Disclaimer: No I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.

Five Elements; The American Mews

Chapter 16: Heart of Battle

Mew Pyro grunted and slowly managed to work himself out from underneath the remains of the Behemoth. "How much does this freaking thing weigh anyway?"

"It looks like close to over five tons at its current size." Mew Terra brushed back a few strands of her hair and kicked the enormous, almost house-sized hunk of melted plant matter that was left in the clearing where they had fought it. "Anyway, are we ready to go? I'm sure that Mew Sonic has already defeated that doctor and all of his servants."

"Of course, let's get going." Mew Pyro started to walk away…and froze as he felt his heart skip a beat. ("What was that?")

A loud thud reminded them that they weren't alone, and they both turned back to see that Walt was on his knees and clutching at his chest.

The teen stared at the ground, his crystal blue eyes wide and his hand squeezing at the area of his chest that his heart was located in. "Roger…no…you can't die…I won't let you…"

Those words brought Mew Pyro instantly to his rival's brother's side. "What did you say?"

"He's…dead…" Walt collapsed face-first to the dirt, unmoving.

---------------------

Roger slowly opened his eyes and looked around him. He was lying against the base of that tree he had seen when he had been fighting Olson…

"Yeah, if you could call that fighting." A familiar voice came from the other side of the tree. "Idiot! If you came all this way just to get defeated in a fight, then you just should have stayed home!"

Roger leapt to his feet and came face to face with Caitlyn. "You…you're alright?"

"What does it matter whether I am alright or not?" She turned away and spoke with a voice that was tinged with sadness. "I'm never leaving this place. You can't beat him…"

"I'll crush him, just you watch!" Roger turned to go running towards the open doorway, but gasped as suddenly he could no longer breathe. The ground came rushing up to meet him as he collapsed, trying with all of his might to draw in air.

"It's too late for that Roger." The girl kneeled down next to the boy, watching his very life seem to drain out of him as he grew pale and cold. "You've lost…I'm sorry to have brought you here just to die. He choked you until your heart stopped…you're dead."

Suddenly the life returned to his face, and he leapt to his feet. "Shut up!" His fist came rocketing in and slammed into his chest with enough force that he nearly cracked his own ribs. "Start! Hurry up and get off your lazy butt!" He continued to yell at his unmoving heart while pounding away at his chest. "It's time to wake up!"

"Stop it Roger!" Caitlyn tried to restrain his hands, but was pushed away. "Why are you fighting so hard to save me?"

"Who said anything about fighting to save you?" Roger turned and glared at her while he continued to pummel his own heart inwards. "I'll save you after I beat him, and beating him is my objective now! That guy is stronger than anyone I've ever even imagined…do you think I could lose to him so quickly?"

Caitlyn just stood there, eyes wide in disbelief. "But what about…"

"Don't worry…" Roger's expression grew calm as he felt his heart start to beat irregularly. "After all this is done, I'll be sure to take you to the mall for some more clothes shopping. I'll even pay for some of it." Smiling, he gave her a little thumbs-up right before his vision faded.

-----------------

Roger's eyes slowly opened to the sight of a little green songbird sitting on his knee and chirping at him. "Caitlyn…" His eyes wavered and he fought against a sudden wave of dizziness. But, just as quickly as it came, it vanished underneath a sudden rush of energy. ("What?")

Slowly, the boy stood up and looked at his body. There were too many injuries to count, and yet he felt alright. ("What's the matter with me? Why do I feel okay?")

An image of the giant Olson flashed in his mind, and he growled in anger at his own weakness. ("Despite the fact that I'm standing, there's no possible way for me to beat him. The jerk said it himself…that form wasn't even his full strength. What can someone like me do against someone like him?")

"It's amazing…you are actually getting a little more resilient to my attacks. Considering the ridiculously short amount of time you've actually been exposed to them, I have to admit that your endurance levels are intriguing."

Roger's eyes went huge, as if a sudden celestial secret had been shown to him. ("That's it! I know how I can beat him…") Clenching his fist, he sneered darkly and held up his wrist transformation device. "Caitlyn, stay here and wait until either me, Mew Terra, or Bruce come back for you. Walt's here too, just so you know."

Then he depressed the activation button. "Mew Mew Sonic, METAMOPHORSIS!" He braced himself as a giant orb of sonic energy came to life around him, tearing away his normal clothing and replacing it with the black leather that Mew Sonic wore. ("I can win! I have the ultimate method now to beat this guy!") As his hair and ears changed color, he bared his fangs angrily. ("I'll pay that guy back for underestimating me not once, but twice! By the time I am done with him, he'll beg me for a quick death!")

The transformation was complete, leaving Mew Sonic standing in the place of the human boy he shared a body with. ("How strange…it seems like the more I transform, the more it feels like an actual change of identity. Heh, maybe Mew Sonic is more than just a name…") From somewhere deep within his body, something bestial smiled at that idea. ("Yeah…it's time for this wolf to tear Olson apart.")

--------------------

Olson, at his normal size, stood right outside the doorway to the entrance of his home, frowning deeply at the looks of anger he was getting from Mew Terra and Mew Pyro, who stood just a few feet away from him. "So the two of you felt it then? It just goes to show that you're all too weak to fight alone…because you felt him die."

"Shut up!" Mew Pyro stepped forward, little flames dancing around his body. "Mew Sonic is alive…if he was dead then I would die with him. He is, after all, my ultimate rival. No one else will ever replace him."

"Then go and kill yourself…that disappointment wasn't worth the clothing I destroyed to fight him." Olson's eyes reflected a deep displeasure at how easily he had crushed the boy's spirit and body. "I don't even want to deal with either of you anymore."

"That's funny, considering you gave birth to both of these two." Walt stepped past Mew Terra and crossed his arms across his chest, tone icy cold. "I know it was you who gave Bruce the power to become Mew Pyro, and I'm guessing the same can be said for Mew Terra. Why would you create something that you would have had to have known would fight against you?"

Olson closed his eyes and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It's because I believe the world should be controlled by those who have the potential to be superhuman. That is all. The world is filled with weak men who flex their minds without using their muscle to back it up, and I cannot stand people like them because they make me sick!"

"That's it?" Walt shook his head slowly. "If that was it then I'd be disappointed in you. But so far everything you have done has been part of something bigger…what are you building up to?"

"Building up to?" Olson took off his glasses and threw them to the side, into the grass that rested in front of his mansion. "I'm not building up to anything, you ridiculous little boy."

"Lying doesn't suit you. You're too smart to just create enemies like these two." Walt closed his eyes. "Once Roger has beaten you, then I'll have to ask you again what this was all about."

"Then you will never find out because…" Olson suddenly went silent…and turned around slowly to face the approaching form in the shadows of lightless lobby of his home. "I suppose I should have known he'd be back. Welcome back to the land of the living, dog."

Mew Sonic tackled Olson as hard as he could, both of them flying thirty feet past the other three and into the grass in a heap. "Walt, go! I left behind a trail of bark to where she is!"

Walt nodded and glanced over at Mew Pyro, who looked like he was about to leap in to help. "No…it's his fight. Trust me, he would beat the crap out of you if you got in his way."

Mew Terra nodded and ran into the mansion, with Walt and Mew Pyro following seconds after.

Olson kicked out, but Mew Sonic was already ten feet away and ten feet closer to the mansion's entrance than he was. "So you intend to not allow me to get to them until I have beaten you?"

"Exactly…but not quite at the same time." Mew Sonic smiled and licked his lips. "I want to taste your full power, but I know that first I will have to earn it. Therefore…let's get to round two without wasting any time!"

"Very well…if you're in such a rush to die again!" Screaming, Olson exploded in size again as he transformed once more in the giant from before. "Now…show me what you can do!"

"You first…" Mew Sonic smiled and placed his hands at his sides, standing up straight. "Come on…hit me."

"Whatever you wish, fool!" Suddenly Olson was in front of Mew Sonic, fist cocked back to strike. "It ends right here!" Then the fist slammed right into the boy's chest and sent him flying backwards right into the mansion's wall. "I'm assuming that didn't hurt at all? Otherwise, you would have dodged."

"Nope…" Mew Sonic was face-first on the ground now, and his words were garbled because he was coughing up more blood. "That one hurt even more than the last one."

Olson narrowed his eyes as he noticed the indent in Mew Sonic's stomach. "Why would you have taken it so willingly? Are you that eager to die?"

"Eager to die?" The boy stood up…and smiled wildly. "It's just too fun!" Suddenly he disappeared, not even leaving behind any sign he had moved. He just flat out vanished into thin air.

Olson's eyes shot wide and he kneeled, getting ready to defend himself from an attack at any angle. ("Where did such an increase in speed come from?") Then a fist crashed into the top of his head and nearly blew a hole right through his skull. ("How…is this…")

Mew Sonic landed right in front of the now stunned giant's open stomach, right at ground level for him. "Thanks for the target!" Roaring, his two fists flashed gold. "Double Chaos Barrage, Infinite Version!"

("Infinite…") Olson's thoughts were blown away as a pair of energy driven machine guns were unloaded right into his abdomen, and they didn't have a limited supply of bullets.

Mew Sonic's eyes were locked ahead on the rapidly dissolving mass of muscle before him. Both of his Chaos Barrage attacks were going to blow right through this guy and into his spine. ("Once I've broken his spine, he's dead and we can move on to saving Caitlyn!")

"Bastard!" Olson suddenly stood up slightly, and then he was no longer anchored to the ground. Without his stance, his was sent flying backwards through the distant trees by the endless stream of sonic attacks.

Mew Sonic cursed to himself and his two fists stopped glowing. ("No! He figured out how to escape my attack.") He had known that Olson had a little bit of martial training, just enough to know that if you are low to the ground it is easier to roll and dodge attacks. ("I guess he figured out how to escape my trap.") His original plan had been to use that knowledge against Olson, and let the giant keep himself in place while the boy's attacks completely and utterly annihilated him.

All of the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as Olson appeared right behind him, fist crashing into his back like a wrecking ball. Letting out a surprised squeak of pain, he collapsed to the dirt unmoving.

"One lucky shot and you still couldn't do it!" Though his stomach looked like it had collapsed in on itself, Olson otherwise looked absolutely fine. "Just die, you waste of space!" The fist came shooting down, and stopped as Mew Sonic's foot shot up and hit it, blocking the attack completely. "What?"

"Lucky?" Mew Sonic hopped to his feet, looking damaged but sounding just fine. "There's just no pleasing some people." He seemed to blur in place, and then he was in the air, already having connected an uppercut to Olson's chin that had floored the monster.

("How is this possible? He's gotten at least three times stronger than he was just fifteen minutes ago!") Olson rolled to his stomach and started to stand up, until a powerful right hook struck his chin and almost tore his jaw out of place.

"You aren't getting off that easily!" Mew Sonic yelled out and then went insane, his entire body a blur as he used Olson's head as his punching bag.

("There must be some kind of logical explanation for such an increase in power…") Olson could barely think though, because these punches hurt far too much for him to just shrug them off.

And Mew Sonic was too focused on destroying this guy to care about anything else.

--------------------------

"You aren't going another step!" Magnolia snapped up her whip, while Ivy pulled back her bowstring. "I won't let you."

Mew Terra sighed and patted Mew Pyro on the shoulder. "I'll take care of these two, go find the idiot's girlfriend and rescue her."

Mew Pyro nodded and ran as fast as he could past both Magnolia and Ivy, who were both too busy dodging compressed air bullets to do anything about it.

And while all of this happened, Walt was nowhere to be seen.

---------------------------

Mew Sonic screamed again and literally punted the giant that was twice his size into the air like a football. "Chaos Barrage!" His right fist started to glow and Olson's body was forced higher into the air as it was pounded by blast after sonic blast.

Olson's badly damaged body wasn't going to last much longer at this rate. Soon, he was going to be destroyed if this kept up.

Mew Sonic screamed louder and appeared in the air above the now free-falling body, kicking it straight into the ground like a missile. "Now grow roots, you big tree! Chaos Barrage!" As he fell his glowing fist indicated that he was opening fire on the still unable to fight back Olson with his best weapon-less attack. ("I can win, I just can't stop until I've beaten him!")

Olson's now dead pupil-less eyes closed and he roared, a sudden bubble of force exploding from the crater his crash had created, which stopped the Chaos Barrage from reaching him. "Enough games!" His muscles exploded even larger as he loomed up to fifteen feet in size, his tattered pants tearing down to almost nothing. "I've had enough of this!" His now watermelon-sized fist shot up and caught Mew Sonic right in the stomach, a loud cracking noise his reward.

Mew Sonic went flying off into the trees, crashing through ten of them before he finally hit the dirt and then slid about ten feet before he came to a stop.

Olson stood up slowly, brushing his now repaired body off. "It gets exceptionally annoying when the bugs think they can just annoy me over and over again. This is about three fourths of my actual strength, unlike the half you fought before. So don't get ahead of yourself, child."

His answer was another roar and an explosion of energy from the dust cloud that Mew Sonic's landing had created.

("Amazing…his power just shot up again. At this rate, he might actually be able to match this form of me. That is something that I haven't ever seen before…it would be quite a sight if he actually forced me to use my full power to fight him.") Olson cracked his knuckles and watched as Mew Sonic came charging out of dust cloud screaming a battle cry. "Come then, come and face me with everything you can muster in that drained body of yours!"

To be continued…

And so the battle between Mew Sonic and Heinrich Olson rages on. While Mew Pyro and Mew Terra attempt to retrieve Caitlyn, where has Walt gotten off to? And what was it that Roger discovered which he thinks gives him a chance at winning against an opponent that less than half an hour ago managed to destroy him with no effort?

To Nyaa Neko: Keep an eye on your Neomail.