Chapter 4
The next morning: Cyniclon ship
Pai rolled over to see Kukki standing there with her arms crossed. "What are you doing?" he asked dryly.
"You know you mutter in your sleep?" Kukki asked.
"What did you want?" Pai asked yawning.
"You kept saying mommy." Kukki stated smiling.
"Just tell me what you wanted!" Pai yelled now getting frustrated.
"I wanted to tell you I spoke to Deep Blue-sama. I decided that you will stay on the mission and do some recon for us. I don't want you to push yourself though. You need to heal properly. It might take a while now that you used up your remaining power." Kukki said.
"Well…thank you Kukki." Pai said.
Kukki nodded and began to walk out but stopped. "Pai…" she said turning around "just get well."
Pai nodded. He headed to his lab where Taruto and Kisshu were waiting for him. "Ooooh Pai! ~" Kisshu said in a sing-song voice "Taruto and I were talking last night, and we were wondering where you stayed for the time you were gone."
"What do you mean?" Pai asked walking past them to his computer orb.
"Well, where did you sleep for the night?" Taruto asked placing his hands on his hips as he grinned with Kisshu.
Pai's eyes widened. "I…I can not remember." he said turning on the computer orb, bringing up the screen that showed the basement of the Mew Mew's café.
He saw Lettuce and the other Mew Mews standing there talking to Ryou and Keiichiro. It was a recording by the time frame in the lower corner. "So what happened when he saved you?" Ryou asked. Pai's eyes widened when he realized why Kisshu and Taruto were grinning. They must have heard what had happened by listening on the Mew Mews conversation before he awoke.
Pai was about to turn it off when Kisshu grabbed Pai's wrist. "Wait my favorite part is coming up."
"He carried me home and I tended to his wounds." Lettuce explained. "He couldn't teleport away so I told him he could spend the night."
"Did…did he 'harm' you in anyway?" Ryou asked stressing the word 'harm'.
Lettuce shook her head quickly as she blushed. "No! He didn't try anything." Lettuce exclaimed and got quieter again. "In fact, I think he was nervous about spending the night."
"How could you tell?" Mint asked. "He's more like a robot than an alien."
"Well he shook slightly and began sweating as he sat on the bed before lying down." Lettuce said.
Pai pulled his wrist away from Kisshu's grasp and turned the screen off. "That is quite enough." Pai said.
"Well, well, well. ~" Kisshu sang slowly. "Looks like somebody didn't want to tell us what happened for a reason, spending the night with a human girl. A Mew Mew none the less."
"How shameful." Taruto said laughing as he put his hands behind his head.
"And to save a Mew Mew's life." Kisshu added now snickering.
"Is Kukki aware of what actually happened?" Pai asked biting his lip slightly.
"Oh yeah. Who do you think was able to hack your password?" Taruto stated.
Pai's eyes widened. He thought for a moment what Kukki might do with this information. "But then…why would she allow me to stay on the mission? This has to be part of a plan of hers."
Café Mew Mew
Lettuce and the others were cleaning the café after the lunch rush when Ryou walked up to Lettuce. "Lettuce, can I talk to you for a moment?" Ryou asked.
Lettuce began to blush. "Sure Shirogane-san." she said following him to the kitchen where Keiichiro was decorating a cake.
Ryou sat down on the counter by the sink. "Lettuce, I wanted to make sure that you are okay. You seemed a little distracted today."
"Ah…yes I'm fine." Lettuce said blushing. She was thinking about how yesterday Ryou asked if Pai 'harmed' her. She wondered if Ryou cared for her in a romantic way.
"Well, if you ever need to talk about anything just let me know. It's important that you are on top of your game, especially now that we have that female Cyniclon to deal with."
"Alright." she said nodding and smiling.
She turned around to walk out of the kitchen when he said "Lettuce, would you like me to drive you home tonight?"
Lettuce turned bright red. "S…sure Shirogane-san." she said then quickly leaving the kitchen.
"Why's your face so red, na no do?" Pudding asked.
"Oh…um…" Lettuce mumbled.
Ichigo and Mint walked over to them. "What did Ryou want to talk about?" Ichigo asked. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is fine. He just wanted to make sure I'm okay." Lettuce asked. "And he…he asked if I would like for him to drive me home tonight."
"Ooooh! ~ So are you going to let him take you home?" Ichigo asked.
Lettuce nodded. "That's great Lettuce Onee-chan!" Pudding exclaimed.
Ryou and Keiichiro heard the girls out there squeeing out of excitement for Lettuce. "Sounds to me like they are happy about you taking Lettuce home." Keiichiro said to Ryou. Ryou nodded slightly.
The work day was finally finished as the girls began getting changed in their dressing room. Lettuce was very nervous that Ryou would be taking her home tonight. She wondered why he wanted to drive her home tonight. She thought that perhaps he did care for her.
"Lettuce…you alright?" asked Ichigo placing a hand on Lettuce's shoulder.
Lettuce turned to look at Ichigo. "Oh…um…yes." she said. "Why do you ask?"
"Because you've been buttoning the same button for two minutes." said Mint. She too noticed that Lettuce had been buttoning and unbuttoning the same button for two minutes.
"Oh…Gomen-nasai." she said finally leaving the button alone.
"Are you nervous about Ryou driving you home tonight?" Ichigo asked.
"A little." she said quietly pondering if she should just tell Ryou she'd walk home by herself.
Zakuro walked over and placed her hand on Lettuce's shoulder. "Just relax a little." Zakuro said trying to be reassuring. "You have no reason to be nervous."
"Right." Lettuce said confidently.
The Mew Mews left the café and waved goodbye to Lettuce as Ryou walked up behind her with his keys in his hands. "You ready?" asked Ryou. Lettuce jumped a little, unaware that she didn't even hear Ryou walk up behind her. "Did I startle you?"
"N…not really." Lettuce said with a slight blush on her face. Ryou led her to his car and opened the passenger door for her. "Thank you Shirogane-san."
Ryou nodded and sat behind the wheel. "You know you can call me Ryou instead of Shirogane-san." Ryou said as he started the car.
Lettuce began to blush deeper. "I'm just so used to calling you Shirogane-san." Lettuce said softly.
Ryou glanced over at her. "Well I'd like if you could call me Ryou instead. This way we both are on a first name basis."
Lettuce stared at him. She was happy that he said that, perhaps he did like her. "I'd like that." she said looking down at her hands clasped together. A smile formed across her face, as did a smile on Ryou's face.
Lettuce looked over at him. "Why did you want to drive me home?" she asked.
"I figured that you would be reluctant on walking home at night…since…" he said trailing off. Lettuce nodded in agreement. She was a little apprehensive on walking home since she was attacked by those boys. "I also thought that it would be nice to get to know you better."
This caused Lettuce to blush darker. "I'd like that a lot."
Several Days Later: Cyniclon Ship
Pai was in his lab on his computer orb watching through the eyes of the chimera animal that Kisshu made. Nobody was in the lab of Ryou's, nothing was happening, and Pai was getting bored waiting for anything to happen. His body was finally starting to recover after a few days. Though he didn't dare use up any energy yet.
"What are you doing?" Kukki asked teleporting in behind Pai.
"Watching…waiting." Pai bluntly stated. Pai turned his head to look at his sister. Pai had not seen Kukki in a few days; he had been avoiding her like one avoids the plague. "Why did you tell Deep Blue-sama that you wanted me to stay on the mission when you clearly knew what happened when I was on Earth?"
"Well, you are my little brother, and I know how much this mission means to you. I couldn't take something so important away from you." Kukki said.
Pai eyed her. "Is that the only reason?" he asked. He was skeptical that that could be the only reason.
"No. I feel as though you could still be useful to this mission." she said. "Kisshu, Taruto, and I are going down to Earth and attack the Mew Mews. We'll be back later."
Pai watched as she walked away and clenched his teeth. He was stuck on the ship while they got to attack the enemy. He had his pride, but he knew that he needed to be more practical and not frivolous if he wanted to succeed. Pride would only get in the way.
Pai took control of the chimera animal and navigated it through the café where the Mew Mews were. He knew that his comrades would be going to attack them soon, so he wanted to observe how the battle was going to conclude.
He watched as the puff ball Masha chirp that the Cyniclons were nearby. The Mew Mews ran out of the café as his siblings stood by the door, weapons already drawn. "Hurry up and transform, we don't want to wait too long." Taruto stated hands on his hips.
"How kind of you!" Ichigo mocked.
"Mew Mew Ichigo-"
"Mew Mew Lettuce-"
"Mew Mew Mint-"
"Mew Mew Pudding-"
"Mew Mew Zakuro-"
"METAMORPHO-SIS!" they all yelled transforming.
Kukki aimed her tessen at the Mew Mews sending a burst of fire at them. "Ignis-Uzu-Sen!" she yelled as a fire vortex surrounded the Mew Mews.
The Mew Mews held up their arms as the fire whipped around them. "It's too hot!" Mint yelled to the others.
"Ribbon…Lettuce Rush!" Lettuce yelled out sending a stream of water at the fire. The fire started to die down slowly.
Kukki sent out another attack and it started up again, the water was almost useless against it. "The fire…it's not going away!" Zakuro yelled.
Mint aimed her arrow at Kukki. "Ribbon…Mint Echo!" she yelled. The arrow flew right past Kukki. The heat from the vortex of fire was disrupting their vision perspective.
Ryou and Keiichiro fell to their knees as the heat and smoke began to fill their lungs. Pudding and Mint soon followed and began to cough too. "Aoyama-kun…" Ichigo coughed out before falling down, followed by Lettuce.
Kukki was hit in the hand with the end of a sword, causing her to drop her weapon and the fire to disappear. "What the…!?" she yelled turning around to see who disarmed her.
It was the Blue Knight, Aoyama. "Ichigo!" he yelled as he ran to her, picking her off the ground.
"Damn you!" Kisshu yelled readying his sais. He sent a bolt of lightning out at the Blue Knight.
He jumped away from the attack just in time as he held Ichigo. "Aoyama-kun!?" she exclaimed giving him a hug.
"Who is that?" Kukki asked looking over at Kisshu and Taruto.
"That's the Blue Knight." Kisshu said.
Kukki took out the pages Pai had given her when she first arrived on the Mew Mews. She turned the one page over and saw that on the back of Ichigo's page it stated that there was a human named Aoyama Masaya that helped the Mew Mews out in his 'alternate form', as Pai described it, the Blue Knight.
Kukki looked at the remaining information on him. "So you're the Blue Knight?" Kukki said putting the pages away in her shirt. "How interesting." she said calmly.
"Ichigo who is she?" Aoyama asked.
"She's another Cyniclon." Ichigo said. He began to walk forward with his sword at his side. "Be careful Aoyama-kun! She's not like the others!"
"And you're not a normal human are you?" Kukki asked Aoyama as she picked up her fan. "You must be part Cyniclon by the looks of your appearance. Why don't you join us? Together we could restore this planet that is rightfully ours." she said holding out her hand to him.
Aoyama held up his sword. "I will not join you." he said.
Kukki put her hands on her hips "Well that's a shame…for you that is." she said turning back around and walking away. "Kisshu! Taruto! Who would like to do the honors of killing him?"
"It would be my pleasure!" Kisshu yelled with fiery eyes as he lunged at Aoyama. Kisshu and Aoyama fought ferociously against the other.
Taruto swung his click-clack weapon at Pudding, wrapping her up in the strings. "Taru-Taru…" Pudding exclaimed "let Pudding go."
She began to struggle as he held onto the ends tightly. "The more you struggle the tighter it gets." Taruto laughed as it began to get tighter.
Masha flew over to Pudding and bit onto Taruto's shirt trying to pull Taruto away. "Masha will help! Masha will help!" he chirped.
"Ribbon…Zakuro Pure!" Zakuro yelled aiming her whip at Taruto hitting him in the arms, causing him to let go of his weapon.
"Thank you Zakuro Onee-chan!" Pudding exclaimed as she slipped out of the weapon.
Meanwhile Kukki was attacking Ichigo and Mint with fire balls. "Lettuce!" Ryou yelled throwing a small vial of Mew Aqua to her. Lettuce caught it and looked at it. "You can do it Lettuce! We believe in you!" Ryou yelled out.
Lettuce took the Mew Aqua out of the vial and placed it in-between her castanets. "Ribbon…Lettuce Pure Rush!" she yelled as she aimed a surge of water at each Cyniclon, hitting them and blinding them with a bright light.
"Let's go!" Kukki yelled to Kisshu and Taruto as they teleported away.
Ichigo ran over to Aoyama and hugged him. "Thank you Aoyama-kun! If it wasn't for you then we might be dead." she said embracing him into a passionate kiss.
"Where's Masha?" Pudding asked looking around.
"Masha where are you? Masha?!" Ichigo yelled. "Masha!"
They didn't realize that Masha didn't let go and was now with the aliens.
Cyniclon ship
Kukki, Kisshu, and Taruto teleported back to the ship, into Pai's lab. "Already finished?" Pai asked mockingly as he navigated the fly chimera animal back to Ryou's lab.
"Don't be smug about this." Kukki said. "I'll inform Deep Blue of our progress." she said teleporting off.
"Pai were you watching?" Taruto asked. "Did you see that the Mew Mews almost died?!" he asked now getting excited.
Pai crossed his arms. "Taruto…there is no reason to be so excited for almost defeating them." Pai stated.
"Hmpf!" Taruto pouted out loud as he turned around.
Pai noticed that Masha's tail was hanging out of Taruto's shirt. Masha realized what happened and thought that by hiding out in Taruto's shirt he wouldn't get noticed. Pai reached out and grabbed Masha by the tail and pulled him out.
"Interesting." Pai stated just holding onto Masha's soft body tightly as Masha wiggled around. "I shall analyze this robot of the Mew Mews." Pai was glad that he was finally able to do something, and not just sit around staring at a screen.
Taruto and Kisshu looked at him with wide eyes. "When did he get in there?" Taruto asked turning his neck to look at his back.
"Pai you enjoy too much analyzing things." Kisshu said placing his hands behind his head.
"You know Kisshu…perhaps if you did research your plans would not always fail." Pai stated as he put Masha onto a pedestal and began to hook some wires up to him. "It should take some time to remove the information I acquire from him. Kisshu, Taruto, go check on Kukki and see what Deep Blue had to say." Pai ordered them.
Kisshu and Taruto left as Pai finished hooking Masha up. "Masha won't talk! Masha won't talk!"
"You will." Pai said walking to the computer slab and gave Masha a shock.
Café Mew Mew
It took Ryou and Keiichiro about three hours to track down Masha's S.O.S signal he sent out. Ryou told them there was a doorway into the Cyniclons dimension where they could enter it. The Mews Mews were running on the roof tops jumping from building to building heading to where the location was.
"We isolated a door into their dimension. Zakuro you will need to use your weapon to slice a hole into their dimension." Ryou stated through their pendants.
"How much further is it?" Ichigo asked.
"Not much further." Ryou said.
"Hey!" the girls heard a loud voice yell above them. Taruto landed on top a building across the road. "Don't think you can get into our dimension that easily!"
"Where is Masha?! What have you done with him?!" Ichigo yelled.
"Oh that pink fluff ball…" Taruto said putting his hands behind his head "Pai has him. He insists on analyzing that thing."
"Taru-Taru is mean to take Masha!" Pudding yelled.
"I didn't take him! He jumped into my shirt." Taruto replied. "He tried to help you girls fight us."
"Masha…" Ichigo said looking at the others.
"Tried to fight you…?" Lettuce asked. The girls gave each other a look of disbelief.
"Yeah." Taruto said crossing his arms.
"Give him back!" Ichigo yelled.
"I told you Pai has him." Taruto said. His eyes got big as an evil smirk came across his face. "Pai might break him…he likes to do things like that."
"No you can't!" Pudding yelled.
"Pai's been bored lately so…there's not much I can do about it. He's not just going to hand it over to just anybody." Taruto said shrugging with his hands, smirk still on his face. "Although…" he said trailing off.
"Although what?" Mint asked.
"Pai has been acting strange lately…" Taruto said remembering the past week.
Flashback
It was about two days after Pai got back to the ship, that Taruto noticed Pai acting odd. He would occasionally look at his hand that had the wound and trace his fingers over it, a slight smile on his face. Pai was remembering how kindly and gently Lettuce wrapped up his hand. He would then trace his fingertips where his cuts were, though they were no longer there, just light scars.
It wasn't just the fact that he did that that Taruto found an odd behavior of Pai's. He would sometimes space out as he stared at his food. Kisshu was usually the one having to snap his fingers in front of him to snap him out of it. And Taruto was quite sure he heard Pai moaning in his sleep, often he heard "kawa" muttered.
He often saw Pai hitting his head lightly against the wall muttering "What is wrong with me?" All these strange behaviors of Pai's were starting to really freak him out.
End Flashback
"Listen…I know I said you wouldn't get into our dimension so easily, but I might make an exception." Taruto said sitting on the edge of the building. "Besides your puff ball isn't in our dimension, it's on our ship."
"Like we would make a deal with you!" Ichigo yelled.
"Well then, I guess your mascot will be taken apart, piece by piece!" Taruto said laughing.
"What is your exception?" Zakuro asked eyeing him. The others eyes widened and looked at Zakuro in shock.
"Onee-sama…" Mint said "you aren't thinking about listing to him are you?"
"We have no choice right now. He said Masha was on their ship, not in their dimension." Zakuro stated. "So what is it?" she asked Taruto who was clacking his nails against the building.
"I'll take you to the ship, and I'll help you get Masha out of Pai's lab, but one of you Mew Mews will have to distract him while we are in there." Taruto said standing up and floating over to them.
"And what about Kukki and Kisshu?" Zakuro asked. "Won't they try to stop us?"
"Kisshu and Kukki aren't on the ship right now. They went to talk to our leader. It shouldn't take long to talk with him, so your time is wasting away, tick tock tick tock!" Taruto said wagging his finger as if it were a metronome.
Ichigo and the others look at one another. "Fine. But who is going to distract Pai, and how?" Ichigo asked.
"Well…I was thinking the green one." Taruto said pointing at Lettuce.
"M…me!?" Lettuce asked blushing slightly.
"Yeah. Just talk to Pai and see what you can find out why he is acting weird." Taruto said walking over to them holding out his arms for them to grab onto. "Let's go, time is wasting."
The Mew Mews grabbed hold of Taruto's arms and he teleported them to their ship.
Cyniclon ship
Taruto peaked around the corner to see if Pai was in his lab, which he wasn't. "Alright the coast is clear." Taruto whispered. Taruto led them into the part where Masha was being held.
Ichigo and the others ran over to Masha. "Masha! Are you okay?!" Ichigo asked as she placed her hands on the glass dome Masha was trapped in.
"Ichigo…" Masha said softly. "Masha wouldn't talk…"
"We'll get you out." Mint said. "How do we get him out?" she asked Taruto.
"I'll get him out." Taruto said walking over to the computer slab. "But first you need to find Pai and see why he is being weird."
"Um…where would I find him?" Lettuce asked looking around.
"Just look around." Taruto said waving his hand around. He started pushing numbers into the screen. "Try his room. Third room on the left."
Lettuce walked down the hall quietly and touched the screen on the side of Pai's door. It slid open and she walked into a dimly lit room. The floor had books and papers scattered all over it, along with some clothes. Normally Pai kept his room in pristine condition, but since he was doing research nonstop he had been neglecting his room's organization.
Lettuce noticed Pai was sleeping on his stomach, one arm hanging off his bed. The sheets were down to his waist and showed his bare back.
Lettuce noticed Pai's shirt on the side of his bed, along with his pants. "Um…uh…Pai-san…" Lettuce muttered.
Pai slowly turned his head to the side as he blinked his eyes open. He sat up slowly and blinked again as he stared straight ahead, hair a mess, face and torso damp with sweat. Lettuce stood there quietly, blushing at sight of his toned chest.
"Um…Pai-san…" Lettuce muttered again.
Pai finally realized that Lettuce was in his room, on his ship. "Mew Lettuce!?" Pai exclaimed. "What are you doing here!? How did you gain access to our ship!?" Pai questioned her with an angry tone.
"Well…we wanted to get Masha back…" Lettuce began. "And we got a distress signal from Masha, so Zakuro was going to use her weapon to cut a portal into your dimension, but Taruto told us that Masha wasn't in your dimension but on your ship." Lettuce said speaking faster and faster.
"Where is Taruto?" Pai asked with clenched teeth.
"Um…he's helping us get Masha." Lettuce mumbled.
"Why?" Pai asked with a sharp tongue.
"Well…Taruto said he would help us if one of us talked to you." Lettuce said pushing her fingers together.
"Why would he want a Mew Mew to talk to me?" Pai asked getting angrier and angrier.
"Taruto said you were…were…" Lettuce mumbled out.
"Spit it out!" Pai snapped. Pai was frustrated that Taruto would do something as ridiculous as to bringing the Mew Mews onto their ship.
"Ah…right…" Lettuce said. "Well Taruto said you've been acting weird lately."
Pai scoffed. His mind was filled with rage over this foolishness. "TARUTO!" Pai yelled as he jumped out of the bed and headed for the door. Pai stopped as he heard Lettuce "Eeep!"
Pai looked at her, only to see her covering her eyes with her fingers as a blush came over her face. "Pai-san…" Lettuce muttered. "You're not fully clothed…" she said peeking through her fingers.
Pai looked down to notice that he was only wearing his boxer briefs.
"Damn it!" Pai cursed in his head as he grabbed a pair of pants and shirt. "Gomen-nasai!" he exclaimed as he got dressed. "I did not intend for you to see me in that state!"
"Ah…gomen-nasai!" she exclaimed. "I didn't mean to look!"
Pai stood there with her in silence as they both looked away, blushing. Lettuce had never seen a guy in his underwear before. She knew that the aliens had similar anatomy to the males on Earth since the last time she had kneed him in-between the legs.
But now she was able to make out the proportions he was from the side view she caught of him. It made her feel, warm and tingly inside.
"Ah…Pai-san…are you okay?" Lettuce asked trying to gain her composure.
"What do you mean?" Pai asked avoiding her gaze as he picked up some of his clothes and books.
"Well…I think Taruto is worried about you. Is there something wrong?" Lettuce asked.
"No. There is nothing the matter. Taruto is still young and worries about foolish things such as changes in ones behaviors." Pai stated as he picked up his other clothes and threw them aside.
"Well…I think that he is still worried about you. Perhaps you could talk about him about what's bothering him." Lettuce added.
"What would be the purpose in doing something such as that?" Pai asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well…um…never mind." Lettuce said softly looking down. Lettuce stood up and made her way towards the door. "I…I should be going…"
"Miss Midorikawa…" Pai began "…I would have returned that robot eventually."
"Would you have broken Masha?" she asked turning her head to the side to look at him.
"I would have liked to taken him apart, but knowing now that he means something to you then…" Pai said getting quieter not finishing his sentence or thought. Lettuce stood there blinking, waiting to see what he was going to say. "N…never mind!" he snapped now blushing as he looked away.
Lettuce walked out and back down the hall to see the others waiting there with Taruto. "Well...?" Taruto asked with his arms crossed.
"He said nothing was the matter." Lettuce said blushing, remembering Pai in his underwear.
Taruto raised an eyebrow. "Fine, just take your puffball and go!" Taruto said creating a portal for them to go through.
"Thank you Taru-Taru!" Pudding exclaimed as she grabbed him into a tight hug.
Taruto pushed her off. "Just go!" Taruto yelled pointing at the portal. The Mew Mews jumped in the portal and found themselves back near the café.
"Lettuce Onee-chan, why is your face all red, na no do?" Pudding asked.
Lettuce shook her head frantically and hid her face behind her hands. She really didn't want to tell anyone what happened.
Cyniclon ship
Taruto walked in Pai's room to find Pai hitting his head against the wall. "Pai…" Taruto said.
"What?" Pai asked as he left his forehead against the wall.
"What's been going on with you?" Taruto asked. "You seem…different."
"I…" Pai began "I honestly do not know Taruto."
Pai knew why he had been acting strange lately. It was because of her. Pai thought. It was all her fault. The staring at his wounds and tracing his fingers over them; just remembering how she took care of his wounds and wrapped up his hand so gently, it made him smile slightly.
The spacing out at dinner was her fault. He remembered the delicious food she had made him. He hit his head against the wall because of her. Thoughts of her would cross his mind at random moments, some not so…chaste. He would bang his head to try to rid himself of those impure thoughts about her.
Pai even began to dream about her. Impure dreams about her. He often found himself waking up in a puddle of sweat muttering 'Miss Midorikawa'. To have any dreams about her was such a foul thought in his mind.
"Taruto…tell me…why did you want her to talk to me?" Pai asked.
"Well…I'm worried about you…so is Kisshu, and Kukki." Taruto said.
"There is no need to be concerned about me. Everything is alright." Pai said turning back to Taruto. "I have just…" Pai began "been under the weather."
"Are you sure that's it?" he asked with a worried look on his face.
"Quite sure." Pai stated. "Once I am fully healed and able to rejoin fighting the enemies, I will be back to my old self."
Taruto paused for a moment. "Okay." he said walking out. He knew Pai wasn't telling the truth, well at least not the whole truth, but he didn't want to push Pai into telling him more.
Café Mew Mew
Ichigo ran into the café holding Masha. "Ryou we got Masha back!" Ichigo yelled.
Ryou took Masha and brought him to the basement with the others. He hooked him up to some wires and pressed some buttons. "We're going to check his processers and make sure everything is running alright. It might take a few hours." Ryou said.
"Did you have to fight the Cyniclons for him back?" Keiichiro asked.
"Actually no." Ichigo said. "Taruto teleported us to their ship to get him back."
Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah." Mint added. "He wanted one of us to talk to Pai to see why he was acting weird, or so he put it."
"Lettuce Onee-chan was the one who talked to Pai-san!" Pudding exclaimed.
"Well…did you find out anything interesting?" Ryou asked.
"Not really." Lettuce said. "He said nothing was the matter. But, something seemed off about him."
"How so?" Zakuro asked.
"Well…he…just seemed different." Lettuce said.
"Well let's just be thankful that Masha is back." Keiichiro stated smiling.
Meanwhile
Pai was lying in his bed flipping through a bunch of research he gathered on each of the Mew Mews.
"Mew Mew Pudding, an energetic ten year old, fused with a golden lion tamarin (leotopithecus rosalia). Has a Mew Mew mark on her forehead that is two monkey tails." Pai thought.
"Mew Mew Mint, a spoiled thirteen year old, fused with a blue lorikeet (vini peruviana). Has a Mew Mew mark on her back, between her shoulder-blades that is a pair of bird wings."
"Mew Mew Zakuro, a highly intelligent seventeen year old, fused with a gray wolf (canis lupus). Has a Mew Mew mark on her navel that is a pair of wolf tails."
"Mew Mew Ichigo, the leader of the Mew Mews, a thirteen year old, fused with an iriomote cat (prionalurus iriomotensis). Mew Mew mark is an imprint of the Mew Mew pendant that is on the inside of her right thigh."
Pai paused for a moment as he turned to Lettuces page. "Mew Mew Lettuce." Pai spoke out loud softly. "A shy fourteen year old, fused with a finless porpoise (neophocaena phocaenoides)." Pai paused a moment to look at the photo of her that was on the page. "Mew Mew mark is two fish that is…on her chest." he said tracing his fingers over the photo.
"Damn it!" Pai thought as impure thoughts of her came into his mind. He placed his hands on head and dug his nails into his head. "Get out of my head! Get out of my head!" he yelled.
"There is only one solution that I can see to rid my thoughts of her." Pai thought staring at the ceiling. "I must kill them all, I must kill her. Right? Isn't that the human's saying out of sight, out of mind?"
"You alright?" Kisshu asked standing in the doorway with Kukki.
"I am fine." Pai said trying to gain his composer. "How did everything turn out with Deep Blue-sama?" Pai asked.
"Well…he wasn't thrilled that our last attack on them failed, but he understood." Kisshu said.
Pai just made a groan of acknowledgement. "I spoke to him about you rejoining the fight." Kukki stated.
Pai's eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked with a little excitement in his voice as he sat up.
"That is when you're fully healed." Kukki added.
"Of course." Pai said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Pai laid back down and began staring at the ceiling after Kisshu and Kukki left. He was glad that he would eventually be able to rejoin the fight. However, he was still unsure about how long it would take till he was back into pristine condition to fight. If he wanted to be able to defeat and kill the Mew Mews he would have to be in perfect condition. Especially, since he had noticed that Mew Lettuce was becoming stronger.
"Her powers have seemed to increase recently. Perhaps she is stronger then I once thought. I wonder if there is any other special ability that we have yet to know about. I must find out more about her. For scientific purposes only." Pai thought to himself.