Lone Wolf
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Scarlet Red, her aides, and her spaceship belong to me. All restIkumi
"ZAKURO!" Pie screamed as he saw the girl he lo—cared about—teleported away by the evil sister of his former master. "ZAKURO! NOOOOOOOO!"
In his entire seventeen-and-a-half Earth years of life, Pie had never lost control. He couldn't afford to. With two such incompetent partners as Kish and Tart usually were, he'd spent most of his life with the entire control of a spaceship in his hands. Often, the only thing that had kept it from crashing were his careful calculations and quick, rational decisions.
But now…now he could not, just could not keep cool. He cried, screamed, shouted, cursed at the innocent cherry-red sunset into which Lone Wolf had disappeared.
"Um……sir?" came a tiny voice from beside him. Startled, Pie turned to see a girl of about eleven years old standing beside him. A short girl with black hair, very ordinary-looking except from the fact that she wore a glittery purple band around her ponytail.
"Yes, you sir. With the purple hair. I'm talking to you," she informed im.
Pie gaped.
Did I forget to turn on the cloak? he wondered. The cloak was a simple spell that rendered him invisible to the human eye. When he'd realized that he was going to cry, and hadn't wanted an entire beach full of humans to see, he'd thrown it up quickly. Or so he thought……
The girl gave a small laugh. "Yes, I can see you. I can see spirits. It's kind of complicated to explain, and you probably wouldn't understand. But anyway….you seem upset."
She cocked her head and studied him with her deep brown eyes, as though analyzing him. "I think I know what happened. The person you love is hurt."
"I…I don't love anyone, miss," he replied, trying to keep cool. I don't…don't I? he tried to convince himself within.
"Yes you do. I can tell, because it happened to me. And I learned that sitting and crying about it doesn't help. You need to go help her. Only you can save her. I learned that the hard way," she told him, her face straight. "So go rescue her, alright? Promise me you'll stop denying that you're in love?"
Pie's mouth fell open even farther than the alien felt possible. "How…you know?...you…"
The girl grinned. I must be a funny sight, a tall serious-looking alien gaping at a kid like she's some sort of exotic species, he mused. He was broken out of his thoughts by her speaking yet again.
"Especially if you're a spirit. Spirits are especially bad about admitting that they love someone. Really bad…. And how do I know you're in denial? I just do. Now, sir, go help your girl," she paused a moment, "I'm Chihiro, by the way. No need to thank me."
With that, the strange girl skipped away.
My, she was odd…Pie mused.
She floated through a daze, unable for the life of her to place where she was. All she could remember was red, an entire sky full of the color red, a deep blood-shade.
Wait…there were sounds, too. Someone—a male—was screaming, one repeated word that, try as she might, she couldn't understand. Someone else—a female—was laughing, a high-pitched laugh that sounded rather familiar, but like the voice, its origin was unknown to her.
Where was she? What was she doing here? Why was she here?
Suddenly, she heard the male screaming again. This time, however, she could hear him. The word he screamed was "Zakuro". Who—or what—was a Zakuro?
Wait…that was her name…
Zakuro Fujiwara came to in a cell.
It was not, however, like the cells in most fairy tales that the heroine inevitably finds herself locked in at some point during the story. It was not dark, or dank, or rank-smelling, or made of metal. In fact it was light, and shiny, and made of laserglass, a material she'd only seen one other place: on the spaceship of the aliens Kish, Tart, and Pie.
The aliens? Am I on their spaceship? But wait…Pie…the Anima…did he capture me? But I don't remember him doing anything of the sort…I think he was frozen.
Suddenly, the Mew's memory came back to her, as memories are wont to do. She was not on Pie and Kish's ship, but Scarlet Red's. The fearsome looking female alien—who she recalled was the powerful sister of her old nemesis, Deep Blue, had been the one to capture her! And Pie…
Pie…wait a second? Hadn't Scarlet Red said something about Pie "leading her to the pretty wolf-girl like the loyal alien he was"? Or "allowing her to capture his darling Lone Wolf"? She clearly remembered her captor mentioning something of the sort.
As soon as the werewolf's brain had concluded that thought, Zakuro realized what had happened. Pie had betrayed her! The strange events of the past couple days had all been traps intended to make an opportunity for Scarlet Red to capture her. So they'd all been fake—the strange encounters, the cryptic words, the odd smiles….
…the kiss.
But better not think about that, Zakuro reprimanded herself. You're starting to sound like Ichigo, mooning over Kish. Or Lettuce and Ryou, or Mint and Keiichiro, or…gosh…Pudding and Tart! And that's not you! Anyway, you have more important things to worry about. Such as the fact that you're currently locked in the cell of a psychotic she-alien…
Zakuro broke off her thoughts, realizing that she needed to start working on escape. Unless she wanted to perish there, which she rather didn't. She turned, her sharp eyes surveying the cell, trying to get the scope of her current residence.
It was large, and circular, and the laserglass that formed it was tinted a deep lavender. On top, there was a tiny lump that rather looked like the stem of some sort of fruit, like an apple….
….or a pomegranate.
Realization hit the Mew, as it had gotten into the habit of doing. The cell she was confined in was the shape of a pomegranate! A purple pomegranate! Which could mean…
She scanned the large silver room (dungeon, possibly?) outside her cell, trying to figure out if her hypothesis was correct. With a dry mouth and trembling limbs, the werewolf recognized four other laserglass cells lining the walls of the room. One of them was lumpy and oblong—a strawberry. It was pink. Another seemed to be a blue mint leaf, another a leafy green lettuce, and the final one a brilliant yellow bowl of creamy-looking pudding.
Ichigo…that meant strawberry, didn't it. And Mint…and Lettuce…and Pudding…Oh no!
As Zakuro saw this, Scarlet Red's motives became clear to her. The alien's goal was to capture the five Mews…using her as bait!
Café Mew Mew
1:00 PM
"This is not good," Ryou Shirogane told himself. "This is really, really, not good."
The genetics genius was sitting in front of a large, professional-looking computer. His girlfriend, Lettuce Midorikawa, leaned over his shoulder, a worried expression on her gentle, friendly face.
"What is it, Ryou-chan? Is it…did you find Zakuro?" the mermaid inquired. Two days ago, Zakuro's signal had disappeared from the tracking device. All the Mews had been incredibly worried, and Ryou had been trying everything possible to recover her signal.
"Yes," the blonde boy replied. "But it's in outer space."
Lettuce's brow furrowed. "Outer space? Are you sure she's not visiting Kish, Pie, and Tart?"
Ryou sighed, his shoulders drooping over the machine he worked. "I know the signal of their ship. I've had it programmed into here since they attacked Earth. The ship—it seems our werewolf is indeed on a ship—is unfam……NO!"
The green-clad porpoise Mew jumped back several feet at his exclamation. "Did…did things just get worse?"
"Indeed, mermaid-chan. Worse than I'd imagined. There's…there's a powerful alien signal aboard the same ship where our Zakuro is…I can only assume she's being held prisoner. The signal is…more powerful than Masay—Deep Blue's signal used to be."
Lettuce's friendly face was whiter than a sheet. "Ryou—does that mean what I think it means?"
Ryou nodded. "Yes. Tokyo Mew Mew must fight again. They must rise up to save our Zakuro. Bring the others—and Keiichiro. We'd better…better prepare to fight."
Thirty minutes later, the sky exploded with four battle cries.
"Mew Mew Strawberry Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Lettuce Metamorphosis!"
"Mew Mew Pudding Metamorphosis!"
Ryou turned to his longtime best friend, Mint's boyfriend Keiichiro Akasaka.
"Do you think they'll save her?"
"Yes, Ryou. For—this alien's—evil actions, they will make it pay."