"RIBBON! MINTO ECHO!"

Mew Minto shot her attack angrily at the gigantic grasshopper that she was fighting. The kirema anima leaped quickly out of the way, only to rebound twice as fast and land on her. She shouted as she fell, scratching a deep gash in her arm from the anima's claws. Suddenly, it was yanked off of her.

"RIBBON! ZAKURO SPEAR!" The grasshopper shrieked in pain as Mew Zakuro's attack squeezed it into sparks and dust. Mew Minto got up slowly and brushed herself off, looking at her onee-sama with adoration.

"Thank you, onee-sama! That was a great attack!" Zakuro looked down at her little companion and half-smiled.

"Keep your guard up, Mew Minto. The alien wouldn't have gotten you if you were more careful."

Mew Minto's eyes popped into sparkles and she smiled widely. "Of course, onee-sama!" She and Zakuro ran off to the others, who were completely surrounded by animas.

"RIBBON! MINTO ECHO!"
"RIBBON! ZAKURO SPEAR!"

The animas hissed and backed away as they turned to face this new enemy. Mew Lettuce, Mew Pudding and Mew Ichigo took their chances to attack them while their backs were turned.

"RIBBON! LETTUCE RUSH!"
"RIBBON! PUDDING RING INFERNO, NA NO DA!"

The aliens squealed piteously as they were battered with geysers and then encased in glowing orange cylinders of jello. One could almost feel sorry for them.

"RIBBON!"

Almost.

"STRAWBERRY CHECK!"

The aliens were engulfed in pink spheres that rose up, sparkling, before destroying the animas within them. The Mews dissolved back into their normal forms as they watched the last of the aliens shrink. Masha suddenly flew up to collect the small aliens that were left behind. Pudding stretched happily.

"Another job well done, na no da!" Lettuce smiled at the youngest member.

"Yes, but where did all these animas come from so suddenly?"

Ichigo frowned. "I don't know … Keiichiro-san and Ryou were looking for the source, but I don't think they've found it yet …"

Mint yawned lazily. "Well, we'd better get back. They might have some results by now."

The five girls trudged back toward Café Mew Mew. What they didn't see was a pair of red eyes watching them from the shadows.

The eyes narrowed as their owner smirked. "So these are the Mew Mews that the king was talking about?" The eyes slowly retreated, disappearing into the shadows.

"They have no clue of what's in store for them …"

~::*::~::*::~

Ryou leaned back in his computer chair and shook his head. "No, nothing. No signs of anything on the planet other that the animas."

Mint crossed her arms. "Did you even look in the right places? There's no way that the animas could create themselves, you know."

Ryou raised an eyebrow at her. "I've searched every spot in Japan and the neighboring continents for aliens. Keiichiro has also helped me look with satellites for any signs of them, but still, nothing." Ryou sighed, rubbing his temples. "So yes, I believe that we've searched in all the right places."

Mint frowned as Ichigo leaned forward a bit. "But surely there's some spot left that you haven't looked in!" Just as she was finishing the sentence, Keiichiro came in with seven cups of tea. He placed the tray on the desk beside the computer and smiled at Ichigo.

"We haven't finished searching yet, but we have a hint of who might be creating the animas."

Lettuce's eyes widened. "A-aliens?"

Ichigo scowled. "So, they dared to come back, huh?"

Pudding's eyes were wide with confusion. "But I thought we made peace last time, na no da! Why would they attack us now, no da?"

Ryou shook his head, lips set thinly. "Not Pai, Kisshu and Taruto. We're talking about some different aliens. Some who want to destroy the Earth. Destroy us."

Mint's eyes narrowed worriedly. "So that means …"

"…that we need more help." Ryou finished, eyes set on the computer screen.

~::*::~::*::~

"Aw, Pai … I was having the best dream ever and you just woke me up."

Kisshu glared at his taller companion from where he was sprawled upside-down across the swivel-seat. Pai glanced down at him blankly and turned back to the controls for the ship.

"I am sure that the dream will come back to you. 85.9 percent of dreams recur to one while he sleeps, and 28.7 percent of those dreams are not nightmares." Pai pressed a button that caused the ship to move forward. "So I am afraid that you will just have to wait for your, ah, 'best dream ever'. Hopefully it is in the 'not nightmares' category."

Taruto strutted into the room, looking extremely pleased with himself. Kisshu smirked and rotated right-side-up in the swivel chair.

"Aww, Taru-Taru, did you finally use the potty all by yourself?"

Taruto instantly turned and angry shade of puce. "Shut up! For your information, I just crossbred a Venus Fly-thingie with a Swiper Vine! I call it: the Venus Swiper!" Taruto ended his announcement with one arm raised in a glorified position. When he got no applause, he huffed and dropped his arm. "You idiots! The thing can lash out at anyone a bite their head off! You're supposed to applaud!"

Kisshu snickered, reached over and flicked Taruto on the forehead. Taruto snarled and whirled on him angrily. Kisshu sighed, bored, and lounged back in his chair.

"Yeah, yeah, little Tart just made another discovery. Who cares? You barge in every few days of the week squealing about making a new plant. Well FYI, no one cares anymore. Most of you little creations are useless anyways." Taruto swelled up angrily with every word Kisshu said, and finally he popped, leaping at the lounging alien.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"Not in a lifetime, twerp."

"OOOOOOOH!"

A pulsing tic mark appeared above Pai's head as he angrily whirled on his two scuffling companions. "WILL YOU PLEASE! I'M TRYING TO FORMULATE THE CORRECT ORDER OF BUTTONS!"

Kisshu and Taruto froze, staring at Pai in shock. Pai, truth be told, looked a little surprised at himself. He turned back toward the controls, silently initiating a lightboost. As the countdown began, he sat in his seat and sighed.

"I advise you two to put on a seat belt."

"Lightboost initiating in 10 …"

Kisshu and Taruto scrabbled over the seatbelt to the chair.

"Hey, twerp, I was here first!"

"9 …"

"Meh, who cares? I'm a kid so my safety comes before all!"

"8 …"

Kisshu stopped squirming and smirked. "You just said it."

"7 …"

"What?"

"6 …"

"You just admitted that you were a kid."

"5 …"

"W-WHAT? I-I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

"4 …"

Kisshu giggled. "Hahaha! Course you didn't … kid."

"3 …"

Taruto flushed with rage. "Gimme that belt!"

"2 …"

Pai sat back in his seat.

"1 …"

Kisshu and Taruto froze. Suddenly they started scrabbling madly for the belt.

"Nononononooooo!"

"Lightboost initiated."

And Kisshu and Taruto were thrown mercilessly into the wall and then squashed by the very chair that they had been arguing over. Pai sighed and gripped the arms of his chair.

"Tokyo Mew Mew, here we come."