I was still on Cloud Nine from Zoey's kiss when I floated back through the portal. Tarb and Sardon took one look at the dreamy look on my face and exchanged glances – not very good-looking ones either. "Hey guys, what's wrong?" More stolen glances.
"Uh, Dren? I suggest you hop back in the portal you just came out of and go back to Earth for another few days. Maybe by then, this whole thing with Deep Blue and Zoey will have blown over."
"What
thing with Deep Blue and Zoey?" Suddenly all euphoria of finally
having Zoey kiss me (instead of the other way around) disappeared. "Tarb, did you say anything?"
"No! Well, yes… uh, sort
of."
"I asked Tarb where you went, and he told me it was to Earth to see Zoey, and then Deep Blue came in and overheard Tarb saying that, and then he got all mad and stormed out of the room. He went straight up to his room and that's where he's been since it happened." Easy for Sardon to say something like that so blithely. He wasn't the one caught in the middle of what was almost definitely going to turn out to be a fight.
"Ah, Dren. Just the person I was looking for." Deep Blue finally made an entrance, breezing down the stairs. "In fact, I'm glad I caught all of you together. I just wanted you to know that I just sent out a signal declaring interplanetary war on Earth, and I want to draft you three as soldiers for our army."
"But, Deep Blue, our planet is beautiful again! Why would we waste our time ridding Earth of its' inhabitants?" Thank you, thank you, thank you Sardon. If there's one person in all of us Deep Blue will listen to, it's Sardon.
"I believe one of our members has been unfaithful to our kind. And the only way to get rid of this unfaithfulness is to get rid of the reason for it." Although Deep Blue didn't name names, somehow I knew that he found out about me visiting Zoey. And that, to me, was way worse than him just coming out and saying he saw me visiting Zoey. "And we might as well just get rid of all those filthy humans while we're at it."
"B-b-but…
"Enough! I will not hear one more word! Now, you three start training immediately."
"Training for what?" I feigned ignorance.
Deep Blue shot me a look that could have cut glass. "Training for the war, of course. As soon as you are all properly refreshed on how to fight, we will begin our first battle."
"Look Deep Blue, I understand how you want to get out your anger at Zoey about her dumping you, but that doesn't mean you should…
"ENOUGH!"
"But Deep Blue, I really think you're making a big…
"I SAID ENOUGH!" He shot some kind of blue energy bolt at me, sending me flying into the wall.
"Ow," I said, sliding down the wall. "That hurt."
"Now, hurry up and get to your first training session. I will have my revenge on that foolish planet if it is the last thing I do. And you three are going to help me do it."
"No," I said, standing up.
"What did you just say?"
"I said, no. I know that's not a word people tell you often, but you'd better get used to it, since there are a lot more no's coming your way. No, I will not fight in your stupid interplanetary war, which is just some phony reason for you to kill Zoey because of her dumping you (and by the way, I happen to know that you dumped her, and not the other way around). No, Tarb and Sardon won't either. And here's the biggest no: No, I will not be your stupid little obedient puppy dog that runs your pathetic errands for you. And neither will my brothers. So we're out of here." I started to press the button for a portal to Earth, but (I know I shouldn't have, but I was just so curious) I turned around and looked at Deep Blue's face.
He was livid. L-I-V-I-D li-vid! I swear, I thought the flesh was going to melt off his face, he was so angry. I guess no one had ever had the guts to talk to him like that. Well, you know the old saying, people do crazy things when they're in love.
"You will fight," he said slowly, regaining his calm quickly (which scared me), "or I will personally see to it that your precious girlfriend is killed in the very first battle. And won't be quick – she'll die a long, slow, painful death. A death that you will have to watch."
No! Zoey! I couldn't let him do that to her! "Okay," I heard myself saying, even though every part of my body was against the idea. "I'll fight."
"Excellent," he said. "Now go to your training session."
"Girls, you're going into interplanetary war." That was the first thing Elliot said as soon as we were all together the next day. What really annoyed me about what he said was not actually what he said, but the way he said it. Like, 'Go bring table five their apple cake. There's a water spill near table eight – somebody go clean that up. And by the way girls, we're going into interplanetary war.'
"We are?" Bridget fainted (but she always does that, so no one was too worried).
"Okay, Elliot, nice joke. You really had us fooled for a moment. Even me! Now tell us why you really called this meeting."
"Sorry, Renee, but it's not a joke. I wish it was, but the truth is, I received a signal last night. Our computers translated it into a weird language we didn't understand, and then turned it into English. And the signal basically said, Beware, people of Earth, for we have declared interplanetary war! Of course, no one else but us knows what it really means."
"So when do we get to start fighting, huh?" Kiki asked. "When do we get to start bringing out the big guns?"
Big guns. I shuddered at the mere thought. I knew Kiki was referring to us using our powers and weapons, and not actual guns, but still, the idea of my teammates shooting bullets at Dren…
"Zoey, I thought you'd learned from your little mishap yesterday to STOP THINKING OUT LOUD!"
Uh-oh. Just walk away slowly, Zoey. Calm down. Just because your cheeks are burning red does not mean your cat ears and tail are going to…
"Hey Zoey, your cat ears and tail popped up!" Too late!
"Zoey, just because Dren fought to protect your life when that big show-down in that weird tower was going on a couple months ago does not change the fact that HE IS THE ENEMY!" Oh, Elliot, if you only knew that the show-down in the tower was not the nearest time Dren showed his affections for me. Or that I kissed him the other day (yes, I said I kissed him, not the other way around, but that's not the really shocking thing – the really shocking part was that I actually liked it). "It's your duty as a Mew Mew to protect Earth from the Cyniclons. Matters of the heart will just have to take a backseat to world safety."
"But why, Elliot? Why does my heart have to wait until we've saved the world again? I already tried that once, and it didn't work out too well."
"Zoey, this is more important than having a date to the prom. This is the world's safety we're talking about here. And since when do you have 'matters of the heart' about one of the Cyniclons?"
"Yeah, Zoey, since when do you care whether we kick their butts or not? A few months ago you led the fights; now you want to sit in the café and drink tea?"
"No! Of course not! I just think nothing but tragedy can come from all this fighting."
"Have you been looking at philosophy books, Zoey? Because that remark is a little too… deep for someone like you?"
"What do you mean, someone like me, Elliot?"
"I mean, someone's who's like a shallow, bouncy airhead that only cares about her clothes and her latest boyfriend. Someone who's a bit of a ditz… well, in your case, more like a bit more than a bit of a ditz."
Oh, that Elliot! He is so rude! "What gives you the authority to call me shallow, bouncy, ditzy, and an airhead? The fact that you own this café? Well guess what? Just because you own the café does not mean you own me. I quit! I'm sick of being a waitress at this stupid café, and I'm sick of you bossing me around."
"Now, now, Zoey, calm down. There's no reason to get irrational, is there?"
"Nice try, Wesley, but you can't always keep the peace. I can't take another day of this stupid save-the-world-before-your-first-kiss talk. For once since I became a Mew Mew, I want to let my heart decide where I'm going. And my heart is telling me to go anywhere but here. So that's what I'm going to do." And with that, I changed out of my red dress and white apron, threw them at Elliot's big, fat, ugly head (which I would hopefully never have to see again), and stormed out the door.
"Should I send someone after her?" I heard Wesley ask Elliot on my way out.
"Nah. She'll come around. She always does." I always do, huh, pal? Well not this time.