Escape Part 9:

Return to Earth

Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa followed Yahiko out to the hallway. "Let's go back to your room," Yahiko told the girls. "I think I should find out if Ichigo's going to have nightmares." He chuckled a bit and said, "I don't particularly want Kisshu on my case."

"You'd have to deal with Ichigo's insane father, too," Moe said.

"All the more reason to find out soon," Yahiko said. "Let's go."

He led the girls back to the room they were sharing, and closed the door, then snapped his fingers, concentrating. "That will soundproof the room, and make sure no one distracts us," he told the girls. "Ichigo, I need you to lie down; and Moe and Miwa, you two need to stay silent."

"Okay," Moe and Miwa said. They went and sat on Moe's bed, while Ichigo lay down on hers. Yahiko put a hand on Ichigo's forehead, and she fell asleep. He kept his hand on her forehead a minute, then said, "She's going to have nightmares anytime she sleeps if I don't reverse this. Miwa, can you come sit with her? If she has a nightmare while I'm trying to heal her, I need you to calm her down."

"Okay," Miwa said. She came and sat down on the other side of the bed. Yahiko nodded, and his hand began to glow a soft green.

Fifteen minutes later, Yahiko, Moe, and Miwa were worried, because Ichigo was crying in her sleep. She wasn't making a sound, but tears were pouring down her face. "I can't seem to heal her," Yahiko said. "Maybe it's because she's human?"

"I don't think so," Moe said, then looked at Miwa. "Miwa, what is it?" she asked.

"I think the problem is the same as when she woke up from the nightmares before; the reason it's not working is because she barely knows you," Miwa said. "Her nightmares aren't normal nightmares; she had to be woken up by someone she'd known for more than a year or two, or she'd panic and attack whoever was trying to wake her up. And for some reason, if her dad was the one trying to wake her up, she'd attack him too. It got to the point where I was sleeping at her house almost every night, because I was the only one who could calm her down right away."

"That doesn't sound good," Yahiko said.

"I think being woken up by guys scares her for some reason," Moe said. "Miwa, remember the sleepover we had with the Mews?"

"Yeah, Ryou tried to wake her up, and she clawed him," Miwa said. "But when Mint tried it, she only got shoved away. Something about men must scare her."

"That's odd," Yahiko said. "But if I can't heal the nightmares, there's not much we can do."

"Moe has an idea," Miwa said.

"Yeah, can't Miwa use mind-healing?" Moe asked. "If you walked her through it, maybe she could heal the nightmares."

Yahiko looked worried, and said, "Are you sure? Mind-healing isn't easy, nor is it easy to fix mistakes."

"We have to do something," Miwa pointed out. "I don't really want to spend another year sleeping over at Ichigo's every night. I like my own bed better than Ichigo's sleeping bag. And the nightmares started to affect her mood last time. We need to do something before she goes back into depression."

Yahiko sighed. "Alright, but you have to be extremely careful, and do exactly what I tell you, or she could get brain damage," he said.

"That's fine," Miwa said.

Yahiko nodded and said, "Put your hand on her forehead." Miwa obeyed, and Yahiko said, "Try to feel where the problem is coming from. It helps to close your eyes."

Miwa closed her eyes, and concentrated. "I see the place; it looks like a black cloud inside her brain," she said.

"That doesn't sound normal; usually nightmares look like a black dot on the part of the brain they're coming from," Yahiko said.

"The cloud got bigger," Miwa said.

Yahiko put his hand over Miwa's, then said, "I think I know what the problem is, and why the nightmares cause Ichigo to have unusual reactions to being woken up. Someone implanted them into her mind, but I'm not quite sure why."

"Do you know who?" Moe asked.

"The energy signal isn't familiar to me, and that makes no sense; I know the energy signature of everyone with that ability," Yahiko said.

"Do you know Deep Blue's energy signature?" Miwa asked.

"No, but isn't he dead?" Yahiko asked.

"His human host is still alive; it's possible that some part of him is still alive too," Miwa said. "Is there a way to extract the nightmares from Ichigo's mind?"

"Yes, it's simple," Yahiko said. "Just focus on the black cloud, and imagine it disappearing. The key is concentration; you have to want the cloud to disappear more than anything else."

"K," Miwa said. She concentrated, and her hand began to glow pale green, flickering a bit, then evening out.

About ten minutes passed, and finally Miwa said, "It's gone."

Yahiko put a hand on Ichigo's forehead, then said, "Good job, Miwa. Do you think it's a bad idea for me to wake her up?"

"If the nightmares are gone, she won't mind," Miwa said.

Yahiko nodded and tapped Ichigo's forehead. Ichigo slowly opened her eyes, and sat up. "Thanks for getting rid of the nightmares," she said. Noticing the others' surprise, she said, "When they went away the first time, I knew it, even though I wasn't sleeping. It was like there was a weight on my mind, and it suddenly went away. But this time it felt like Miwa took them away; they didn't just go away on their own."

"Miwa did take them away; my powers weren't working, and she suggested it was because you don't know me very well," Yahiko said. "But these nightmares were implanted into your mind."

"I take it saving Aoyuck was a mistake?" Ichigo asked. "I don't know any other Cyniclons who would do that, so it was probably him."

"Doesn't that mean we need to go back to Earth?" Moe asked.

"We can't right away, but we can go inform Keiichiro that he should tell the others we might have problems soon," Yahiko said.

"Let's do that now," Ichigo said. "If Deep Blue appears again, they'll need all the advance warning they can get."

"Alright, follow me," Yahiko said- just as they heard banging on the door. Moe ran and opened it, and they saw Kimi outside. "You all have a call," she said breathlessly. "It's from Earth!"

"Is it in the usual room?" Yahiko asked.

"Hai," Kimi said. "Do you need me to teleport the girls?"

"Just Ichigo," Yahiko said. Kimi came over and grabbed Ichigo's shoulder, then teleported to a large room with a bunch of TV-like screens. Yahiko teleported in with Moe and Miwa, and they followed Kimi to a large screen. She pushed a button, and Keiichiro's face came up. "What happened?" Ichigo asked.

"The computers detected a strange energy response," Keiichiro replied. "It doesn't exactly seem like the ones I get from Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto, though. It's almost as if whatever is giving off the signal has no control over their power."

"We have reason to believe that Deep Blue might be making a comeback," Yahiko said. "It's not certain, but I think due to your news and what's been happening here, something's coming."

"What's happening there?" Keiichiro asked.

"Someone implanted nightmares into Ichigo's mind," Yahiko said. "Miwa got them out, but I didn't recognize the energy signal, so I'm guessing whoever it is is an enemy."

"How soon can you return?" Keiichiro asked.

"The Council wants me to speak to my people about the fact that I'm stepping down; I don't exactly know when they'll be ready," Yahiko said.

"May I speak?" Kimi asked.

"Go ahead," Yahiko said.

"Takashi and I could take the girls back, and then either stay and help out, or come back," Kimi said. "The girls don't need to stay, right?"

"Now that Ichigo's spoken to the Council, and they've agreed not to attack Earth, I think you're right," Yahiko said. "Kimi, tell Takashi that you and he will be going to Earth with the girls. I think it'll be good if you stay, but I will leave that up to your discretion."

"I'll stay," Kimi said. "And knowing Takashi, he'll stay too. I'll go prepare a ship and notify Takashi."

"Good," Yahiko said. Kimi bowed and teleported out. Yahiko turned back to Keiichiro and said, "The girls should be back in about three to six hours; can you inform whoever needs to know they're coming back sooner than I am?"

"Of course," Keiichiro said. "I'll let Mrs. Yanagida know that you'll be back later, too."

"Thank you," Yahiko said. "I'll go talk with the Council; the girls will be back soon."

"Alright, thank you," Keiichiro. The screen went black, and Yahiko said, "Let's go back to your room, and make sure you have everything packed."

"Okay," Miwa said.

Yahiko led the girls back to their room, and said, "I'll have Kimi pick you up; I need to go speak with the Council. I'll come to Earth as soon as possible."

"K," Miwa said. "See you then."

Yahiko nodded and teleported out. Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa started looking around the room, found their clothes from earlier, and packed everything up.

Kimi came in with Takashi a few minutes later, and said, "Are you all set?"

"Yup," Moe said. Kimi nodded to Takashi, who took both Moe and Miwa and teleported as Kimi took Ichigo and teleported.

They all landed in a large room, and Kimi said, "This is the main room of the ship. I'm going to be flying it, so Takashi will show you where you can stay until we reach Earth."

"K, thanks," Ichigo said. Kimi smiled and teleported off, and Takashi asked, "When we get to the room, can we play more human games?"

"Sure," Moe said. Takashi smiled and led them to a room similar to the one on the other ship. As soon as the girls put their stuff down, Takashi asked, "What are we playing today?"

"Let's play BS!" Moe said.

"I look forward to creaming you again," Ichigo snickered.

"Prepare to eat your words," Moe replied.

"What's BS?" Takashi asked.

"A card game, it's fun," Miwa said. "We'll teach you."

Some time later: "Three sixes," Takashi said.

"BS," Moe said.

Takashi turned the cards over; he did have three sixes. "Jeez Moe, what happened to your card skills?" Miwa asked teasingly. "You're getting creamed again."

"I'm just having bad luck," Moe grumbled. "Ichigo's turn."

"Two sevens," Ichigo said. No one disputed that, and then it was Miwa's turn.

They kept going until it got boring, and then Miwa asked, "Can we play Twenty Questions?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "Do you want to go first?"

"Yeah!" Miwa said. "I have a good one. I'm thinking of an animal."

"I don't know much about Earth animals; maybe I'll just listen," Takashi said.

"Let's just do Miwa's, and then we can teach you Scrabble," Moe said.

"I LOVE Scrabble!" Ichigo said happily. "Okay, Miwa, is your animal black?"

"Yes," Miwa said.

"Is it a mammal?" Moe asked.

"Yes," Miwa said.

"Is it some kind of cat?" Ichigo asked.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW THAT!?" Miwa shouted.

"You know what I'm like with guessing games," Ichigo said, shrugging.

"Mmph," Miwa said. "Moe?"

"Is it a panther?" Moe asked.

"No," Miwa said.

"Is in an Iriomote Wild Cat?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know why I bother…." Miwa muttered. "You guess everything!"

"Sorry," Ichigo said. "Let's teach Takashi to play Scrabble!"

"Actually, we should be arriving soon," Takashi said. "Apparently we're teleporting to Café Mew Mew, so we need the image to get there."

"Okay," Ichigo said.

They felt a bump a few minutes later, and then Kimi teleported in. "Ichigo, can you give us the image?" she asked.

"Sure," Ichigo said. She closed her eyes, and pictured Café Mew Mew as clearly as she could. She felt two fingers on her forehead, then Kimi and Takashi said, "I see it." They took their fingers away, and Ichigo opened her eyes, then went and got her suitcase. Takashi took Moe and Miwa by the shoulder, and Kimi took Ichigo. Then the two Cyniclons teleported to Café Mew Mew.

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