I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.

Pai began his search in the northern region of the forest. After finding no evidence of Deep Blue, he went to the southern region. About half-way through searching though that section, Pai came across a path of destruction.

"The work of Deep Blue," Pai stated simply. It looked like someone had burned the ground in a two meter wide path. Pai felt a small twinge of uneasiness at the sight. The path was perfectly straight...unusual for anything found in a wild forest.

Pai slowly began to descend and was about to stand on the path when a insect flew past his face. Pai stopped his descent and watched the insect fly to the ground. He cringed when the insect suddenly burst into flame. Now knowing the path was deadly, Pai decided to follow the path...from a safe distance above it.

It was about two hours later when the path ended. Pai was deciding what to do when he heard a soft rustling of leaves. Curious, Pai floated above the trees and was surprised to see a human boy standing by a creek. Now weary, Pai flew down behind the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy flinched before turning to face Pai.

Pai and the boy looked each other over. The boy was wearing a torn white t-shirt and torn blue jeans. Scratches covered the boy's arms and legs, several of which were bleeding.

The boy noticed Pai's ears and shifted his weight so he was prepared to fight. "Who are you?" the boy asked, the tone of his voice fearful.

"My name is Pai...who are you?" Pai asked, his eyes slightly narrowing.

The boy looked around before saying, "my name is Masaya."

That came as a surprise to Pai. "You wouldn't happen to know a Momomiya Ichigo, would you?" Pai asked, not showing any emotion as Masaya nodded his head.

"How...how do you know about Ichigo-san?" Masaya questioned, but Pai ignored him.

Pai was dealing with a more pressing matter at the moment. He knew that while Masaya needed some medical attention quickly, he also knew that Deep Blue would use the time to get closer to Tokyo. As Pai debated with himself on what to do, Masaya started to act weird.

Masaya grabbed the sides of his head and screeched. Pai was startled and started to back away from Masaya as he suddenly went silent. When Masaya started to chuckle, Pai knew that something was terribly wrong.

"Masaya-san? Are you alright?" Pai asked as Masaya's body started to change. His ears became pointed, and Masaya started to grow taller until he was only a few inches shorter then Pai. Even though Pai was still taller, he now felt a overwhelming sense of dread as Masaya's clothes changed into a long blue coat who's length went to his knees but flared out to give him room to walk.. His jet black hair grew until it was falling well below his shoulders.

Masaya closed his eyes for a few seconds, during which his skin turned pale white. When he opened his eyes, Pai knew he was in trouble. Masaya's eyes were a chilling blue...and were the same eyes that Deep Blue's ghost had.

"Deep Blue..." Pai hissed, holding his hands at his sides. Deep Blue didn't say anything, instead holding out his hand. A red orb of energy appeared in it, and slowly became a two meter long sword.

Pai didn't hesitate as he did the same thing, but instead of a sword, a tessen appeared in his hand. Deep Blue started to chuckle at the sight. "The power to create any weapon in the entire universe, and you decided to use a war fan against my sword?" he questioned, his voice icy.

Not taking his eyes off of Deep Blue, Pai began to wave his tessen towards the sky. A bold of lightning raced out of the tessen and went into the clouds before exploding in a huge thunder clap. Deep Blue stopped chuckling and said, "if you're trying to contact your allies, it's too late. By the time they get here, you'll be dead."

"Maybe you will kill me, or maybe you'll find me more then you can possibly handle," Pai challenged softly, his eyes growing cold. Deep Blue laughed for a few seconds before disappearing.

Pai rolled forward as a sword barely missed removing his head from his body. "Good reflexes...but reflexes won't win you this fight," Deep Blue commented before disappearing again. Pai stood perfectly still and used all senses to find Deep Blue.

A soft rustling of grass was the only indicator of another attack...but it was enough. Pai turned around and used his tessen to block Deep Blue's sword from cleaving him in half. The tessen was made of a material that was stronger then diamond, yet lighter then bird feather...and it only barely held back the sword.

"Your tessen is quite strong, but is it strong enough to hold me back indefinably?" Deep Blue asked, sneering. He jumped back from Pai to gather energy into his sword.

Pai took the advantage and fanned the tessen towards Deep Blue. Pure energy in the form of lightning burst forth from the tessen and hit Deep Blue...or would have, if he hadn't moved with incredible speed to avoid it.

"This is bad," Pai mumbled softly as he dodged another powerful stroke from Deep Blue's sword. Pai knew his tessen couldn't block another attack, but it was the only weapon capable of using elemental attacks that could move fast enough to hit Deep Blue. He could have repaired the tessen, but that would have taken a few seconds to do...seconds that Pai didn't have.

A thought occurred to Pai as he jumped into the air, saving his legs from being cut off from his body. From what Pai had seen, Deep Blue could have used a ranged attack to simply destroy Pai from afar...yet Deep Blue was fighting Pai in close combat. Why?

Deep Blue chuckled as he read Pai's mind. "I'm fighting you in close combat because I want the pleasure of tearing your head from your body myself. Sure, I could always use my power to destroy you and everything within a kilometer's distance in a blink of an eye, but I want you to suffer before you die," Deep Blue answered before disappearing.

This time, Pai wasn't even able to move before a sword cut deeply into his leg. Grunting, Pai began to fall as Deep Blue grabbed Pai by the front of his neck and held him off the ground. "You defied me...you challenged me...you tried to kill me..." Deep Blue said in a low voice, sending waves of ice through Pai's spine. Laughing, Deep Blue sent electricity through Pai.

Pai cried out in pain in response to the electricity going through him. Pai's vision blurred for a minute, during which Deep Blue released his grip on Pai's neck. "I'll make you suffer...physically and emotionally before I kill you," Deep Blue yelled out before disappearing. Coughing, Pai took several minutes to gather his strength, fully prepared to die. When death didn't come, Pai looked around before he realized that Deep Blue was gone. Standing up straight, Pai prepared for another attack...but none came. Why did he leave? Pai thought before he remembered his dream.

"No...it couldn't be...he wouldn't..." Pai said in shock before jumping into the sky. As soon as he was a hundred meters from the ground, Pai flew with all his speed towards the last place that the mews had been.

It's just like my dream, Pai thought as he landed. The sky had grown thick with clouds, forcing Pai to land after half an hour of searching for the mews. The forest was thick with fog, making it impossible to see for more then a few meters in any direction.

"Mews! Where are you!" Pai called out with a faint hope of someone answering him. When nothing did, he continued to call out every couple minutes, his hope diminishing with every unanswered call. It wasn't until Pai had walked for several hours when a scream rang out.

Pai stopped to listen for the direction of the scream. As he listened, three more screams rang out, each one a females voice. Pai's body went cold and numb when he recognized one of voices.

"Lettuce!" Pai cried out and immediately began to run towards the screams, ignoring the roaring pain in his injured leg. His vision blurred, and suddenly Pai remembered his nightmare.

Pai slowed to a walk when he came across a field of dirt. "It's just like my dream...which means..." Pai began to say before fear overwhelmed his sense of thought.

While Pai didn't see Ryou or Keiichiro bodies, he already knew they were dead. Zakuro and Mint were sprawled out on the ground, trying to gather the strength to get up. Kishu was lying over a knocked out Ichigo. Pudding was sitting next to a still Taruto, crying over his body.

Pia hesitantly looked up and didn't do anything when he saw Deep Blue holding Lettuce by the throat. Deep Blue looked over to Pai and laughed as he raised his sword. "P...Pai..." Lettuce chocked out before she passed out from the lack of air.

Deep Blue dropped Lettuce to the ground and said in an uncaring voice, "you disappointed me Pai. After seeing you defeated so many times by these mews, I was expecting these weaklings to at least put up a interesting fight. They weren't even capable of dodging me, much less fighting me."

Pai was silent as he looked over at Lettuce. Deep Blue followed Pai's look and laughed when he saw what Pai was looking at. "She's still alive, but not for long. After I chop off your legs and arms, I'll kill her in front of you before I finish you off," Deep Blue gloated before disappearing.

Pai didn't move for a few seconds. He stared at Lettuce and felt something that he had suppressed for a long time...rage. "Damn you to hell Deep Blue!" Pai shouted and ducked under a sword slash. He kicked out and tripped Deep Blue, giving Pai time to take Deep Blue's sword.

Swinging it with all his strength, Pai cut deeply into Deep Blue's side. Grunting from the strike, Deep Blue held the sword in place and slowly looked up at Pai. "Lucky attack...too bad you can't kill a god that way," Deep Blue snarled before breaking the sword.

"I know that it won't kill you, but I know that you can't run right now either," Pai snarled back, holding out his hand. A green orb appeared in it. Deep Blue's eyes widened at the sight.

"What is that? A green orb?" Deep Blue questioned, starting to back away.

Pai smiled sadly and looked at the orb. "If an orb is yellow, it means knowledge." He slowly began to walk towards Deep Blue. "If an orb is red, it means weapon." Pai teleported behind Deep Blue and whispered into his ear, "do you know what a green one means?"

Deep Blue screamed when Pai slammed the orb into Deep Blue's back. "Green means life, something that I willingly give up to kill you," Pai shouted out.

"Why? Why would you kill yourself to kill me?" Deep Blue cried out.

Pai laughed as he answered, "I'll gladly die to protect the girl I love."

The world started to darken as Deep Blue screamed at the sudden pain. After a few minutes, Deep Blue disappeared in a blinding light, and Pai knew that Deep Blue was now dead forever.

Pai went cold and fell to the ground, his legs numb. He looked around to Lettuce and smiled as she started to get off the ground. When Lettuce saw Pai lying on the ground, she ran over to him.

"Pai! Are you ok?" Lettuce asked before looking around for Deep Blue.

"Deep Blue's dead Lettuce...just like I'm about to be," Pai said in a soft tone. He found that with every second passing, it was harder to keep his eyes open.

"No...no...you can't die!" Lettuce cried out, immediately trying to keep Pai from falling asleep by lightly slapping his face.

Pai simply smiled at the attempt. He couldn't feel the slaps, and the world was growing darker in his eyes. "I've got to go now Lettuce, but please know this...I love you," Pai said, closing his eyes. He was dead before Lettuce even had a chance to respond.

"Ugh..." Pai complained as he raised his head. Pai looked around to see himself in a white room. "Is this the afterlife?" Pai questioned out loud before someone cleared their throat. Looking over to a door, he saw Ryou standing there, smiling at him.

"Welcome back to the living," Ryou greeted in a nice tone. Pai was confused as Ryou explained. "I was also dead until something unexplainable happened. When Deep Blue died, he released some sort of energy that revived everyone and everything within a hundred kilometer's radius. All the people in the cities are alive and well."

Still confused, Pai asked, "then why am I lying in a bed, surrounded by white walls?"

Shrugging, Ryou answered, "you went into a coma instead of coming back to life. We all thought you would never wake up, but not Lettuce. She never left your side since we brought you to the hospital."

That was when Pai realized he felt a small weight near his foot. Looking over, he saw Lettuce lying her head down on the bed, sleeping. "I'll give you some time to talk alone," Ryou said before leaving the room.

Pai slowly reached towards Lettuce's shoulder and gently touched it. She slowly opened her eyes, and came fully awake when she saw it was Pai that was waking her. "Pai! I knew you would return to me!" Lettuce cried before hugging Pai.

When Pai felt Lettuce start to cry, he began to calm her. "It's ok Lettuce...I'm back for good this time," Pai said, his voice gentle and caring.

Lettuce stopped crying and looked up at Pai. "You'll stay with me then?" she asked, wiping away her tears.

Smiling, Pai answered, "forever, if you want me to. I love you."

Now smiling as well, Lettuce leaned forward and kissed Pai passionately on the lips. "I love you too," Lettuce said before kissing Pai again.

In the aftermath of the destruction caused by Deep Blue, Masaya was found alive and was returned to civilized life. While Ichigo was happy to see Masaya, she had fallen in love with Kishu during their time together. Masaya accepted it without much question. Other then that, the other mews didn't have any drastic changes in their lives...well, except for Lettuce. With her help, Pai was able to stabilize the atmosphere of his planet, making life habitable on it once again.

When Lettuce had finished school and collage, she and Pai bought a house together near the park where the mew café was located. They married and had three children together, two boys, named Chikao and Kiosho. and one girl, named Ai. They had their mother's hair and their father's ears. While they had none of either parent's powers, they did posses incredible minds. When they moved out of the house, Lettuce and Pai moved to a house just outside of Tokyo to spend the rest of their lives in peace and quiet...together.

Thanks for reading.

This story was wrote in dedication to jd steve.

THE END.