Welcome back~
Pai; ugh… my head hurts.
Ibuprofen?
Pai; thank you, Cyniclon is really nice now, I should be finished pretty soon- What was that…
An explosion, now do the disclaimer.
Pai; *sighs* she owns nothing, I'm going to go fix that.
Chapter 3;
Join me.
"Hey mew mews, are you here?" Taruto shouts, walking through the pink café.
"Maybe they're not here, it is Saturday." Kish says, shrugging. A tall boy with red hair in a ponytail and golden eyes stands behind Kish, glancing around the café.
"This is so girly, I thought you guys were beaten by noble warriors." The redhead chides.
"Well, this is a cover, no one would expect warriors to be in- ACK!" Taruto falls backwards as a yellow blur tackles him.
"TARU-TARU YOU'RE BACK NA NO DA!" Pudding shouts, hugging Taruto around his chest.
"H-hi Pudding…" He stammers, his face turning bright red. The redhead chuckles and Taruto snaps at him, "Shut up Xander!"
"I missed you Taru-Taru!" Pudding says, sitting back, still on Taruto's legs.
"I missed you two… get off my legs," he mutters, she stands up and he uses plants to push himself up.
"I thought I smelled something," Ryou says, sneering at the three people, "What the heck happened to Pai's hair?"
"I am in no ways Pai! I'm much more handsome and better than he is!" Xander yells, taking a step towards Ryou.
"Um… are you Xander?" Lettuce asks, stepping behind Xander and tapping him on his shoulder. Her hair is cut to her shoulders and hangs out of her normal braids.
"Huh?" He turns around, then smirks, "Yes, and you would be?" he bends over to be face-to-face with Lettuce, who blushes a little.
"Lettuce… nice to meet you," She holds out her hand, he shakes it, then smirks again.
"You're the mermaid right?" She nods. "I'll call you that instead, okay Mermaid?"
"Y-yeah…" She blushes bright red.
"Oh great, all we're missing is the purple haired jerk," Mint says, walking past Xander and Lettuce. She bumps into someone and falls down.
"Oops, sorry about that!" a black haired boy extends his hand to her, "I'm Aokara, nice to meet you. Sorry about knocking you over, I woke up late and Kisshu and Taruto didn't wake me up!"
"But Kish was supposed to wake you up!" Xander says.
"I got distracted…" Kish says.
"With what, picking out your outfit?" Taruto scoffs. Kisshu looks down at his baggy tee-shirt and jeans.
"Hey!"
Aokara snickers, helping Mint up. "You didn't tell me your name."
"I'm Mint." She says, snatching her hand back, Aokara smiles like an idiot. Zakuro walks past them, rolling her eyes.
"Hi guys, nice to see you when you're not trying to take over the planet," She smiles to show she's joking, "So what exactly is it with Pai that's making him stay? It sounds like he's avoiding us.
"Well, when we used the mew aqua to save our planet, somehow it attacked him I think, so he was in and out of consciousness for three and a half weeks. But we figured out how to use his building robots, so there are houses and things now." Taruto says from his spot sitting next to Pudding on a table.
"So wait, these GIRLS are the warriors who beat you? I thought that Pai would at least be able to take out a few girls, after all, it's not like they're stronger than any of us!" Xander comments, Zakuro whips around and launches at him, in a flash he's on the ground, her heel digging into his spine as she twists his arm backwards.
"What was that about us being weak?" She asks.
"HOW DID PAI NOT DIE!?" He shouts, "Ow, ow, ow, let me go, please I'm sorry!" She lets go of his arm and steps off of him.
"Oh look, Zakuro didn't take her medicine today…" Ichigo says, standing next to Zakuro, she's instantly hugged by Kish.
"Koneko-chan!" He half-yells, hugging her.
"Hi Kish…" She says, he freezes and gives her a look, not letting go.
"You take pills? What for?" Taruto asks.
"Oh, no, I don't, but Ichigo doesn't seem to accept that I would be crazy." Zakuro says, turning to face Taruto, a few scars run across her eye.
"When'd you get a cool scar?" Taruto asks.
"A while ago, it's been covered in make-up. So now I know who Xander is, who are you?" She points at Aokara.
"I'm Aokara! I sort of decided to come at last minute." Aokara says.
"So, are you all ready to see Tokyo from the ground?" Mint asks.
"Yes!" Kish says.
"Then let's go," Zakuro says, grabbing a black and white backpack from a chair and slinging it over her shoulder, she leads them out the door.
~.~.~.~
"Pai, what the heck are you doing?" Ross asks, stepping down the spiral steps of a basement, various robots, mechanical parts, and tools are scattered around, blueprints are pinned all over a board, blocking the entire board. Pai is hovering over a machine, he turns to reveal a spot of oil streaked on his cheek.
"Oh hi Ross! Well, after the 'council' decided I shouldn't be allowed to help because I'm apparently too injured to do anything, which so long as I can walk and pick up things I'm fine, I've been bored. And the other day my grandpa mentioned a variety of coffee unlike the ones on Earth has been found and it grows rapidly, so we'll have cheap coffee pretty soon. Then I realized I don't know how to make coffee without a coffee maker, so I made a talking coffee maker!" He shuts the panel on the machine he was working on and holds it up, it has what looks like a curly mustache. "It's French!"
"'Alo, you filthy pigs, what would 'ou like?" the coffee maker says.
"I named it Claude." Pai says, giving a smile that makes him look much younger.
"You made a talking coffee maker… did you make any others?" Ross asks.
"Yes, like ten. The strange thing is that I don't even like coffee, but it can make hot chocolate too. It can't make eggnog though, so that's a downside."
"Do you have a British one?" Ross asks. Pai moves over to a table where there are more coffeemakers. He picks up on that looks like it's made of gears.
"This one, I didn't think it quite fit my kitchen, but it'd look good in your house." Pai says, handing it to her.
"Yes," She hisses, "Thank you Pai!" She turns it on.
"''ello love, 'ow may I help you today?" It asks in a British accent.
"Any reason why you've come down to my lab?" Pai asks, wiping his face off.
"Oh, Will told me to ask you if you want to go to the monthly market day in half an hour. We came up with it last month; it's basically a large market with dancing and music." She messes with the robot. "Does this put milk in for you?"
"Yeah, I'll go so long as I don't have to dance, and yes, it makes your coffee for you." Pai says, "Rather improved design, don't you think?"
"Yes. Come on, we have half an hour and your clothes are covered in oil." Ross says.
"So they are, I wonder if oil comes out of clothes easily…" Pai says, following her up the stairs.
~.~.~.~.~.~
"So, you guys are gone for two months, and your people have a government, two countries, people are already working on farms and such, and everyone is living peacefully?" Ichigo asks, looking at Kisshu.
"Well, it's not as if they were sitting around, they were prepared to move to a better place, and we just provided that place. Besides Pai, everyone is healthier. That and Pai has building drones." He replies casually, "Hey, why did you let me hug you?"
"Oh…" She looks at her feet, and Kisshu reaches for her hand, giving it a squeeze. "Well, Zakuro saw Aoyama with a girl with his tongue down her throat. Turns out the nice personality was a side effect of Deep Blue's nice self, or that's what Zakuro thinks at least."
"And I'm right; after all Deep Blue's true self is right here!" Zakuro says. She points at Aokara, who looks scared.
"You sound like Pai when he wins an argument," Taruto says.
"H-how did you…" Aokara stutters, staring at Zakuro.
"Wolves have a strong sense of smell, everyone has a unique smell, and I got close enough to Deep Blue to memorize his scent. You smell like him, only with the added smell of peppermint." Taruto opens his mouth and she cuts him off. "And before you ask the obvious question, you smell like cinnamon, Kish smells like guy smell and soup, Pai, at least last time I saw him, smells like licorice and apples, also machinery, it's strange."
"What about me, crazy lady?" Xander asks.
"Booze and Axe body spray, disgusting. Ichigo smells like strawberries, Lettuce like the ocean, Mint laundry, and Pudding like bananas."
"Hey!" Xander says, Lettuce giggles and he looks depressed, "Not nice Mermaid. Mermaid?" He turns, Lettuce stands there, frozen in the middle of the park, she mutters something, then screams and falls over. "Mermaid!" Xander runs forward and catches her, trying to wake her up. The mews run over, and Lettuce closes her eyes.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Sorry about that, Lettuce," Keeper says, standing behind Lettuce in an empty void, his hands on her shoulders, and his mouth next to her ear.
"W-who… oh, Keeper…" Lettuce mutters, "I think I'm being carried by Xander, he seems nice. He does smell like alcohol though. Kish mentioned something about Pai finding a way of making the brain not respond to alcohol."
"Ah yes, him. I want you to join me. I'm going to take back the mew aqua, and make you my queen, if you'll join me. I'll help you with your… imperfection as well."
"Imperfection… oh, my stutter… I'm just a little shy, I suppose it's an imperfection. But joining you… maybe, can I think on it Keeper? You've been talking to me for only a week, it's a big choice…"
"Alright, a week it is, I'll leave you be, I have to overview Pai anyways." Keeper's smirk becomes a scowl as he says the words.
"Pai? Are you making sure he's alright?" Lettuce asks.
"Yes, I am. See you later, Lettuce." He lets go of her shoulders and she falls through the void, "Now, I should steal one of those coffee makers!" He turns and leaves the void.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Lettuce cracks open her eyes to see the bottom of Xander's face, looking up at someone, he's talking at a rapid speed, his arms are supporting her, one behind her shoulders, one across her waist, her head is against his shoulder, her body against his arms and one of his legs.
"X-xander?" Lettuce croaks.
"Mermaid! Are you alright? You just passed out randomly!" Xander says, lifting her shoulders slightly and giving her shoulder a squeeze, he smiles a little.
"You freaked us out," Zakuro says, standing a little ways away.
"Alright, so why did Pudding call me, and why is Lettuce on the ground?" Ryou asks, walking behind Lettuce. Lettuce stands up and swirls around on him, her hands in fist, and her back straight.
"I'm perfectly fine, and even if I weren't it's none of your business!" She grabs Xander's hand and drags him, "Come on, I thought we were getting ice-cream."
"Yeah…" Xander says, he waits until Ryou goes back inside, then smiles a wide smile, "Wow, Mermaid, I didn't know you had it in you, that was pretty cool." Lettuce stumbles and lets go of his hand to grab her arm. Her face turns bright red.
"Neither did I…" She continues on, "So Zakuro, where's this shop?"
~.~.~.~.~.~
"This is nice," Pai says, standing in front of a fountain, the sun is setting and dozens of paper lanterns have been lit around a market area and are hung on strings. People are walking around, saying hi to Pai, they seem to fear and respect him, Will, and Ross, who are all sitting on the fountain.
"I know, I'm going to get a snack for us, maybe a drink, be right back," Ross says, standing up and walking towards the stands.
"So I'm guessing you still like Ross, and she likes you, but she won't admit it?" Pai asks.
"Yeah, but she will eventually."
"Why not just tell her?" Pai asks.
"Because then she'll deny having feelings for me." Will says, falling back and draping himself over the edge, some girls walk by and giggle as he smiles at them, then rush away.
"Maybe if you didn't flirt with girls she'd actually admit it." Pai says, taking a handful of water and throwing it at Will.
"Hey!" Will sits up and splashes Pai, they get into a water fight until Ross comes back.
"Uh… Pai, my sister wants to see you, but she's in Seaborg. So you're free for another month." Ross says, "She told me to kiss you, but that will never happen."
"Good, and I'll be on my way to earth by then, if I feel up to it, I couldn't stand another attack from, excuse me for saying this, my stalker." Pai says, shoving Will's head under water, then pulling it up.
"Fine! You win!" Will says.
"I don't mind, she stalks you, here, eat up. We need to discuss Earth anyways, I want to hear about the other two mews, Mint and Zakuro." Ross sits down, and they begin a conversation.
Well, no deaths yet.
Pai; well, that was easy, wait what?
Oh, nothing, anyways, see you next chapter!