Chapter 5: Back to Black

"Zzzz..." Mew was sleeping away on his couch, his arms tucked behind his head as a makeshift pillow and legs crossed on the opposite side.

"Zzzz...mmmmm..." Smile stretched wide, eyes shut gently, and the occasional 'purr' during breaths. This is the kind of sleep insomniacs would pay millions for.

Which made the sudden opening of his eyes all the more startling for him. His accursed internal alarm clock, an enemy far greater than Justek and Gravitus combined...

After a couple blinks to cope with being awake Mew turned on his side a bit and mumbled, "Aw man, just when it was getting to the good part..."

He stretched his arms up high and found they were a little stiff. Nothing some wiggling couldn't shake off. He then spun his legs off the couch and planted them on the ground.

"Haaaaa," And with one big yawn, smacked his lips and was finally fully awake, "Haaa ha...Ho, that was a good nap. Best I've had in ages..."

He looked outside and it was a sunny start to the day, what more could he ask for?

"Still daylight out? Must've not been asleep for very long..." He said while rolling his shoulders to get the blood flowing.

"Brother?"

"GHHH!" Mew nearly bit his tongue as he swung his head to the left and saw Riku coming around the corner and briefly raising his brows.

"Oh," Mew quickly settled down and placed a hand on his chest to laugh at himself, "Duh, its just you Riku."

He slapped his hand along his forehead and shook his head. Then he checked on his brother. He looked pretty good considering, y'know...that one missing detail that will totally not be mentioned to his face. Mew smiled inward, rather forcefully, and then looked Riku in the eyes.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Fine, I just got up a few minutes ago and splashed some water on my face." Riku finished rounding the corner and Mew was stumped on what to say next when Riku's "you know what" was almost right in his face.

"Y-You don't say," Mew stuttered and forced his eyes shut, "So? How'd it feel napping on my bed for the first time?"

Riku sat down on the chair adjacent to the right of the couch and remarked, "I've slept in some comfy beds but there was something...warmer about this one."

"Ha you know what they say, there's no place like home." Mew said with a hearty chuckle.

"Oh, and brother?"

"What's up Riku?"

"I...don't think it qualifies as a nap once you've been asleep for two days." Riku's face squirmed out of a mild sense of embarrassment while Mew's eyes nearly rocketed out of their sockets.

"TWO DAYS?!" Mew whipped himself around and looked over at the electronic calendar on the fridge. Sure enough, Riku was right.

"Son of a bitch..." Mew sunk into the couch and his fingertips touched the couch arms, where he remained wide-eyed for quite a while, "Were we really THAT tired?"

"It would've been really bad if someone had attacked during that time..." Riku said concernedly.

"Ah relax we just beat Justek. I don't think we're going to get caught up in-" Mew paused with his mouth agape as he recalled that Justek happened literally two days after Gravitus. He lightly snapped his fingers a couple times and said, "Y-You know what...Lets just be grateful the universe decided to give us a break for once in our lives."

"...Good idea." Riku said, almost reluctantly.

"Welp," Mew got off the chair and propped his fists against his hips, "I imagine Kairi's still hashing things out with her mom sooo...Looks like for now its just you, me, and some brother bonding time!"

Riku slowly peeled himself off the chair with a mild smile and remarked, "I...I think I'd like that. How about we start with some breakfast?"

"Fresh cooked breakfast coming riiiight up!" Mew said as he rounded the corner with his incredible speed and had a pan over the stove the next second.

"Whaddya say to some scrambled eggs and toast with a side of strawberry lemonade?" Mew said with a big beaming smile.

"Actually I've never tried fried eggs before." Riku kindly remarked.

"Sure. Coming right up!" Mew turned his head and quickly had an antsy look on his face as he pulled another pan from the bottom drawer, "Crap, I've never done a good fried egg before!"

"Also, I think I'd prefer an orange juice over the lemonade, if that's alright." Riku said, his voice trailing off to the dining room opposite the living room.

Mew slowly turned his head over shoulder with his eyes scrunched up and muttered, "Its like I don't even know you anymore..."

Nevertheless he made the meal to Riku's liking. Though if he had requested rye bread the whole plate might've just wound up smack dab in Riku's face.

He easily balanced the two plates over to the table, setting Riku's down first. Riku glanced down and saw two fine pieces of toasted bread and a fried egg with a broken, cooked yolk. Mew visibly shuddered for a moment as Riku's judgmental gaze glared down on the egg.

"I see, so this is what a fried egg looks like." Fortunately Riku's naivete with breakfasts bailed Mew out of making a fool of himself this time.

...Except he forgot one important thing. "Oops! Forgot the utensils, be right back!" He zipped back and forth faster than the sound of the drawers opening and shutting and set Riku's fork and butter knife to his right.

Mew's hand hovered over the utensils while he awkwardly eyed Riku's right side. He hastily picked them back up and set them on Riku's left side and slid over to his seat without missing a beat.

"Alrightletseat!" Mew picked up his fork and was about to take his first bite.

"Brother," Riku softly remarked, trying his hardest to fight back a chuckle, "You don't have to act that way just because I lost my arm."

Mew twirled his fork around and let out a sigh, "I'm sorry Riku, this is... pretty new to me."

He leaned forward and asked, "Anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable?"

"Just treat me like normal," Riku remarked and picked up his fork, which almost slipped out of his grip. But after that he managed to dig into his eggs just fine, "It'll take some time but...I'll manage."

"...Alright, you got it!" Mew smiled and happily dug into his meal. As the two brothers ate Riku tried striking up a conversation.

"Got any plans for us after this brother?"

"Ehhh, I figured we could just, y'know, try winging it today." Mew shrugged his shoulders and Riku fluttered his eyes.

"I-I'm surprised. You struck me as a planner."

"When it comes to battles? Heck yeah! Every day life? Nah, not so much," Mew grinned brightly and admitted, "Though back then I was all alone. Now that I got you and Kairi around maybe its time to make a change."

"We could try tackling that list of people you wanted to help." Riku offered.

"Ah forget about that for now," Mew waved his hand down dismissively and pointed his fork straight at Riku's face with a wild smirk, "We're going to have some fun! Besides trust me, when its time for us to get back into action, the world knows where to come a-knockin'!"

Mew leaned back and took a sip of his drink. Riku shrugged his shoulders and started to take a bite of his toast.

"Knck knck knck!" Came from the door.

Mew leaned up on the back of his chair and muttered in dull surprise, "Huh, that was fast."

He got up on over to the door, leaned his shoulder up against the frame and said with a wily smile, "Alright, who is it?"

"Mew? Is that you in there?" Though their voice was muffled a bit Mew's eyes lit up and he swung the door open to find Mr. Reality floating on the top step.

"Heeeeey! You survived buddy!" Mew scooped down for an attempted hug only for the little alien's cloak to slide between his arms. Mew stood there for a moment and mumbled to himself, "Boy this really isn't my best showing today is it?"

He then extended his hand out and Mr. Reality sent one of his floating ones out to give him a shake. Mew then showed him in, putting him in Riku's line of sight.

"Uhhh brother, you do remember who this alien is right?" He said, cautiously picking himself up off the table.

"Yeah, he's my friend." Mew calmly responded while patting him on the back of the helmet.

Mr. Reality stiffly looked at Riku and he did the same. After a brief cough the alien remarked, "I uhhh, didn't know you were here."

Riku slanted his eyes and the tension was perfectly thick enough to cut like butter. Mew stamped down between the two and held his arms towards their faces, "Whoa whoa, you two know each other too?"

Riku laid his arm against his chest and murmured, "I fought him, Joe Dark, and a guy who looked like Alex Whiter a couple months ago in the Mushroom Kingdom."

Mew squeezed his eyes and rattled his head a few times, "O-Ok you're going have to run that by me again real quick there."

"Don't worry about the last guy, I killed him the moment I unlocked Genesis Form." Riku said perhaps a little too nonchalantly.

"That's not what I-" Mew took a step back and placed a hand under his chin to think, "Lets take a step back for a moment and get our facts straightened out ok?"

Riku lowered his arm and said, "Fine by me."

"No complaints here." Mr. Reality commented.

It didn't take long to get all three of them up to date on how the others knew each other. Turns out Riku got most of the story on Mr. Reality from E. Gadd. It was just the aftermath of the battle that he needed to know about.

"Alright are we good?" Mew said, eyeing the two of them repeatedly until they nodded their heads, "Ok good. Now we can get down to business."

He faced Mr. Reality and asked, "Like...how the heck did you find us?"

Mr. Reality rubbed the side of his helmet and whispered, "I think my source would like to remain anonymous."

"It was Joe Dark wasn't it?" Riku pointed out with scathing honesty.

Mr. Reality's mouth curled inward and Mew's eyes went wide-open, "Oh shit no kidding? Is he around here somewhere?"

"I shouldn't have said anything..." Mr. Reality let out a long sigh and his little antennae curled down to his head, "I'm going have to ask you forget about him right now."

"How come?" Mew tried to pry. Couldn't help himself, now he'd gotten curious.

"Brother." Riku sternly remarked.

Mew closed his eyes and sighed, then turned towards the living room and suggested, "Wanna take a seat? Getcha something to eat?"

"I'll take the chair, not the meal. Who knows what Earth food'll do to me."

"Ah, touche." Mew silently nodded in agreement and took a seat on the couch while Riku took the other seat.

"Oooookay!" Mew leaned back and planted his feet on the table, "Assistance Operation Number 1: Mr. Reality begins now! So to recap, what's our goal here?"

Mr. Reality waved a finger at the side of his head, "To get these parasites out of my noggin without causing any damage to my brain."

"Right right..." Mew leaned forward and clapped his hands together, then eyed Riku and the alien, "So, got any ideas?"

"Ball's in your court on this one brother." Riku admitted as he leaned against the arm of the couch.

"Faaaair enough!" Mew faced Mr. Reality eye-to-eye and started a discourse, "What we know about your parasites is that they're nearly invisible unless exposed to Light, and take advantage of any state of weakness in your psyche to take over."

"And, they were sealed away in the Elemental Overlord's Light Temple." Mr. Reality added.

"...Do we seriously not know anything else?" Mew said after a long pause, drooping his head down towards his chest.

"Actually," Mr. Reality snapped his fingers and it sounded like a wobbly piece of sheet metal in the wind, "Something I learned from my time with Joe Dark is that the parasites can be placated temporarily by darkness."

"Darkness eh?" Mew perked up and rubbed his chin, "Ok ok that's a start, that's a start..."

"Placated in what sense?" Riku asked in his brother's place.

"Hmmm if I had to describe it its like..." Mr. Reality took one hand out and waved it about, "The parasites were being distracted by another feeding source."

"Oh, like how sometimes exterminators use sweet scents to lure out ants!" Mew exclaimed.

"I-If that's how it works here sure..." Mr. Reality said with a fluttering eye.

"That makes sense," Riku chimed in, "If what you say is true and the parasites feed off of negativity, than what better meal is there than darkness?"

"Though I wonder if its because of the darkness or because of the kind of guy Joe Dark is," Mr. Reality commented, throwing in a whisper of, "No offense intended."

"Yeah he is kind of angry ain't he?" Mew had no problem saying, "Maybe it could also be cause of some connection the parasites have to the original Dark King?"

Riku and Mr. Reality eyed him with a hint of surprise. Riku remarked, "You think the Dark King created them?"

"I mean they had to come from somewhere or someone right?" Mew scratched the side of his face and pointed out, "Though I'll admit the fact that they were in the Overlord's temple is the only clue we got to go on."

Riku tapped his fingers on the edge of the couch and started to rise up, "Maybe not brother."

Mew was quickly able to piece it all together with a snappy snap of the fingers, "Oh yeah! Auris! She'd know all about the parasites!"

"Auris...who?" Mr. Reality bobbed his head right.

"She's the Elemental Overlord's wife," Mew spun to the right and flung his feet onto the ground, "Think the same deal as Justek except a little more..."

Mew tightly grit his teeth and forced through them, "Trrrrrrruuuuustworthy?"

Mr. Reality gave a bit of a stink eye then wiggled his head and remarked, "If she knows about the parasites then I have no choice but to meet her."

He got off the chair and started floating towards the door. Mew hastily got up after him and said, "I get the rush buddy but just wait a moment. She'll be contacting us any minute."

"...Huh?" Mr. Reality gave an even more frivolous tilt of the head.

Mew leaned his head back and said, "Yep, any minute now."

A whole minute passed in silence, "Aaaaaaany minute now."

Another minute, now with Mr. Reality turning to Riku and shrugging his hands, "Ok...NOW!"

"Uhhh, brother. What are you waiting for?" Riku was sounding worried.

Mew wagged his hand over his shoulder and answered, "Auris has this orb she can use to contact us specifically. With her clairvoyance she should know we need her right now..."

Mew sunk his shoulders and tucked his fists into his pockets, whispering under his sigh "Guess Kairi's really keeping her busy."

"Ok! Looks like we're taking a trip up to Sancturia!" He rushed straight for the door to open the way forward, then gleamed back at his brother.

"Hey Riku, get one of the spare coats outta the closet will ya?"

"Uhhh, sure thing." Riku slowly strolled around the corner while Mew dealt with his alien buddy.

"We need to get you covered up. Tensions are gonna be high up there and the last thing they want to see is a possible alien invader."

"...Justek really made a mess of things with my powers didn't he?" Mr. Reality closed his eye and sunk a little towards the ground.

Mew brushed the back of his hand along the alien's helmet to replicate slapping and then bonked the glass with his knuckles, "That had nothing to do with you. Besides, its probably because he used your powers that we're even alive right now."

Mr. Reality looked up at him and then down at his open palm, squeezing it into a fist.

Riku came back with the coat and after a little finagling later they ensured that Mr. Reality's face wouldn't be seen by the general public. Then the three of them left the house and took flight towards the North. Mew made a little cloud cover for them just to be on the safe side.

Having to account for Mr. Reality's slower pace meant it took them a little longer to reach the floating city. But once they got past the barrier all that was left was a pretty straight walk towards Auris' house.

Things looked a little grim in town given what went down this week. They hadn't even gotten a chance to recover from the battle with Gravitus when Solaris dragged his Vortexian army on a relentless swathe of destruction. Repairs were going smoothly thanks to some fancy looking chrome heavy machinery, but there was no fixing the lives lost and the hearts mourning.

It sucked to get a move on and Mew had to tell himself off a couple times because of it, but he was the only person in their group who could talk to Auris. He'd just have to come back later.

Once they arrived at the Aurora household Riku leaned up against the side of the door and closed his eyes while Mew knocked on the opposite side.

"Auris! Kairi! Anyone home?" He hollered.

"Is that you Mew?" The sultry voice of an mature woman inquired, which, unless Kairi had suddenly developed a powerful set of lungs, could only belong to the woman of the house.

"Yeah?" Mew drew out his response cause Auris' tone was strange.

"Come on in, Kairi's out of the house right now."

Mew and Mr. Reality walked inside and saw Auris sitting in her usual robes on the couch. But when she tilted her head back there were subtle bags under her eyes and the sparkle in her irises was gone.

"Whoa...You look tired." Mew immediately held nothing back.

Auris pinched the space between her eyes and shook her head, "Kairi's been relentless ever since she came back."

"She has a lot of questions to ask." Mew said while him and Mr. Reality rounded the couch.

"And she has every right to ask them. But mmm...my mouth hasn't had a workout like this in ages." She reached across the table to partake in a drink of clear liquid.

"I don't think alcohol helps with thirst..." Mew chuckled.

"Its not liquor. Its water." She said with a wet smile.

Mew spat up a "Holy shit!" and Auris giggled. She then rose from her seat and swirled her drink around the lip of her glass.

Just because she looked tired didn't make her any less pretty, "And none of her bad habits are gonna knock those thoughts out of my horny little head!"

After a bit of clammed laughter Mew waved his hand out at her, "Hate to start our first conversation since that incident like this buuuuut I got a friend with a problem and we'd like your input."

Auris glanced down as Mr. Reality floated on over and used his hands to sandwich her free one between them, "Never in all my years of mining have I unearthed a jewel as radiant as you. If my life is in the hands of a goddess like you, then I have no fear."

Mew's jaw dropped, while Auris squeezed her eyes shut and giggled like she was ten years younger again. Mew kept his eyes wide open as he tapped his foot on the ground and remarked, "Hey did you forget she's married?"

Then he narrowed his gaze sternly and remarked, "Or that YOU are?"

"Am I not allowed to compliment a lady?" Mr. Reality scoffed while giving a bit of a condescending look back at Mew. He then shook his head at Auris and whispered, "He'll learn eventually."

"Oh I hope so too..." Auris whispered.

"I can hear you both." Mew grunted in rage.

Mr. Reality backed off a little and Auris took a look at him for a brief moment before realizing, "So you're the one that wound up with the power to control reality. Its a pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face."

"No no, you don't need to greet me like that. I've been nothing but trouble."

"He's shoving the pedal from humble to kiss-ass in seconds flat..." Mew aired his grievances alone and then tried to regain focus on why he was here, "Auris you know why we're here yeah?"

Auris shone a rare glimpse of seriousness as she put her glass down and folded her dainty hands before her waist.

"The Parakali parasite. I wish I'd go here-to-eternity without ever dealing with them again," Auris' fingers curled back and the nails dug into her robe, "But that's not fair to you. Ask me anything. I'll do what I can."

"Huh? Sweet!" Mew was very glad for her cooperation and crossed his arms ready to get the obvious question out of the way.

"We figured out that the parasites quiet down a bit when exposed to darkness. Is it possible that if we used enough of it, we could lure the parasites out of Mr. Reality's head?"

"Hmmm..." Auris smiled with pride and closed her eyes to think, "Yes you are correct. The proper extraction procedure requires an immense amount of darkness."

Mew smirked and waved at Mr. Reality, "You hear that? Easy!"

"No, its not," Auris' voice got a lot more firm all of a sudden, "Even the old Dark King couldn't extract the parasites once they'd been implanted."

"The old Dark King? Y-Yikes...and he was like, the head honcho of darkness," Mew might've spoken too soon, and the soured look on Mr. Reality's face wasn't helping anything, "Hold up a moment. The Dark King DIDN'T create the parasites?"

"He most assuredly did not," Auris peered her eyes open with a hint of melancholy in them, "It...doesn't matter who did."

"Hrmmm..." Mew couldn't help his sense of curiosity from getting the better of him but maybe this time he shouldn't trip this land mine. He faced Mr. Reality and asked him, "Are you SURE you don't know where Joe Dark is?"

The alien sucked his lips inward and let out a "Pop!", looking distressed all the while. Mew raised his head to Auris and said, "I know YOU do."

"...And I'm not telling. If he wants to be left alone, leave him. You already have all the tools you need to save your friend."

Mew glared at her for a moment and placed a hand on his chin to go deep in thought, "Well lets think here...Riku makes one source of darkness but I don't think his comes up to even half of the Dark King's power. Hmmm..."

Mew squeezed his eyes then slowly opened them up, waving his hand beside his face, "Say, Auris...You saw what happened when I fought Justek yeah?"

"I know what you're asking me and so I must ask in return..." Auris slanted her eyes and played up a more serious than sultry expression, "Are you really up to dealing with him again?"

"Its the least I could do after making my friend wait this long." Mew replied.

Auris closed her eyes and smiled, "Very well. Then here is what you must do..."

Auris walked past the couch and turned her back to Mew for a moment, "When Justek pulled 'D.' out of your body, he threw him into the only place that could give him a truly agonizing end...The Void of Radiance."

"Void of Radiance? Any connection to the Light Temple?"

"A clever deduction, if only a little off..." Auris turned her head over her shoulder and winked, "Unlike the other Elemental Palaces, which he constructed, the Light Temple was brought directly from the Elemental Overlord's home planet."

"You guys stole a whole temple?!" Mew exclaimed in shock.

"Its not like they had much further use for it..." Auris murmured nonchalantly.

"...C-Continue." Mew said.

"The Light Tribe prayed to the void and in turn their tributes were rewarded with full control over the element. And their temple was their main conduit."

"Then...we need to go back to the Light Temple to access this...Void?" Mr. Reality inquired.

"No. The temple's connection to it is weakened. If you want to access the Void you'll need to go to the strongest source," Auris spun her body around dramatically and planted a fist squarely on her hip, "My honey's former home...Genestasia."

"His home planet? Sweet!" Mew excitedly crossed his arms only for the energy to peter out a bit as he recognized a tiiiiny little problem, "Uhhh...how long of a flight is that from here?"

"Hehehe..." Auris raised the back of her hand below her grinning face, "I think I have a better idea."

A little while later Mew and Mr. Reality headed out of the house with Mew waving goodbye and telling her, "Tell Kairi I said hi!"

"Will do. Take care!" She said, politely waving them off.

Mew sighed loudly and Riku said as he peeled himself off the wall, "Any good news?"

"Good and bad news..." Mew said while rubbing the back of his head, "Good news is we might have a solution to Mr. Reality's problem."

"And the bad news?"

"Oh no I'm not done with the good news," Mew widened one eye and laid his arms before his chest, "We're going on a trip to another planet so I can get 'D.'s' power of darkness back."

"...Brother, explain." Riku said with a cold, tired, judgmental glance.

And so Mew did. Every single detail. Because Riku was really, REALLY skeptical the whole way through. And at the end of it all Riku was still scratching his face and furrowing his forehead, making it more wrinkled than an old man's.

"Are you SURE about this brother?" Was his final question.

"Positive. I ain't scared of that deadbeat demon. He'll probably be too worn out from all the light exposure to put up a fight!"

"...You got a point." Riku hesitantly admitted.

"But if that was the good news, what's the bad news?" Mr. Reality remarked.

Mew hung his head and arms and muttered, "I'm REALLY not looking forward to talking to the person who'll provide us our ride."

"Someone you know?" Riku inquired.

"You could say that..." Mew faked a smile and chuckle, "I may have had a hand in killing her boss."

Riku's eyes widened slightly. Mew slowly drew his hand down from his face and started walking, "Lets just get it over with. Probably won't be that bad."

The three of them made a straight line for the Pyramid, which had suffered the most damage from the prior battles, and thus had the most heavy machinery operating around it. These machines were being manually operated by sleek, humanoid robots.

"In hindsight the machines were a big tip-off..." Mew tucked his hands into his pockets and headed through the entrance. There were loud drills and pounding hammers all over the place, making it difficult to hear oneself think.

"Huh, reminds me of home." Mr. Reality remarked.

"WHAT?!" Mew exclaimed.

"I said it reminds me of home!" Mr. Reality raised his voice. Mew spun around and exclaimed, "WHAT?!"

"IT REMINDS ME OF HOME!" Mr. Reality shouted.

"OH...!" Mew paused and then clamped his hands over his ears. Fortunately it got a little less noisy once they got to the fourth floor, but that's because the person there liked applying a more personal touch to fixing things up.

The ashes of a hundred cherry blossom trees lied on the ground, covering the pristine grass and choking the life out of them. But this was not a time for Gabriel to despair. He took some seeds from a small bag and planted them in the ground, so that someday new life may rise from these ashes.

He was wearing his gallant robes and rose to attention towards his three guests with a smile, "Ah Mew, I didn't expect to see you here."

"Hey Gabriel how you doing?" Mew asked, propping his hands behind his head.

The man put a hand firmly on his stomach and remarked, "I'm recovering slowly but surely, thanks for asking."

Riku extended his hand out and said, "This isn't our first time meeting is it?"

Gabriel reached out and shook his hand while saying, "No its not, but I've heard tales about you Riku. My name is Gabriel. Its a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Riku said, sensing a kinship forming between the samurai.

After Mr. Reality and Gabriel shook hands the large man inquired, "So what brings you three to Sancturia today?"

"Some personal business," Mew remarked with a cheeky smile, "Sorry about the state of the city though."

"...Sancturia will recover, like always. We've always been strong as a whole, not the individual." Gabriel's words inspired confidence.

"Well, and all the machines help." So of course Mew had to go and run his mouth and ruin it.

Gabriel cracked a dismal smile and sighed, "Yes well...There was nothing I could do about that. Catherine's been going non-stop ever since Gravitus was defeated."

"Hahahaha yeah speaking of her, that's who we came to talk to." Mew said, losing the volume in his voice with every other word.

Gabriel froze in place and started to close his eyes in tune with his slow breathing, "Are you sure about that?"

"I wouldn't be if I wasn't..." Mew sadly admitted.

"No, that would be very unlike you..." Gabriel turned his head back and raised his voice like a horn blower going off in the alps, "CATHERINE! SOMEONE WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU!"

"COME ON GABRIEL," A super cheery, super energetic voice hollered back, "YOU GOTTA SAY THE THING!"

Gabriel's forehead crinkled, and he said again with strained enthusiasm, "SATURN, I NEED YOU!"

Through the holes in the ceiling a shadow rapidly descended, strapped to a bungie cord.

"WHEN INNOCENTS CRY OUT FOR HELP I HEED THEIR CALL! FOR MY VOICE IS THE CALM OF THE STORM, MY BRAINS THE UNBREAKABLE WALL, AND MY BODY THE FERTILE EMBODIMENT OF EXPLOSIVE YOUTH!"

Sproinging into place upside-down next to Gabriel wearing black jean overalls with starry sparkles glittered all over it and a sleeveless white undershirt covered in dirt was the hyperactive superheroine and (un)official leader of the legendary Planetary Aurians...

"GALAXY RIDER SATURN AT YOUR-" Saturn, with her arms crossed and her extra-long hair draped down the rest of the way to the floor, opened her eyes and peered through her sharp-edged glasses with a look of utter shock.

"YOU!" She pointed and flailed her right hand out at Mew with incredible indignation.

Mew cracked a smile, waved his hand around and said stoically, "Hey Catherine, uhhh, long time no see?"

Next Time: Where it Began