It's long again! Once again, I really didn't mean for it to be so long! I just keep going on and on and on… Oh well. And I go off on weird random things, like Tart playing with bugs, and Mint imitating Kish (ok, so that part is creepy, but…it's there.) Oh, and don't go crazy wondering about the Five Families mentioned here, or about Flan's sister and Tart's last name. That's for the sequel. My lips are sealed until then.

I'm sorry for the wait! I actually haven't written the next chapter yet…I've been working on something new instead, which I need to get permission before I post, because it's based on someone else's fanfic I read. Anyway, here are a few answers. Sorry to Kish fans, but he won't be coming back to life. But that doesn't mean he's out of the picture! You'll see next chapter. Like I said before, I have factual errors, so I'm not really sure how Pudding and Ichigo could survive with no air on Mercury… Maybe their magic anti-detection perimeter also produces oxygen? Well, now that Ichigo recreated the planet, it has air, and an atmosphere.

Chapter 11: Pyridis

Once again, Ichigo found herself aboard the Star Duster, the alien's ship, where pandemonium was bouncing off the very walls. Lettuce desperately tried to keep her footing, and whenever the ship dipped up or down, she would go flying across the room. Zakuro was glowering at them, seeming very disgusted with the whole idea but going with it anyway just to keep Mint happy, which she was at the moment. The graceful lorikeet glided across the smooth metal floor, showing off her ballet moves and making poor Lettuce look even clumsier. Meanwhile, Tart and Pudding were tearing up the room, looking for something interesting in what they called a "treasure hunt." They tried to get at Pie's forbidden note cards, but thankfully, he'd locked them in a drawer. Pie and Flan were absent from the chaos, probably in some peaceful room, making strategies, love, or both.

Ichigo sighed and stared out of the bubble window. Soon they would be in Africa. In Pyridis. She hoped there was someone at the wheel, and realized that she probably should go check.

Just as she stood up, there was a violent jerking, causing her to fall back into her seat.

Mint, in the middle of a difficult arabesque, tumbled to her bottom. Her face turned red and she yelled, "Who did that?!"

Lettuce somehow landed in a small trash bucket, her legs and her green braids hanging over the sides.

Tart and Pudding held onto each other as they fell from a bunk bed and went sliding across the floor.

Despite all the people taking hilarious spills around her, Zakuro didn't seem at all amused, and just tightly clutched the bedpost in case it happened again.

"Sorry!" the cheerful voice of Flan sang from the main room.

"Rrrrrr…" Mint growled, getting to her feet. "Flan, I'm going to kill you!" she stormed out of the room, all wound up for a confrontation.

Zakuro's stony voice started for the first time since they had left the café. "Ichigo is becoming Flan, Flan is becoming Ichigo, and Mint is becoming Tart."

"That's scary," Pudding commented, helping a crumpled Lettuce out of the trash barrel.

The five occupants made their way to the center room, just in case Flan needed any support, but when they got there, they found Mint, calmed down now, watching the landscape on the viewing screen.

"Gee," Flan commented, as she turned around. "Is something the matter? Why's there this sudden congregation…?"

"Wow, look, we're in Africa!" Mint cried. "I saw an antelope run by when I came out! A real, wild antelope!" Ichigo relaxed, and thanked Mr. Antelope for saving Flan. She wasn't sure why Mint was so astounded, but she realized that seeing a wild antelope was probably unheard of in her stifling, ritzy lifestyle.

The treetops began to move as Flan hovered the spaceship just above their reach. "Now, we're in Africa, but we've still got to find the ruins, which could take awhile, because we aren't sure where they are…"

"It's in the upper section," Pie announced from another corner, holding a brown sheet of paper. "At least I think that's what this means…"

Tart barreled up to him, grabbing the roll of parchment from his hands. "Hey! I didn't know you had the map!"

Pie promptly snatched it back from him. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you touching it. This is a very delicate, ancient object, and it could fall apart if you're not careful with it." He slowly spread it out again. "Now, let's see…if that bird symbol means "up" then…"

First Pudding, and then Ichigo, and finally the rest of the team approached the corner, huddling around the map, trying to make out its meaning. "Cool!" Pudding called. "It's like one of those code puzzles!"

"Except there aren't any clues for this one," Mint added.

"Yeah, there are!" Tart objected. "You said that bird…" he jabbed his finger at a bird symbol, its wings spreading over its head, pointing to the top of the parchment. "…means "up". Doesn't it?"

"Well, that's just my estimate," Pie told him. "It could have thousands of different meanings."

Everyone stared in wonder at the tiny pictures filling the sheet, each imagining what they could represent.

Suddenly, Flan shrieked from her position at the control panel, and the ship lunged to the right, throwing everyone (especially Lettuce) off balance. Mint grabbed onto Zakuro and pulled her down with her. Pudding grabbed Tart's hand and tried to steady herself, while he leaned against the wall and tried to get away. Ichigo fell down, protecting the map. Lettuce went flying, and this time landed right on top of Pie. She blushed deep red and quickly jumped off.

"Sorry!" Flan called again. "I just saw something!" She gripped the steering levers very tight, worriedly. Just as the others looked up, something large and shapeless came zooming towards the viewing screen. Flan swerved the ship again, and the object flew harmlessly past.

"What was that?" Mint asked, her voice wavering in fear, still clutching to Zakuro.

"Don't know," Flan replied, swerving the ship again. "But it seems to be following us! It won't go away!" Bits of a lumpy object in the sky whipped towards them, every time Flan would jerk their ship our of the way, but the unidentified object was relentless, recuperating and returning for another try. At last, there was a terrible scraping noise, like something grinding against metal. The viewing screen showed as the ship began to dip downwards. "Aaaaugh!" Flan screamed. "The…the tail broke off! I'm losing control!"

Pie scrambled to the control panel, desperately trying to stabilize the sinking spaceship, but with the tail gone, the nose end would always remain heavier. The African treetops grew closer and closer on the viewing screen.

"Nooooo! We're gonna crash!" Mint yelled, burying her face in Zakuro's shoulder. Zakuro surprisingly didn't seem to mind, and placed a hand on Mint's back, trying to comfort her.

Pudding began crying. "We're all gonna die!" she wailed, squeezing Tart around the neck. He felt awkward with her face so close to his, wondering if she would try to kiss him again, but didn't complain, partly because he didn't want to make her more upset, and partly because he couldn't speak.

Lettuce and Ichigo sat, staring fearfully at the screen.

At last, Pie slammed on the landing feet at the last second. They steadied the large spaceship for a moment, but then the front toppled over, spilling everyone towards the front wall. Finally, it stopped moving altogether. There was a unanimous sigh from the passengers.

Flan chuckled a bit. "Well…we don't know where we are, but we're alive!"

Tart gained his voice back as Pudding loosened her grip on his neck. "I could have landed better than that!"

Ichigo produced the parchment from her pocket. "Well at least I kept the map safe!" She slowly began to unroll it, and in the process, made a giant rip across the middle. "Auugh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Pie struggled over on the slanted floor, and took the ancient map from her, but when he tried to unroll it, he only ripped it again. "It's no use," he sighed, placing it back on the ground. "Now that it's been ripped once, the rest of it will just fall apart."

"Now what do we do?" Lettuce desperately asked, fixing her glasses, which had been knocked askew in the struggle.

Flan glanced out of the viewing screen, observing their rain forest surroundings. "Um…ask for directions?"

"Who are we going to ask?!" Mint cried, growing frustrated again. "The monkeys? Oh, excuse me, Mr. Gorilla, we're looking for some ancient ruins…have you seen any around here?"

"Can you speak monkey, Pudding?" Tart asked, acknowledging her for the first time since they had reached Africa.

Pudding shook her head, sadly. "Ichigo can speak kitty, but there aren't any kitties around here…"

"…unless we run into…a lion or something…" Mint added, shivering in Zakuro's arms.

"I'd have to be a cat to talk to cats," Ichigo explained. "Someone would have to get me really excited."

"Well, how about this!" Mint cried. She wrapped up her loose pieces of hair and put Flan's cap over her head to hide her odangos. "Ichigo, my love!" she cried, in a fake guy's voice, flinging her arms around Ichigo's neck. "My little kitten…I'll take you to paradise with me…"

"Uh…Mint?" Ichigo glanced back with wide eyes.

Mint lifted her head for a moment. "Oh, wait, I'm missing something…" Then she cupped her hands behind her ears and smiled back at her.

Ichigo frowned. "Mint…you're not exciting me. You're scaring me."

Mint looked disappointed and removed her hands from her ears. "Oh, well, I thought maybe if I pretended to be your lover boy…"

Ichigo looked, frustrated away from her. "Well…let's not just stand here! We need to start somewhere, right?"

The others stared at her. "She's right," Zakuro agreed, standing up and pulling the hat from Mint's head. "Sitting around here and wondering what we're going to do won't help anything."

So finally, the team of Mew Mews and aliens (and the Mew Mew alien) climbed out of the tipped spaceship, into the African jungle. Flan, Tart, and Pie pulled cloaks over themselves in case they encountered anyone on their blind walk.

"Eeeeeek!" Mint shrieked as a large black bug went whizzing by her face. "Aaaaaaaugh! Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Calm down," Flan told her. "This is Africa, so there are going to be a lot of bugs here. It's just natural."

"Easy for you to say," Mint replied, fearfully. "You've got one of those jacket things to protect you."

"If you want a cloak there are some left on the ship, but hurry up."

Soon not three, but five cloaked figures were sweeping through the jungle. Ichigo had decided she wanted one too after getting a good look at her surroundings. Pie was at the head of the expedition, walking ahead and scouting for danger before letting the others pass. Flan was never far behind, afraid of losing sight of him. Ichigo and Mint followed reluctantly behind.

Pudding and Tart followed them. Tart boyishly picked up beetles and teased Pudding with them, placing them on her back and watching her flip out. That was until he had a hold of a huge one and it started attacking him. They paused for a moment to save him from its stabbing claw.

"Well, it serves you right," Pudding told him later. "Stop playing with the bugs!"

Tart didn't touch another beetle for the rest of the trip.

Lettuce followed after them, magically producing seashells and dropping them on the forest floor as she went, creating a trail so they could find their way back to the spaceship. Zakuro was the last in line, prowling the back end, watching for danger from behind.

"Are we out of the jungle yet?" Mint kept whining, and every time Flan had to tell her no. Every once in a while, one of the aliens flew up above the trees to make sure they were going in the right direction. At first, it had been Flan's duty, but then Tart wanted to try, and the job became his.

"We're almost there! We're almost there!" he cried once when he rose to the treetops. He came crashing down through the branches and startled poor Lettuce, who dropped shells everywhere.

"Really?" Mint said, hopefully. She looked up from her cloak, shrieked and pulled the fabric around her face again. "No we're not! We're still in the jungle! And there's a spider on Ichigo's shoulder!"

Ichigo screamed and began running around blindly like a frantic hen. "SOMEONE GET IT OFF!!!"

At the sign of distress, Pie walked back towards them. He sighed and brushed the spider off with one quick motion. Ichigo continued running around in circles, panicking.

Flan giggled. "You can calm down now, Ichigo, the spider's off."

Ichigo stopped in her tracks, exhaled in relief, and said, "Thanks," to whoever had gotten it off.

They were very close to where the jungle ended now, and Pie ran on ahead of them, through the opening. When he reached the other side he dropped his hood in astonishment. A few seconds later, Flan ran up behind him.

"I told you not to do that!" she complained. "Don't run ahead of me, or I'll…" she stopped mid-sentence as she got a look at what was before her eyes.

Ichigo pulled Mint up behind them. "Huh? Are we out of the jungle yet?" No one answered them. "Flan? Pudding? Tart? Lettuce? Zakuro?"

"We're right here, Ichigo!" Pudding called, tugging on her cloak as she and Tart came barreling up after them. "What are you all staring at?"

Lettuce dropped the last of her seashells on the ground and stepped out next to them, Zakuro not far behind.

At last, Ichigo and Mint pulled off their cloaks. "Hey…" Ichigo commented. "Did we get lucky or did we get lucky?"

Pudding and Tart fought their way to the front to get a better look. "Awesome!" Tart cried, appearing to have picked up a few of the humans' expressions.

Large pieces of stone encircled a giant, broken-down building. Smaller, crumbled buildings spread all around it. Two broken pillars stood at the entrance like tree stumps.

"So…this is Pyridis?" Ichigo questioned.

Pie nodded. "It's exactly how I pictured it. I don't see the observation tower, though…" He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head again. "We have to keep a low profile. There are bound to be teams of scientists all around the area."

"Don't you think they'd be suspicious if they saw three hooded figures creeping along near the ruins?" Flan asked.

"Not if they don't see any," Pie replied. He surveyed they area, trying to find good hiding spaces. There were a lot of people, so the hiding spaces would have to be pretty big…

"That's impossible," Ichigo decided. "There are eight of us! Where would you fit eight people without being noticed?"

The answer came as two men in shorts and workers' boots approached. Everyone quickly hid just inside the jungle, hoping the men wouldn't look this way. Pie took the risk of poking his head out a little further, and with his enhanced hearing, managed to catch their words. The man on the right was wheeling a very large crate on a dolly. He was having a bit of trouble with the rough terrain, but somehow got it in front of the other man.

"Did you hear?" the other man called. "They got tablets from the inner sanctum with recordings on 'em!"

"Yes, this is what this crate's for," the first man replied. "They wanted to take 'em back to study 'em, but couldn't find anything to transport 'em with."

"What're they saying?" Ichigo asked, but no one answered her. Both men were speaking English, and even if she could hear their voices, she wouldn't have been able to understand them.

"Well, I'll go get my team and we'll get back here to take it into the city." The man ran off and then the first man walked off back to his camp.

Pie stepped out from behind the trees. The others followed him.

"What was all that about?" Mint wondered aloud.

"They said they're taking it into the city," Tart told them. "And they found tablets."

"Huh?" Pudding asked. "How do you know what they were saying?"

"Shh," Flan quieted them. "And that's another one of our abilities- to be able to understand and speak any language."

Pudding was surprised. "Wow, you can speak English, and Chinese, and French, and Italian, and Spanish, and…"

"Quiet!!!" Flan hissed. She followed, silently behind as Pie approached the spot where the men had been standing a moment before. He quickly glanced around, and then removed the cover and lied down in the box.

"Don't tell me we're going to…?" Ichigo didn't need an answer to that question. Flan got in next, being the next biggest, followed by Zakuro. Lettuce squished in next to her, and then Mint.

"Hurry up," Flan's muffled voice came from the bottom. "I think I hear them coming."

Ichigo hurried and got into the box, although a little afraid that she was squishing Zakuro, lying on top of her like this.

"This is like playing Sardines!" Pudding called, hopping on top of Mint, who gave off a grunting noise. Tart glanced around outside. "C'mon, Tar Tar, hop in!" Pudding called.

"I found it!" Tart picked up the cover on the other side of the box. Since everyone else was squished into the box, he would have to be the one to put it on. Ichigo felt knees pressing against her back as Tart climbed on top of her. He pulled the cover up and over the top as he lied down.

Ichigo was already uncomfortable with Mint's bluish hair pressing against her face, and she was even more so now with Tart's foot against the back of her neck. Then she remembered how much she hated that game "Sardines".

"Okay, we're ready," a male voice said from outside. Ichigo shivered, wondering what they would do if they found all of them trapped here. The other side of the box began to lift, but quickly dropped back down.

"Ow!" one man exclaimed from outside. "This box weighs a ton!!! Are you sure it's empty?"

"Well, it could have some supplies for the team in the city," the first man answered. "Let's wheel it in then."

Ichigo began to feel the exterior bouncing along over the rocks and ditches. Now she felt like she was trapped in an overly crowded buggy. The pressure of Tart against her back was starting to annoy her so much that she almost wanted to shove him off and yell, "Get off of me, you stupid midget!" Then, she imagined what Flan and Pie felt like, way down at the bottom, and shut her mouth. Tart probably felt like a feather compared to the weight on their bodies. Thankfully, there were a few small slits in the wood where air could get in. Ichigo pressed her face against one of the holes to see outside, but all she could see were rocks and dirt. Hopefully they were almost in Pyridis.

"Aaa-mmmm!" a cry came below her, and she recognized it as Mint's. Mint had been trying to yell, but Flan had pressed her head in front of her mouth, unable to move her arms. It seemed like forever before the dolly finally stopped.

"Okay, good work," the lead man called. "Now report back to your posts."

A few minutes later, Ichigo spoke, softly. "Are they gone?"

"We can't be sure," Pie whispered back. "Can anyone see out of those little holes?"

Ichigo pulled herself up to press her face against the wood. "I don't see anybody."

"Okay," Tart immediately reacted, reaching up.

"No, wait!" Ichigo cried. "I'm not positive, I can't see…" but it was too late. Tart pulled the cover off, and thankfully there were no scientific researchers around.

Everyone climbed out of the box. "Ah, it feels good to have your foot off my neck!" Ichigo cried, glaring at Tart.

"Well I had your butt against my chest, and that was horrible! I'm scarred for life…"

"I'm sorry for screaming like that," Mint told them. "But Lettuce's glasses were digging into my ankle! I think it even started bleeding!" She lifted her leg to look down at a slightly red spot on her ankle.

"I'm so sorry!" Lettuce cried, looking worried. "Are you okay?"

"Well, it's not that big, so I guess it's okay."

Flan's large ears perked up. "Footsteps!" she cried. The others quickly ran towards a building, hiding behind the crumbling wall. Pie placed the cover back on the box and literally flew towards their hiding spot. His ribbons disappeared behind the wall just as a group of five men exited the doorway in front of where the box stood, carrying a long piece of chiseled stone. Another man came to open the box and the five scientists dropped the stone piece in.

"Phew," Ichigo whispered. "It's a good thing we weren't in there."

The scientists disappeared back into the main building. Hesitantly, the mixed group stepped back out onto the ancient walkways of Pyridis.

"What's that tablet?" Ichigo asked. She had been the only one asking questions and trying to interact.

Everyone stepped up and gathered around the box, gazing down at the tablet. "It's that same stuff that was on the map," Pudding recognized. "This is like a big party! A game of Sardines, and more code puzzles…"

"P…P-P-Prrr…" Pie muttered to himself.

Flan glanced over at him. "Is something the matter?" she asked, but he didn't reply.

Tart couldn't hold it in and started laughing. "Why is Pie purring?" he cried between his laughter.

Mint shrugged. "Maybe he thinks he's Ichigo." That only made Tart laugh harder.

"Shh!" Flan hissed, disapprovingly. "I think he's trying to say something."

Pie's eyes were fixated on the stone tablet. "Pre…Precas…ect…" He leaned closer to the tablet, staring at the little symbols.

"Is he…reading it?" Ichigo whispered.

"I don't know." Flan gazed worriedly at her transfixed boyfriend. "I didn't think we were able to understand any of the ancient languages…"

Pie's eyes widened a little turning to their slit-pupil forms. "Precas ect birik-pancachucre ect wowo thkiae ahplucia-ect Qohaem tta ect Rikrikix Wahscrripi." Everyone stared at him in awe.

"What language is he speaking?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

"It's the ancient Mercurian language," Flan replied, barely able to speak. "It hasn't been used for over two thousand years. No one knows how to speak it anymore…" She looked back at Pie. "P-Pie??? Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Suddenly, the team of scientists burst into the street, holding a second stone tablet. They screamed, dropping the stone tablet, which broke into two pieces. At least that finally shook Pie from his trance. He whipped around, protecting Flan, while the others cowered behind them.

"It…it's those…it's them!" the head scientist yelled.

In a flash, a crowd was gathering around them, from the front and back. The excavators surrounded the group, in wonder and fear. Some snapped photographs, some whipped out pads of paper and began drawing furiously. Another set a camera up on a tripod in the back. "This is great news. I can just see the headlines- three Other Species people discovered in the ruins, along with five Asian girls!"

"What do you want from us?" the head scientist spoke up.

Pie slowly separated himself from Flan and made his way to the front of their group. Cameras flashed at him, and one news editor, who had been working at the excavation site, recording the progress of the workers, fought her way to the front. She thrust a microphone out.

"Mister…" she began, a bit fearfully. "We mean you no harm. We only request your comments for the Earth's people to see and hear."

"Fine," Pie at last gave up. "If the world must know everything…"

The lady eagerly held the microphone tight and made doubly sure that it was working.

"We have come to reclaim the grounds that belonged to our race 3 million years ago. We believe it is disrespectful to barge into a sacred spot such as this and take items from it- items that have been here 3 million years."

"Are you saying that these ruins are cursed?" the lady asked, making quick notes on a clipboard with her other hand.

"They may be. They may not be. Even we do not know much about the ancient ones…"

The lady turned away to make more notes.

"At the moment of destruction, the world shall be protected by the Master and the Five Families," Pie spoke up again.

"Excuse me?" the lady asked, turning back to him.

"At the moment of destruction, the world shall be protected by the Master and the Five Families," he repeated. "That's what the tablet said."

One of the scientists at the entrance to the main building spoke up. "So you can read and translate the language on these tablets?"

Pie walked away from the lady and approached the scientist. Knowing what the scientist had in mind, he responded, "I will not read anything for you, unless you return these to their proper place, where they were meant to be read."

Giving up, the lady interviewed Tart next. "Yeah, this is the first time I've been to the city, but we've been wanting to come back here for ages. We tried to take over the world, but that didn't work, so we need to at least have the old city…and we need to protect it from these morons from Jupiter who want to crush us just because we claim to be from Mercury…" Like Pudding, he had no notion of a secret.

At last, Ichigo couldn't take it anymore and grabbed the microphone. "Please," she said to the world. "You have to listen, and do not be afraid. I know from experiences that I have had in recent times, so you must believe me. These people are Mercurians, people from Mercury. They're not creatures, or things, they are people, and they are more human than even some humans. They have minds, personalities, and feelings, and though we may look different, we're the same." Issuing this speech, Ichigo realized that everyone could hear her, her parents, Ryou and Keiichiro, her friends at school, and Masaya…but it didn't matter. What she had to say needed to be said, and it didn't matter that it was her that said it.

The lady frowned. "You speak very fondly of these "people" who talk of curses and murder and world domination."

"I know…" Ichigo began. "But…but what if our own cities were destroyed and we were forced to flee to another planet, Mars perhaps, and live there in horrible conditions, knowing that another race of people was living in what used to be our home? What would we do? We'd try to get it back, of course." Even the reporter looked stunned as she thought about it. "Human nature. Human desires. Do you see now?"

At last, the dazed reporter pulled the microphone away from her. "Th-thank you, miss. Can I get your name, please?"

Ichigo hesitated for a moment, considering giving them a fake name, but then smiled and replied, "Ichigo Momomiya."

---

It had taken much time and negotiation, but at last, the two parties were in agreement. The whole time, Ichigo had sat in the elaborate and well-stocked tent of the discovery coordinator with the rest of the Mew Mews. The only exception was Flan, who had followed Pie, Tart, and the head of the expedition to a small building just beyond the city limits, where they made their agreements. The expedition coordinator rigorously questioned them, thankfully knowing how to speak Japanese. Ichigo refused to comment when they asked how she was connected with these beings from another world. It was impossible to explain, without revealing her secret identity, and she wondered how she was going to explain this to her parents once she returned home. She thought, "Oh, by the way, I'm a Mew Mew and I wasn't lost in the woods, I was on the planet Mercury," sounded a little unbelievable.

The man tried to get comments from the rest of the Mew Mews, and Pudding seemed to be the only one willing to talk. "Yeah, we've known each other for a while…he's my boyfriend. They broke into my house and knocked him unconscious, but Peachy and that other guy came to save us…" Ichigo was beginning to wonder if Pudding would go too far and tell him that she was a Mew Mew.

All Lettuce would say was, "Well…I really don't know."

Mint glared at Ichigo. "This is all your fault, you know," she shot at her.

"My fault?" Ichigo said. "You're the one that wanted to come with us! I'm not the one who changed the world and decided that we should be separated forever. It was nobody's fault. It was the Earth's fault. I hate the Earth."

Now Zakuro, who had been staring at the tent covering looked over at her, dark eyes wide. "Oh, God, she'd becoming one of them."

"Of course," Mint replied. "She probably wanted to become an alien so she could stay on Mercury forever with her lover boy."

A mixture of emotions was swirling inside Ichigo, and she couldn't sort them out. She felt angry, but regretful too, and frustrated. "Shut up!" she suddenly cried, and the air around the room fell dreadfully silent. Even Pudding stopped chitchatting with the organizer man. "I…I'm sorry," Ichigo replied. She buried her face and silently began to cry all over again. "You don't know how it is," she croaked. "To be there…to watch as someone you know dies, and there's nothing you can do for him…"

Everyone fell silent, gazing at her worriedly. "Excuse me…" the organizer tried, gently to speak with her. "But what are you so upset about, dear?"

"It's nothing," Ichigo slowly answered. "You don't care. That's the problem, we don't care. It's okay, I never used to care either."

The man began to ask her to clarify, when a familiar voice piped out from outside, screeching out something that resembled a song. "Ooooohhhh de ents go maaaaarching one by one hurrah, hurrah! De ents say entry graaaaaannted! Hurrah, hurrah!"

"Put a sock in it!" Mint yelled out the tent flap, but stopped abruptly and bashfully apologized.

Ichigo wiped her tears away and stuck her head out next to her. Flan and Pie stood at the entrance, with Tart in front of them.

"What's the matter?" Flan spoke up. "We brought you a singing telegram." She patted Tart's mussed head. He disgustedly shoved her away.

"So…" Pudding asked, jumping out next to them. She had given up on her reveal-all interview.

"Everything's settled," Flan answered. "They'll allow us access to the city as long as the cameras can go with us, and we agree to answer any questions they may ask."

"Cool," Pudding replied. "It'll be like we're on a TV show or something!"

"That's exactly it," Flan said. "They want to make it a TV show called 'Mysteries of the Past and Present' or something like that."

Of course, Pudding was all excited to be on television, and Mint joined in her celebration, but Ichigo still remained frustrated. If something happened while they were exploring, she wouldn't be able to transform in front of the cameras. Lettuce just fretted over what she would look like on TV, and what her parents would say when they saw her on the program. Zakuro didn't seem to care either way. She stared out at them, trying to think things out in her head.

"I don't like it either," a deep voice spoke up, and Ichigo looked over to see Pie, speaking to her. "But we're going to have to deal with them. At least they agreed that if they do this television program, they would halt the exploration party."

"But if…if something happens…" Ichigo was about to tell him that she couldn't transform in public, but then became aware of the man behind them.

"We'll worry about that when it comes, and hopefully we won't run into any trouble." Ichigo looked up into the cloudy sky above this foreign continent and hoped that he was right, and they wouldn't run into any trouble.

---

One man, who used to be an expedition leader, held up a clipboard. He was now the director. The designated cameraman set his camera up on a tripod, while an assistant with a camcorder walked around, getting different angles.

"Yay, yay, yay!" Pudding cried, hopping around excitedly. "We're gonna be on TV! We're gonna be on TV!"

"Pudding…" Mint asked, glancing back at her. "Did you by any chance have any sugar this morning with your breakfast?"

Pudding's eyes grew big, in pleading. "Aw, come on, it was only one piece of candy…Alright, so there were two, but it's impossible to eat only one."

Mint sighed. "I rest my case."

The explorer turned director held up a board. "Okay… "Mysteries of Our Past and Present" episode one- Action!"

Another explorer, but this time still dressed as such, held a microphone in front of them all. At the command, he began to babble on about the "Journey" they were about to undertake, saying that, "What you are about to experience is completely real. There are no actors, no makeup, and no prewritten dialogue."

Ichigo wasn't exactly sure of that "prewritten dialogue" part, as she looked up at the masterminds of this whole experience.

"And now, we will venture inside of this portal to the past and insight into our current situation with the worlds beyond our own…" As the announcer rambled, he pointed them into the building's interior.

"Whoa," Ichigo marveled. The ceiling rose for several stories above her head. It bent inwards, before coming to a square point at the very end. Various curling and swerving designs, that reminded her very much on the Blue palace adorned the stone panels. A gaping hole ripped through the side of the building, letting the sunlight pour in. She wondered what designs had been in that stone panel that was missing.

"Now this is the main building in the city of Pyridis," the man spoke to the camera. "This would be the palace where the king of the tribe lived with his lords and workers, correct?" He looked over at Pie, hoping for an explanation.

"Yes," Pie at last replied, staring at the crumbling wall, decorated with all sorts of symbols. The cameramen moved around to get his face. "Our kind has always been ruled by a member of the Blue family. This royal family started with the first ruler of the empire. His last name was Blue- although it was their word for Blue- Flekid. They regarded him as the ruler of all, and he was given a proper nickname, Deep Blue, or Flekid Hwoo. During the wretched earthquakes and eruptions that destroyed this city, Hwoo was killed, but the ancient ones buried his body at the bottom of the observation tower before they escaped to Mercury. They left Deep Blue's spirit behind, and he watched in resentment all these thousands of years as humans rose to become the world's dominant species. He watched their disregard for this planet, until one day, he saw a boy with the same kinds of feelings he had, and slowly took over this boy's body."

There was a moment of terrible silence as the cameramen looked at each other in confusion. "Should we delete that?" the main operator questioned the host, but he shook his head and waved a hand at them. The two workers them remembered their orders, which was to keep rolling, no matter what.

Everyone broke up, exploring different parts of the dilapidated palace. "Ugh," Mint grunted. "Well, whoever used to live here certainly had bad taste! These walls do not go with this flooring at all!"

"Mint," Flan advised her. "Try to show a little respect, this was the palace of an ancient Mercurian king."

"Well, Deep Blue had bad taste," Mint said. "But we all knew that already."

Ichigo tensed, wondering if the host would start prodding her, wondering how she knew Deep Blue. Thankfully, he didn't, and just watched as near chaos broke out around him.

Zakuro sat down on a broken pillar, posing for the camera. The young assistant was stricken with her beauty, focusing directly on her as she leaned back on the pillar, letting her long silky hair wave out behind her.

"Zakuro!" Flan cried, growing a bit aggravated. "Get off that pillar, this isn't a modeling studio!"

The silent Mew Mew slipped back off, but gave her a fresh glare.

Flan then rushed over to another corner where Pudding and Tart were having a debris-throwing contest.

Lettuce stepped up on a piece of earth that had once been a platform. Her large green eyes blinked behind her glasses. "Hey…I think this looks like the writing on the tablets."

Ichigo looked up at her. "Did you find something, Lettuce?" Just as she said that, Lettuce took a step backwards, tripped, and fell over the step, knocking into a stone slab standing erect at the foot.

Flan rushed up and caught it just in time. "Phew," she panted. "Will everyone just stop moving? You're destroying the ruins even more than they were before!"

"I'm so sorry!" Lettuce cried, popping up, her braids flinging. "I didn't mean to…" She stopped as she noticed the crowd gathering around the inscription on the wall and stood up to get a look. The cameraman cranked the camera up, so it was looking above their heads.

"And what does this say?" the host asked, looking pointedly at Pie.

Pie concentrated deeply on the symbols of the ancient Mercurian language that adorned the walls of the former palace. "P-P-Perrru…" His forehead crinkled a little more as he focused. "Perrrruccy…Perucy…" He shook his head. "It's no good. I can't see…it doesn't make sense."

"What does it say?" the host pressed him.

Pie took a deep breath and tried again. "Perucy…d-d-d…no, that's not it." He turned away from the writing. "I already told you. I can't concentrate enough to read it. It's no use. Perhaps if you turned those spying machines off…"

"No, I'm sorry," the host replied. "They've been given strict orders never to stop filming." He turned back. "You got one word, didn't you? Try again."

Pie cringed just hearing the sound of his voice, and gave the host a hard glare that seemed to pierce right through his body. "I just needed to remind you that I'm not your translating machine," he confronted him. "This process is…" but Pie never got a chance to explain about the process.

At that very second, a strangely heavy chunk of gasses came flying down through the hole in the ceiling. "Aaaugh!" Lettuce screamed as it landed right on top of her.

"Lettuce!" Ichigo cried, running up to her friend's aid. She reached out to pull the object off, but as soon as she did, her hand slipped inside, and she felt it prickling at her skin. Her body wavered dangerously.

Thankfully, Flan flew over and yanked her hand out of the gaseous substance, and the stinging sensation stopped.

"I feel woozy…" Ichigo told her, leaning against her long body.

"Well, that's what they do to you," Flan started to explain.

"They?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

"Stand back!" Pie called to the others as he rushed forward. "Blade of Thunder!" he yelled, producing a blast of jagged electric power that crashed against the mysterious, swirling object. The blast was consumed in the cloud, but at last, the object flew up and off of Lettuce, who lied on the littered floor, unconscious.

"A Jupitite," Flan explained, jumping up next to the other aliens.

Ichigo looked at this unidentifiable mass of particles. "That's a Jupitite? I expected them to look…more like people. That thing's alive?" She received her answer as the blob began to swirl around, spraying a sheet of poisonous gas over the whole area.

The Mews up on the podium began to cough. Ichigo herself began feeling woozy again and fell to her knees. The Jupitite noticed her struggle and lowered itself right in back of her. It was ready to consume her, eager to take her away from their enemy- to kill her.

"Get away from her, you creep!" Tart yelled, blasting the Jupitite with a lightning bolt. As much as the two aliens threw attacks at the creature, it just absorbed it like a sponge. It spread more gas around as it advanced on her.

And then, Ichigo was saved as the two cameramen hit the floor with a thud. Mint, Pudding, and Zakuro all ran over, switching off the cameras, and the instant they did, Ichigo forced out her breath. "M…Mew Mew…Strawberry…Metamorphosis!" There was a flash of pink light, and Ichigo tucked herself into a ball, flipping around as her clothes melted away and ears and tail emerged, followed by her Mew Mew outfit.

When she looked back, Mint was in her Mew Mew form, her blue hair lighter, and in her blue tube dress with gloves, boots, tail, and wings. Pudding was in her yellow leotard with finger-less gloves, puffy boots, small monkey ears, and curly tail. Zakuro had on her purple tube top and shorts, with her thigh-length boots, wristbands, long wolf ears, and fluffy tail. Flan jumped next to them as Mew Peach in her pinkish suit, with long gloves, small slippers with bows, and black panda bear ears.

"You ready, girls?" Mint called to them, taking charge. "Ribbon Mint Echo!" She held out her heart-tipped arrow as a blue force shot from its end.

Ichigo jumped out of the way, grabbing the unconscious Lettuce and retreating to the platform where the unknown message was inscribed.

The other Mew Mews joined in Mint' attack. "Ribbon Zakuro Pure!" Zakuro called, lashing out with her whip. The object didn't hinder the gaseous Jupitite at all, but simply passed through its body.

"Pudding Baton Blizzard!" Pudding added, twirling her golden baton, the streamers on its ends flying. The yellow burst of power was also absorbed.

"Ribbon Peach Gust!" Flan yelled, letting the round disk fly at the object. But, just as with Zakuro's whip, the Frisbee flew straight through it.

The enraged Jupitite sprinkled more of its toxic gas at them, but now that the girls were in their Mew Mew forms, they were resistant to its effects. Pie and Tart stood on the other side, throwing out their forms of power. Even with the Mews and the aliens attacking all together, the thing didn't seem damaged.

Ichigo gently placed Lettuce on one of the pillars and rushed out to join the fight. "Ribbon Strawberry Rainbow Shine!" she yelled, holding out her glowing heart weapon. As she attacked, the Jupitite hopped back out of the way. It crashed back against the aliens.

"Tar Tar!" Pudding cried, running forward to rescue Tart. At the same moment, Flan ran over to protect Pie. Pudding pulled Tart from under the pricking gas, and the two of them sat there in shock.

"Th-thanks," Tart stuttered, believing that at that moment, his life had been over.

Flan pulled as hard as she could and yanked Pie from underneath the mass of chemicals. He coughed a bit and got to his knees, but Flan still didn't let go of his hand.

At last, he stood fully up, pulling her away as the creature gained its bearings again. "I'm okay," he told her. "You can let go now."

Flan shook her head. "I feel something…it's some kind of power. Can you feel it?"

Then, Pie realized that he was feeling something a little different. This wasn't his usual electricity, and he tried to figure out what this new feeling was.

Flan lifted her head and squeezed Pie's hand. Her Frisbee suddenly seemed bigger, and it was glowing, as if with internal light. She smiled, as she received her new words. "Ribbon…Peach Tornado!" Releasing the object, it spun at a super fast speed, creating a pinkish tornado in the middle of the building.

Ichigo forced her head upwards as her hair smacked against her face, and her skirt blew around her legs. The Jupiter creature was sucked into the whirling winds. With one mighty blow, it was thrown into the sky, dispersing in a shower of various particles over the city of Pyridis. Just as suddenly as it had started, the storm halted, the large pinkish funnel disappearing.

"Yeah, Peachy you did it!" Pudding cried.

Flan shook her head and released Pie's hand. "It wasn't just me."

"I get it now," Ichigo explained to the other, confused Mews. "She combined her powers with Pie's, and it created a totally new attack. Kind of like what I did when my powers combined with Kish's spirit…"

Now the Jupitite was gone, so everyone seemed to breathe easier. The Mews hurried over to their unconscious teammate. "Lettuce?" Ichigo called, bending over her. "Lettuce can you hear me?"

While they were fretting over the green-haired girl's still form, Pie slipped past, heading for the wall with the writing. Tart followed closely behind him.

At last, Lettuce's eyes peeked open. She blinked in confusion. "What happened? Did I fall down again? I'm really sorry…" She sat up on the pillar and held her head, immediately feeling dizzy.

"No, you were attacked by one of the Jupitites," Mint explained. "And then we all transformed after the camera guys fainted. It almost got Ichigo too, but she changed in the nick of time."

"Yeah, you missed all the fun!" Pudding cried. "There was this big, weird ball of stuff that spit out poison gas…but Peachy blew it away with her new attack!"

Lettuce slowly stepped down off the pillar. "Wow, I must've been out for a while. Well, thanks for saving me."

Ichigo looked out at the large broken palace base, and then noticed the slumped forms against the littered ground. If Lettuce had revived, the other men would soon be too. That was when she heard the unidentifiable garble as Pie began to translate the writing on the back wall.

"Perucy clupia ect fwutuk-glimog occlashaybre."

"What?" Flan called, rushing up beside him. "Did you just say…something about me?"

Then, Ichigo remembered seeing the nameplates on the apartment doors on Mercury. That's right, Flan's last name had been "Glimog".

Pie closed his eyes, and the syllables began to transform themselves in his mind. "Here lies the indestructible center of magic." When he opened his eyes, even he looked surprised. "Flan, your last name means 'magic'!"

Flan stared, just as surprised. She didn't even know her last name had a meaning. She wondered if her parents and her five-year-old sister even knew what their last name meant. The rest of her family had lived in a cozy clay building in Mercuritopolis, but right now, they were probably building their own house using the new raw materials.

"Wow, cool!" Tart cried from the left side. "I wonder what…" He suddenly stopped short and looked away from the wall, for no apparent reason.

"My own means 'guardian'," Pie continued, translating all the names he could think of with his newfound ability. "But Kish's…Willows must've been already translated." Pie turned, about to ask Tart what his last name was, when a groan came from the explorers turned TV studio workers.

The Mew Mews all quickly de-transformed.

"Okay…" the man with the microphone said, his voice shaky. "I think that's good enough for today." The girls looked at each other, holding in giggles. Perhaps the attack of the Jupitite had been a fortunate disaster.

---

"Mysteries of Our Past and Present episode two…ACTION!"

Ichigo felt like running around in a few circles, just to spite him, and she probably would have if Pudding hadn't been doing the exact same thing.

"Toady, on our continuing exploits, we will be exploring the outskirts of the ruins…" He again made his little speech about no actors, makeup, and prewritten dialogue. Then, he gave a small glance at the group behind him. "And no matter what happens, no one will turn off these cameras, so we can capture every moment of our exciting exploration. Now, are we ready?" The host only received more stabbing glares from Pie, and had to turn back, or else he would've been knocked out.

Minutes later, Ichigo only wished she could run around in circles as she gingerly dodged the giant chunks of solid wall. These objects were so large and heavy, and she wondered how something could snap them from their spot and toss them about so easily.

"Where are we going?" Mint called up to whoever was leading them.

"The observance tower," Flan echoed the answer. "Or what used to be the observance tower."

So that's what these are pieces of, Ichigo thought. As she looked down at her feet, a strange pang quivered in her heart. Even the grass beneath her looked old and broken-down. Glancing back, she noticed for the first time, the size of Pyridis. Normally ruins were small areas of scattered debris, but Pyridis was a particularly large city. Once again, her "what ifs" started. What if, she had explained to the reporter on the day they were discovered, what if Tokyo was unexpectedly destroyed one day, and the survivors were forced to retreat to another world, to begin their lives all over again? Then researchers would be inspecting the Tokyo ruins, trying to decipher the Japanese language, and removing artifacts, items that had possibly been a part of someone's life. She was shaken out of this train of though when the group reached a colossal square of stone, the top ragged, obviously broken off.

"This is the base of the observance tower," Pie explained. "Of course, it was much taller, taller even than the palace. Deep Blue used this tower to observe his people and make sure they did not disobey him. The subjects were even more inclined to follow his standards, knowing that he could see them, wherever they were outside. In fact, he spent more time in the tower than in his own palace."

"And didn't you say before that they buried him at the base of the tower when he died in the disaster that destroyed Pyridis?"

"Yes," Pie confirmed the host's question, startled that he had even remembered that part of the story. "They buried him in a small room underneath the tower." Then, noticing a hole at the square side of the base, he added. "And he may even still be here."

The Mew, aliens, and cameramen congregated around the hole. "Is this where the king's body lies?" The show's host tried to make the question sound even more dramatic, but it wasn't necessary, as he was tense and frightened himself.

"Maybe," Pie answered. He got to his knees and tried to peer inside. "It's impossible to tell, and the opening's too small for a normal-sized person to fit through…"

At the sound of that suggestion, Tart's voice piped up from near the back. "I could go in, then!" He was small enough to fit through the opening.

Flan shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Tart. We wouldn't send you into that room alone without knowing what was on the other side."

Pudding stepped up next to him, grabbing his arm, although he yanked it away. "I'll go with him!" she decided.

"Oh…all right," Pie finally answered, stepping aside from the hole. "But just slip in, look around, and come right back out. No poking around in there, understand?"

The two children made small murmurs of agreement.

Tart glanced back to glare at Ichigo. "And don't you ever call me a midget again, because sometimes being small is an advantage! Ha ha, in your face!" Pudding grabbed him, pulling him into the opening before he could continue with his revenge.

The two smallest members of the group crawled on their hands and knees through the dirt tunnel. "I wonder what we'll find at the end," Pudding commented. She imagined a room full of buried treasure, maybe with golden coins, and jewelry with all kinds of sparkling gemstones. Maybe she could take a little back with her to sell and support her family. The thought heightened her excitement, and she crawled a little faster.

"Maybe we'll see Deep Blue's body!" Tart cried, equally excited.

Pudding froze in mid-crawl, imagining mummies, skeletons, bats, and other ghoulish sights. "R-Really? You think so?"

"Well, he was buried here." He looked just as excited about seeing a dead body as Pudding was about seeing the treasure. "Maybe they'll be a big coffin, and we'll look down and see his decaying body, with the inscription on the outside, reading something like 'whoever disturbs the great master shall be struck down by the wrath of the mummies' or something like that! And they'll be all kinds of bats flapping around our heads, with rats crawling across our feet, and flaming torches on the walls…aw, that would be cool!"

"You're disgusting," Pudding replied. She forced her body forward, the cold of the earth under her hands becoming more pronounced as she shared Tart's vision.

"You have no sense of adventure," Tart told her. "I thought you were ready to do something exciting for once."

"That's not exciting, it's disgusting. And creepy." At last, Pudding saw the other side of the tunnel. It was very bright, the light streaming in from the cracks in the ruins above.

At once, Tart was disappointed. "What good is a dungeon, if it's not all dark and dank?" he complained.

Pudding glanced down, and saw that it would be a jump to reach the floor. She slowly and carefully turned around, letting her legs dangle off the edge, and then releasing herself, letting her body fall and landing acrobatically on her feet.

Tart followed her, tumbling down to his feet, although not quite as gracefully. "Awww!" he cried in frustration as he got a look at the room. "What a boring tomb!"

"Shh," Pudding scolded him. "Maybe he can hear you!"

The room was about half the size as the base of the tower. It was bright, because parts of the ceiling had collapsed. Something that resembled a doorway sat, blocked by a pile of rocks in the corner. In the very center of the room, a short pillar, fully intact, protruded from the ground. On top was an old jar, decorated with the same, swirling, merging patterns.

Pudding sighed. It wasn't a room full of treasure, but it wasn't an ancient crypt either. "Okay, we saw it, now let's go back to the others," she told Tart, but he wasn't paying attention.

He stepped closer to the pedestal, cocking his head curiously at it. "It doesn't have any markings…" he declared.

Pudding zipped up, holding him back. "Don't touch that," she said. "It's probably his ashes."

"But it has no labels or anything," Tart objected. "If it were ashes, it would at least be marked with his name."

He had a point, Pudding thought, but that didn't make it any more justified to touch the urn. "But that other guy told us not to touch anything, remember?"

"What does it matter?" Tart argued. "How will Pie know if I just look inside, and then put it back?" With that, he defiantly grabbed the jar from its resting position on the pedestal.

Pudding shuddered and took a step back. She had a bad feeling about that, and she'd cringed the minute Tart had laid a finger on it. There was something here that she couldn't explain, but she just knew something was there. "Tart…" she said, her voice slightly trembling, but he didn't hear.

He looked down at the object, so coated with dust that its cerulean color was faded. He shook it, and when he heard nothing bouncing around inside, laughed out loud. "You scaredy-cat," he teased Pudding. "There's nothing in here! Watch, I'll show you…" His hand reached up to grab the crown-shaped handle on the container's cover.

"No, don't do it!!!" Pudding shrieked, the strange presence now stronger than ever.

It was too late. Tart grasped the handle and pulled the cover off. Nothing happened. He peeked inside, turned the jar upside-down, and shook, but nothing came out. "See, what did I tell you? It's empty."

Slowly, Pudding relaxed and let out her breath. "Good. Now can we go back to the others?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Tart replied, placing the jar back on its pillar, and fitting the cover on. "This place is boring anyway." Just as the words left his mouth, the ceiling above him began to crack.

Pudding looked up in fear. "Tart, look out!" she yelled. She jumped forward and pushed him out of the way, just as a slab of stone came crashing down where he had been standing a moment before. "Mew Mew Pudding Metamorphosis!" In a brilliant display of yellow light that filled the entire room, Pudding transformed into her Mew Mew form, holding out her golden decorated baton.

Tart quickly stood up. "The room is collapsing!" he yelled up the tunnel, hoping to reach the others outside. "Get us out of here!" Just as his voice faded, another large stone chunk came crashing against the pedestal. The clay jar shattered to pieces.

"We're trapped!" Pudding yelled, glancing around. The pieces of the ceiling had created a wall around them.

In desperation, Tart grabbed Pudding around the waist. "Hang on," he said. "I'll fly us out through the hole in the ceiling."

Pudding grabbed one of his arms with one hand, and with the other, continued to hold her baton out.

Tart cringed as he lugged Pudding upwards, out of the stone enclosure. She was heavier than he had thought, and he drooped a little downwards with her weight. He closed his eyes and used all the strength he could call forth to fly straight up towards the hole. "Ow! What the…" Tart's head crashed against something just as he reached the opening. His eyes popped open, and he was so startled, he nearly dropped Pudding. "An invisible wall?! What's going on?!"

"It looks like a dome," Pudding said, reaching out and poking the barrier. A lot of good that did. They had no idea how to remove it, and Tart couldn't remain in the air forever.

As if this wasn't enough, another piece of rocky tower came falling, hurtling straight at them. Tart tried to drag them out of the way, but he couldn't move fast with Pudding in his arms. He desperately thought about teleporting, but if he teleported, would Pudding be teleported with him? He looked up, painfully, realizing that there was nothing he could do.

Pudding gasped. A foreign force was entering her body. Even thought they were in dire straights, she felt no panic, and suddenly she knew exactly what to do. She could save them. Pudding held out her golden baton, which had become longer and pointier on the ends. "Pudding Baton Blizzard…Blast!"

A huge yellow shockwave erupted from the ends of the baton. The rocks halted in front of them, and broke apart, crumbling harmlessly to the bottom of the room.

Tart flew up, and burst through the invisible barrier the attack had loosened.

From the injured grass below, Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, Zakuro, Flan, Pie, and the TV crew looked up in shock.

Then, out of energy, Tart dropped from the sky, clutching Pudding to his chest.

Pudding closed her eyes, all of her Mew Mew power used up, as the two of them thundered towards the ground. She knew she was in danger, but just like before, when the rock had been shooting towards them, she knew somehow that it would be all right. The world around her blinked out, into the dormant black period of unconsciousness.