Chapter One
It was the year 2021, I believe. I was in a wet, rainy street in New York. And I was screaming at my ex.
“You were cheating on me?!”
This guy was just like the one before him…….and the one before him. They were all jerks to me. Liars, cheaters, abusers, fakes; all of them, every last one.
“Get a brain, idiot!” the stupid little liar I had been dating for the past 6 weeks smirked with that annoying face of his. I turned and ran, tears streaming down my blotchy face. I didn’t care where I was running….just as long as it was away from this place.
Suddenly, the ground was shaking.
“Huh?” and that’s when everything went black. And then it happened. Now that I think back on it, I’m kind of glad it did.
“What?” out of the void, I saw a glowing silhouette of some kind of cat. Oh no, I thought.
My brother had always been up in his room doing “experiments” when we were kids. I never went in that death trap, never saw him, never talked to him, never got to know him. The only prominent memory I have of him is when we were young, I was probably about five. We had been watching tv. Suddenly, a news reporter flashed across the screen. The headline had said “Tokyo Mew Mews stand up to aliens”…… before the Mews, we had no protection against the alien invasion. The mews were superheroes in Japan that fought aliens and helped save the earth. Well, guess what, Japan, we have alien problems on this side of the world too! That day, so long ago, when we had found out about the Mews, my brother was suddenly scarce.
Little did I know at the time, but my brother had been replicating the Mew Project in hopes of saving us all. I had never thought that he would target his own sister in the dangerous, irreversible experiment. Most of those projects had gone horribly wrong. Disgustingly wrong. One day a couple years ago, I had tripped and fell through my brother’s cracked open door into his room where he had been holed up for so many years.
Cages lined the walls, slimy with who knows what. I thought they were empty, but….creatures slithered in them. Not quite human. Not quite animal. The closest cage had a girl with scales in it. Random strands of hair protruded from her skull. One of her six arms reached out to me, shaking; trembling.
“Help…...me……” she had screamed.
After that, I lived at my cousins, my aunts, my friends, whoever would take me in and keep me away from my brother. I had run away that day, never to return. But I couldn’t run away now. They never could run away once the terrible process had begun.
The silhouette walked closer, it’s dead, unblinking eyes staring into mine. And then the undead cat merged with me. Unearthly pain exploded in my chest, like my soul was being broken into a million pieces; dragging me back to consciousness with spiked chains.
When I opened my eyes, I was in my brother’s laboratory.
“Hey Candy.” said my sibling, smirking. His annoyingly over long brown hair fell into his eyes, even though it was pulled back in it’s usual messy ponytail. He didn’t care what he looked like, he was too busy to care. He had gotten worse since I had left. I could see it in the way that his brown eyes had a crazy look in them, like one of those serial killers that were insane and knew it.
Cages lined the walls just like before, only now there were more of them, some empty; most not. I felt my head warily. Where my human ears had once been, giant spotted cat ears now stood. One of them had three gold hoop piercings. I was wearing a short dress that had long, kimono-like sleeves. But….around my neck was a bloody chain being held by one of the only three successful Mews. My old friend who had disappeared one day. The name she used to cherish was just a reminiscent nightmare; a shadow blotting my memory and reminding me of what used to be. Her name was Mew Bubblegum now. A seemingly innocent name covered a genetically mutated personality.
“You’re crazy!” I spat at my brother through gritted teeth. He grinned psychotically. “That may be true, but it’s not your concern.” He tilted his head and widened his smile. “Take her away.” Bubblegum tugged violently at the chains on my neck, wrists, and ankles, choking me in the process. My scream morphed into a suffocated meow as I was dragged away.
A needle was stabbed into my arm, and as the drugs were administered, my vision went black again.
When I woke up, I was still chained; this time, to a wall. I was on top of a grimy building, overlooking the city at night. A voice crackled from a nearby broken-down radio.
“Welcome to your first mission, Candy.” I looked up and screamed. A giant dragon with glowing red eyes grinned down at me. I was supposed to kill that? While being chained up?! I closed my eyes, preparing for a blow from the dragon’s giant foreleg, or maybe the tail if I was super unlucky. Which I was. There was no way I would fight it. I would rather die than help my brother. I heard a swish and a snap, and thought that the serpent had broken my neck with a swift blow.
But no…….I was just fine. The chain had been severed by a sword. I opened my eyes warily and glimpsed easily the hottest guy I had ever seen. He had weird, huge light gray, cat-like ears and piercing blue eyes. This guy had long, layered white hair that was about four inches past his shoulders. He wore this long, skimpy vest thing that exposed his chest and didn’t cover his bare shoulders. He had gray skinny jeans on and these two, strange, tail-like ribbons. He grabbed my waist suddenly and swung my body over the dragon’s back. The dragon spread it’s wings and flew off into the night. I guess, for some reason, I fell asleep on the ride, because I woke up the next morning in an unfamiliar bed.
I reached up and touched my human ears. No cat ears there...Maybe it was all a dream, I thought. The door creaked open, and I bolted upright. I was surprised, so my cat ears popped back. I guess not...I smiled sadly. The guy from before peeked from behind the slightly opened door.
“Who are you?!!” I demanded.
“Karma.” he replied, blushing. He had an innocent; sweet, cute look on his face. And he was an alien, I just realized. “Why did you save me? I’m a Mew Mew.” I said regretfully. Karma walked forward and put his hands on the bed on either side of me. “You’re not like the other Mews, Candy.” He said quietly. Gee, so useful. “How’d you know my name?” I asked. Karma shrugged. “Just a feeling.” I reached around my neck and felt the necklace with dog tags on it. It represented simpler times; it also had the words “property of Candy” engraved on it.
I noticed that his hair was tied back in a ponytail. It looked a lot better on Karma than on my brother. An awkward silence followed. I grabbed him by his skimpy vest and yelled, “Explanations!!” Karma gained a bitter look. “I’m part of a peace organization that plans to reverse the damage that the Empress, Ika, has done.” “Who’s Empress Ika?” I asked. “She’s the one telling the hostile aliens to attack.” I blinked in surprise. “The peace organization has tried to make peace with the New York Mews, but they keep killing us, and we have no choice but to defend ourselves. You are being forced to fight us, and you are innocent. The other Mews murder us in cold blood.” What? That couldn’t be true….Could it?
“I don’t know what happened, I just knew I had to save you.” Karma laced his fingers with mine. He met my dull brown eyes with his brilliant blue; like dead leaves flying up into the azure autumn sky. “Candy….let me protect you.” I squeezed my eyes shut. Wasn’t this kind of…..fast? I barely knew this guy! Not again….I can’t be again….
