Chapter 15: Trapped
In The Mew Mew Dimension
It had been one day since the wedding, and everyone seemed to be alright with the fact that Lettuce was married to Pai. Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, and Zakuro were working in the café, as they did almost everyday. It was getting late and they were just closing up, Ichigo stepped outside to change the signs from 'open' to 'closed'. She looked out to the street and there stood Aoyama, her boyfriend.
"Aoyama-kun!" Ichigo yelled, waving.
The door to the café was open, and all the girls had heard Ichigo yell and had begun eavesdropping.
"Oh, hello Ichigo." Aoyama said, walking towards her.
"Hi, how are you? How have you been? Is there anything new? I haven't seen you in quite a while, is everything-" Ichigo said, being cut off by Aoyama.
"Ichigo…" Aoyama said in a serious tone.
Ichigo fell silent, sort of afraid of the suddenly serious Aoyama. She stepped forward, staring at him.
"We need to talk." Aoyama said coldly.
"Ouch…" The girls in the café whispered in unity, luckily no one heard them.
"About what?" Ichigo asked, confused.
"About us." Aoyama replied, looking at her strait in the eye.
"I-I don't understand…" Ichigo said quietly.
"Listen, you're just not the girl for me. You're far too immature, you are always late for our dates, and you act so… weirdly." Aoyama said harshly.
"What- What are you saying?" Ichigo asked, still baffled.
"I'm breaking up with you." He said cruelly, his words stinging her.
There was an awkward silence before Aoyama finally turned around unsympathetically and began to walk away, leaving her standing alone. Ichigo stood in shock, her eyes beginning to water. The rest of the girls came outside and stood beside her, watching as Aoyama left.
"Jerk." Mint said evilly.
"Don't worry about it Ichigo; he's obviously not the right guy for you." Zakuro said, without looking at Ichigo.
Ichigo looked down at the ground as she began to cry. Her tears hit the ground like bullets, every drop sounded to her like a gunshot. Her crying deepened as she covered her face with her hands. All her friends looked at her; not knowing what to say to make her feel better. Suddenly, Pai appeared in front of them.
"What happened?" He asked Lettuce, referring to Ichigo.
"Her jerk boyfriend dumped her." Mint said coldly.
"Oh, I see." Pai said neutrally.
All of a sudden, Kishu appeared in front of Ichigo with a huge grin. He looked down at her sympathetically as his grin faded.
"What's wrong Kitty?" He asked softly.
"A-A-Ao-Aoyama…" She cried.
"What did he do to you?" Kishu asked curiously.
"H-H-He d-d-dumped m-me…" She replied, holding back a fit of tears.
"Hmm…" Kishu grumbled.
"I-I-I thought t-that he l-l-loved me…" She cried harder, "I-I'm a f-f-fool…"
"You're not," Kishu said laughing, "It's he who is the fool, Kitty."
"W-What?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Only an imbecile would hurt someone like he did." Kishu said smiling kindly.
"Th-Th-Thanks…" Ichigo said quietly.
"Now, dry your eyes and get on with your life." Kishu said cheerfully.
"A-Alright." Ichigo said smiling, "Thank you for cheering me up, Kishu."
Ichigo hugged Kishu and calmed herself down. Just then, Taruto appeared next to Pai.
"Hey guys, deep blue-sama said that… Uh, what's going on?" Taruto asked, looking at Kishu and Ichigo.
"It is alright Taruto; Kishu is just trying to make Ichigo feel better about something that happened." Pai explained.
"What happened?" Taruto asked.
"Something about her boyfriend." Pai replied with no emotion.
"Ichigo was going out with this guy, Aoyama, who Pudding never really trusted, and then just now outside the café he came over here and dumped her like a total meanie and made her cry, Na no da." Pudding whispered to Taruto.
"Oh…" Taruto said glancing at Ichigo; her eyes were all puffy and red.
"Lettuce-san, I came here to take you home, are you ready?" Pai asked, walking next to Lettuce and looking at her thoughtfully.
"Uh, I guess so, but I just want to make sure Ichigo is alright before we go." Lettuce replied, looking up at Pai.
"Very well." Pai replied, "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Lettuce said taking his hand in hers.
Taruto looked at Kishu comforting Ichigo, then looked over at Pai and Lettuce holding hands and rolled his eyes. He looked down at the ground in thought for a moment, trying to remember why he had come.
"Taru-Taru, what's wrong?" Pudding asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Uh, Deep Blue-sama said something… Oh yeah, he asked me to get Pai and Kishu for something…" Taruto said, thinking, "Oh, that's right, he told me to tell them to come back immediately, and if we didn't come, he'll have to get us himself."
At that second, Deep Blue transported all three aliens back to their own alien-created dimension, along with the humans that they were touching; Ichigo, Lettuce and Pudding. They all appeared in a murky blue area, in which it appeared to them like there was no ground, they were simply floating. There was a dark black figure ahead of them.
"Taruto, I thought I said immediately." The dark figure said in a very deep tone.
The three aliens knelt down in front of the figure respectfully; pulling the girls down onto their knees with them.
"Sorry, I was about to tell them when-" Taruto was cut off.
"Silence, why are they here?" The figure asked.
"You brought them with us," Kishu explained. "as you teleported us here."
"Hmm… What exactly were you doing touching them in the first place?" The deep voice asked angrily.
"Well, you see, Ichigo's boyfriend Aoyama dumped her and-" Kishu began, but the dark figure cut him off.
"I don't care about human emotions." The figure snapped.
"I understand. I was simply trying to make her feel better…" Kishu admitted.
"Kishu, our primary concern is not that of humans and their troublesome problems." The figure said darkly.
"Yes, I am aware Deep Blue-sama." Kishu said quietly.
"Then why is your concern that of human feelings?" The dark shadow asked.
"I… I don't know." Kishu said looking at the dark figure.
"Weaklings." The figure said harshly, "Learn how to fight for your planet."
The figure slowly faded away, as did the blue that surrounded them. They were suddenly kneeling on dark brown stone floor, with one dark brownish wall, brown pillars, and all surrounded by a deep green colour. Kishu, Pai, and Taruto all stood up; followed by the mews.
"Who was that?" Lettuce asked.
"That was Deep Blue-sama. He is the one who arranged this mission to take over the Earth." Pai replied, looking at Lettuce.
"Who spat in his cereal this morning?" Pudding asked angrily.
"He's always like that." Kishu said shrugging.
"So, this is where you guys go after you leave?" Ichigo asked, looking around.
"Yes, this is our own dimension that we ourselves created." Pai said proudly.
"Wow. That's pretty neat." Lettuce said staring into the abyss of green around them; it seemed to just keep going on forever.
"Kishu, can you take me back home? My parents might get worried." Ichigo asked, turning to Kishu.
"Sure Kitty." Kishu said smiling.
Kishu tried to teleport, but nothing happened. Kishu frowned and tried again; with no success.
"Hmm… Pai, something seems wrong." Kishu said seriously.
"What do you mean?" Pai asked, turning to him.
"I can't teleport." Kishu replied.
"Hmm… Let me try." Pai said as he tried to teleport; nothing happened, "Hmm… I see."
"What do you think is wrong?" Kishu asked.
"I'm not sure…" Pai replied in a deep tone.
Both Kishu and Pai glanced around for the source of the interference. Suddenly there was a deep voice that broke the silence.
"I see you have discovered that you cannot leave; I have set up a barrier that ceases your teleportation abilities." It said as it laughed.
"Why are you keeping us here?" Pai asked neutrally.
"Because, if we can get them to join us our victory will be attained much sooner; and I need your help to do so. Also, I am lonely…" The voice echoed, "So, I need to stay here until they join us. Farewell for now." The voice slowly faded.
"Lonely?" Kishu said scratching his head.
"This is horrible! My parents are going to be so worried, and when I finally come back they'll ground me for a year!" Ichigo cried.
"If I miss curfew my parents will be very upset with me, and they might not allow Pai to stay with us because he was supposed to get me home on time!" Lettuce said worriedly as she glanced around nervously.
"If Pudding doesn't get home no one will pick up her little sister and no one will cook dinner for all of her siblings or tuck them into bed tonight!" Pudding whined.
"Okay, Okay calm down. Pai, is there any way to stop the barrier?" Kishu asked.
"From what I can determine, there is no way to stop it right now." Pai paused, as he typed some things into a small slightly transparent computer on a small table facing the wall, an image was projected. "But, over a short period of time the strength of the barrier will weaken, and we will most likely be able to break it."
"And, how long do you think it will take before the barrier will weaken enough for us to escape?" Kishu asked curiously.
"I might have to do some more calculations, but it should be relatively soon." Pai said, typing some more into the computer.
"We have to stay in this creepy place?" Ichigo whined.
"It's not that creepy." Kishu said turning to Ichigo.
"Mm…" Ichigo groaned, crossing her arms.
Everyone was silent for a few moments; the only sounds heard were the sounds of typing. Lettuce stood behind Pai, watching what he was doing. Pai stopped typing for a second and looked at the screen with interest.
"What is it?" Lettuce asked quietly.
"It appears that this barrier might not be too hard to break." Pai said staring at the image projected on the wall.
"What?" Everyone said looking over at Pai.
"You see," Pai said pointing at an area on the image, "There is a small area where the barrier is not in effect."
"So, what do we have to do?" Kishu asked, walking over to Pai.
"We will need everyone's help. Lettuce and Ichigo, we will need you two to release your mew power over there," Pai pointed to a spot on the image, "That location is over there." Pai pointed to a pillar extending upward. "Kishu, you will fly them up there." Pai said turning to him; Kishu nodded, "The barrier is rotating, so I will need to tell you precisely when the weak area is above you so you can release your power, which will freeze the weak spot where we need it. Then, Taruto, you will have to carry Pudding way up to the very barrier itself. Neither of your powers alone will break the barrier, so you two will have to attack the barrier at the same time. That should break it; at that time I will fly up to where Kishu, Lettuce, and Ichigo are. Taruto and Pudding, you will come back down to where we will be. Then, all at once we will teleport before Deep Blue has a chance to put the barrier back up." Pai finished.
"Hmm… It sounds easy enough." Kishu said shrugging.
"Did you come up with all of this just now?" Lettuce asked.
"Well, yes." Pai said turning to her.
"That's a really good plan…" Lettuce said quietly.
"Thank you." Pai said smiling.
"Alright Pai, how long do you think it will be until the weak spot is above that area?" Kishu asked in a serious tone.
"Around two minutes, perhaps less." Pai said turning back to his computer and typing something with quick fingers, "I suggest you get into position."
"You heard him, let's go." Kishu said turning to the pillar.
Ichigo and Lettuce looked at each other and nodded; following Kishu. They stood at the base of the tall pillar.
"Kitty?" Kishu said offering his hand graciously to her, with a grin.
Ichigo stared at his hand and hesitated, then took it. Kishu's smile grew larger and he offered his other hand to Lettuce respectfully. She took it without hesitation or much emotion and faced the pillar.
"Hold on." Kishu said levitating off of the ground, lifting the girls with him sturdily.
Pai continued to type on his computer; Pudding and Taruto watching him.
"Be prepared, you two." Pai said to them, without turning away from his computer.
Pudding and Taruto looked at each other, silently asking if the other was ready. Pudding quickly changed into her mew form and looked to the pillar.
"Here we are." Kishu said placing the girls on the top of the tall pillar.
"Ichigo, we should turn into our mew forms." Lettuce said quietly.
"You're right." Ichigo said nodding.
Both of the girls transformed into their mew forms and waited patiently.
"Be prepared, the weak spot is approaching." Pai said loud enough for the people on the pillar to hear him clearly, "Wait until I say 'go.'" Pai said; they nodded in understanding.
"Are you ready?" Taruto asked turning to Pudding and extending his hand.
"Yeah, Na no da." Pudding said grabbing his hand and smiling.
"The weak spot will be in the precise location in… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… GO!" Pai said loudly, as he typed more into the computer.
Both Ichigo and Lettuce immediately released all of their mew power into the location. They strained, but held position.
"Alright, the location is suspended above them, but they cannot hold it for long, you must go now." Pai said to Pudding and Taruto.
Taruto and Pudding leapt off of the ground and ascended towards the weak area. They approached it quickly, getting extremely close to the barrier. Pai, being finished with the computer, grabbed what he needed and levitated towards the pillar. Being nearly 5 meters away from the barrier, both Pudding and Taruto sent their strongest attacks combined into the weak area of the barrier. The sudden release of so much power sent the two flying apart from each other and shooting backwards, hurtling downward in intense, high velocity spirals. As the attack struck the barrier, there was a booming noise; just as the barrier shattered. Pai reached the top of the pillar and took Lettuce's hand in his. Kishu wrapped his arm around Ichigo's as he, Ichigo, Pai, and Lettuce teleported away.
"TARU-TARU!" Pudding cried as she tumbled down through the sharp air; gusts of rushing air pulling at her flesh harshly and ripping at her face.
"PUDDING!" Taruto screamed, staring at her as he spiraled farther away.
The barrier began to rebuild itself, Taruto and Pudding could see the outline advancing fast; as they themselves became dots in each other's vision. Taruto glanced at the pillar; watching as his friends disappear. He saw the barrier closing up too quickly as Pudding disappeared from his vision. He shut his eyes tightly and teleported.
Kishu, Pai, Ichigo, and Lettuce appeared outside the café once again; Ichigo and Lettuce straining to keep themselves standing.
"Ichigo, are you alright?" Kishu asked placing his hands on her shoulders to support her.
"I-I think so…" Ichigo said quietly; leaning against Kishu.
"Lettuce-san, are you okay?" Pai asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just a little tired." Lettuce said smiling tiredly.
"Good." Pai said, returning the smile.
The sky was darker than before, and the wind had picked up. Just then, Mint and Zakuro exited the café in their regular clothes and stared at them.
"Finally, we were wondering when you'd come back." Mint said angrily.
"We were trapped in a dimension created by the aliens, because this guy Deep Blue put up a barrier so they couldn't teleport, but Pai came up with this really good plan to break the barrier, and it worked really well. We may be slightly tired but at least we all made it out." Ichigo explained, sighing.
"If you all made it out, where are Pudding and Taruto?" Zakuro asked in a deep tone.
"…Oh my gosh!" Ichigo cried, glancing around and not seeing Pudding or Taruto anywhere within sight.
Everyone was started and glanced around quickly, discovering the same result as Ichigo; no Pudding or Taruto. Just then, in the middle of the little semicircle of people, the air began to ripple. There appeared both Taruto and Pudding, about six feet off of the ground and sideways in the air. They both fell onto the ground harshly; Pudding clinging to Taruto like a life raft. Both of their eyes were clamped shut tightly.
"Pudding! Taruto!" Ichigo said stumbling forward a step.
"Huh?" Taruto muttered, opening his eyes and looking around, "We made it?"
"What do you mean?" Lettuce asked, concerned.
"Well… It went down like this…" Taruto began.
A moment before:
Taruto glanced at the pillar; watching as his friends disappear. He saw the barrier closing up too quickly as Pudding disappeared from his vision. He shut his eyes tightly and teleported. He reappeared falling above Pudding. Quickly, he dove as fast as he could after her, weaving through the harsh piercing air that stung him like spears.
"Come on… Come on…" He chanted as he accelerated.
Pudding was still spiraling in the air when something caught her eye. She forced herself to slow the spinning and stared up at Taruto as he reached his hands out to her.
"Pudding, grab my hands!" He said in a worried tone.
Pudding obeyed quickly, behind him she saw the barrier closing up; not five second left before it would close back up.
Taruto pulled hard, yanking Pudding close to him and out of the spiraling. Pudding clung hard to Taruto and closed her eyes fearfully. Taruto quickly teleported both of them back to the café; just as the barrier was complete.
"Hey everyone, I made smoothies for-" Deep blue said stepping onto the dark stone floor, noticing everyone was gone, "Oh dang, they left…" He said sadly; casting his eyes downward.
Back at the Café, Present Time:
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, TARU-TARU, NA NO DA!" Pudding cried hugging him tighter.
"Uh… You're welcome…" Taruto said quietly; trying to breathe.
"Aww… Isn't that just one of the most adorable things you have ever seen?" Kishu said in a childish voice; a grin crossing his lips.
"Aww, you're right." Ichigo said, putting her fingers together and resting her head on her hands, while leaning against Kishu; who was doing the same thing as her.
Pudding finally released Taruto and smiled happily. Taruto frowned and stood up, dusting himself off; Pudding did the same.
"Pudding has to pick up her little sister Heicha, do you want to come Taru-Taru, Na no da?" Pudding asked hopefully.
"Fine…" Taruto said with a dull sigh.
"YAY!" Pudding squealed happily, "Wait here, Taru-Taru." Pudding said bounding into the café filled with joy.
As quickly as she had gone, she leapt out of the second story window in her regular everyday clothes. She landed in front of Taruto with a huge smile glued to her face.
"Let's go, Na no da!" Pudding said gleefully.
She took his hand and began to skip in the direction of where her little sister was. There was a small awkward silence.
"Lettuce-san, I believe that I should take you back home now." Pai said calmly.
"Yeah, my parents would be very upset if we miss curfew." Lettuce replied smiling.
Pai took Lettuce into the café to help her gather her things before they left. Outside the café, Mint snapped her fingers loudly and a limousine pulled up to the front. She got in without hesitation.
"Zakuro Onee-sama, would you like a ride?" Mint asked before closing the door.
"Hmm, sure." Zakuro replied shrugging and getting into the limousine.
The limousine instantly drove away, leaving Ichigo and Kishu alone with a very awkward silence. Ichigo scuffed her foot on the ground.
"Well, I better go home as well." Ichigo said quietly.
She slowly took a shaky step towards the café the get her stuff, stumbling. She paused and took another step forward, nearly falling down but Kishu grabbed her.
"Careful, Kitty, maybe I should come with you?" Kishu asked, although it was more of a statement than a question.
"I can make it." Ichigo said harshly.
Kishu shrugged and let go of her. She took a step and fell. Kishu grabbed her yet again.
"No you can't, I'm coming whether you like it or not." Kishu said calmly.
"… Fine…" Ichigo agreed angrily.
Kishu helped Ichigo into the café to get all of her stuff. Pai and Lettuce exited the café, Lettuce in her regular clothes and Pai carrying all of her other stuff in one arm and had his other arm around her to help her walk, she leaned against him tiredly as they walked. After about ten minutes they reached Lettuce's house. Pai helped Lettuce up the few stairs they had and into the house.
"Hello dear, welcome home Pai." Lettuce's mom said warmly.
"Hello, mom." Lettuce replied smiling.
"Good evening, Mrs. Midorikawa." Pai said respectfully as he placed Lettuce's belongings on a small wooden box near the door, although not taking his arm off of her in case she needed support.
"Lettuce, I need some help setting the table; could you help me?" Lettuce's mother asked.
"Uh, sure mom." Lettuce said slowly stepping away from Pai.
Pai slowly removed his arm from her, but kept watching her carefully. Lettuce tiredly stumbled a little and tripped on the carpet. Pai raced up beside her and caught her.
"Lettuce, are you hurt?" Lettuce's mother asked worriedly.
"I just had a hard day at work today, no big deal." Lettuce said softly.
"Okay, as long as you are alright." Her mother said.
Both Lettuce and her mother disappeared into the dining room. They all had diner and later, they went to bed.
Puddings Evening:
"Onee-Chan," Heicha asked Pudding, "is Taruto Onii-Chan going to stay with us tonight?"
Pudding looked over at Taruto with a hopeful smile and big, round, sparkling eyes.
"I'll think about it." Taruto said turning away.
"If you do, we'll stay up all night talking and become bester than the bestest friends, Na no da!" Pudding declared, holding Taruto's hand childishly.
Taruto decided to stay for the night. After Pudding's siblings had fallen asleep, Taruto and her stayed up almost all night eating candy, watching movies, and talking about random things. They fell asleep together on the small living room rug after playing poker with chocolate coins for two hours strait.
Ichigo's Evening:
"You really didn't need to come with me." Ichigo said for the tenth time.
"Nonsense Kitty, of course I did." Kishu said happily; his arm around her protectively, "I love walking you home."
Slowly Ichigo leaned against him drowsily. Kishu grinned with enjoyment. Ichigo pulled away nervously and glared at him.
"What's your angle?" She asked suspiciously.
"My angle? I think I'm about 93°." Kishu replied, confused.
Ichigo looked at him with one eyebrow raised, and then burst out laughing. Kishu was confused about why she was laughing.
"You're funny." Ichigo said as she finally stopped laughing.
Kishu smiled and looked up at the sky thoughtfully. He thought to himself.
'I wonder if my brother is having as much fun as I am.'
