring out towards the back wall. She blinked a couple of times, but other than that, gave no signs of life.

Peach took a deep breath. "I needed to ask somebody, and I wasn't sure who to ask, but I figured that you were an expert on this, since you're the oldest…"

At last, Zakuro turned and acknowledged her presence, but still said nothing.

"I need to know something about the Mew Aquas…"

Zakuro's dark eyes widened a bit. "You know about the Mew Aquas?"

"How do you…transport them?"

"Transport?" Zakuro was a bit confused, and also surprised that Peach knew about the Mew Aquas. "I…I don't know. We had to search for them, but never transport them."

Peach sighed again. "Well, I guess I'll try asking Ichigo, or one of the others. Thanks for your help." Then, Peach noticed Pudding greeting a new group of customers and she and Zakuro got back up to resume their work.

---

Later that day, Café Mew Mew had just closed down. Peach changed back into her normal clothes and waved to the other Mew Mews as she slipped back through the doors.

They watched her go, holding their breath. Then, when she was finally out of the vicinity, they all breathed sighs of relief. Earlier that day, Ryou had called them all in, issuing a warning to watch out for Peach.

"We're not sure what she is," Ryou had said. "But she's something very strange. I've never seen a creature with three different species DNA before."

Needless to say, the other Mew Mews had been on edge around Peach for the rest of the day.

"I knew there was something strange about her," Lettuce had said. "I just didn't want to be rude and tell everyone."

Now, the group stared up at the silent Zakuro. Everyone was shocked when she had proposed a Mew Mew meeting after work. It was commonly known that Zakuro wasn't very fond of being part of this group, but now she was eager to share some information with the rest of the members.

"So, what happened, Zakuro?" Mint spoke up. She was dying to know what could have caused her stony partner to call a meeting. Did she finally want to be a part of them?

"I needed to tell you all about something that girl said today," Zakuro spoke up.

"What did she say?" Ichigo asked, leaning forward. She felt incredibly guilty for bringing this potentially dangerous Mew into their midst. Although how could it be her fault that Peach had panda bear DNA?

"Well, she knows about the Mew Aquas."

The whole room went terribly quiet.

"But…Ryou hasn't told her about their existence…has he?" Ichigo asked.

"Nope," Zakuro replied. "She knew about them without anyone ever telling her."

Ichigo began to shiver. This was getting creepier every minute. First, Peach had unidentifiable DNA, and now she knew everything without being told.

Mint's eyes widened. "Maybe she's actually an enemy that disguised herself as a Mew Mew in order to get closer to us!" The others stared at Mint in disbelief.

"Y-You really think so?" Lettuce asked. "That's a little unbelievable. I mean, why would someone purposely inject themselves with animal DNA just so they could get in amongst us?"

"I don't know," Ichigo replied. "But I don't like this one bit. I wish I had never bumped into Peach."

Pudding frowned. "She seemed so nice, though. A little scared, but…"

"We'll be on high alert," Zakuro decided. "Just in case."

The other Mew Mews nodded, and finally dispersed, returning to their homes and changing out of their uniforms, although a bit shakily and uncertainly.

---

Meanwhile, Peach was trekking through the streets Tokyo. She had taken up residence in the nearby park, but wondered how long she could stay there without anyone noticing. She folded up her Café Mew Mew uniform and stuck it inside the knotted hole of a tree. If it got dirty, she'd have to wash it once she got back to work before putting it on.

A strange feeling began in her stomach again, although this feeling was nervous instead of disappointed. Perhaps she shouldn't have approached one of them so soon. After her little talk with Zakuro, the Mew Mews seemed to have been avoiding her for the rest of the day. She prayed that they hadn't figured it out yet.

Slowly walking along the path walkways, Peach passed by a sheltered area where a little lake stood surrounded by trees. She gasped. The place seemed so magical, especially in the night. The water reflected the glow of the moon from above. Peach had never really seen water like this before. On Mercury, they only had rawmot, a water substitute that was thick and dull when together in large amounts.

Peach suddenly got a terrible urge to jump into the water. As she glanced around, she realized that it was so late at night there were no more people present in the park. No one would see if she just took a little dip… Slowly, Peach removed her clothes, hanging them on tree branches and slipped into the lake. The water was surprisingly pure and she felt the wondrous feeling of the liquid around her body. Then, Peach took a deep breath and dunked her head underwater, releasing it from its clip. Her straight pink hair hung down to around her back.

That was so refreshing, she thought. Wow, I can't believe all we've been missing on Mercury. She ran her hand over the top of her head and gasped as it brushed past her ear- it was its normal size again.

"Oh no!" Peach cried. She jumped out of the water, quickly grabbing her clothes and hastily shoving them back on. Feeling her ears, she knew they were still there.

Great, Peach thought to herself. I finally got to feel water, but now I can't ever have it on me again! Water makes me revert back to my Mercurian form! For the rest of the day, Peach hid in a separate area behind a rock until she dried off and her ears went back to the little human stubs that the new DNA injection had given her. Well, at least I know now, she thought. Oh my gosh, what if someone had spilled water on me at work today?! I have to be extra careful of that! It was getting so late, that Peach just fell asleep right behind that rock where she was hiding.

---

It had been a day on Mercury. Last night, when Kish returned to the palace, he had found Tart and Pie both asleep on the floor where they had been waiting for him. He silently crept past them, took a shower to remove the nasty spit on his forehead, curled up on the floor and fell asleep.

The next morning, Tart and Pie were shocked and aggravated to find Kish peacefully snoozing on the floor like nothing had happened. Tart had awakened him with a kick to his back, yelling about making them worry about him and stay up until midnight, waiting for him to get back.

"I thought you were just going out to pick up a few things at the market," Pie said. "What happened to that?"

"I was," Kish lied. "But on my way back, I got into this huge fight with Brownie. You know how that guy is. He ended up stealing everything, and he spit on me too. I had to take a rawmot shower when I got back and then I totally forgot to tell you I was back…"

Tart completely bought this story, but Pie knew better and still remained suspicious.

That afternoon, Tart and Kish were still in the room, complaining of being tired from staying up so late.

Pie was walking along the halls of the palace when he suddenly decided to take a peek inside his laboratory. For many years, even before he had ever met Tart and Kish, Pie had been working as an official researcher at the Mercuritopolis palace. Although he had let the others use them, he had actually been the one to create their creatures, such as the dust waiburn, the zenomoglin, and the xeno jellyfish.

As soon as he took a step inside, he knew something was wrong. The drawers to his oddly shaped desk were open, papers strewn about the room. "Tart!" Pie yelled to his little partner. "Have you been poking around my lab again?!"

"Stop blaming me!" Tart yelled as he came running up behind him. "I haven't been near this stupid lab!"

"Oh no," Pie said, slowly. He stepped completely in, a chill running down his body.

"What?" Tart asked. "What?!" he repeated when he got no response. He followed the tall Mercurian into the laboratory.

Pie approached the desk and noticed a needle gun lying on the top, the contents drained. "Giant panda," he stated, reading the cylinder's label. He grabbed a pair of tongs and placed it into a slot near an odd processing device. Pie tapped out a command, the machine whirred, and a picture popped up on its screen, a very familiar picture. "No…" Pie said, his face turning paler.

"What?!" Tart cried again. "What's the matter?!"

"…Flan…"

---

Something was wrong. Peach glanced around Café Mew Mew at her five partners. For some reason, they were all avoiding her. Ichigo hadn't even looked at her when she had greeted her at the beginning of work. Oh well, at least she had plenty of quiet time to think about her mission. She had to figure out how to obtain and transport a Mew Aqua to Mercury, but how could she get such information without seeming suspicious to the other Mew Mews? Peach took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Focus, she told herself. Think, Flan! C'mon, you've got the brainpower!

"Wee!" Pudding called. "Hey, watch this, Peachy!" Pudding was the only one still talking to her like a normal person. "This is my new act, see?" She held out glasses on the tips of sticks. "Balancing glasses of water!"

"Aaaaaaugh!" Peach shrieked, running from Pudding.

"What?" Pudding asked as she set the glasses down, never spilling a drop. "Did you see a bug or something?"

"No, I…I have a terrible fear of water!"

Pudding tried to hide her laughter, but she wasn't very good at it and ended up covering her mouth and snickering. "You're…afraid of…water?! Why?"

Peach shrugged and tried to make up a quick story. "Because I almost drowned when I was little."

"Yeah, Lettuce almost drowned once," Pudding replied. "But she figured out that she could grow a dolphin flipper and saved a little boy from drowning."

"Speaking of Lettuce, where is she?" Peach asked.

Pudding shrugged. "They're all avoiding you. They think you're an enemy in disguise, but not me!"

"What?!" Peach cried. "They think I'm an enemy? Why would they think that?"

"Well, Ryou said you had weird DNA that he can't find anywhere, and Zakuro said you knew about the Mew Aquas."

Peach suddenly froze. How could she explain this? She knew she shouldn't have asked Zakuro about the transportation so early on. I'm so stupid! She thought. "You don't think I've heard about you guys on the news? You're the mysterious supergirls who fight evil and search for the Mew Aquas! Everyone knows that by now."

"Well, I guess that would be common knowledge," Pudding said. "I saw us all in the newspaper. Hey, Peach, now that you're a Mew Mew, you might see yourself in the newspaper too!"

Peach smiled a little. No worries. Eventually, if you try hard to be their friends, all the suspicions will disappear.

"Wow, it's so bright out today," Mint said as she appeared with a tray. "And we're all stuck inside this caf"

"I know!" Pudding cried. "Let's have a picnic after work!"

"It'll be kind of late by then, won't it?" Ichigo said.

"Oh, it'll only be sundown," Pudding argued. "We can have din-din together!"

Ichigo looked back at the other Mew Mews. "Sounds like a pretty good idea. What do you girls say?"

"Sure!" Lettuce said, and Mint agreed. Zakuro faintly nodded. "And Peach?" Peach smiled. "Of course. I'll be there."

"We'll all meet in the park. It's a few blocks from this place," Ichigo decided. The six of them agreed and continued with their work for the rest of the afternoon.

When the café closed, all of the Mews changed out of their uniforms and trooped together towards the park. Zakuro spread out a blanket and Mint set out a picnic with food she'd taken from the café (with permission) and tea (of course). They sat and ate, mostly in silence.

Zakuro, Mint, Lettuce, and Ichigo were still suspicious, afraid of what Peach really was. They were extremely uncomfortable next to her, and she could sense their restlessness.

She frowned and looked at the ground. It was too late now. The Mew Mews would never accept her as one of their own. She would have to return home to a dying planet and an enraged King Jubala, extract her panda and human DNA, and wait for doomsday. "I'm sorry," Peach finally spoke up. "If I seemed suspicious to you, and for making you worry. I know you think I'm an enemy, but I'm not. No matter what, I'm not your enemy. I know you're wondering who I really am, but that's not important right now…"

Ichigo, Zakuro, Mint, and Lettuce stared with wide eyes.

"What's important is that we stop the destruction of a civilization and the death of millions. I need your help.

"The destruction of a civilization?" Ichigo asked. "Are you saying that we're in danger?!"

Peach took a deep breath. She had to find some way to explain, but how? She couldn't go on lying to them forever, could she? Just then, she shrieked, and pointed behind them.

Ichigo whipped around and saw a giant beanstalk-like monster descending on their picnic. "Everyone transform!" she cried.

Peach drew in her breath. This was the first conventional transformation she'd have to go through. "Mew Mew Peach Metamorphosis!" Her pink-orange jacket appeared with the long gloves, slightly puffy skirt and long, draping tails. Her slippers, garter, choker, and sleeve puffs also appeared. It felt so strange, having clothes flying onto your body, but somehow Peach managed to find which way was up and stand up, in battle pose. Her pale pink hair seemed brighter than usual.

Mew Ichigo, Mew Mint, Mew Lettuce, Mew Pudding, and Mew Zakuro were standing before her, already transformed. The Mew Mew crew joined together in a circle.

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Here's the plan. We can't combine our powers with Peach here, so Mint, Zakuro, and Lettuce will start distracting it from the front, while, Peach, Pudding, and I will surprise attack it from the back. It's just as good as a Strawberry Check Surprise!" They all nodded.

"Okay, let's go Zakuro!" Mint called.

Ichigo looked back and watched as her three friends became purple, blue, and green dots as she moved away from them.

The beanstalk swayed, licking the starry sky above. Long vines shot out of its center, and Mint, Zakuro, and Lettuce jumped into the air, dodging them.

Ichigo, Pudding, and Peach finally approached the monster's backside.

"Where are these weird creatures coming from anyway?" Ichigo asked.

"They're coming from space!" Pudding answered. "Remember that UFO they saw?"

Peach shuddered. Even worse, now someone had seen her ship! What else could go wrong?

Blue, green, and purple sparks of light slammed into the front of the beanstalk.

"Okay, ready?" Ichigo called. "Now we attack! Ribbon Strawberry Check!"

"Pudding Ring Inferno!" Pudding called, throwing out one of her hoops.

"Ribbon Peach Gust!" Peach added, tossing her Frisbee.

As the purple, green, and blue light crashed into the monster from the front, the pink, yellow, and peach light crashed into it from the back. The combination of powers was too much for the monster and it burst into greenish dust.

Mint and Lettuce waved from the other side.

"Green snow!" Pudding cried, dancing in the falling dust.

"That was pretty easy," Mint said.

"Yeah, it didn't get any of us," Lettuce agreed. "These new enemies don't seem to be as threatening as the old ones." The six of them reverted back to their normal forms.

"But if they came on that spaceship, then they must be from the aliens, right?" Ichigo said. "Why would they be sending more of their monsters? We already defeated them. Supposedly, they're happy now. Unless they still want the Earth…"

Peach didn't like listening in on this conversation. Part of her wished she were back on Mercury where she didn't have to worry about any of this stuff.

What they didn't know was that one of the beanstalk monster's vines had gotten stuck in the tree above. It slowly slipped downward until at last, the branch let go of it and it fell.

"Aaaugh!" they all screamed as it came crashing down- and straight onto Peach! She screamed as it hurled her-straight towards the pond! In order to escape, she'd need to fly, but that was just as bad as getting wet. She quickly drew in her breath as her body hit the water.

"Oh no! Peach!" Ichigo cried.

"No!" Pudding cried. "She'll drown! She's afraid of the water!"

"What?" Mint said, confused. "Afraid of the water?"

Lettuce ran forward, a determined look on her face. "Don't worry, I'll go get her!"

Peach struggled underwater. She tried to keep her head under the water, but she couldn't hold her breath forever. She closed her eyes and felt like crying, but how could she cry underwater? Finally, she felt like her lungs were going to burst. It was either die now or die later, so she chose later.

"Wait, Lettuce!" Ichigo cried.

Bubbles came from the surface of the water and finally Peach's head erupted from the surface. Her long pale pink hair hung loose and wet.

Lettuce halted in her tracks. Ichigo's mouth hung open. Pudding was struck dumb. Mint shivered. Zakuro tightened her grip on her whip.

Peach turned towards the other Mew Mews, a worried, scared look on her face, wondering what they would do to her. A pair of long, elfish ears protruded from the sides of her head, poking through her hair.

---

Pie and Tart were once again alone in the main section of Pie's apartment. Tart sat on top of a pillar, thinking. It was the day after, but they were still shocked by the news. "So let me get this straight…Flan somehow snuck into your laboratory and injected herself with panda bear genes?"

Pie nodded. "I should have realized it when she said she was going to make friends with the Mew Mews…come to think of it, the day she left, she was wearing long sleeves, probably to cover up the mark from where she injected herself."

"So, is she a Mew Mew or one of us?" Tart wondered out loud.

"She's both," Pie replied. "The universe's first Mercurian Mew Mew."

Tart stared at the ground. "I wonder if she gave…uh, if she got to talk to them already…"

Pie glanced up, remembering that they hadn't told Kish the news yet. "Hey, Kish!"

"What," his groaning voice replied from the adjacent room.

"We've got something to tell you, can you come into the room for a minute?"

A few minutes later, Kish came dragging into the room. His eyes were half-closed, like he was very tired. He panted a bit and glanced up at Tart and Pie. "What is it?" he said, just before his eyes completely closed and his body went crashing to the floor.

"Kish!!!" Tart cried, jumping from his pillar.

Pie rushed over and kneeled beside him. He pulled Kish upwards and checked his vital signs. "He's unconscious," he announced.

"What happened to him?!" Tart cried. "I knew he was tired, but…"

Pie pulled Kish's limp body onto his back. "C'mon," he grunted. "We've got to get him to a hospital!"

Tart nodded and ran to the door, opening it for him. Pie carried his unconscious friend all the way through the halls of the palace and up five floors to the hospital ward in the palace.

"My gosh!" a receptionist cried as the three representatives came stumbling in the doorway. "Get this young man a platform!"

An assistant wearing a long, cream-colored smock whooshed over pushing a floating platform over to them Pie carefully placed Kish on top and it dipped down a little with his weight. "Don't worry, we'll take him in for examination immediately," the assistant replied, whisking Kish off down the hall.

Pie and Tart sat down on small stool-like pillars near the front desk. "What do you think is wrong with him?" Tart asked, worriedly. "Do you think he was just too tired? Maybe that evil Brownie did something horrible to him! Oooh, I'll kill him if he did!"

"Calm down," Pie replied. "He probably just fainted from over-exhaustion and lack of nutrients."

"Lack of nutrients?" Tart asked.

"Yes," Pie replied. "You hadn't noticed that Kish didn't eat anything at all yesterday?"

Tart thought for a while and realized that the last couple of times they ate, Kish had been nowhere to be found. "Yeah…I guess so."

The two of them sat there in a silence full of tension for another hour. Tart only broke the silence once during that time, to complain about how long it was taking.

"Well, it takes a while to evaluate someone's entire health condition," Pie replied.

At last, a Mercurian wearing a long coat and white hair came into the room looking a bit disturbed. "You're here for that young man with the green hair, correct?" he said, approaching Pie and Tart.

They both nodded, still nervous, although Pie hiding his feelings, as always.

"Are you family?"

"No," Pie spoke up. "Close friends. We don't know where his family is…if he has any…"

The doctor sighed and remained horrifyingly silent.

"So?" Tart slowly said. "What's wrong with him?"

The doctor didn't answer right away. He picked up the phone-like device at the desk and quickly pressed a call button. "Hello? Yes. This is Dr. Hazelnut at the Mercuritopolis Palace. Yes. Well, I'm calling for a report. I think we've got another one."

Pie and Tart stared at each other. What did he mean by 'we've got another one'?

"Yup. We're trying, sir, we're trying. Okay. I will report back in two days with an update on ours. See you later." At last he put the twisted, glass, phone-like item down.

"Dr. Hazelnut?" Tart slowly said. "What did you mean…?"

The doctor slowly looked down at them. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but…"

Pie and Tart stared at him, on edge.

"…your friend has all the beginning signs of Shadow Plague."

Tart stared straight at the doctor as if he had just slapped him in the face.

"I…was…afraid of that," Pie slowly said.

"Would you like to see him for a moment?" Dr. Hazelnut asked. "He's woken up now."

Pie nodded. "I think that would be best. Come on, Tart." He took the little Mercurian's hand and slowly led him off the pillar. He was so shocked he nearly fell off. Pie followed the doctor down the halls towards Kish's room.

"But…but…but…" Tart finally made efforts at speech. "But Pie…I thought…you said…Shadow Plague only affects adults!"

Slowly, Pie looked down. "Well…put it this way. He's adult enough to catch it, but not adult enough to know better."

"Huh?" Tart said. "Stop talking like that! I'm being serious here!"

Pie felt bad that he couldn't explain it to Tart, but not knowing would be better for him, at least until he was ten or eleven.

At last, they reached the room, and Pie and Tart stepped inside. Paintings adorned the walls of Mercurian hospital rooms, to give the patients something pretty to look at.

Kish was lying on a platform, staring at the ceiling, but he turned his head when he heard the door. "Hi, guys," he said softly.

"Did he tell you?" Pie immediately asked.

Kish nodded. "I'm sorry. I…" he looked down at the ground, hiding his shame and disappointment.

"It's okay," Pie said. "We'll talk about it some other time."

"Are you okay, Kish?" Tart asked, tearfully. He stepped up next to the platform.

Kish smiled. "Yeah, actually I feel pretty good now. They gave me some medicine…it won't really help, but…"

Tart trembled and looked past him. "You'll be okay," he assured himself. "Once Flan gets back with a Mew Aqua…"

"Well, we haven't heard from her in a while…" Pie said. "I forgot to give her a communicator."

Tart almost began crying. He sniffed to himself.

Slowly, Kish sat up. "Don't worry, Tart," he said. "You see? I feel better now. I'm going to be going back to the room with you…"

"You…he said you have Shadow Plague," Tart said.

"I do, but it's not serious right now…"

At last, Tart turned and ran from the room.

"Tart!" Pie cried.

Kish got up out of his platform bed. Pie reached over to support him, but he waved him off. "We have to go get him," he said.

"No, I'll go find him later," Pie said. "I don't want you to worry about him. C'mon, let's go back to the room."

Meanwhile, Tart was racing through the dark streets of Mercury. Now that he was away from the others, he let his tears go. It was a little ironic that he had no problem with killing humans, but he cried when one of his friends was dying. Finally, he found what he was looking for- the ladder that led up to the outside, and to the spaceships that went to Earth.

---

Post-note: Don't think I'm anti-Kish because of what just happened. Actually, I normally show that I like a character by making him have a deadly disease. Or having him injured to the point of death (you'll see that later). Yeah, I'm weird.