"Now that's a mess!"
"That to me seems like an understatement."
Eyner sighed bitterly looking at Taruto with a frown.
The group was standing around a confused crowd that was huddling at the west end of the city, where some battered buildings framed an open space of beaten earth, enclosed by a high wooden fence and metal wire. Posters such as the one seen by Ichigo and Kisshu increased in number as they got closer to the square, being pointed out by excited people, and the crowd clamored increasingly as small groups interrupted its flow, gathering here and there and kicking off bets of all kinds.
An heartbroken Ichigo studied yet another poster that peeked at her from a corner: the monster on the paper reminded her of the creatures of her childhood nightmares and she would do anything to avoid ending up in front of it.
"So?" asked Minto bluntly, "How do we solve it?"
The others looked at her without saying anything.
Determined to find the answer to the same question, Pai slipped into the crowd with a decisive pace, sliding fast through the increasingly tight ranks of curious people to reach the clearing at the end.
"P-P-Pai-san…!"
The boy barely turned with a sigh; he had the impression that that scene was becoming a cliché. Just behind his shoulders, he saw the emerald hair of Retasu who was laboriously struggling in the confusion, squashed between two bulky guys deaf to her timid requests to make some space for her and her – perhaps too much – polite thrusts to push them away.
"W-wai…! Ouch! E-excuse me…!"
With one last push of the shoulder, she finally managed to extricate herself, but it took too much force and she stumbled and lost her balance: she outstretched her arm ready for impact with the ground, instead her fingers tightened around some cloth.
"I mean..."
"Uff… Thank –"
Before she said anything else, Pai straightened her again by pulling her ungracefully by the arm:
"Be more careful of where you put your feet."
The tone was so exasperated that Retasu looked at the tips of her shoes, mortified.
"Did you get hurt?"
"Uh?"
The girl blushed when, lifting her head, she met too suddenly the dark purple irises of the alien:
"N-no…"
She had the impression of seeing him smile, but Purin's arrival behind him and all their entourage did not give her time to check, as Pai had resumed making his way up to the wooden fence.
The group struggled to get to the end but managed to spread out along the edge of the crowd that was keeping at a cautious distance from the fence. Standing on a sort of makeshift stage – two easels of worm-eaten wood and a rotting table – was an haggard alien with brown skin, buttered with dark spots and sparse tufts of bristly fur; his skinny face was framed by a shaggy and ill-grown beard and his legs were actually two paws with hooves, now chipped by wear.
"Now I've seen them all," Ryo muttered sarcastically, "A satyr?"
"A what?"
"That."
And he pointed to the creature on the perch; Kisshu stared at him as if he were stupid:
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. That's a Quiorq," he said casually, "Certainly not the most pleasant race in the world, but if... Whatever you said was an insult, maybe it's exaggerated."
"Humans have legends about creatures that resemble the Quiorqs," Pai said quietly, "Satyr is the name by which they identify them."
"Yes. And they shouldn't exist," Ryou pointed out with some exasperation, "Yet I have one in front of me who screams like a merchant at the fair."
Kisshu laughed sourly:
"If you're surprised by that, you won't go far around here, blondie!"
Yelling raucously to attract attention, the Quiorq staggered a little on his perch and opened his grass-green eyes wide:
"Come on people! Come! Today, and only for today! Measure your combat skills and earn a stash to settle down for life!"
The crowd shouted in assent, forcing him to stop for a few seconds.
"Come on! Young and old, men or maidens! There is no discrimination here!"
Stronger laughter and a few whistles that got a croaky yell out of the creature's throat, the ugly imitation of a chuckle:
"Resist two! I say two minutes with The Beast and earn your fortune!"
The roar of the spectators was useless to cover the gloomy roar that vibrated all around, making the younger ones scream in fear.
In the middle of the small arena, held by a thick rusty chain, the monster portrayed in the posters was stirring. The posters didn't do justice to its menacing and powerful appearance. It reminded Ichigo of a bulldog for its appearance, especially the way it kept its crooked stocky front paws, but the size was that of a sixteen-seater bus; the body was covered with a thick, gray fur lurid with mud and dirt, while the huge mouth, which could have safely swallowed the whole mewneko, tail included, had wide white teeth on the rosy gums, bared in a furious snarl. The creature fidgeted, convulsively moving the short and clumsy body, shaking its squat head perhaps in a vain attempt to break free from the chain and scraping the deadly black nails on the dry ground; every now and then, in the tangle of dirty fur, the familiar iridescent sparkle of the MewAqua could be visible, tied with a rope around the animal's neck like a collar.
"It's the Gift of the Forefathers…"
The redhead's groan was accompanied by Kisshu's low imprecation:
"A merkv... And also pretty pissed off, damn it."
"A fucking huge, gigantic mess!" Taruto repeated and stomped his feet, "And now?!"
A louder roar from the crowd interrupted him, while a daredevil attempted the challenge with the creature and was escorted to the track. The sound of the chain of the animal being released sounded lethal in the silence that accompanied it.
"Be as it may, we have to take back that Drop," Minto pointed out with a sigh, "Come on, suggest."
She looked smugly at the four aliens:
"You're the experts in dealing with other aliens, aren't you?"
"Less sarcasm, little crow," Kisshu hissed venomous, "And anyway that's not someone with whom one can reason."
Terrified cries broke out and the merkv barked louder, brandishing the challenger between its jaws and rattling him into the ugly imitation of a puppy with its toy. Minto's brashness waned for a second as she retreated pale, horrified by the man's screams of pain.
"As dangerous as it is, we have to go in there."
"Oh, of course! What a beautiful way to die!" Taruto blurted out, "Sorry Pai, wasn't Kisshu the one with the stupid ideas?!"
"Have you got a better solution?"
At his brother's comment, Taruto didn't know what to answer.
"The problem is how to do it," said Eyner, frowning, "Maybe I could take him down… But if I kill him, I'm afraid I'd be lynched by all these nice people."
"We can't take away their hobby."
Zakuro agreed, ill-concealing a certain disgust:
"I would also exclude my weapon and Minto's," she continued, "It's not a chimera, I don't know what effects they might have."
"If we follow this reasoning, we will kneecap ourselves!" Kisshu muttered, "Neither me, Pai nor Taruto are suitable then, would you like to enter with your bare hands by chance? Or send the little fish?"
"Kisshu-san, please stop calling me that!" Retasu muttered, "And then… Yes, in fact, I, perhaps, have the most suitable technique..."
"Reta-chan, I don't think it's a good idea."
"I agree with Eyner," Ryou said, resting his hand caringly on the green girl's shoulder, "It's too dangerous."
"We've dealt with it worse. If we can't help when we need it, what's the point of being here?"
The girl smiled reassuringly, assuming a more assertive demeanor:
"You also don't have to win the challenge, do you? All I have to do is get the Drop."
In the arena, the merkv was brought back into the ranks, dragged sideways by its gigantic leash, while some men recovered the wheezing remains of the first challenger.
"Then is perhaps my power better?" Purin asked, "I could immobilize it, take the Drop and make a run for it."
"What if that thing frees itself?" Taruto blurted out "I don't remember your weapon being long-lasting."
"It lasts long enough for a hit-and-run."
She said forcefully, but the brown-haired kid didn't seem convinced and, indeed, at his companions' faces reflecting on the words of the blonde, he only became more concerned.
"Maybe it's the best solution…"
Eyner weighed up softly.
"Also because only one at a time can enter," Kisshu cast Purin a sideways glance, "Do you feel up to it, shrimp?"
"He-hey! Wait a second...!"
"Of course I'm up for it!"
"Purin!"
"Okay," Retasu muttered, biting her lip, "But be careful, eh?"
"Hey, just wait – "
"No."
They all turned to look at Ichigo, surprised by the dry and sharp tone. The redhead stood stiff, arms down her sides, goosebumps and straight hair on her tail and ears, frowning at the merkv that was scratching annoyedly the ground.
"I'll go."
"What?! Ichigo are you crazy?!"
"I'll go, Minto."
"Yes, you're completely crazy," Ryou whispered, "Think for a second, you...!"
"I said I'll go!"
The American was shocked by the scream and simply stared at her, trying to understand. Ichigo said nothing else, she wasn't sure of her words either, but something told her that she had to go in. She was afraid, every muscle in her body was rigid with terror at the mere idea of being face to face with the furry monster, yet something inside told her that fear would not stop her; she could face the merkv better than Purin's Ring Inferno could have done – which would hold the beast only for a short time, robust and big as it was – or Retasu's Ribbon Lettuce Rush – that could prove too effective. A barely audible yet powerful call pressed to convince her, something deep, something that belonged to her and yet was not part of her, something...
Instinctive.
The words of the figure of her dreams came to her mind. She held her breath for a moment, staring into the small brown eyes of the merkv snarling low in her direction and she almost started hissing. Like a cat against a dog.
Follow your second instinct.
The cat's instincts... the Iriomote cat!
"Trust me."
The redhead insisted. She breathed deeply and clenched her fists, marching to the Quiorq's stage:
"I want to try!"
The crowd around her lit up in screams and laughter and she could hear the words of the Quiorq only because she was below him. The alien made another couple of his raucous noises of amusement and bent over to the mewneko with a feral grin:
"No refund for torn limbs or disfigured faces, miss."
"You said anyone could participate, didn't you?" she blurted out, stiffening, "I want to participate. The rest is not your business."
The Quiorq croaked a few more times, raising and lowering his shoulders:
"Exactly."
The being straightened himself back and reached out to the fence door to open it, jumped off his platform and went to the other side of the clearing to maneuver the chain bounding the merkv. Ichigo sighed again and made to enter, so deafened by the chaos of the people that she didn't hear Kisshu's words and jolted when she felt him grasp her wrist:
"Kitten, think again. Alone... It's too dangerous."
The redhead was surprised by his worried gaze and felt a burning sense of guilt clenching her throat.
But why?
She owed him nothing more than a considerate friendship, she felt nothing different. She had no reason to feel guilty for making him worry.
"Are you worried about me?"
"Of course," he muttered, "I don't want anything to happen to you."
Repeating to herself that she had no reason to do so, Ichigo instinctively smiled encouragingly:
"It's going to be all right."
She barely shook her arm to make him let go and entered the enclosure, amidst the screams of encouragement, laughter, and whistles of everyone else present. She had only a second to turn back and see another pair of eyes staring at her with the same expression as Kisshu; a mixture of anxiety, fear and a deaf rage for her stubbornness: Ichigo wondered if it was just the tension that made that stare more intense to her than it should, or if instead – she drove away the thought as quickly as she had formulated it – it depended on the fact that it came from two known blue eyes.
Two other Quiorqs locked the fence door behind her and the presenter, at the opposite point of the track, shouted:
"The bets are closing, gentlemen! The wagers are now ready!"
He grabbed with both hands a large valve connected to a winch, which held and released the merkv's chain; he turned it slightly twice and the chain lost tension, laying like a snake at the creature's feet, but it stood still where it was: it knew well when it was going to strike.
"Let's get the party started!"
A sharp clank and the chain detached from the collar of the merkv.
A fraction of a second.
The certainty of being free.
And the beast snapped forward, roaring.
The merkv's jaws closed with a dull blow on the point where Ichigo had been until an instant earlier, leapt nimbly to the side; the animal lost the little balance it had on its clumsy paws and rolled on its back, triggering new cries of enthusiasm from the audience. The redhead didn't move and remained to study the creature, intent on writhing numb and angry on the ground: suddenly her decision seemed a colossal stupidity and she only wanted to run away, leaving the pleasure of playing with the sweet beast to someone else.
A part of her – probably the one with a modicum of hindsight – begged her only to get out, to put as many meters as possible between herself and the merkv, or at least to whip out her Strawberry Bell and roast it. Another part – of course the same one that pondered ideas devoid of any logical sense about another (two other) boy(s) who was (were) not her partner – told her instead to support it, that she had nothing to fear.
Sure. It's just some kind of colossus with an arsenal of razor-sharp and log-thick teeth!
She saw the merkv finally stand on its paws and shake its head in irritation, returning to aim at her. Too lost in her thoughts, Ichigo didn't have time to plan a strategy and her body reacted on its own, giving free space to the Iriomote cat's genes: suddenly the redhead set on all fours, arching her back and puffing up her tail, she began to hostilely hiss, uncovering her tiny sharp canines.
She imagined that her friends, seeing her, were wondering which areas of her brain had been irreparably damaged. Besides, she was asking herself that too.
She was therefore shocked to see that her menacing pose sorted any effect. As soon as she assumed that position, the merkv lost all its brashness and cautiously put itself on alert, growling low and moving around the mewneko without ever turning its back to her. Ichigo followed the effect of that absurd situation and remained vigilant, though without knowing how to continue.
You know how.
No.
Hearing voices. A very strong first sign of madness.
Hit. That's the point.
I can't do that! It's going to maul me as soon as I'm within its range!
No.
The merkv made to approach and Ichigo hissed more forcefully, causing it to retreat impatiently.
You're a Cat, Ichigo. You know what to do, you know how to move. Go.
"Oh, come on!" she blurted, standing up, "I can't do that."
Upon the change of pose, the merkv went back to being more aggressive and threw itself at the redhead, missing her by a millimeter. The crowd roared with dismay for having missed the sight of some blood, and Ichigo rolled to the side and crashed into the fence.
"Ichigo!"
She could barely hear Minto's voice in that chaos. With her hair and eyes dirty of soil, she only glimpsed at the blue spot that was the friend, the restless figures of the others around her, Kisshu – she saw him well because he was the closest to the fence, just for that reason, she told herself – who wanted to enter at all costs, and Ryou – him too, she said, she saw him only because his light hair was clearly visible, just for that reason – who seemed intentioned to follow him, or to do anything equally stupid.
Get up.
The fabric of her glove rubbed on the hard ground with an irritating sound, sticking into something soggy and sticky. Later she would thank the cold awareness and the gagging that rose to her stomach and shook her, when she realized that it was the blood of the poor man who had tried before her.
Get up. Get up!
"Ichigo!"
Minto's call broke into a shriek as the merkv dashed again to its victim, but Ichigo promptly dodged it and put herself back in a threatening position by hissing more than ever, even gaining an imperceptible whine out of merkv.
It's a dog. Just a big, huge dog.
She repeated it again and again, moving round and round with the animal in front of her in an absurd Mexican standoff.
Dogs hunt cats by instinct. By instinct, cats run away, but when cornered, they stick their hairs up and pretend to be bigger to intimidate the enemy. And if threats don't work either, cats know where to attack to make the assailant harmless.
Hit it.
The Iriomote Cat with which she was hybridized must have been a nice troublemaker, or at least it was the impression that Ichigo had in the moment.
Hit it.
Her brain kept telling her that there was too little leeway, that if she tried the merkv would bite her and slam her around like its first opponent, tearing her to shreds. She took a deep breath and calmed her heartbeats, until then her reason had only risked getting her mauled. She protracted her claws and raised her tail more when she saw that the merkv had grown tired of playing and was about to pounce on her.
Now!
The beast darted towards the redhead and at the same instant she jumped. Although the action lasted only a few tenths of a second, the mewneko felt perfectly the thick and damp breath of the merkv on her skin, the tip of its fang scratching her thigh and ripping her skirt, the damp nose crushing against her chest, but ignored everything. She had dodged the bite – she knew, yes, she knew! That it would happen, that she would succeed – and all she had to do was strike:
"Down, you ugly bag of drool!"
She slashed the air with her arm and felt her fingers cut the flesh of its eyelids a moment before the merkv threw back its snout, howling in pain, hitting her with the recoil and throwing her back to the ground. Ichigo rolled over and crashed badly into the dust. Still screaming, shouting, whistling, flashes of light and darkness for every moment in which her eyes looked towards the sky or the ground respectively, and a quick dark flicker, as if of an animal, accompanied by a white glimmering.
The merkv continued to fidget and whine for a few minutes as people protested, so Ichigo had time to get back up. She rubbed the dust from her face and, at the foot of the fence, saw a small and familiar figure, a cat holding a thin torn thread in his mouth with, at the end, the Drop of MewAqua.
"… Art(*)!"
"Ichigo nee-chan!"
"Damn, what the hell is going through her head?"
Minto blurted, but couldn't hide her concern.
"Wait... Shirogane-san. Where's Shirogane-san?!"
"What?"
"He... He was here until a second ago!" stammered Retasu, extremely agitated, "I don't…"
"I'm here."
The green girl wasn't sure that she had heard him in the chaos until she saw him waving his arms in her direction, absolutely calm. Kisshu, who already could barely stand the blond and was tauter than a bowstring about Ichigo's fate, inveighed against him by shouting a few words that the bracelets didn't have time to translate, or that perhaps MoiMoi had set strategically not to translate, but that sounded all the same very offensive:
"We're already up shit creek without you wandering around, you brat!" he yelled, "Where the hell –"
He immediately interrupted himself when the American approached him showing the Drop, which he was holding by the now destroyed remains of rope between his fingers.
"It has taken on a more solid consistency than the one on Earth," he said calmly and looked at Pai, "But it should still be active."
The other nodded and pulled out from a pocket the vial they had used the previous time: the Drop entered it slowly, as if it were tired, and Pai locked it inside before the situation changed.
"... How the hell did you get it?"
"I have my tricks too, Kisshu."
He retorted coldly and then went back to ignoring him and studying the situation in the arena.
"Shirogane-san..."
"I'm fine," he said curtly, "Now let's get Ichigo out of there."
Retasu didn't reply, but she did not miss the red rivulet that dripped from his arm.
Ichigo didn't understand how Ryou could have even thought of throwing himself against a beast a hundred times bigger than him, but she would postpone the lecture until later. They had the Drop and that was enough.
She struggled to get to her feet, massaging her sore side and trying to clean up the scratches on her thigh from the dirt, always keeping an eye on the merkv that kept fussing in the corner of the clear. A few minutes passed and the redhead noticed that the creature was calming down much more than necessary: suddenly it no longer looked like a bloodthirsty monster, but a huge lost dog that, yelping, tried to open its swollen eyes and sniffed around, confused. Ichigo saw it moving its ears, listening, and then taking to scratching under its neck as if looking for something; it seemed to find nothing and began to bark cheerfully, trotting calmly towards her.
Ichigo went back in a defensive position, but the merkv didn't care and sat awkwardly, raising a cloud of dust: dangling tongue and tail sweeping the clearing, heedless of the protests of the crowd and the calls of its master, the merkv barked a few times in the direction of the redhead, moving every now and then its ears in all directions.
"Thank you for taking it off."
Ichigo almost screamed:
"Oh my God... You have..."
The merkv barked again and to Ichigo's ears came a yes. She opened her eyes wide, looked at the bracelet on her wrist, and then looked again at the animal:
"Oh my God, I understand what you said!"
"Can anyone explain to me what's going on?"
"The dog is thanking Ichigo nee-chan, Taru-Taru."
The brown-haired boy looked at Purin with his jaw wide open:
"Have you become a fool all of a sudden?"
"That's not true!"
She protested and put her hands behind her ears to hear better:
"I can get little... But it's thanking her."
"She used to talk to cats, now to dogs too!"
Minto groaned:
"Tell me that we won't start talking to dogs, birds and monkeys too, please!"
She murmured despondently.
"It must be the bracelets," Pai thought, "Of course the senpai is all too zealous..."
"That thing... I told the master that I didn't want it, that it was pricking my ears!"
Ichigo was so stunned that she answered only after a while:
"W-with that thing... Do you mean the one you had around your neck?"
"It whistled! It buzzed! My poor ears!" it cried, "But he made me wear it nonetheless…"
The merkv barked louder in the direction of the spectators to silence their protests, "Them too! Annoying, always annoying! Poor ears of mine!" and it put its snout close to Ichigo:
"It hurt so much...! So bad...! And I..."
It lowered its ears and looked at her with sad eyes:
"I was so angry…"
Ichigo didn't know what to say, it was already absurd enough to try to answer. She was talking to a giant dog that until ten minutes before would have butchered her, and instead at that moment behaved like a puppy caught red-handed after ravaging the trashcan.
"Come on... It's all right," she muttered unconvinced, "Nothing happened."
The merkv seemed to appreciate her words and thanked her further by licking her from the knee to the tip of her ears with its moist and rasping tongue, and Ichigo uttered a little ultrasonic cry stiffening for the revulsion.
"Thank you, earless cat! You're good, I like you!"
It barked so gladly that Ichigo refrained from jumping hysterically and disgusted and softened a crooked grimace into a smile:
"No problem."
It barked again and the redhead chuckled, giving him slight pats on the damp nose:
"Thank you for not eating me."
Another happy bark and a couple of rubs of the huge snout against the mewneko's chest, and she let out warmer laughter. By now the crowd around them was divided between the hisses of protest and the amused screams for the "useless and pathetic spectacle", while the Quiorq stage manager jumped on his battered hooves in panic, without knowing how not to lose any more money.
"Now I have to go."
Ichigo said, resting the glove on the nose of the merkv:
"My friends are waiting for –"
A very thin blade pierced the animal's skull with the speed of a heartbeat, withdrawing just as quickly. Ichigo did not even have time to react and remained frozen, her still concaved hand now leaning on nothing, while the merkv flopped to the ground.
"Ooh, poor puppy! It died right away, what a pity…"
The cruel bleating of a childish voice broke the tension of the crowd, who began to scream and push one another to run away. Ichigo slowly lifted her head, pale and furious, meeting the three blonde figures floating above her head.
"Do you want to entertain us some more, pink cat?"
Retasu put a hand on her mouth, recognizing one of the silhouettes in the sky and sensing who the others were:
"Zizi… The Ancestrals!"
"Shit!"
Without further thinking, Kisshu teleported into the arena and grabbed Ichigo, taking her away before the death dispenser also used the redhead as a pincushion.
"Oh, I mean!" she protested whiny, "Kisshu-san, it's not fair like this!"
He stared at person concerned with a mocking grin, letting Ichigo be reunited with her friends.
The redhead had never been a fan of the horror genre and that little girl – if indeed she was as her appearance suggested – horribly reminded her of the ghosts or the little possessed girls of certain movies and gave her goosebumps. She was a little younger than Purin, with blue eyes and straight blonde hair below her shoulders, and she wore a curious white shirt on which she had fastened a blue corset, shorts of a darker shade and over-the-knee boots. Singing through pursed lips, she swayed her head left and right, murmuring in a high-pitched and thin voice:
"I just wanted to hurt her a little bit. Just so, to have a little fun!"
"I see that your growth has stopped, Lindèvi, but sadism has increased!"
"I do not accept such criticism from a snot, Taruto-kun," she giggled cheerfully, "And anyway my growth didn't stop… I am at my optimal status of strength and beauty."
Near her, Zizi clicked his tongue and mocked her, muttering:
"Are you done with blubbering bullshit, so we can get that fucking Drop?!"
Lindèvi snorted conceitedly and moved the fingers of her right hand, on which was installed a bizarre metal glove equipped with steel nails about twenty centimeters long. The third person of the group sighed amusedly:
"Let's solve it quickly."
With a flicker, the three figures launched themselves onto the Mew Mews and the aliens, who dispersed immediately. Zizi lunged at Retasu, the closest to him, ending up hit by a giant jet of water and crashing into the fence, knocking it down.
"Stupid troglodyte…!"
With graceful movements Lindèvi instead aimed at Ichigo, ready to finish what she had begun. The redhead narrowly dodged her super swift extendable blades, trying to ignore the burning that from time to time tore her skin, but didn't pay attention to the alien's other hand:
"Come on, stop! So that we can have fun!"
The metal glove on the left consisted of a series of concentric rings in threes on each finger, from which burst some thin strings that wrapped around the redhead's wrist. As soon as Lindèvi clenched her fist, Ichigo screamed in pain, feeling herself being pulled with unspeakable force by the little girl and unable to get rid of her grip, with the thread cutting her flesh. Lindèvi laughed with gusto and pulled back her arm, yanking her, but Kisshu was again ready to help the mewneko and, taking advantage of the blonde's distraction, cut off the steel string and teleported away, safe. The alien stomped her feet in anger:
"I mean! She and I were playing!"
She narrowly avoided the Fuu Hyo Sen, which froze all the thread still out. She opened her mouth, mortified like a child whose toy had been broken, and looked at Pai with hatred, crushing between her fingers the frozen and now useless thread.
"I'm sure you and I will play a much more fun game."
"Are you okay?"
"Yes... I think so."
Sitting on a roof not too far from the fight, Ichigo tried to remove the wire from her arm without tearing her skin, but it was difficult, and she instead scratched her whole hand.
"Be careful. I'll help you…"
Slowly, Kisshu grabbed one of his sai and gently put it on the arm of the redhead. She jolted a little at that gesture and he stopped her arm, lest he cut her:
"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you, but I have to take this thing off."
The firm and gentle hold and tone of his voice, to her surprise, reassured her at once. She nodded and relaxed her arm, shuddering slightly at the contact of the cold blade on her skin, and with a single move Kisshu cut off the cable. Ichigo studied him throw away the wire while she wrapped the cuts with a torn flap of her skirt:
"Thank you…"
"It's nothing, kitten."
She couldn't hold back a half-smile:
"Seriously. I'm about to lose count of how many times you saved my life..."
He stroked her cheek with his index finger:
"Always and anyways."
"It… it's not necessary," she stammered, looking down, "I can… manage."
Kisshu smiled amusedly to her:
"Then my help is an extra."
He lowered his head and looked at her mischievously, chuckling:
"Maybe I could ask you for a payment, kitten. In kind, of course."
She blushed, irked, and drew back, cursing herself for getting too familiar with him, but she didn't have time to protest: a large piece of fence thrown by Zizi clashed on the roof less than twenty centimeters from her, breaking it completely.
"Perhaps it's better to postpone the chat until later."
Ichigo nodded repeatedly, staring stunned into the hole one palm from her butt. While Kisshu pulled out his sai and threw himself against the loud-mouthed blond, she avoided yet another debris thrown casually and jumped down, tumbling ungracefully in the dust and dodging Zizi's improvised bullets.
"Ouch! My tail!" she cried whining, scraping on the ground, peeling off a large sliver of wood from the red bow, "Come on, leave my tail alone, nyaa~h!"
"Onee-sama! Are you all right?!"
"Yes, Minto..." the mewwolf reassured her, "My cheek just burns a little. A scratch."
The brunette sighed calmer and returned to look around. Shortly before, out of anger at being interrupted, Lindèvi had launched a wide range attack forcing them to retract. She had then resumed fighting Pai, Taruto and Purin, while Zizi threw pieces of wood and metal everywhere, trying in vain to hit Retasu to get revenge and being annoyed in his mission by the green girl and Eyner, now joined by Kisshu; neither Ichigo nor Ryou could be seen, but even more alarmingly, there was no trace of the third Ancestral.
Zakuro took a few cautious steps back, her animal senses striving to catching the slightest sigh in the din of the fight and in the increasingly distant cries of the population. Prepared for an attack, she didn't immediately focus on the light touch of fingers that brushed her hair away from her neck:
"What a dish! You almost seriously make me wanna stop being serious and maybe distract myself a little bit."
Both the mewwolf and Minto jolted for not having noticed someone's presence, but Zakuro was quick enough to react and kicked backwards with all her strength; her heel, however, only struck the air and she heard with annoyance the irritatingly ostentatious laugh of her opponent.
"You're slow, honey."
The boy climbed up and leaned on the roof in a bored way, running his hand through his bangs.
Like his acolytes, he had blue eyes and blond hair, layered in messy waves that glided up his neck; he wore what looked like a high-necked military jacket, of a nice dark blue, and long trousers that covered the high-soled boots, equally the color of the night. In appearance he was more charming than the others and seemed to be fully aware of it, strutting with an unbearable narcissistic conduct.
"Don't worry, luckily I can be, too…"
He brushed his lips evocatively and looked at her from head to toe with lust:
"You and I are going to have a lot of fun together."
Zakuro felt a disgusted shudder rippling her skin, and Minto could swear to hear her growl.
"Toyu, stop flirting with those sows and come and help me!" Zizi squealed "We're three against one!"
And he snapped backwards before Eyner and Kisshu turned him into a grilled skewer; Toyu snorted annoyedly:
"Ugh, all right. Incompetent…"
In his right hand appeared an elegant foil, which he twirled theatrically on the line of sight of the mewwolf:
"Do we want to enjoy a blazing intercourse amongst blood and kisses, beautiful?"
"You will only see blood," hissed the brunette, "And pray that it will be limited to that of your nose."
Springing, she was on the boy and crossed her whip with his blade, generating a cascade of sparks. Toyu continued to lick his mouth satisfied and pressed her opponent, unreservedly ignoring the calls of his companion below him; he parried, slashed, and stabbed, looking complacently at the shiny edge brushing the brunette's snow-white skin, pleased by the graceful movements of her slender body.
"I found a rare pearl," he whispered mellow, "You move and fight with such elegance and energy... You must be a fireball in bed."
He narrowly dodged one of Minto's darts, tailgating them a few meters away:
"Stop talking immediately!" she squeaked, her face red for indignation, "You pervert! Get away from Zakuro!"
He barely pushed away the mewwolf and sliced the air towards the other girl, driving her away with only the air pressure; Zakuro had no time to worry about the mewbird that Toyu closed in on her, pressing her relentlessly.
"And you're not even human, but you're improved!"
He whistled admiringly and studied her wolf tail, following it with a certain contentment up to the curve of her thigh:
"Maybe I should get you for myself…"
Just wanting to shut his mouth, Zakuro let him lunge again and, when he was close enough, grabbed his hand and the hilt of the sword and slammed her knee into his nose; Toyu staggered stunned and the brunette finished the job by wrapping him with her whip and smashing him to the ground with all her strength.
"Minto!"
"Here I am!"
The mewbird approached the alien, bow tensed and arrow nocked to give the last shot, but she didn't have enough time: suddenly Toyu opened his eyes, held Zakuro's whip around his wrist, pulling her towards him, and at the same time he moved to the side and with his other hand grabbed Minto's ankle, tossing her to the ground. The brunette widened her eyes in fear, realizing how little distance there was until impact and with how much forced Toyu had flung her, but instead of smashing to pieces, she bumped into something solid but much softer than the ground, something that moaned and cursed.
"Damn it… That's why that thing's tight, you gained weight, little crow!"
"Ouch…"
Luckily, she didn't realize she was on Kisshu's lap, or her pride wouldn't have forgiven her for blushing out of embarrassment.
"How much do you weigh?! You destroyed my ribcage!"
She didn't reply to the bad joke and he sat up, sore, massaging his chest:
"What a hit… Are you still in one piece?"
"I think so."
Shaken, Minto slipped to the ground, watching Retasu and Ichigo avoid a too heavy blow of Zizi's, and looked up to the sky. She became as white as a sheet:
"Zakuro...! Where are Zakuro and Toyu?!"
The mewwolf did not understand if she struggled to see for the debris filling the air or for the blow received. Surely Toyu hadn't been light-handed when he had crashed her down, because she no longer felt any of her muscles were healthy. Lying on the ground, wedged in the rubble of the wall where the alien had thrown her, she looked at the blond walking slowly towards her, wiping his split lip:
"You know, I like women who resist me," he sneered softly, "They excite me a lot."
"Then all women must excite you," she hissed venomously, "Because I cannot conceive of anyone who can not resist the advances of an idiot like you."
She didn't give him the satisfaction of hearing a single cry the moment he slapped her, nor was she frightened as he squeezed her face between his fingers and lowered himself until he touched her nose with his own, but she continued to stare at him with rabid annoyance.
"Don't challenge my patience, honey."
In his right hand, the foil appeared again, with which he began to touch her neck and ear, slipping down to her throat, and in the meantime, he leaned with his knee on her chest to prevent her from moving. Zakuro tried to ignore the horrendous sensation of the ragged breath and the steel scoring her skin, instead trying with every cell of her being to stand up and face him, but her body wasn't responding.
Move, come on, move!
"Is the fun over already? Too bad…"
Disappointed, Toyu got back on his feet and Zakuro tried to get up, receiving a sharp kick in the sternum and slumping down again.
"I was hoping you'd give me a lot more pleasure, sugar."
He bent his arm back slightly for the lunge. He admired with a sneer her throat falling and raising faster and faster, and he foretasted the feeling of piercing it, when he felt that he couldn't move the blade; he made to turn around, but at the feeling of the sharp edge at the nape of his neck, he gave up. A scornful laugh escaped his lips:
"Always at the best part?"
"Get away from her. Now."
Toyu laughed more and more amusedly. He removed the boot from Zakuro, turned and looked conceitedly at Eyner, the jitte fixed against the blond's forehead and his free hand clenched around the blade of his foil.
"I don't think it was a very clever idea."
He said sarcastically, nodding to brown-haired boy's hand. Eyner wasn't perturbed by the cut that had opened on his hand and continued to stare at him menacingly:
"I told you to get away. Now."
The other imitated the crying of a baby and moved his other hand menacingly toward the Earthling's face:
"What if I don't?"
The scalding flame, similar to a snake, that came out from the tip of the jitte missed the blond by a whiff. A snap of teleportation, the hiss of steel sliding out of Eyner's palm, and Toyu had disappeared.
The brown-haired alien stood still and then lowered his tired arm, shifting his attention to the girl, who, laboriously, sat up:
"Are you okay?"
She nodded a little:
"Your hand…"
"Onee-sama!"
Accompanied by the pitter-patter of the stone chippings, a frightened Minto ran to meet them trudging on the debris, ashen and covered in scratches:
"You're fine, aren't you?! He didn't hurt you?!"
"I'm in one piece… more or less."
She smiled encouragingly and allowed her to help her get up; her muscles were aching to the point that she wondered if she hadn't seriously broken a bone or two.
"Where did he go?"
She asked instead, but Eyner didn't reply and kept peering cautiously at the sky.
Around them, only the noises of the fight.
Then a battle cry. Roaring of water.
And a shriller yell, a howl of pain.
"Reta-chan...!"
Zizi's punch, which hit Retasu in the face, would have been hard for many, but for her it was too strong. With a sharp moan she was hurled away, rolling away haphazardly without resisting like an empty sack, missing Ichigo by a few meters.
"Retasu!"
The redhead was immediately beside her unconscious friend, still and face down, but she couldn't wake her: Zizi had reached the limit of his meager patience and was immediately next to her, dragging her away by the lapel of the corset.
"I'm fed up with you and your colorful fucking costumes!"
Ichigo dodged only the first blow; the next kick hit her perfectly on her side, crushing her to the ground as well.
"Die!"
The terrified redhead saw him again sprinting towards her, but the knee blow directed at her head was intercepted by Kisshu. Zizi furiously glared at the boy blocking his leg with his arm, but Kisshu responded with an evil grin hoping that he wouldn't notice he was holding back from vomiting because of the blow in the solar plexus.
"What the fuck do you want?"
He tried to shake him off, but Kisshu pointed a sai to his throat; the blond stood still, frightened and furious, and the other badly coughed up a little saliva, still nauseated:
"Seriously, kitten... You and your friends owe me lots, for all the times I saved your skin!"
The trident blade sank into Zizi's tibia as in butter. The Ancestral cursed a dozen times in a row, kicked Kisshu out hitting him with an elbow in the face and fluttered badly to the side, yelping in pain:
"Damn...! Damn bastard...!"
He made his brass knuckles appear in his hand, grinding his blood-stained white teeth:
"I'm going to kill you... I swear I'm going to kill you!"
Kisshu tried to ignore the pain in his face and turned scared towards Ichigo: he barely had time to grab her hand, before teleporting and feeling the shock wave of Zizi's blow grazing his shoulder.
"Ichigo! Retasu!"
At Purin's frightened cry, Taruto also froze. Both tried to spot something in the devastation caused by Zizi, only to breathe again when they saw, near Kisshu, Ichigo and Ryou, Eyner holding a still semi-unconscious Retasu.
"Oh, thank god…"
Lindèvi's shrill voice exploding in the still air was a terrible blow to their nerves:
"Boo ooh! Pai-saa-n ! Look, I'm here!"
A blade of her right glove lodged through Pai's arm, nailing him to the wall behind him; he gnashed his teeth in pain and suffocated a scream, letting go of his fan to cling to the blade and prevent it from ripping up his shoulder. Purin and Taruto tried to help him, but Lindèvi moved her other hand and a tangle of wires twisted around the mewmonkey, crushing her.
"Purin..."
"A-a-aah! Taruto-kun!"
Singing cheerfully, the alien joined her fingers and the threads around Purin's neck tightened a little more.
"Purin!"
"How about being good, uh?"
The brown-haired boy stiffened where he was, clasping his fingers on one of his daggers, helpless.
"Zizi, come on!"
The little girl protested looking disgusted at her companion, wounded and howling with rage:
"Stop wasting time!"
"This asshole pierced my leg!"
"Your business, you idiot," Toyu hissed, "Rather... Where's the Gift of the Forefathers?"
For a second Pai's thoughts were turned away from the pain: if the Ancestrals had set out to search, they would have found the Drop immediately or, worse, they would have killed them one by one so they would deliver it to them, and then finish the work.
Lindèvi smiled softly and looked toward the most crowded group:
"Will you tell us?"
Not getting answers, she pouted and took a cheek between two fingers:
"Let's do this. If you answer me, I will loosen my grip."
And that said, she tightened her fingers further, causing Purin to emit a painful yell, which died in a choked wheeze.
Pai tried to ignore that heartbreaking squeal and strove to think of a solution. Suddenly he met Ryou's clear gaze.
A slight nod behind the alien; a look of understanding, a decided expression.
Something, or rather everything of the American's plan was eluding him, but the fame of the blond man's brain was enough to suggest a good idea.
Besides, they didn't have any great options.
"Now enough is enough Lindèvi."
Zizi shouted, extracting ungracefully the sai from his leg:
"Let's kill them and look for the Gift on their carcasses! I'm disgusted by their sight!"
"Are you stupid? We risk destroying it."
Toyu admonished him with contempt.
"If it moves, we risk losing another one," Lindèvi added, "Let's get something out of thes-"
"Ribbon Mint Echo!"
"Ribbon Zakuro's Pure!"
Minto's arrows broke the tangle around Purin, freeing her, and Zakuro's whip cut off the blade Pai had in his arm. Without giving the opponents time to react, Taruto stabbed Lindèvi in the shoulder with one of his daggers, while Eyner blocked Zizi's attack and Zakuro – with a certain satisfaction – lashed Toyu with her weapon and threw him to the ground. Meanwhile, Pai got rid of the rest of the blade in his arm, put his hand in his pocket, and grabbed the vial with the Drop: he barely saw the dark shadow of the hairy being that meowed in his direction, and praying he wasn't having an hallucination, he threw the bottle.
Not even in such a situation Ryou could bear the intense bad taste of the synthetic container, as it was always the case with almost everything that came into contact with his sensitive feline tongue. He tried not to think about it and closed his teeth around the neck of the little bottle, running as fast as his paws allowed him.
Behind him, he heard the voices of friends and opponents, the screams of Zizi and the roar of water from Retasu's blow; he accelerated his pace, avoiding the elephant paws of a group of aliens before they crushed him, and focused only on his goal.
More screams, a din of wind and the voice of Kisshu screaming run!
Running steps behind him.
"Art!"
The little heart of the cat, which already rumbled so fast in the small chest, had another jolt.
Ichigo.
"Art, stop! Art!"
The redhead tried to maintain a visual on the grey cat, frantically running along with the others to the portal, dodging the blows of the Ancestrals.
"Art, the transformation!" she cried again, "You haven't got enough time! Art!"
She jumped over a stall full of junk a second before Zizi disintegrated it. There was still a good chunk of way to the passage and even running would take too long: another two minutes and Ryou would remain a cat forever.
Ryou!
"Don't mind them, Zizi!" Toyu snapped, "Get that stupid cat! The cat!"
"And how the fuck am I going to get it? It's a zit!"
"I don't give a damn!" Lindèvi squealed hysterically, pressing her hand on the shoulder wound, "Stop that damned being! Crush it! Kill it! Kill it!"
Zizi's shot exploded just behind Minto, causing her to swerve towards the roof of a building. She went along with the thrust as much as possible as to not crash, and turned around, taking her bow:
"Now I'm going to teach you a little manner, you gorilla!"
The dart hit Zizi in the chest: he plummeted on Toyu and they both fell sharply; Minto did not stand by to watch and accelerated, wobbling uncertainly on her tiny wings she had scraped against the stone of the wall in the rapid action. She slid to the side avoiding another one of Lindèvi's blades and saw with concern her companions: both Zakuro and Purin were battered and Retasu ran badly, still numbed by Zizi's blow; the boys weren't in a great shape either, but everyone persisted in flying fast towards safety.
Behind her, Zizi roared furiously. She couldn't stop to understand his next move because Pai and Eyner hurled a wave of lightning and fire at him and the other Ancestrals, blocking them for a few precious seconds behind an impassable wall. Minto prepared for an immediate escape, but the others only kept running even faster.
"What are we…?!"
An explosion, perhaps the combination of friendly fire or the enemy recoil, and the mewbird veered harder and lost control of the flight.
A pang of pain and terrible moments of darkness.
"Minto-san!"
By the way she had called her, she was certain that it was Retasu who had uttered her name, yet she was too confused to recognize her voice. Just as she was too confused to protest the grip on her arm, the decisive feeling of being lifted forcefully as she plummeted to the ground.
"Minto, come on, wake up!"
It did not seem appropriate to scold Taruto for the confidential tone. Obedient, she allowed herself to be helped to get straighter and resumed flying alone, brushing her temple that throbbed with pain.
"Why don't we teleport away?"
Zakuro blurted in the racket but did not stop running, taking advantage of the Ancestral being immobilized.
"They would find the passage and we would find them in our living room!"
Replied Eyner.
"What does that mean?"
"You never wondered why we didn't worry about them at the base, kitten?!"
With a thrust of the back, Kisshu turned around and threw a lightning bolt from his sai, reinforcing the barrier of his companions:
"We prevented them from returning to Jeweleria! Their teleportation is blocked on the planet, and if they arrived with a spaceship, they would be arrested instantly."
"But if we reopened the way and teleported now," Pai concluded, hissing through his teeth for the pain of his wound, "They would come after us."
Zakuro destroyed what was left of a wall in her range so that it did not get in the way:
"We have to get into the passage on foot…"
"And as soon as the Drop goes through, it will close behind us!"
Retasu suffocated the last words in a squeal, barely looking alarmed at the barrier giving out with deaf bangs:
"We'd be stuck here!"
"Better to think afterwards about our skin."
Pai's words were not very incisive given the pallor of his face:
"Get that dang cat in the passa-"
The barrier caved in completely, deflagrating like thunder. Everyone was pushed away, those who were running ended up on the ground.
Ichigo held her arms in front of her face so as not to rub it into the ground, so she barely saw the silhouette of Kisshu crash into a stall and get stuck inside, motionless.
"Kisshu!"
She was too dazed, everything happened too fast.
The vain attempt to get up. Toyu's kick on the back.
Lindèvi appearing a few meters ahead of her. The glow of the MewAqua.
An evil laugh and a choked meow.
Ryou...!
"ART!"
She didn't think of the three surrounding the little creature, nor the calls of her friends. She threw her weight at the blonde alien, crushing onto her, closed her arms around Art to protect him and sprung into a side alley.
"Ichigo!"
"You go! Go!"
Minto's protests were extinguished by a building collapsing next to the redhead. In her arms Art meowled in protest:
"What the hell are you thinking?! You stupid!"
Clicking her tongue nervously and struggling to balance herself, while her boots slipped in a too tight curve, Ichigo tapped the gray kitten's snout:
"Next time I'll let them make a violin bow out of your skin!"
She lowered her head before Toyu pierced it and out of the corner of her eye she saw the alley from which they had arrived, two streets ahead. Her chest swelled with relief, sensing Kisshu's forest-green head leaning against Eyner's shoulder in front of the bright circle.
She pondered for a second, blushing at the absurdity of what she had felt, even finding herself thinking of the nonsense of Ryou's rescue, so senseless, impulsive and self-harming. She emitted a sigh of exasperation, jumping into a narrow street to the left:
"Why don't you and the evil version of an elf ever give me a break, damnit?"
"What are you talking about?! Let me go and leave!"
"Close that whiskered snout and stop meowing!" she shrieked against him, "If they get you, you're dead!"
"That's why you have to let me g-!"
"As soon as the Drop passes through the portal, the passage will close!" she exclaimed, "If the others are already inside, we could bar it by going last!"
"It's the stupidest plan you could think of!"
"And being a live bait, you think is smarter?"
She shouted and fell backwards, finding Toyu in front of her.
"I've had enough," his ferocious smile recalled a hyena, "Give me that Drop, stupid human."
Ichigo scowled at him and squeezed Art to her chest, protective.
"Don't make me be a bad guy."
Art hissed barely, half suffocated by the bottle he still held between his teeth, gave a quick thrust of the back and escaped from the redhead's grip, bolting away.
"Damn it! Toyu, stop that fucking hairball!"
The three aliens immediately shifted their attention to the gray animal, ignoring Ichigo who had time to get back on her feet.
She propped up on her hands and feet like an athlete and sprung forward, her pink eyes wide open with fear as she saw the blades pointing at Art's little body; she stretched her arm back toward her tail, she bent to pass Zizi, skirting the ground and spun around.
All she had to do was pray for it to take effect long enough.
"Ribbon Strawberry Surprise!"
She had dashed so hard that she couldn't counteract the strength of her own blow and landed badly on her side near the cat, but couldn't relax. She tried to get up, staggering, grasped Art by seizing him under his belly and darted toward the portal.
Twenty meters.
"Fucking shit! My eyes! Fucking slutty cat!"
Zizi's screams accelerated her, again and again.
Ten meters.
"You play dirty! Toyu, kill her!"
"I can't see, Lindèvi…"
Five meters.
"I don't give a shit about that damned Drop anymore! I have to kill at least one!"
"Zizi, no!"
Ichigo held her breath waiting for the pressure of the blow; instead, behind her she sensed a big blast of air and a low roar.
A huge thud, Toyu's voice breaking into a cry of pain and an immense shadow behind him. Ichigo barely turned her head over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of the merkv – dirty, gasping, drooling, but alive, incredibly alive! – rattling the desperate Ancestral in its huge mouth. She eclipsed any questions from her mind, devouring the last couple of meters as Zizi tried to hit her.
The redhead felt her ears pierced by his beastly scream at the same moment when, closing her eyes and still clutching Art, she jumped into the portal.
A moment's emptiness and then the explosion.
(*) We kept the Italian version of Ryou's kitten transformation