"Smelly human!" a booming voice yelled out from deep within the forest. The loud voice came from a strangely large monkey, taller than any other human, as he hovered over a terrified Miyako with an angry snarl plastered on his face. The shout was so loud that it had caused the blonde's ears to ring a little, she even could have sworn that the monkey's yell was what blew the leaves around them away and startled every other animal away from the forest.

Miyako had always been fond of animals, and animals seem to be just as fond of her as well. When no one else was around, she would find solace in these wonderful creatures, that's one of the reasons she had always frequented the the park and the zoo. This moment was different, however. Though she didn't want to admit it, she had a bad feeling about the huge monkey, and she didn't like it. Maybe she doesn't like this monkey
because of how unusually huge he was, maybe it was because the monkey could talk, or maybe because she could see a cloak of dark mist surrounding his body. One thing she was certain of, however, was that this was no ordinary monkey.

Twigs and branches snapped as Momoko ran through the forest. She didn't know exactly where she was heading, all she had was the sight of a strange dark aura leading her through the trees, getting deeper into the woods. She stopped for a moment as she thought that she had heard something, a deep roaring voice coming from deep within the forest. Momoko looked around. No wind, and yet the leaves are rustling. She took a look up at the sky and saw several flocks of birds fleeing from their nests. A look of concern was on her face as she looked up. Suddenly, there was movement by her feet. She was startled, then was scared when she saw that what had just passed by was a rat. The red head shivered at the thought of a rat running past her feet, but still she looked ahead and tried to forget about it.

"No time to dwell on it, I need to know where that dark aura's coming from," Momoko thought to herself as she tried to calm herself down, but as she continued ahead the rustling leaves got louder. She narrowed her eyes as she figured that something was approaching.

"Eep! Gross gross gross!" Momoko yelled as she moved and swatted her arms around trying to avoid the insects and pests that suddenly emerged from the trees. Buzzing and squeaks were heard from all directions as the pests fleed. Momoko was jumping around panicked and grossed out from all the disease carriers surrounding her. Without realizing, she had just jumped through the branches and leaves above her. She opened her tightly closed eyes only to see that she was above the canopy, and that she was not falling down.

"I can fly now?! What in the world is happening?!" Momoko screamed as she hovered over the trees, pulling her hair in disbelief. Before she could go on any longer with her panick, she heard a scream coming from the direction of the dark aura, but dark aura wasn't all she saw. She looked closer to see that there was someone else with a familiar aura. She thought about it as she realized that it was an aura similar to hers, a white aura. Her eyes widened as she realized that she needed to help whoever that was.

"I'm sorry, mister monkey," Miyako whimpered realizing that she had angered the monkey, and her accidentally trampling over him was probably the reason why. When she was running away in embarrassment from what happened earlier with the stranger she mistook for someone else, she didn't even think about where she was running to, all she thought was that she needed to get away. Before she knew it, she was stepping all over the poor monkey. "I'm really sorry, it was truly an accident, I wasn't looking where I was going and-"

"Hey! You'd better stop whatever you're planning to do to that girl or else!" a female voice suddenly yelled out.

"Please, get out of here! You might get..." Miyako pleaded, not wanting anyone else to get hurt by the potentially dangerous monkey in front of her, but as she turned her head to where the voice came from, she trailed off in disbelief. The voice came from above, and there in the sky Miyako saw a girl with ginger hair flowing in the wind suspended up in mid air.

"Hey! I'm the one that can fly here! You go!" Momoko yelled out as she pointed to herself and gestured for the blonde to escape.

"Another smelly human?!" the monkey shouted as he turned to look up at the flying teen.

"Yeah, come at me dirty monkey!" Momoko taunted as she prepared herself.

"My name is Mojo JoJo!" the monkey shouted as he made a powerful jump, grabbing a hold of the red head's ankle.

"Ahh!" Momoko screamed as she was pulled down, her back slamming on the forest floor. Everything around her was spinning, groaning as she felt the rocks in her back. She planned on dodging the monkey, but it seems that he was faster than she thought. Miyako didn't know what she should do. What could she do? Nothing. Tears were beginning to form once again knowing that someone was getting hurt for her sake.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to that girl?!" a third female voice yelled out. Miyako looked to where the voice came from while Momoko only turned her head still barely comprehending what's happening from her dizziness. From the trees suddenly emerged a short haired teen, a streak of green light following her trail. She girl balled her fist as she made a leap going straight for the monkey.

"You creep!" Kaoru yelled out as her fist made contact with the large figure's body.

"Oof!" Mojo yelped as he felt the powerful impact to his stomach. All air was knocked out of his system as he flew across the clearing and into a tree which then fell down as it broke on impact, hitting his head. Now the giant monkey was out cold on the forest floor.

"Woah, is that supposed to be a monkey?" Kaoru asked as she approached the figure she just attacked, shaking the hand she pushed with to loosen it up.

"M-miss! Are you alright?"

Kaoru turned to see a blonde girl running towards the red head that was attacked by the monkey. The red head was already sitting up, though she was still obviously slightly disoriented as the blonde knelt beside her. She then decided to approach the two.

"So, is she alright?" Kaoru asked pointing to the red head.

"Oh! Thank you so much for your intervention!" the blonde quickly stood up and bowed to Kaoru with gratitude. "I'm Miyako."

"I'm Momoko!" the red head cheerily introduced as if she wasn't just laying dizzy on the ground a few moments ago.

"Kaoru," Kaoru replied. She looked at the other two girls in front of her who were giggling with each other. "I don't need any more girly girls in my life right now."

"What's with that face?" Momoko asked as she pointed at Kaoru.

"What's with those outfits? You in a dance crew or something?" Kaoru asked with slight disgust.

"You're also wearing similar, you tell us!" Momoko sassed putting her hand on her waist.

"No, we don't even really know each other," Miyako innocently answered with a giggle.

"Hey, need I remind you that I'm the one that saved you girly girl from getting pummeled," Kaoru said ignoring the blonde as she shivered from being reminded that she, too, was wearing a skirt.

"The two of us would have been just fine, we have superpowers you know!" Momoko said proudly as she puffed out her chest.

"We do?" Miyako asked still oblivious to the fact.

"Superpowers?" Kaoru asked thinking it was silly of Momoko to think there was such a thing. "Alright, these people are crazy," she thought as she tried to suppress her laughter from the red head's notion. Before she burst out laughing though, her senses were suddenly alerted.

"Yeah, you heard me right!" Momoko said as she continued to bicker, but was suddenly silenced by Kaoru.

"Shut up, something's about to fly in from... That direction!" Kaoru quickly warned as she turned to the direction direction she was referring to.

"Scatter!" Momoko instructed as she saw strange looking bullets flying towards them but it was too late. One by one they were each hit in the neck by a ball shaped bullet which then contorted into a small flat circular patch on their skin. One after the other, they all fell down on the leaf covered soil.

Miyako struggled to keep herself conscious as her kids felt heavy and a sudden tiredness came over her as she fell to the ground. From the bushes she saw two figures emerge, but it was all very blurry and all she heard were indistinct murmurs until she finally blacked out.

"Ken, hurry, we don't know how long until they overcome the tranquilizer," a tall man in a lab coat said as he ran towards the girls. A young boy followed close with a stretcher in hand. He looked around and was startled to see an unconscious giant monkey leaning by a tree close by. They had seen the how the whole thing between the girls and the monkey went from a distance and he knew that the monkey was larger than average, but he didn't realize how huge it actually was until he came close to it. He brought out his tranquilizer gun and shot the monkey once just to be safe, and proceeded towards where the professor was. He laid the stretcher on the ground, and one by one, Ken and the professor transported the four affected by the Z rays to their van.

"Alright then, let's head to the lab quickly to run some tests," the professor said as he closed the back door of the van with everyone loaded in.

"Ugh, my head hurts," Momoko groaned as she began to regain conciousness. She tried to roll over but quickly realized that she can't. "What happened? What's happening?" Momoko took deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She slowly opened her eyes, everything was blurred but her eyes slowly adjusted to focus. She looked around herself and noticed that she was in some sort of glass coffin. She tried to punch and bump the glass but it didn't budge. She looked to her sides and saw on her right was the blonde Miyako, and to her left was the raven haired Kaoru. She also noticed that on the other side of Kaoru was Mojo JoJo, the monkey from earlier. Everyone else were also in their own tight glass cage, all still unconscious besides her. Momoko took a look at the room they were in. It was a bright sunlit room with with a large window, machines and monitors were everywhere, but a large couch in front of a very large monitor made it feel somewhat cozy. She took a closer look at the window and felt a mix of fear and awe as she saw Mount Akunomo right outside in all its glory. It looked so calm that one would not even realize that it had just erupted a while ago. Everyone thought that it had erupted, but looking at the volcano now, it didn't seem to have erupted at all, well, besides the significant amounts of ashfall around, that is.

"Hmm, I wonder why," Momoko wondered, but her lingering on the thought was cut short as she heard footsteps approaching.

"Da- I mean... Professor, you saw how they went against the monkey, didn't you?" a kid's voice spoke from the hallway slowly approaching the room they were in. Momoko thought fast and decided to pretend to still be asleep as she was intrigued and wanted to listen in on the conversation. She heard the footsteps of two different people. She tensed up from nervousness, her eyes closed tightly shut, but quickly relaxed herself so as not to be noticed.

"They can be of great help to us so that we can know more about what the Z rays can potentially do, especially the dark rays," the kid said to this "professor".

"I know, Ken, but they are also affected by Z rays themselves, we can't be sure of what tendencies they can also have as a result," an deeper male voice spoke, who Momoko presumed was the professor the kid was talking to. "We have to extract the chemical Z from them before it causes any harm."

"But they can make for great assets to get a hold of the other Z rays we weren't able to track at the moment," the kid pleaded.

"We don't know if we can trust them Ken, or if they will trust us," the professor replied. After that everything went silent as they heard a shuffling noise from one of the four they retrieved, it was the green one.

"Huh? What the hell happened?" Kaoru groaned. Her eyes slowly opened to reveal green. She was calm at first, but that was only because of the sedative in her system, and it didn't last for long. "Who the hell are you people?! What do you think you're doing?!" she raged as she tried to break through the tight glass cage, quickly realizing that it's not an easy task resorting to glaring daggers at the man and the child in front of her. Both flinched and yelped everytime she bumped into the glass.

"Oh my, what happened?" another groaning was heard. It was Miyako who had woken up due to the commotion, rubbing her temples.

"Where... am I?" groaned Momoko as she pretended to have just woken up.

"These creeps had the nerve to kidnap us!" Kaoru accused as she shuffled more in her glass cage.

"Hey! We aren't creeps and we didn't kidnap you," the kid said as he crossed his arms.

"You haven't seen what these fists can do, kid, now let me out!" the short haired teen exclaimed as she shot her fist towards the glass, but still, the glass didn't budge. The little boy was so startled that he jumped back and a terrified expression was on his face.

"Don't worry, Ken, they're up against multiple layers of reinforced glass, they can't do anything about that," the professor reassured putting his hand on Ken's shoulder.

"Try me," Kaoru growled and punched the glass once more, this time with greater force, a hairline fracture appearing on the glass.

"Alright then, I'll just be over there," Ken squeaked as he nervously walked away from the hot tempered teen and towards the computers.

"Please let us out, this is very much illegal," Miyako pleaded as she clasped her hands together, her blue eyes looking like those of a sad puppy.

"Yeah, you'd better let us out of here, mister, my dad's a cop you know!" Momoko demanded as she started to lose her temper as well.

"Yes, we know," the professor said with a sigh. This put a confused look on each of the girls' faces.

"My Lord, you really are creep," Miyako gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand in shock.

"N-no, you've got the wrong idea!" the professor exclaimed in denial. "We needed to do some research on all of you because, you see, the four of you, including the monkey, have all absorbed the experimental Chemical Z," the professor calmly explained. This was followed by a short moment of silence, then a highly animated burst of emotions from the three girls.

"I hate science!" Kaoru raged as she punched the glass around her, imaginary flames shooting out of her mouth.

"We're going to be used as science experiments!" Momoko exclaimed, pulling her long hair as she thought of all the horrible experiments they would be put through.

"We might never get out of here!" Miyako cried out as she knelt down on her knees with overly exaggerated tears flowing from her eyes.

"No no no, we're not going to harm you!" the professor panicked as he tried to calm the three girls down.

"Professor! You need to see this!" Ken suddenly called out from the background.

"Not now, Ken! I'm busy here!" the professor replied as he was still trying to calm the girls who were still having their tantrums.

"But a Z ray has been detected, and it's coming right towards the lab!" Ken exclaimed as he ran in front of the professor to get his attention and pointed out of the window where the Z ray was calculated to land.

"What?! Why now?! We haven't even figured out how to capture the Z rays!" the professor panicked as well until he looked to where Ken was pointing, and laying there on the ground outside was Ken's red and yellow toy dog. "The toy!" he exclaimed then thought, "Maybe that can contain the Z ray for the meantime. Plus this would be a chance to see how the rays could affect inanimate objects!"

"The toy?" Ken bobbed his head to the side confused. He then looked outside, his eyes widening as he saw that Peach was right where the Z ray would land. "No no no no no, Peach!" Ken said in panick. He can't have that. What if the Z ray turns Peach evil like what it did to the monkey? Peach has too much of a sentimental value to just be doomed to wreaking havock. Ken, acting on impulse, ran out of the lab, and one could only guess what he's planning to do.

"Kid!"

"Young citizen!"

"Little boy!"

Each of the girls exclaimed as they snapped out of their exaggerations to try and stop the impulsive child, Momoko snappjng her finger when the kid failed to listen. The three looked through the window. Everything was getting brighter.

"Ken, wait! You might get hurt! Not again!" the professor frustratedly groaned as he immediately ran after the boy. This was the second time today that he has had to run after his son before he does something reckless. The last time he failed to stop his reckless son, it resulted in everything that's going on right now, but this time, he can't fail as he thought of what could possibly happen to his son if he does.

"I'm coming, Peach!" Ken exclaimed as he burst through the metal door exiting the building. Once he was outside he had to cover his eyes with his arm since it was getting too bright. He squinted his eyes, and his heart raced as he saw Peach laid on the grass, the bright ray of light coming in sight as if it was in slow motion.

"Ken!" he heard the professor call from behind. Ken took a deep breath as he move forward, prepared to make a big stride to try and save Peach, but his head bobbed as his body suddenly felt bound. He can't move forward. He could only watch in horror until the light was only centimeters away from his toy when the sight was eclipsed with a body clothed in green.

A loud blast was heard, leaves rustled as blades of grass, twigs, and pebbles flew towards them. He fell down to the ground, though nothing had hit him. He could only look up at the tall, raven haired teen as she shielded him from the flying debris, her back facing towards him. He looked down at his torso to see that he had been bound with a yo-yo, it's string wrapped around him several times. He traced where it could have come from, and saw that at the other end of the string was the long haired ginger holding the yo-yo with one arm and was slightly bent over as she shielded herself with the other. He then turned his head a little and saw that the professor was also being protected from debris by the twin tailed blonde. All three girls were there.

Everything had moved so fast, and yet it he could remember everything that had happened in the short period of time. He just sat there silent as he looked in awe of the acts of the three as they protected him and his dad. Everything was silent as he had seemingly come to a realization that this was only the beginning of a near future to be protected by heroes. He got up from the ground and opened his mouth, but before he could get any words out, an unexpected bark was heard snapping him out of a momentary daze as he remembered that he went out there for his toy dog.

"Peach!" Ken called out as he went around the girl shielding him and waved through all the dust and dirt kicked up by the force of the light. He really felt silly at the moment. Calling out for an inanimate toy's name, he shouldn't be expecting a response. "Peach! Gosh, where are you?" Ken called out once more as if the toy was just going to magically get up and run to him if he did. Little did he realize that a small object on all fours was already making its way towards him.

"Ahh!" yelped out the boy as a small creature had jumped onto his face with a bark. Ken fell down on his back, his arms extended upwards as he held the miniature assaulter away from his face which continued to bark. "I must be dreaming," Ken said as he shook his head, unable to believe his eyes and ears.

"Ken!" the professor called out from the background. The tall silhouette of a male emerged as the kicked up dirt started to settle and clear the air. He turned his head as if he was looking for something, and when he did he found Ken. The professor ran towards the child that was laying on the ground with a worried look on his face, but he stopped midway as he saw that the once inanimate little toy dog his son owned was now barking and moving about in his son's hands. "Well I'll be...," that was all he could get out as he looked.

"What's happening, you guys? Woah," Momoko asked as the three of them approached closer to the scene, only be stuck in place as she saw not only the kid with the moving toy dog, but also the shallow, one meter diameter crater that the boy was laying in.

"What the? Why is there a hole?" Kaoru raised her brow.

"The toy dog is alive!" Miyako excitedly squealed as she looked at the adorable little dog.

The dog that was just happily barking in Ken's arms suddenly took notice of the additional presence. It stopped barking and took a look at each of the three girls, an unreadable expression on its face. Well how could you read a moving toy's face. Everyone was silent as they didn't know what could happen next. Will it turn hostile? Will it try to scare everyone off? The dog didn't act like that with Ken, but who knows how it would react with the three girls? They all do have chemical Z in their systems now, effects of which they aren't really all very sure about.

The professor waited anxiously for what changes could suddenly happen. To the left of the professor were the three girls who then stood together, prepared for what could go on with the change of atmosphere. Suddenly, the toy dog leaped out of the young boy's grip and charged towards the girls with a bark. The three girls flinched in place as they failed to mentally prepare for an attack, but everyone then suddenly had a look of shock when the dog didn't charge in to attack the girls, in fact, it seems like the dog was excited to see the girls as it ran around the three jumping and barking.

"Aww, he is just like a normal dog! Peach was it?" Miyako exclaimed as she knelt down to the ground taking the toy dog in her embrace and letting it lick her face.

"Woah, I can't believe it's actually alive," Kaoru said in amazement as she peered over the blonde's shoulder to look at the toy dog.

"Can I pet him next? Can I?" Momoko childishly asked as she knelt next to Miyako, earning an eye roll from Kaoru.

"Hey, in case you forgot, I'm the owner here," the dark haired boy reminded as he approached the three teens. "Come here, Peach!" he called, kneeling down as the dog ran into his arms then stood back up.

"We don't even know who you are," Kaoru said as she glared looking down at the short boy.

"Yeah," Momoko and Miyako simultaneously said as they remembered that the pair of scientists basically kidnapped them.

"And yet you still rushed in to save him," the tall man said as he approached the girls. He looked down at the young boy who was then also looking up at him. The professor nodded while the kid's face seemed to show shock, but it seemed good. The girls only looked confused at the two until the professor turned and faced them.

"I am Professor Drake Utonium, you girls can just call me professor. I am a volcanologist and chemist assigned to monitor Mount Akunomo," the professor introduced as he gestured towards the massive volcano nearby.

"And I'm Ken Kitazawa, thank you for showing your concern for my safety. With that, I think we have a proposition for you girls," Ken thanked formally. The girls looked confused, first at Ken, then at the professor.

"That's right. Please follow me to the lab, I think a proper explanation is in order."