Chapter 8
The Crash
Ichigo had never fully appreciated analogy of being treated like a prisoner. Now, she knew. She knew the full weight of it. Ichigo didn't know how much time had passed. Since they'd found out about Pai's treachery, they'd been locked in their rooms with meals slid through a compartment in the door.
Since waking, Ichigo and Berry had stared at each other in numb disbelief. It took a while for their brains to accept the inevitable. Then the two of them were crying uncontrollably. People weren't kidding when they said their life flashed before their eyes when they narrowly escaped death. However, with no escape, Ichigo's life was reeling like an old silent film. Ichigo saw moments of her childhood, learning how to ride a bike as her parents cheered her on, meeting Momo and Yuki, the hours they spent on the play set in the park, first laying her eyes on Masaya. Oh gods, Masaya. She had never dreamed some one as beautiful and wonderful as him could've possibly fallen for her, but he did. He did, and those had been some of the happiest years of Ichigo's life. She guessed that was the only bright side to dying. She'd get to seem him again, but that thought was instantly replaced by guilt. How selfish could she be? Yes, she loved Masaya but she had a life outside of her dead boyfriend. Her poor family! She had only left a letter of farewell!
Berry's breath hitched next to her, and Ichigo knew she was crying again. She put her arm around the other girl, hugging her tightly. At least, she reflected, she had said more of a goodbye than the rest of them. As far as she knew, none of the other Mews had even made an attempt to say any form of adieus.
A heart-breaking wail sounded through the walls of their room.
Ichigo squeezed Berry tighter, feeling the other girl wrap her arms around her as well. Ichigo was fighting to hold back tears. Pudding was a wreck. Ichigo felt bad enough about leaving her family behind, but at least her parents were self-sufficient and didn't depend on her as Pudding's family did.
Pudding's sobbing grew louder. Ichigo wished nothing more than to be able to rush to her aid and hold her tightly in her arms. She wished that she could send the small girl back to earth with a snap of her fingers. Hell, she wished she could send them all back. Anything to escape this death sentence.
Ichigo's hypersensitive ears twitched at the sound of a soft Bing. She looked up wearily at the door. Berry, who had also heard it, wiped away her tears quickly, but as the door opened, it appeared as if no one was there.
"Come on." Kish's disembodied voice whispered hurriedly.
"Kish?" Ichigo questioned, squinting in the direction of the door.
"SHHH!" Though Ichigo couldn't see him, it was almost like she could tell he was gesturing at her frantically to keep quiet, "Come on! Hurry!"
Ichigo and Berry shared a glance before the two of them got to their feet slowly. Gripping each other's hands tightly, they walked tentatively towards the door. They were nearing the hallway, but there was still no sign of Kish.
Before either of them could react, a hand clamped down on their mouths.
Ichigo's gasp of surprise was muffled by the hand, which tightened, as if agitated.
"Shush!" Kish hissed in her ear, but by the sound of his voice, he was right behind them, "Don't make a sound." He instructed urgently.
Ichigo glanced sideways, trying to see him out of the corner of her eye.
"You can't see me. I'm camouflaged." Kish whispered, removing his hand from their mouths, only to grip their forearms tightly.
"You look invisible." Ichigo muttered dryly.
"So do you!" Berry gasped in a hushed voice.
Ichigo blinked, glancing down. She couldn't see herself at all! Where she knew her feet were was only an uninterrupted stretch of red carpeting. When she looked for the rest of her body, all she could see were the doors and the walls.
She looked up quickly, trying to find Berry or Kish, but she couldn't see either of them, despite knowing they were there because she could feel them.
"What did you do?" She whispered hoarsely.
"I camouflaged you." Kish replied.
"We're not camouflaged, we're invisible." Berry argued.
Kish shook his head, and Ichigo could make out a faint trace of his outline when he moved.
"No, we're not truly invisible." Kish replied, "I can do that when it's only me, but it took me three days to figure out how to mask myself and others."
Ichigo's blood ran cold.
"Three days?" She repeated.
"Yes. I'm sorry it took so long but we've got to go! I don't know how long I can keep this up!"
He began to try and drag them forward, but Ichigo wouldn't budge.
"Ichigo!" He groaned.
"We've got to get the others!" Ichigo whispered. Three days! That meant they could be landing any minute!
"I can't Ichigo!" Kish whispered pleadingly, "I can only camouflage the two of you!"
"Then don't camouflage us!" Ichigo hissed back, ripping her arm out of Kish's grasp, instantly becoming visible, "I'm not abandoning any one here!"
Kish and Berry flickered for a moment before the two of them solidified. Kish let go of Berry, glaring at Ichigo with barely suppressed anxiety.
"I'm trying to save you, you idiot!" He snarled.
Ichigo crossed her arms.
"What about everyone else? Did you think we'd waltz away and leave the rest of our team to be sacrificed in some pagan ritual of your people's?"
"I don't know why my people are putting their faith in Sensana's visions, but the sacrifice cannot take place unless all of you are present! Please Ichigo, let me get you and Berry out of here! We can escape, recuperate, think of a plan, then save the others!" Kish pleaded.
"Why just us two?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.
"One, you already know the answer to that, and two, both of you are considered the most powerful! My guess is that your power will be used as a catalyst to create a portal."
"Be that as it may Kish, we can't take that risk." A quiet voice said.
The group whirled around to see Tart, standing with his back against his bedroom door, arms folded, and a determined look set on his face. The smallest waulrinswi pushed himself off the wall and walked towards them.
"We have to get them all out." He said firmly, stopping in front of them with a glare that dared any of them to contradict him.
"Tart!" Kish breathed, "I though you were with Pai!"
"I was." Tart replied, "I was making sure he was busy with piloting the landing before using the plants to barricade the door. Hopefully that will buy use enough time."
"You, my brother, are amazing." Kish grinned, slapping him on the back.
"Why are you helping us?" Ichigo asked. Ever since she had met the younger alien he'd always loyally followed his brother's commands.
"Because," he began, but was cut off by another of Pudding's wails, making him shudder, "I hate hearing Pudding cry."
Kish nodded in understanding.
"How long do you reckon until landing?" He asked, floating over to Zakuro and Mint's room where he began to try to hack the lock.
"Five minutes until we reach orbit." Tart replied, gliding over to Lettuce and Pudding's room where the girl could still be heard crying hysterically, "Probably another ten or so for landing."
"We can't wait for this ship to land! They'll be waiting!" Berry cried.
"I know." Kish replied through gritted teeth, his face screwed up in concentration, "Almost… There!"
The door to Zakuro and Mint's room slid open, revealing the two girls looking completely stunned.
Ichigo nearly cried in relief as she ran forward to hug the pair of them. Other than puffy red eyes from crying, they appeared to be all right.
"What's happening?" Zakuro asked, bewildered as Ichigo dragged them out of their prison.
"Jail break." Kish grinned, just as Tart managed to crack the security code on Pudding and Lettuce's room, muttering something about Pai using family names being predictable. He instantly rushed into the room, clamping a hand over a shocked Pudding's mouth to keep her from yelling in greeting.
"W-What?" Lettuce stammered.
"C'mon!" Tart urged, "And don't make so much noise. Understand?" He directed the last bit at Pudding. She nodded, allowing him to take his hand away.
With everyone free, they gathered in the middle of the hallway.
"Ok, first things first, you'll need these." Kish began, passing out familiar, oval shaped pendants.
Ichigo gasped. She had been so distraught with the impending doom ahead of her that she hadn't noticed her pendant was missing.
"Where did you find those?" She asked.
"Pai took them off of all of you when he knocked everyone out. He thought he had knocked out Tart and me, but for some reason his magic didn't work. Well, on me any way. I don't know what possessed me to lie low, but I pretended his magic had worked, then followed him camouflaged as he left."
"You can camouflage?" Tart interrupted.
Kish waved the question away.
"Not important right now. Anyway, I saw where he left them, so before I came to get you and Berry, and when Pai and Tart had left for the cockpit, I grabbed these. I get the feeling the sacrifice would require you all to be in your Mew forms."
"It was extra assurance to only escape with a couple of us." Ichigo interpreted coldly.
"Right…" Kish admitted, his ears turning pink as Zakuro and Mint glared at him.
"What's the plan for getting off?"
"Well, that's going to be the tricky part.' Kish grimaced, "We need to be out of the ship and long gone before it lands. I can take two of you, and Tart can take two of you, but that leaves two of you stranded."
"No it doesn't." Mint replied confidently.
"Well, unless you suddenly learned to fly." Tart began crossly.
Mint rolled her eyes, "I share DNA with a bird Genius, it just took me a while to, shall I say, spread my wings?"
Smirking, Mint brought her pendant to her lips and kissed it, instantly transforming into her Mew counter part. At first, Ichigo didn't think she looked any different until Mint raised her arms horizontally from her sides, revealing a cloak of feathers that became long, elegant, deep blue wings.
Ichigo grinned despite herself. Nothing was keeping them from escaping now.
Mint kissed her pendant again, reverting to her human form.
"It was something I discovered by accident when training on my own." She explained, stowing her pendant in her pocket, "I don't know how long I can hold that form, but hopefully it will be enough."
"It'll be plenty." Ichigo replied with a grin.
"Do you think you can carry anyone?" Tart asked.
"Probably some one Pudding's size."
The ship jolted suddenly and shuddered.
"Quick!" Kish cried, "Pudding, with Mint, Ichigo and Berry, with me! Tart, take Lettuce and Zakuro! Quickly!"
Ichigo turned on her heel and ran. From all her nights of sitting with Kish in the front room, she knew exactly where to go. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, adrenaline coursing through her veins. They had to at least be prepared to jump by the time the ship entered the atmosphere, otherwise velocity would keep them pinned to the nearest wall.
Breathing heavily, she rounded a corner; took the stairs two at a time before the ship gave an almighty screech.
Ichigo and the rest of them froze, looking around wildly before the ship seemed to break through some sort of barrier. She gasped as the force sent her and the others careening backwards into the wall as the ship turned head over heels, throwing them about like marbles in a jar.
Ichigo's head slammed into the tile floor. She cried out, hitting the wall again, tumbling to the opposite floor, then fell against a chair. Disorientedly, she grabbed ahold of it, clinging onto it for dear life as the world spun around her.
With another trembling roar, a large crack suddenly appeared in the floor, racing up along the walls, to the ceiling, until it finally burst free.
Ichigo stared, wide-eyed up at the crumbling ship as she fell, still clutching onto the armchair. She could see Mint frantically reaching for Pudding. Tart holding Lettuce's hand tightly as he tried flying around the raining debris, Zakuro holding onto a stair railing; Kish, clutching Berry around her middle, his eyes locked on hers looking terrified as he reached out his hand, trying to save her from such a distance.
"ICHIGO!" He screamed as she plummeted to the unforgiving earth below.
Ichigo screamed as she fell, clutching onto the armchair as if it would somehow be able to save her from the impact. The wind whipped and lashed at her, making it difficult to breath. Ichigo squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable impact, when an arm snaked around her and her descent was abruptly halted.
Ichigo gasped in surprise, letting go of the armchair, watching as it continued to fall.
"Don't worry, I've got you." Kish grunted, his grip around her tightening.
"The—the others?" Ichigo gasped.
"They should be fine." Berry said from above her.
Ichigo looked up to see the other girl tucked securely under Kish's other arm.
"Berry!"
Berry grinned, giving her a thumbs up.
Kish turned, intent to fly back in the direction of the wreckage, where Ichigo could see her teammates and Tart flying towards the ground. Then, another shape emerged from the ship, barreling towards Mint, in her winged form, and Pudding. Like a missile, Pai shot the two of them out of mid flight, catching them as they fell.
Ichigo and Berry screamed in horror as he quickly caught up with Tart. What became of them, Ichigo never knew. In the blink of an eye, Kish had turned on the spot and teleported away from the scene.
Ichigo fell onto moist, moss-strewn ground feeling numb. Around her she could hear the buzz of nature, water trickling from the leaves of the upper canopy, and the roar of a river somewhere in the distance. She lurched to her feet.
"Take us back!" She screamed, rounding on Kish, "We need to go back! We need to help them!"
"We can't!" Kish yelled over her.
Ichigo's head reeled. She had seen Pai come flying out of the wreckage. She had seen him strike down Mint and Pudding. And the others! They were probably all captured by now, most likely on their way to die!
"We have to!" Ichigo screamed again, tears spilling out of the corners of her eyes as she ran at Kish with her fists raised, "You heartless bastard! We have to save them! How could you only save us?" She shrieked, pounding on his chest before he caught her wrists, trying to calm her.
"Why?" She cried, her knees giving way. She collapsed against Kish crying.
Kish encircled her in his arms.
"Listen to me, both of you." He said, for Berry had not moved from where he'd dropped her. She was staring at the forest floor in numb disbelief, "I haven't given up on any of them. We will save the others. I promise."
Ichigo huffed, pushing herself out of his arms.
"You also promised you wouldn't let anything happen to us." She reminded him.
"And I intend to abide by that promise." Kish reassured her, holding out his hand and helping Berry to her feet, "But what your friends need most from you right now is for you to be patient and strong. Nothing ever goes well when you rush in recklessly, understand?"
They nodded.
"Good. Now, we need to get moving. Magic leaves traces and I don't fancy being found right now, do you?"
They shook their heads, and he nodded.
"Ok, follow me." He instructed, guiding them further into the jungle.
They walked in a long silence, taking the time to soak in their surroundings. The land was positively breath taking, with brightly colored flowers in the trees and on the ground, and even the giant yellow bananas Pai had said were acidic. Without Kish or Berry looking, Ichigo reached out her hand to run her fingers over an especially low hanging one. It was smooth and silky beneath her touch, but otherwise remained completely harmless. Further along, she saw the star shaped plant, folded around an unlucky animal as the plant digested its catch. The insects were interesting as well. A majority that flew about lazily in the area were brightly colored. They were larger than the insects on earth, the smallest being half the size of her thumb. Ichigo, not particularly fond of bugs, had been apprehensive at first as they buzzed around her, looking completely alien with multiple sets of eyes, but they had merely been curious, checking on the new creatures that had stumbled across their territory. Much to her and Berry's dismay, however, this planet also had some type of mosquito. Not long into their journey, the three of them were seemingly slapping at the air and scratching at welts that had risen on the exposed parts of their skin from all the bites.
"Do you have a particular place in mind to go?" Ichigo asked irritably, slapping another insect away from her shoulders.
"A hideout I found my first time here." Kish replied over his shoulder, stepping cautiously around a star trap.
"Why this certain place?" Ichigo asked.
"Remember what I talked about in training? About being prepared?" Ichigo confirmed that she had, "This place is like a den. It's hard to find, but easy to escape out of."
"Wait, hold up a minute!" Berry called from the rear. Ichigo and Kish stopped, finding Berry crouched down by a long, broad leafed, dark purple bush.
"We need to keep moving." Kish warned.
"I know, but I recognize this bush from the ship. Onsucs Rumukw, it can be mashed up and used to treat insect bites!"
Ichigo looked down at her puffy and red arms.
"Are you sure?" She asked, eyeing the plant dubiously.
Berry broke off a leaf, turning it over in her fingers as she studied it.
"Well, it's either that or Lenklu, which will give you a really bad rash."
"What? Are you serious?" Ichigo exclaimed. She desperately wanted to get rid of this burning itch, but the risk of an even worse rash wasn't appealing.
"I wouldn't risk it." Kish warned, "A lot of the plants here are acidic, and a lot of them tend to bite."
Berry dropped the leaf she was holding, quickly backing away from the bush.
"Are you sure?" She asked, eyeing is warily, "it doesn't seem to have teeth…"
"Yeah, they don't normally." Kish replied, gesturing impatiently for them to get moving.
Ichigo turned around, setting off after Kish, but not before she heard Berry break off a branch from the bush.
They continued on for hours, stumbling over the leafy forest bottom until the forest began to clear, and they were trekking across bright, whitewashed, rocks. Ahead, Ichigo could hear the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
"Kish, is that the sound of an ocean?" Ichigo asked.
"Sure is." He confirmed, "Come on, we're almost there."
Ichigo followed, her eyes flitting across the bright blue sky, to the white washed rocks and pebbles, surrounded by small bits of moss and grasses. As they continued further, the ground they were walking on ended in a steep cliff. Ichigo glanced over the edge, seeing a sparkling, smooth expanse of sandy beach, and beyond that, a vast expanse of shimmering indigo ocean.
Though she had seen Japan's ocean many times, it was never able to take her breath away like this one. It was pure and untouched, free of human influence and pollution. Its waters were not tainted by the oil from fishing boats, or tarnished by the discarded trash of its fellow land dwelling inhabitants. Here, the water shone with unbridled purity, elegantly concealing and completing an entirely new world.
"It's beautiful." Berry murmured next to her.
Ichigo nodded in agreement.
"Come on, the easiest entrance is just up ahead!" Kish called over his shoulder.
Ichigo and Berry hurried to catch up.
Kish clambered over a group of boulder to the base of a large tree overlooking the ocean.
"Ok, just through here." He instructed, dropping down onto his hands and knees and slipping into a large hole sheltered by bushes and roots. The hole was so well camouflaged that Ichigo was positive she would never have seen it had Kish not pointed it out.
Ichigo and Berry exchanged a look.
"Ladies first?" Berry joked.
Ichigo rolled her eyes and got down on her hands and knees, following Kish down the rabbit hole.
The soil was cold and damp beneath her palms. The hole was large enough for her to crawl on all fours comfortably, but would be impossible for her to even consider walking through. The further down she crawled; the tunnel became steeper, indicating to her that they were heading further underground. She continued on blindly when she had crawled so far that the sun could no longer illuminate her passageway until her eyes focused on a strange soft blue glow. She paused, studying the glow that was now bright enough to allow her to see Kish's outline.
"Kish!" She called.
"What's up?" He grunted.
"What's that glow?"
"Is everything ok?" Berry asked from behind them.
"Yeah, everything's fine. Just keep going, you'll see. It's actually pretty cool." He laughed.
Ichigo crawled forward, curious as to what the source of the light was. She put on hand in front of the other, followed by her knees. The fabric of her skirt slid between her knee and the soil. Unaware, Ichigo continued forward. The fabric of her skirt stretched and strained. Suddenly, the fibers of her skirt could no longer hold, and split with a loud ripping sound.
"Shit!" Ichigo exclaimed, reaching around to assess the damage.
"What's wrong?" Berry shouted, panic creeping into her voice.
"Nothing!" Ichigo reassured her. The tear was rather large, but luckily it had split horizontally, and it appeared to be low enough that it still worked as sufficient covering, "I just ripped my skirt."
"Really?" Kish called back, "How much?"
"Quit sounding so excited and crawl!" Ichigo snapped, her face heating up.
Kish complied, chuckling under his breath. He crawled on, allowing Ichigo to discover the source of the light. Small, bell-shaped plants grew out of the tunnel walls. Inside, they held some sort of luminescent property that gave off a soft blue glow.
"What are these called?" Ichigo asked aloud.
"They haven't been named yet." Kish replied.
"Why not?" Berry questioned.
"Cause I'm the only one whose seen them."
"And you didn't name them?"
"Uh, no. Ah, here we are."
Ahead of her, Kish shifted his body around awkwardly in the small space, allowing him to slip feet first out of the tunnel.
Ichigo crawled out after him.
They appeared to be in a large underground cave. A small stream flowed through the center of it, producing a heavy mass of those luminescent, bell-shaped plants. Other fauna grew out of the rock face as well. Small patches of a moss-like duplicate pulsed with a florescent purple glow. Tiny green grasses also peaked from in-between the rock crevices, as well as a sickly yellow type bush that seemed to have randomly sprouted at the far side of the cave. Even further, still covered by a thin layer of darkness, Ichigo could hear an odd assortment of grunts and whines.
"There's some animals that live down here, but they're harmless as long as you respect their space." Kish advised them.
"What kind of animals?" Berry asked nervously. Ichigo didn't blame her for being nervous. So far, everything on this planet had turned out to be dangerous.
"No name for these guys either. Though, come on over this way. Careful, they're skittish. Let them come to you."
He led them across the cave, then held up a hand to caution them to approach slowly. As Ichigo's eyes adjusted to the darker light, she was able to make out a few shapes shifting around. As she got closer, she was able to make out the animals entirely. They were small and round, looking like a miniature pig mixed with a small hippo. It had a rather large snout, ending in a pig nose that twitched back and forth, left, right, up, and down, constantly. Its eyes were small and black, almost squinted in appearance, and it had tiny, pointed, bat like ears. Like a hippo, the creature's skin appeared to be course and leathery.
Their noses began to twitch furiously as the approached even closer, wagging so erratically that they reminded Ichigo of a dog's over-excited tail. They began shifting nervously, stomping their four toed legs, and snorting. One, of the two Ichigo could see, puffed out the bulk of its body, trying to look bigger and more intimidating.
"Ok, sit and let them come to you." Kish instructed, "I think that they're extra protective because they have young."
Ichigo obediently sank to the ground, feeling slightly apprehensive as she watched them. For several minutes, the animals continued to grunt and snort, their noses going all over the place before the larger of the two took the first step forward. It approached the small group, sniffing wildly. She waited as it pressed a wet, dripping nose against her bare skin. Ichigo suppressed a shudder. It felt disgusting. For another long, drawn out minute, the animal continued to sniff the trio before it snorted, sounding bored, and walked back to its family. Curiously, a dozen of the young trotted out to investigate the newcomers. They looked like miniature versions of their parent, but baby pink, and small enough that they could've fit in the palm of Ichigo's hand. A few of the young stumbled against Ichigo. Their eyes were squinted shut. Like baby mammals on earth, the young creatures couldn't be more than a few weeks old. They sniffed at the trio wildly, bumping and crawling over each other. Berry extended her hand for one of the babies to sniff. It soaked in her scent by retracting its nose into its face before licking her tentatively.
"Yuck, they have sand paper tongues." Berry groaned.
"But they're cute." Ichigo grinned, petting a few of them lightly with her fingers, "Do they have a name?" She asked Kish.
"Nope. They're also something I've only come across." Kish informed them.
"How is it you came here with a group but only you know about them?" Ichigo inquired suspiciously.
"I have a curious personality." Kish winked. He then sighed and stood up, "Ok, I'm going to go see if I can find out what happened to the others."
Ichigo and Berry immediately jumped to their feet, the sudden motion sending the babies squealing back to their sires.
"We're going too." Ichigo declared.
"Oh no." Kish said sternly, "I know my way around a lot better than you two."
"So what?" Ichigo exclaimed, "They're our friends!"
"Do you listen to anything I say?" Kish sighed, "We need to come up with a plan first! That's why I'm doing recconasince! So just sit tight here while I go scope out the situation. You'll just be a burden to me anyway."
"If you expect us to just sit here—!" Berry began.
"That is exactly what I expect you to do." Kish replied, his tone offering no room for argument, "If you need something to do then spar each other. I'll be back in a few hours along with food." And with that, he teleported away.
Ichigo huffed, throwing herself back onto the cave floor.
"Why won't he let us help with anything?" She yelled in frustration, "How can he just ask us to sit tight while our friends are in danger?"
"It's insensitive." Berry agreed, sitting down next to her and setting the branch she broke off from earlier in front of her, "But he's right, we don't know our way around. Do you have any round stones around you?"
"I know, but it's still annoying. What for?"
"I need to grind these leaves into a paste."
"Are you sure that's the right, err, what did you call it?"
"Onsucs Rumukw? Yeah, I am."
Ichigo found a good looking rock for the task and handed it to her.
"Thanks, want to help me pull the leaves off?"
"Sure, why not." Ichigo agreed.
"Ok, I'll crush them as you pull them off then." Berry suggested.
Carefully, Ichigo began plucking leaves from the branch and dropping them in front of Berry, who began to grind them with the stone. Just as Berry had said, a fine violet paste began to seep out of the crushed leaves, coating the cave floor in front of her. When they had plucked the branch bare, Berry dipped her fingers into the paste and began smearing it over the bites afflicting her arms.
"Berry?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think everyone is ok?" Ichigo asked in a small voice.
Berry paused, her hands trembling.
"No." She finally replied, "I think they're terrified."
Ichigo pulled her legs to her chest, absently scratching at the bug bites adorning her legs.
"This is all my fault." She muttered.
"How do you figure that?" Berry asked.
"Because it is! If I hadn't agreed to this stupid mission, or fallen for Pai's lie, none of you would've been in this situation!"
"I disagree." Berry stated, "Each of us are human, and believe it or not we're capable of making our own decisions. Whether you had agreed to go or not, I know I would've still gone."
"Why?"
"Because I'm a Mew. When someone needs help, no matter who it is, I'll be there. Damn my altruistic side huh?"
The two of them fell silent for a while. Ichigo joined Berry in applying the paste for it seemed safe enough.
"What I don't understand," Berry began, breaking the still silence, "is why bother going through the training?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if we were only to be brought here as sacrifices, why bother training us in survival skills and combat? Wouldn't it have been easier to just put us in some sort of forced sleep or lock us up?"
"Yeah, but remember Kish and Tart's reactions when Lettuce exposed Pai? Neither of them knew about it, so maybe it was to avoid suspicion so that we would willingly cooperate."
"It still doesn't make any sense. Even with keeping them in the dark, what was the point of all the training? How is it beneficial to the waulrinswi if their sacrifices can fight back?"
"Perhaps the plan was to keep it a secret all the way until the winter solstice." Ichigo said slowly. Berry cocked her head, contemplating this statement, "They're living with the constant threat of these creatures. If we arrived earlier, which we did, it would be useful to employ us to help keep them protected until the time came to kill us."
"Yes, but that doesn't account for how they'd be able to fix the situation if one of us had died before the winter solstice."
"No, it doesn't." Ichigo agreed, "I honestly think it was the best answer would be for a means of distraction. Remember how Pai had forbidden us to enter the control room and his bedroom? I bet you anything that was because we'd instantly find him out."
"Well, that's starting to make more sense." Berry admitted, "It would also explain why he kept us so exhausted that we only wanted to either eat or be in our rooms to sleep."
"To bad Lettuce found that translator." Ichigo snarled sarcastically under her breath. At the mention of the girl's name, the two girls felt the tendrils of cold dread wrap tighter around their hearts. Ichigo prayed to whatever entity inhabited this planet that they were all right.
"That reminds me. When you guys were telling me about the aliens, you had mentioned something about Pai liking Lettuce." Ichigo nodded, "But on the ship he said he would do whatever it takes to protect his family. Did you know he had a family?"
Ichigo shook her head.
"We only knew that Tart was his younger brother and that Kish was more or less adopted. Heh, now that I think about it, we really didn't know anything about them." She said bitterly.
"But what made you think he had feelings for her?"
"Well, Lettuce was the only one Pai seemed to respect. He wasn't condescending towards her like he was with the rest of us, and if he had to chose to talk to one of us, it was always her."
"Respect and affection are two different things." Berry noted dryly.
"I know." Ichigo replied, "He just seemed to always have his eye on her though."
They lapsed into silence again, both of them scratching at their arms and legs. They weren't getting any relief from the Onsucs Rumukw.
"What do you think we should do until Kish gets back?" Berry asked after a while.
"I don't know… Want to explore?"
"You read my mind." Berry grinned.
After a few hours of exploring, Ichigo could see why Kish was so partial to the place. There were several entrances and exits. One opened up into a cliff face with a steep drop into an assortment of jagged rocks and roaring waves below. Ichigo was slightly worried that it would be an obvious entrance, but when they stepped onto the small foot hold the rock face provided, they realized that it was actually well hidden, not to mention hazardous to try and get to. Another tunnel ended with a dead end where the cave had collapsed inward, leaving a blocked passageway of rock. They did, however, find one entrance to be troublesome. It led to a wide-open clearing, marked with several large boulders that seemed to point to its obviousness. Ichigo and Berry had been contemplating whether or not to try and destroy the boulders and cover up the entrance until they realized the pigoppotimi, the name they had decided to call the cave dwelling animals, relied on a scent from the rocks to find their way back to their dens. Apparently they did not have very good eyesight.
"There has to be a way to make sure no one stumbles upon this by accident." Ichigo grumbled, searching blindly for something in the tunnel or even in the surrounding area.
"We could try setting traps around the area instead." Berry suggested.
"We'd be in the open too long." Ichigo reasoned.
"Yes, you would." Kish's voice sounded from thin air.
Ichigo and Berry screamed, whipping around to see Kish materialize out of thin air, carrying a small bag and looking displeased, "What are you two doing? I specifically said to stay put."
"We were exploring the cave." Berry answered honestly.
"Really?" Kish glanced around at the small clearing surrounded on all sides by trees, "Funny, I thought the cave was underground."
Ichigo pursed her lips.
"We were getting to know our surroundings, which, this area, incidentally, is wide open for attack."
"No it's not. Plenty of animals live underground."
"Yes, but you found this place. What's to keep other waulrinswi from finding it?"
"You forget that generations of waulrinswi have been forced to live underground. They're not eager to go back down anytime soon."
"But you did." Ichigo countered.
"Yes, but I'm not normal. Now get back in the cave. There's a large manhunt for the two of you."
Ichigo and Berry quickly disappeared into the tunnel and crawled back to the tunnel with Kish right behind them.
"Ok, first things first, here's some fruit." He told them, throwing a bag at Ichigo. She caught the bag and opened it, finding an assortment of brightly colored fruits; a leather bound book, and some reading glasses.
"What are these?" Ichigo asked, pulling out the book and the glasses.
"I stole the book. It was my team's journal. It details everything we were able to investigate in our research of the planet. It should have plants, their properties, animals and what not. The glasses have a translator built into them. Berry, I figured you'd find it helpful." Kish explained.
Berry reached forward eagerly to take the book and glasses.
"So," Ichigo began, dreading the answer, "Were you able to find out anything about the girls?"
Kish nodded, sitting down crossed-legged on the cave floor.
"They're ok right now." He informed them, "They're being held in one of our holding cells, which is a deep pit in the ground, steep enough that one can't climb out of it and an electric current running across the top to prevent flight and teleportation." Ichigo had a vague memory of Disney's Hercules with the Titans trapped in the pit, "I was able to make contact with them. I told them that you two are safe and that we're working on a plan to get them out of there. What troubles me though is that their pendants were taken and they looked a bit roughed up."
"Nothing serious?" Ichigo interrupted, sounding panicked.
"No, just a few scratches and bruises." Kish reassured her.
"Food and water?" She asked.
"They're not going to let them die." Kish replied, "Don't forget, they have to be live sacrifices."
Ichigo flinched at the term.
"How long do we have?" Berry questioned.
"On this planet, about three weeks. According to your earth time, a little more than a month. Oh, that reminds me. Beneath all the food is a change of clothes. As far as we can tell, the weather here can be very unpredictable."
Ichigo began digging through the bag, comforted with the news that they had time on their side. She pulled out melon-green, gourd-shaped fruits, along with varying colors of star shaped berries and round bunches that looked like grapes.
"Oh shoot…" Berry muttered.
"What?" Kish asked, but Berry ignored him, catching Ichigo's attention with the guilty edge in her voice.
"What?" Ichigo repeated for Kish.
"That plant wasn't Onsucs Rumukw. It was Lenklu."
Ichigo's eyes widened in realization as Kish keeled over laughing. They were about to suffer from a really bad rash.
A/N: Edited portion now up. Don't worry, there were just minor changes. As for updates, it's looking like a chapter every other month.
Guest, you mentioned a series where you think I got the clone idea from. Believe it or not, I've never heard of it before. My friend, Hisoka1021 and I were talking about the best explanation we could come up with for why the aliens were so insistent that the humans were destroying the earth. The best explanation, we decided, was that they had already made all the same mistakes. Therefore, they've already tampered with "taboos" and suffered the consequences from it, and I figured cloning would be one of the high problems they had to overcome.
Thank you everyone for sticking with this story. As always, I appreciate your feedback!