Chapter Six

The Mew Truth

At this, Ryou raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

Keiichiro continued, "They were only defeated when the demon lord pulled the moon out of its original position and the land was flooded, killing the warriors and himself in the process. All was supposed to be at peace until the warriors rose again. Then the demon would rise again, looking once more to create his idea of paradise."

"Paradise? Doesn't that sound like a good thing?" Ichigo asked.

"He said the demon's idea of paradise." Ryou said. "What do you think paradise is for a demon?"

"Exactly." Keiichiro confirmed. "He wanted the earth to be shattered with deep canyons, spewing forth hot magma and lava from within, causing the sky to fill with ash, killing all plant and animal life." He paused here and took a deep breath. "I didn't connect the dots right away when Ryou's father's planned to create warriors to battle Kish and the other aliens. They were a separate threat and had their own ideas for planet earth. But I finally saw it, and I knew that once the Mews were created to defeat those aliens, it was only a matter of time before the demon would return. So I joined the research team, looking for the girls who would save the planet not once, but many times. That is why when there were still only five of you after you defeated the aliens, I went to find the sixth one. I thought that it would be Anzu Katoya, so I injected her with the genetic material of the Giant Panda. However, I was mistaken. I had obviously not done my research well enough, or I might have discovered that it was Suika who we needed. And for failing to realize that, I am sorry." He finished, his head bowed with guilt and apology.

Ichigo crossed the room in swift steps, and for a second, Suika feared that her cousin's temper had gotten the best of her, but instead of striking the gentleman, she merely placed her hand upon his shoulder.

"It's alright, Keiichiro." She said. "No one could have known that Suika was the one we needed. Not even me, her cousin."

Keiichiro looked up and around the room. For a moment, his and Ryou's eyes met. Yes, they had much to talk about in the next twenty four hours, and in order for their problem to be solved, everything needed to be told.

"Thank you for coming today." Ryou said, turning to the girls. "You can go now if you want, Keiichiro and I have some research to do. If anything comes up, you will be informed immediately."

Lettuce and Suika made to leave, but Ichigo lingered behind, hoping to catch Ryou alone for a second.

"Ryou," she whispered, pulling him aside, "have you made any more progress with Masaya?"

Silently, Ryou cursed to himself. Of course he had forgotten all about Ichigo's husband, and he thought for a second if it was intentional or not. Of course not he thought to himself I don't want Ichigo to be hurt. He slowly shook his head, and the pink-headed girl sighed heavily.

"You won't forget about him will you?" She asked, and Ryou tried not to show how shocked he was at how accurately she read his mind. "I know you two have had your differences in the past," she continued, "but please, anything you can do to help him…." she said, trailing off into silence.

Ryou nodded back to her. "Yes. I will do anything in my power to make him better. You can count on it."

Suika appeared in the doorway, "Ichigo?" She asked, "Are you coming?"

Ichigo gathered her things, threw a quick smile back to Ryou, making his heart skip a beat, and left with her cousin.

"Do you want to talk?" Keiichiro asked his friend, who had gone over to a monitor and sat down.

"We definitely will have to." Ryou replied, "But not right now, I have some other stuff to work on."

"I understand." Keiichiro said simply, and walked to the doorway where he paused for a second, "Don't stay up to late." He said, and left.

Ryou smiled, even after all they'd been through, Keiichiro still looked after him as if he was a little boy. He turned his complete attention to the screen in front of him and went to work. If he was going to help Ichigo, then he needed to do it fast. He worked late into the night, pouring over the data that Keiichiro had found while running tests on Masaya. He couldn't find anything that would cause a continuation of DNA scrambling, and that only made him more frustrated. There's got to be something here that I'm missing he kept telling himself. What aren't I seeing? After a few more minutes, he felt his eyelids getting heavy. Can't sleep he thought drowsily, Can't sleep….can't slee….. and with that, his eyes finally drooped shut, and brought him to a dream….

shattered images flashed in front of him….a giant monster….bodies lying on the ground….a shout of warning reached his ears, and then a wail of despair….a shadowy form loomed before him, twisting in agony….all of a sudden, he felt liquid confidence flow through him, he looked down at himself and saw that he was Alto….he knew what he must do…..he took a giant leap and heard someone calling his name….Ryou….Ryou…..

"Ryou!" Pudding once again yelled into his ear.

Ryou jumped up, startled at the noise and looked around. He was in the basement of the café and the screen before him was blank. He groggily turned around and found Pudding staring intently at him, her golden eyes dancing. "What is it Pudding?" He asked, stifling a yawn.

"I talked to Zakuro last night." She said matter-of-factly, balancing on one hand on her ball. "She told me to tell you something. Guess what?" She continued.

"What?" Ryou asked, not in the mood for guessing games.

"You're not going to guess?" Pudding asked.

"Pudding…" Ryou said making it clear that he wanted to know right now.

"Oh fine." Pudding said, pouting. "She wanted me to tell you that she won't be able to come to work for a week, she's filming a new commercial….."