Sweet Berries {Tokyo Mew Mew}

4) A Mew Chimera

‘Another one?’ I heard Zakuro shout.

     The winds were growing stronger as a giant blue bird emerged from the tree tops and screeched loud into the night. It stopped in mid-air, right above us, still flapping its large feathered wings.

     ‘Does this happen often?’ I yelled to Ichigo over the loud noise but she didn’t hear me.

     ‘This one wasn't so hard to get!’ I heard a newly familiar voice shout from an unknown direction.

     ‘Come on, you guys. We've beaten a giant bird before!’ one of the girls shouted.

     ‘Yeah, but that was with Shirogane's help!’

     ‘We've got Panda,’ Ichigo shouted back. ‘She’s strong!’

     ‘Who?’ She asked, turning around and seeing me for the first time.

     I knew my expression was drenched in fear and it was also stirring deep inside me.

     ‘Strawberry Bell!’ Ichigo shouted with an outstretched arm just before a pink heart shaped object appeared out of air. ‘Come on, Panda. You can do this! Just follow your instincts.’ She looked at me, worried, but confidence was dancing in her pink eyes.

     I nodded and placed Pudding on the ground. ‘Pudding, do you want to defeat this giant monster beside me?’ I said with a grin down at the frightened Pudding. Her expression quickly changed.

     ‘You betcha!’ she smiled back, one yellow tambourine and an orange circle gripped in her hands. ‘Let's do this!’

     ‘Hello, again, my little panda bear.’ Kisshu’s voice suddenly said behind me right before his pale hands grabbed onto my bare shoulders. But without thinking, I spun around and swung my leg in the air to kick him away but I was too slow for him. He vanished and reappeared behind me in a split second.

     ‘Panda!’ I heard Pudding scream from above.

     My panda ear twitched to the sound of one of my own struggling for freedom but I didn’t dare look up at the sight. Kisshu was my main target at this point and while he was playing with me on the ground, all my attention would be on getting a good hit or two on him before defeating his mutant monster.

     As I continuously tried to make hard contact with Kisshu, he proved he was quick and experienced at being in an unarmed, physical fight. He had the upper hand, unfortunately, with the ability to reappear in a different place and with the last hit I threw, he appeared behind me and quickly wrapped his strong arms around my waist, squeezing hard until I almost couldn’t get a breath in.

     ‘You're not going anywhere, sugar,’ He said close to my ear between gritted teeth as he began to lift us off the safe ground.

     ‘Zakuro!’ I heard my voice shout without a thought before he yelled out in pain.

     His grip got stronger but he was falling and taking me along with him. We landed with a dull thud and I could already feel hot pain on the left side of my arm and leg. Struggling to pry his arms from around me, he didn’t even seen bothered by my feeble attempts as I wasn’t doing much with the little energy I had left.

     ‘Let go of me!’ I yelled in frustration.

     ‘No,’ he said. ‘I will never let go of you!’

     ‘Why not?’

     ‘Because you're the only one who's ever kissed me back!’

     As those words lingered, I ceased my efforts to free myself. Why did I?