July 23, 2010.

A/N: Here it is, Solacers. The long-awaited and much-needed prologue to the story :)

Finally, the story's going to start like it was supposed to! :D

Enjoy! Please review :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.

Searching for Solace

- PROLOGUE -

April 8, 2007 – 22:48

The night was quiet. A cool wind blew through the small camp, tossing a few stray sparks from the fire into the air. The dead, curled gum leaves crackled and popped as the flames licked the few scraps of foliage they'd managed to scrape together in a messy heap in the middle of the field. Several lonely crickets chirped quietly. The gumtrees sighed in the breeze.

The tension around the fire was palpable. Six teenagers were silent with exhaustion, most gazing tiredly into the glowing coals as they reached their icy fingers towards the inviting warmth of the flames. Days under the blazing Australian sun were unbearably hot, but at night the temperature dropped sharply. There was little cloud coverage; the stars were bright silver in the clear velvet sky.

Across the fire, Mackenzie lay with her head in Morgan's lap, her eyes cast heavenward, blinking sleepily. Daniel, his thumbs rubbing together in a slow routine, watched Morgan running her fingers absently through the other girl's hair out of the corner of his eye. His own fingers twitched reflexively. He glanced away.

Amy was gnawing anxiously on one thumbnail, her eyes flicking warily over the horizon every few seconds. He followed her tense gaze. Were they out there, watching and waiting, when they were finally taking a break from running? Were they assembling even now, as he was thinking, creeping silently towards them, preparing for attack? Tension clenched his stomach muscles. Hatred bubbled in his gut. He exhaled heavily through his nose, dropping his head into his hands.

The grass rustled as Nick moved, reaching for a nearby stick to doodle in the ashes piled around the base of the fire. His eyes were grim as he traced patterns silently, the reflection of the flames dancing languidly in the piercings marking his face. He cleared his throat quietly, not looking up. They rarely spoke at night. They were always too exhausted from being chased, from fighting.

Footsteps hurried towards them, crashing through the field. Daniel tensed, though he knew who was coming. He spotted the slight, black form several hundred metres away, moving quickly. A call pierced the night, echoing back to the camp.

"Move!"

Daniel was already getting up. At the same time she'd called, he'd spotted the shadows shifting in the distance. All attention had snapped towards her voice. Alarm pulsed through the group.

"Get up," Daniel grunted sharply. How many were there? Ten? Twenty? Fifty? He narrowed his eyes, trying to discern their numbers. It was impossible in the dark. He didn't like it one bit; he hated their vulnerability.

Emma was running now, flying across the ground with skimming footsteps. She exploded into distant view, her blonde mane wild, untameable and windswept, her eyes ablaze. Her expression was fierce as ever.

And they were right behind her.

Huge, lumbering beasts, demented shadows with awful, mutated limbs and merciless hunger in their eyes. Amy whimpered. Mackenzie groaned weakly. Morgan swore under her breath. It was possible the creatures had been rabbits at one point. Now they barely resembled their pre-Chimera forms. They bounded towards the group, closing in, Daniel realised, in an ambush. He growled angrily and thrust his hand into his pocket, yanking out his pendant violently.

"Transform!" Emma shrieked, bursting onsite, already in Mew form. "What the fuck is wrong with all of you?" Realising their presence had been detected, the Chimera let loose spine-chilling cries as they advanced, gaining ground and closing the distance. They had to move fast. Their clock was quickly running out of time.

Within second, it was pandemonium, panic running thick like a current of electricity. White light exploded in sporadic bursts, as the teenagers transformed one by one. The Chimera were upon them now, the rabbits accompanied by several enormous caterpillar-like creatures with thick, fuzzy skin. Daniel's neck bristled as one screeched and reared on several of its hind legs.

"What the fuck is that?" Morgan cried in dismay.

Daniel already knew. Fear stabbed frantically at his stomach.

"Move, move, move!" Emma screamed, still pounding toward them. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

With another threatening screech, the caterpillar convulsed once then flicked its oversized head forwards, spitting a huge, blazing fireball in their direction. Amy screamed. They all threw themselves aside. Daniel threw his hands over his head, wincing as the heat rippled overhead, the air sizzling in its wake, the tips of the dried grass instantly catching alight. He scrabbled in the sudden inferno, moving as fast as he could across the ground and trying to gain his feet.

Amy was still screaming – through from pain or fear he could no longer tell. The spitfire shot off another fireball. A nearby gumtree exploded into flame with an earth-trembling crack. Their shouts of shock and horror were drowned in the roar of the fires now spreading with frightening speed. Thick, pungent smoke billowed into the air. The sky glowed orange.

"Max? Max!" Morgan's voice was frantic, anguished. Nearby. Daniel lurched towards her voice. She shrieked, the sound cut short with a sickening thud. One of the mutant rabbits howled fiercely, alarmingly close. Daniel's head snapped back as he looked up, vaguely making out its huge form looming practically overhead. Out of nowhere, a giant paw smashed into the ground, the unnaturally sharp, knife-like claws leaving craters in the earth, merely metres from where he stood.

Morgan was sobbing. "Max!"

Another awful scream of torturous pain was ripped from someone's throat; was it Amy or Nick? He couldn't tell. Daniel's stomach heaved as he stumbled through the blistering smoke, his eyes stinging and watering. It burned in his throat; he choked and pitched forward, somehow managing to narrowly miss a second rabbit-paw attack. The ground was churned up mere inches behind his heel. He kept moving, army-crawling through the grass. He had no idea which direction was which anymore.

He couldn't hear Morgan. He couldn't hear anybody. Only the roar of the bushfire and the war cries of the monsters. Thankfully, the fire and smoke seemed to hinder their tracking abilities; it didn't look like they could detect him underneath the smoke. Daniel crawled on, stabbing his palms on dry branches and slicing his fingers on the sharp blades of dead grass. He felt no pain; adrenaline thudded in his heart and ears, driving him on like a robot.

He heard the rustling right beside him just a little too late and rolled in the opposite direction, summoning his axe at the same time. He propped up fiercely, raising to strike–

"Don't!"

Max's voice was weak but terrified. Daniel instantly dropped the axe – it vaporised into the air – and moved with astonishing speed, forcing the long grass aside until she came into view, lying exhaustedly in the middle of a half-crawl, half-drag. He moved to her side.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded feebly. A rabbit screeched, too close for comfort. Another paw came down somewhere nearby. The ground rumbled. Without hesitating, Daniel pulled himself into a crouch and scooped up Mackenzie's frail body. She didn't protest but curled closer to him, clutching at his shirt with trembling fingers. He could feel her heart beating frantically in her chest. Keeping a firm hold on her, he crashed through the grass, heading in no particular direction, merely away. He had no idea where anyone else was; he could only worry about himself and Max now.

The fire was unbearable. And it was everywhere, pressing in from all sides. His vision was blurring, his head spinning with what he was sure was the onset of asphyxiation, but he struggled on. He'd be damned if he went down at the feet of one of those alien beasts. He clenched his teeth furiously and forced his legs, which suddenly seemed clumsy and detached from his control, through the grass. And then suddenly, they were at the dilapidated fence, and he could see everything.

Fire was spreading into the distance, blazing wildly from field to field so that the horizon was a line of flickering, glowing red, rearing like horses into the night sky. The roar of the flames was deafening. Smoke smudged the heavens brown-black, obscured the stars. The Chimera loomed out of the flames like demons from the pits of hell, fire still exploding from the mouths of the spitfires.

A faint, defeated wailing set his teeth on edge and cringed down his spine. He searched the inferno for the source. Several of the rabbits seemed to be congregated, their attention focused on something. Ice hit his stomach, causing it to cramp painfully. One of them had fallen.

Then, out of nowhere, Emma exploded, a figure of jet black against the burning red, swords drawn and gleaming like glorious liquid silver in the flames, her face twisted with rage driven by insanity and bloodlust. She snarled ferociously, raising the swords, her mouth setting into a hard line, telltale of the fate she had accepted. The wailing intensified. So did the intensity in her eyes. And Daniel realised this could well be the last time he would ever see her alive.

"HAPPY FUCKING EASTER, MOTHERFUCKERS!" Emma screamed wildly, and charged into the fire.

A/N: Read on to learn their story :)

I hope this is an appropriate glimpse into the future, some solid foreshadowing without any spoilers! ;P

Reviews are love.

Until the next update,

Cherrie x