Now, before I get on with the rest of the story, you're probably wondering what's going on here. Well, here's the back story.
Hi. My name is Zoey Hanson, and I am seventeen years old. As part of an experimental project called 'The Mew Project,' I am fused with the DNA of an Iriomote wildcat. Four other girls just like me – Corina Bucksworth, Bridget Verdant, Kiki Benjamin, and Renee Roberts – were also fused with the DNA of endangered species (ultramarine blue lorikeet for Corina, finless porpoise for Bridget, golden lion tamarin for Kiki, and gray wolf for Renee). They are my teammates, fellow waitresses at Café Mew Mew (a cute little café that doubles as a secret underground research facility for The Mew Project), and friends.
The Mew Project was created to save Earth from a band of aliens called the Cyniclons who wanted Earth for themselves. Enough said, right? I thought so. Moving on.
The guy I was talking to is named Mark, and he (is? was?) my boyfriend. He's an athlete, mega-cute, and had a crush on me. Sounds like the perfect guy, right? Well… it turns out that he had an alien form. He became the Blue Knight, a tall, blond alien with a blue outfit and the traditional pointed Cyniclon ears. The Blue Knight is some kind of protector to me – he was born with one purpose: to protect me. Still sound like a good guy? Keep reading, you'll change your mind. Because there's more. It turns out though that he also was the leader of the Cyniclons, named Deep Blue – basically the Blue Knight with black hair. He went kind of psycho towards the end of the last battle and even killed one of his own warriors (although, the aforementioned warrior was trying to save me from being killed by Deep Blue, so I guess he had a reason). Then he tried to kill me, but thankfully, because of some weird thing that I'm really not sure what happened during, the parts of Deep Blue that were Mark won out over the parts of Deep Blue that were Deep Blue, and Deep Blue was gone… or we all thought. But apparently, Deep Blue isn't as gone as we thought he was. So that would explain why Mark was leaving.
One thing was interesting, though. When we were saying good-bye, I wasn't upset, heartbroken, tearful, or anything of those things girlfriends are supposed to be when their boyfriends leave and/or break up with them. Interesting.
Oh well. There's no time to think about Mark now. I still have cake to deliver and cappuccinos to make and tables to clear and checks to calculate and messes to clean up and…
"Zoey, would you mind doing your work instead of just staring off into space? Here. Take these slices of mocha cake and these two skinny lattes to table four. And then when you're done, there's a group of people waiting to be seated, and another group that needs to get their check. Oh, and Kiki dropped a few shortcake plates in a pile of apple cake Bridget spilled, and now it's a huge mess – clean that up when you're done." Oh yeah. That's my boss, Elliot Grant, also known as the Attitude King. Don't ever let him catch you saying that, though, or you might not live to see tomorrow. And that's being optimistic.
"You got that right." said Renee.
"I was thinking out loud?!"
"Yes, you were, Zoey. And just because of that, why don't you bring table four the super-duper Mew Mew special – on you, of course."
"Now, now, Elliot, calm down. Zoey didn't do anything remotely wrong. Why make her pay for the forty-dollar Mew Mew special?" Saved by the bell. Or, in my case, Prince Charming II, also known as Wesley J. Coolidge, Elliot's partner in the Mew project.
"So that's my nickname."
"I was thinking out loud again?!"
"You have a habit of doing that, Zoey." Cold, Corina. Real cold. A polar bear would freeze living inside Corina's heart – if she even has one, that is.
"I heard that!" I really have to stop doing this. Talking out loud, that is. If I get too embarrassed, my ears and tail will pop up, and then things really get embarrassing.
"Ooh, Zoey, your tail popped up! And your ears, too!" Oops, too late.
"Better Mew Mew down, Zoey. You don't want to freak out the customers."
"Oh…kay." Easier said than done, however. Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down!
"He's back!" Tarb breezed into the fortress, disrupting my perfectly good nap.
"Little guy, I hope you have a very good reason for waking me up. I was in the middle of a wonderful dream." Actually, since I'd been having the same dream every time I fell asleep, it was nothing new. It was about Zoey, like it always was.
"I know what you were dreaming about," Tarb sing-song taunted.
Please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it!
"You're dreaming about Zoey again!"
"Tarb!" Am I really that predictable?
"I still don't see why you're so hung up on that pathetic human," Sardon remarked from his perch – at our computer, where he always is.
"Take that back! Zoey is not pathetic. She's sweet, and cute, and nice, and smart, and funny, and…"
"And this list would go on for about two more hours, if I didn't point out one itsy-bitsy little detail about your dream girl – she's human!"
"So what? You like Renee!"
"I do not!" Sardon tried to say, but he blushed.
"Guys! Can you stop fighting long enough for me to tell you the big news? He's back."
"Who he?"
"You know who he!"
"He who?"
"Dren, I definitely know that you know he who?"
"Who, he?"
"Yes he!"
"He who?"
"How you idiots understand each other, I have no idea. Just tell us who he is already, Tarb." That was Sardon, of course – Tarb would never call himself an idiot (but Sardon and I do – behind his back, of course).
"Deep Blue! Deep Blue is back!"
"Who is what?" Now it was Sardon's turn to sound like an idiot.
"Deep Blue is back!"
"He is! Sardon fainted.
"He is?" I wasn't about to faint, just curious. The last time I saw Deep Blue, he had supposedly killed off the part of himself that was our alien leader and had reverted back to being Zoey's lovey-dovey boyfriend, Mark. Him coming back could be good or bad for me.
"What do you mean, 'him coming back could be good or bad,' Dren?"
"Shut up, Tarb. Wait, I was thinking out loud?"
"Yes, you were. What do you mean?" Apparently, Sardon had woken up while I was thinking about Deep Blue. "Wait, are you referring to the fact that Deep Blue's human form was Zoey's boyfriend?"
"Why were you talking out loud in the first place, Dren? And doesn't Zoey do that?" Oh, I was so going to kill Tarb for that.
"Yes, she does."
"I know, isn't that weird?"
"SHUT UP ABOUT ZOEY ALREADY!"
"Well geez, Dren, you don't have to go all psycho on us."
"PSYCHO?" I looked down at my hands. Somehow, my sais (my personal weapons, a type of sword) had materialized, sensing my need to destroy something.
"What do you need to destroy, Dren?"
"Oh great, I did it again. This time I'm really going to…"
"Calm down, Dren." This cool new voice entered the base, causing us all to jump.
"Deep Blue. Welcome back, master." Sardon bowed out of respect, then forcefully motioned Tarb and me to do the same. Tarb obliged, but I fainted out of complete shock.
"Is there something wrong with Dren?"
"Well,
to tell you the truth, he…
"N-no, he's just shocked to see
you back, Master." Sardon pulled Tarb aside and removed his hand
from Tarb's mouth. "What are you thinking? You can't tell
master Deep Blue Dren's still hung up on Zoey! That would be like
digging our graves, idiot!"
"What would be like digging your own graves?"
"Um… um… well… um…" Thankfully, instead of ratting me out for my crush on Zoey, they chose to faint and leave Deep Blue hanging. When those guys wake up, I am fully going to be a lot nicer to them… unless they start making fun of Zoey again. Then the gloves are going to come off and the sais are going to come out!