Sweet Berries {Tokyo Mew Mew}

23) Terminal Velocity

The strange man in the darkness gave a small grin, but his eyes showed all the anger they could, like he had a personal vendetta against me. His teeth were sharp, just like Kisshu’s, and I quickly tried to turn and run the other way. I was too far away from anyone else so I couldn’t run to someone for help but the stranger was too fast for me, anyway. He grabbed me from behind and pulled me back into him with a firm grip. I whimpered against his strength and tried to wriggle free but knew it was impossible.

     ‘What do you want?’ I said between gritted teeth, my fists balled up in fear and my panda parts popping out.

     Instead of answering, the man roughly threw me to the ground and I fell in a huff, scraping my arms and legs on the hard ground. It had been raining earlier that day and the dirty water puddles on the ground were stinging my new injuries as I tried to get up to my feet.

     ‘Why are you doing this to us?’ the man asked in an intimidatingly deep voice.

     He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me up to my feet. Letting go, I had space to turn around and face my attacker. I instantly regretted leaving my pendant at home but I honestly thought getting groceries wouldn’t take long enough for something bad to happen. So I kept my fist clenched in case I needed to take a swing at the tall stranger.

     ‘Who are you trying to be?’ He continued, staring at me hard through his indigo eyes.

     ‘No one!’ I answered, somewhat confused. ‘What do you want? Are you a friend of Kish?’

     His height was intimidating, much taller than Kisshu, but I wouldn’t hesitate to hit him if I needed to. He took a step forward, making me take a step back, and he stopped, still staring. His face was completely emotionless but his eyes said all they needed to.

     ‘Sort of,’ he answered after a while in a normal tone, but his eyes still blazing. ‘My name’s Pai, missy, and I don’t like puny little humans interfering with our plan!’

     He lunged at me before I could take a step the other way and grabbed me with incredible strength. Closing my eyes, I tensed all my muscles before I felt a gust of wind rush past and the ground seemed to disappear from under us. The wind picked up all around and I opened my eyes to see the never-ending sight of the city two hundred feet below us. His hands let go and I suddenly felt unstable, fearing I would slip off and fall at any given moment. The point of the tower Pai had transported us to wasn’t wide enough for more than two people to stand on; in fact, I didn’t think anyone had ever stood on it before.

     ‘You’re quickly becoming a thorn in my paw,’ said Pai, circling around me in intimidation.

     The dark night sky was just above us and I began to shake from the sting of the night’s air whipping all around us. I was too frightened to look around, but something inside me was pushing some of the fear away, just enough so I could stand up straight and reply to the cyniclon. ‘I don’t even know you!’

     ‘But you’ve beaten me before!’ He said, stopping to the left and staring down at me. ‘I spend a lot of time planning my attacks and chimera animas and just when I think I’ve got it right, a new annoying human comes along with her band of freaks and ruins it!’

     ‘So you were the one who made that chimera snake last night … with Miku to fight alongside with it?’

     ‘So my plan now is to not waste time thinking of new ideas,’ He continued like I hadn’t said anything. ‘But get rid of you in the first place before I lose sleep over how I can’t do the one job I was sent here for! I’ve seen you battle Kisshu’s chimera, before, and I regrettably say you may be a bit too strong for me. But then again Kisshu is weak and sees this as a fun game. Especially you. It angers me so much, you can’t imagine!’