No Need For a Slumber Party

Day Three

by

Bryan Weber and Glyph Bellchime.

Disclaimer: The characters appearing within are the property of their respective 
creators and owners, and are used without permission. We are not making a profit 
on this, so please don't sue us. This is just for fun, and out of love of the 
characters.

Bryan's note: This work is the culmination of months of hard work and shared 
writing between Glyph and myself. I owe the TMFFA a debt of gratitude for 
playing a role in our meeting.



Morning:
(Ok, Ok, more like noon... What? Everyone was up really late the day before!!)

Bryan had been awake for hours. He'd slipped out of the room when the others 
were asleep and made his way to the lab, looking for a cure to his current, 
Jusenkyo induced state. He found it not in the Jusenkyo samples, but rather in 
the water of Togenkyo Island.
"Problem is, I can't use it without falling to the love potion again, not until 
later."
"Not so, Bryan," Zod interjected, "Remember, if you were to use the powers of 
the Megami aboard, you could affect the molecular structure of the pill with a 
mere thought."
"Why didn't you say so before?"
"You never asked."
"Shut up. And brew me a pot of time released coffee, while you're at it."

Glyph stirred from her slumber to smell a pot of fresh coffee. An admitted, and 
unrepentant caffeine addict, she quickly followed her nose to the rich Colombian 
blend. Bryan was sitting in the lab, no longer in girl form. Glyph approached 
apprehensively.
"Sleep well?" she asked, ready to bolt on a moment's notice if he was even 
slightly affected by the love potion.
"Well enough," he smiled, offering her a cup of coffee, "Relax, it's regular 
stuff. Washuu drank all my specialty blend yesterday."
"Speaking of drinking things," Glyph sipped her coffee, "What about the love 
potion?  It hasn't been twenty-four hours. Has it?"
"I've accessed Belldandy's powers. I don't know enough about the pill to safely 
change it to something else, but I can hold it in check until it runs its 
course...provided that I concentrate on doing it. But..."
"Bryan, was it just the love potion talking?"
"I...I don't know. I know you and Andrew are together. I never would have done 
what I did if not for the love potion. But I...I don't know if it just took 
control...or if it made me aware for the very first time of something I was too 
blind to notice. Maybe it's still affecting me slightly, and that's why I feel 
this way. I don't have a simple answer."
"And if it's not the love potion?"
Bryan noticed that they were standing a LOT closer to each other. He held her 
shoulders and looked into her eyes, "Would it bother you if it weren't?"
Glyph had a very intelligent reply. "Uh... can I get back to you on that one?"
She set down the coffee cup. Considering, she backed up, making Bryan let go. 
Glyph now was very confused...
	She looked at him, squarely. But in her mind she was in a tumult...
	"Ummm, Bryan..." he looked at her. She faulted, "Just remember about 
setting up in the holotheater later, all right?"
	When she got into the hall, she felt her heart beating pretty fast. She 
leaned into the wall. Her hand crept to her chest. "This can't be happening," 
she whispered. "What is he seeing in me? Is it the pill...or isn't it? Oh, 
Bryan-kun...Drew-hon, one of you guys are going to lose, big time...Too bad 
Harry Harrison didn't have a solution for this!"

Cypher reformed into his humanoid self, just a he noticed REBB waking as well. 
Fuzzy bounded onto his stomach. "Hey there, girl..." he cuddled the little 
creature close. As he got up, the creature went limp and purred. "You wanna play 
a game, girl, do ya? Let's play wake up..." With that he took the little blue 
thing down the hall, and as he passed, he put on the audio system the most 
pleasant wake up call...
"Say Yes" by the Replicants.

	On the Drummond, the girls were finally waking up. Ryoko stretched, and 
yawned. The other girls were starting to do the same. Linna had apparently 
returned sometime during the night, and had set the gallon bucket of finished 
ice cream next to her bed. Ryoko smiled. "Dibs on the shower," Ukyo jumped up, 
and out of the room.

	"Let me in," Akane barked to the little machine in front of the kitchen 
door. The message it was saying was getting on her nerves.
"Sorry, Akane-chan," Glyph's voice came over the intercom. "After yesterday, 
STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN!"
"Hmph!" Akane snorted.

Fuzzy came across the sleeping forms of Ryoga and Duo first. Fuzzy liked Ryoga, 
even if Cypher only liked him part of the time. She crawled onto his chest, over 
to his face, and started playing "Swat". This cat game is where she swatted at 
the sleeper's nose. Ryoga's nose was a prime target.
Swat!
Swat!
Swat!

BAM!
Ryoga reached out and hit the creature like a very loud alarm clock. Fuzzy, 
although thickheaded for a critter, didn't exactly take too well to Ryoga's 
response. Her eyes crossed, and she sidestepped getting out the door. It would 
be a while before she liked him again.

The guys were showing that two bathrooms were not going to be enough. Shinji and 
Tenchi were both groggily brushing their teeth at one of the sinks. Inu-Yasha 
came in, and started to drink out of the sink. He had his head low, scooping it 
to his face.
Suddenly, he felt something sticky hitting him in the back of the head.
"Whoops," Tenchi muttered.

Zechs, Harlock, and Ranma were all doing their morning exercises. Zechs was in 
the midst of doing several one-handed push-ups when Gai Daigohji made the 
announcement that breakfast was ready.

Andrew took his towel and headed out the bathroom door. He gave a few swipes at 
his face, and then moved up to his hair. He was going to head for the Drummond 
to see if Glyph was awake yet.
Suddenly, a form stopped in front of him. It took a minute, then ducked from his 
view. Andrew paused. He stared. Had that been...Bryan?
He walked down the hall. Then he heard a shuffle, and thought he saw a hand. He 
trailed after what he had heard.
A dark head quickly moved around the corner. "Hey! Bryan!" he called.
But the figure was gone!

Rei came into the mess hall wearing a black T-shirt with the Decepticon logo on 
it, and a pair of knee length shorts. She was quickly followed by Asuka, who 
looked as if she hadn't slept very well after her run-in with the psychic 
Pokemon.
Sasami came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of French toast. She looked to be 
struggling with the heavy tray, but she needn't have worried. The load was 
lightened considerably long before she made it to the table.
"Can't you guys even wait until you're properly served?" she asked. She received 
no answer, as everyone was busy eating.
Sasami turned to Ryo-Ohki, "Good thing I ate before I served them."
"Miya," Ryo-Ohki confirmed.

Ryoga finally trundled up to the sink, and yawned. He grabbed one of the 
disposal glasses and started to brush his teeth. He caught the other guys 
washing up.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of something drinking by lapping at the water.
"Ah! Something's drinking out of the toilet!" Duo yelped.
All eyes darted to Inu-Yasha, who was brushing his hair.
"What?" he glared back.
"Think about it, dog-boy," Duo smiled.
"Found it," Shinji pulled the little pokemon loose from the rim.

Vegeta was rifling through his duffel bag, "Has anyone seen my razor?"
"Nope," Ryoga said, "Is it important?"
"I can't stand having a five o'clock shadow. Nobody had better be using it, or 
else."
"When a Saiya-jin says 'or else'," Tenchi muttered to Shinji, "They usually mean 
business."
"Don't look at me," Shinji replied, "I'm too young to shave."

Duo and Inu-Yasha noticed Ranma coming in for the morning. There was a cruel 
smile when Duo picked up a towel.
He started to flick it at Ryoga's back.
"Cut it out," Ryoga growled.
Inu-Yasha whipped his out, catching Ranma's backside. Ranma whipped around.
Duo got thump in on Ryoga's rump.
"I'm warning you, you better quit!" Ryoga yipped.
Ranma picked up a handtowel.
Ryoga grabbed a big bathtowel.
Duo got one last flick in.
"Katchu tenshin amugeriken, WET NOODLE STYLE!" Ranma roared.
snapsnapsnapsnapsnapsnapsnapsnap...
WA-POW!
The holographic Dr. Tofu scratched his head as he looked at the two boys. Duo 
had a huge bruise across his chest and shoulder, while Inu-Yasha had a series of 
small welts on his face and wrists.
"How in the..."
Both boys started together. "Never challenge the Ranma Crew to a towel fight!"

Andrew fled down the hall, running towards the lounge. He had seen Bryan in his 
guy form, dodging him. Was there an accident? He ran after where he had seen 
him. He told the other guys he might need their help looking for him.

Most of the girls were now on the JEDRI, looking for Glyph. Andrew met them at 
the airlock, and they began looking for their missing comrades.

Bryan and Glyph were both across the room from each other.  She dropped the 
plate she had been carrying.
Bryan spoke first, "I overstepped my bounds earlier."
"Well," She fumbled, "You're probably not yourself yet." She found her fingers 
coming together in a very nervous position. She put them behind her back.
Bryan walked over to her, his deep brown eyes gazing into her soft blue ones, "I 
do care about you, you know." They were so close now.
>This is a mistake< Glyph's brain told her, >You know what's going to happen!!<
>Would that be so bad?< her heart responded.
"Bryan..."
Bryan felt nervous. He'd never done anything like this before, and it was all 
instinct now.
	"Glyph," he paused, searching for the right words, "Kiss me, please."
>Okay, that was blunt!< She blinked, then found him very close to her.>It has to 
be the pill talking!<

Glyph paused, pressing her hands against the wall. She held taunt. Bryan gently 
took her face into his hands. He brought her closer to him. Glyph's hands left 
the wall, and had to put hers around his shoulders.
Their lips met.
She felt a tingle, within her toes. She felt a flutter, and her eyes closed.
>No, no, no< her mind yelped at her.
>Yesssssss< her heart said in response.
She sunk.

Their lips parted, as Glyph let out a surprised gasp. Suddenly, Bryan was 
whipped around and dragged forward by his shirt. Andrew glared at him, close 
range and enough to see the red underneath the green of Andrew's eyes. Since 
Bryan was about three inches taller than Andrew, this was a pretty good feat.
"You had better be on the pill!" he growled.
The others were open-mouthed. Even Asuka had nothing to say in her surprise.
Bryan squeaked out, "You know that could be taken as..."
"I KNOW HOW IT CAN BE TAKEN!" Andrew yelled.
Okay...Bryan thought.

Glyph appeared in-between them. She pushed the two guys apart. Then her hand 
suddenly reached out and smacked Bryan sharp across the face. His head reeled.
"Ooo, that'll leave a mark," Vegeta muttered.
Suddenly, she did the same to Andrew! The young man stared at her stunned.
"Wha?" Ryoga blurted.

Her eyes abruptly watered. Glyph turned from the both of them, crying. She ran 
from the room. The anime characters were stunned.
"What go do now?" Pathos blurted.
"Nothing like this ever happened on Gekigengar," Gai said in hushed tones.
The others looked at him nervously. Linna did them the favor of walloping him in 
the head.
"Thank you," Ayeka said sharply.

The anime characters made a decision that somebody had to talk to Glyph...who, 
however, couldn't be decided on...
"I could probably go," Ranma volunteered after Shinji got talked out of it.
"Who are you to talk, Mr. I-have-four-girls-who-claim-to-be-my-fianc‚?" several 
people spoke up. Though the number was varied, Ranma shut up do to the fact that 
the others had a point.
Ukyo finally crossed her arms and sighed. "I'll go. I know Glyph better than 
most of you...But where would she be?"
Cypher tilted his head. "I think I know."

When they got to the holotheater on the JEDRI, they had a slight shock. The 
theater was locked down, but a stunned figure looked up from the sitting 
position he was in. He struggled to his feet.
"Tsubasa?" Ranma blurted.
Apparently, when Glyph shut down the Maze program, Tsubasa must have tried 
something. Glyph had shoved him outside with a cut lip, a black eye, and a few 
other scratches, scrapes and contusions, and whatever dress he had been in, was 
torn.
Ryoga looked down at the mess. "Who?" he asked.
Vegeta smirked. "You must have not met yet..."
Ryoga now turned a cool gaze to Ranma. "Friend of yours?"
"Hardly!"
Now they heard the thumping beat of some tune coming through the wall.
"She-she's MAD!" Tsubasa finally blurted. His eyes were open in fright.
"No kidding," Cypher muttered.

	Bryan was aboard the Drummond, staring out the window into space. He heard 
a footstep behind him, and then saw Andrew's reflection in the glass.
	"The gym. Now." Andrew said. He turned on his heel and was gone. Bryan 
sighed.

Time to pay the piper.

	Of course, word spread quickly among the men what was going on.
	Bryan was halted by Cypher, as he was about to go in, "Bryan, as a 
changeling, I know that change is a part of life, and nothing is permanent. So I 
can understand why what happened, happened."
	"So you don't blame me?"
	"Are you kidding? I've known Andrew and Glyph for a long time now. I hope 
he beats the snot out of you."
	"Thanks. I needed that." Bryan's tone was flat.
	"Anytime."

	Ukyo found Glyph sitting in her favorite relaxation program, a tire swing 
hung from the branch of a mighty tree. She swung with her feet high into the 
air, pumping hard. A child playing hopscotch ignored the two older girls.
	"Wanna talk about it?" Ukyo asked.
	"Not really," Glyph said.
	"Fair enough," Ukyo said, sitting down beside the swing.
	"Ukyo, I don't know what's wrong with me..."
	"Well, Bryan did get fresh. He had it coming."
	"No. You don't understand. I enjoyed that kiss," She paused, realizing 
what she was about to say,  "I mean, I really, really enjoyed it."
	"Well then, why'd you slap him? And why'd you slap Drew?"
	Glyph finally looked at her. "Like I said, I don't know what's wrong with 
me. I thought it was because Drew-hon knows that I don't want my battles fought 
for me." Glyph stopped the swing. "I don't know anymore..."

	"Explain, now," Andrew said, looking at Bryan as the two stood face to 
face in the center of the gym.
	"I can't," Bryan said in a silent tone.
	On the sidelines, the guys had divided into three groups. One group felt 
that Bryan had gone way over the line, and was cheering for Andrew to clean his 
clock. The second group felt that Bryan had been acting under the influence of 
the love potion, and that the slap had been punishment enough. The third group 
felt that it was none of their business anyway. Vegeta held the others at bay, 
save for REBB, who wasn't afraid of the Saiya-jin prince. But he was halted, 
oddly enough, by the ramblings of Gai Daigohji.
"Don't you know that it's really, really rude to interrupt a duel of honor 
between men?!"
Then even Gai was drowned out.
"I trusted you. You were my friend. So was it the love potion, or was this your 
idea?"
Andrew, for all his credit, when he was angry enough, looked quite fierce. His 
red hair seemed like a blaze. But Bryan remained stoic.
"I can't answer that, so let's go with the assumption that it was my idea... 
What happens now?"
"I love her, damn you! What gives you the right!?" His fist shot out, catching 
Bryan in the mouth.
Bryan staggered a bit, then wiped his mouth. He stood straight again.
"I deserved that," he said, "Now, you'll listen to what I have to say. What 
happened was...not planned. It just happened. Glyph already gave me an answer, 
when she slapped me. She made it clear that I was not invited, and that was 
that."
"Yeah? Well in case you weren't paying attention, I got one too. So what does 
that mean?"

"I really don't know..."

"Ukyo, how do things get so complicated?"
"Ya got me. I went to Nerima looking to squish Ranma-honey for what happened 
when we were kids, and I end up his 'cute' fianc‚."
"Yeah, well, you and Ranma weren't together for as long as me and Drew. I 
thought I knew where everything stood. I had it all figured out. So what is 
going on?"
"Bryan is unique," Ukyo shrugged, "He's no Sean Connery, but he's got manners."
"Ukyo, Bryan didn't just kiss me. That kiss...it was mutual."
"Oh, I see," Ukyo paused.  "That does make it tough."
"I just wish I knew if it was really Bryan, or the pill."
"Well, you could always ask Zod."
"Zod?"
"Sure. Isn't he based off of Bryan's brain? He'd know Bryan without any of the 
clutter that gets in the way, like unexpected love potions."
Glyph finally smiled. "You know, Ukyo, the others gotta give you more credit. 
Just because you balance a lot more than the rest of us, doesn't mean that 
you're blind to anything else but okonomiyaki."
"Well, you keep saying that to solve my dilemma, that I should interested more 
in that baka-brained Ryoga..."
"Hey, just because he is a lot more closer to your personality than anyone 
else's... and your experiences are pretty close. You've got some things under 
your belt that..."
Ukyo cracked a smile. "Aren't we supposed to be handling your problem, hon?"
Glyph finally chuckled, but then turned a little serious. "Uh, how do we access 
Zod, anyway?"
"I guess we gotta ask the guy to know..."

Meanwhile, the duel got a little heavier.
"I'm not interested in fighting," Bryan said.
"I'm not a big fan of it, either," Andrew replied, "But you crossed the line."
Andrew and Bryan both had picked up lances, equipped with a hook on one end and 
a spike on the other. These were holographic, but they still could inflict 
damage. Zechs had said, if you're to do something, do it right.
The only thought Bryan had to that was...>Geez, Zechs, thanks, later I'm gonna 
find an airlock to shove you out of!< Andrew didn't do any fancy moves as  he 
wielded it.
Harlock came to the center, acting as referee. The two men started on their 
toes.

"Hai! Atare-e!" he called.

Andrew made no sound as he connected with the opposing lance. He then felt the 
floor as the hook end shot out and grabbed his ankle. He pushed off of his back, 
and was on his feet, giving a grunt as the other lance now shoved into his.
Bryan soon found out that what Andrew lacked in speed, he made up with strength, 
stamina, and adrenaline from his anger. His eyes had gone from green to black.  
Bryan made the decision he had better make this a short fight, or he was going 
to be on the losing end.
Then the lance shot by his ear, about catching his glasses.
"Need to avoid those," he muttered. Then he caught Andrew by the ankle again. 
This time though, Andrew used the thrust and struck out with a kick.

Glyph and Ukyo raced the gym on the Drummond once they figured out what the guys 
were doing. They had to break it up before...

Bryan suddenly felt a sharp stab of pain when his head rocked to the side. His 
glasses went another direction. He fell, blinded.
Yet, his senses were always heightened due to the lack of his sight. He heard 
where they clattered, and used his lance to shield the oncoming blow. He tried 
to dig for them...
"Hey! Wait!" one of the guys called out.
"Computer..."

Andrew couldn't stop his thrust. So when Glyph got between them, he froze. Her 
form paused; she covered her face to keep from being hit there. The lance struck 
her...
Bryan looked up, only seeing shapes. He felt around until he touched the 
familiar outline of his glasses. Even with the sore spot between his eyes, he 
got them on, quickly.
Glyph fell onto her knees, holding her side, and looked up at Andrew. "You 
jackass!" Ukyo blurted.
Andrew was still frozen in shock.

He had never hurt Glyph, at least not physically, since meeting her.  She had 
made him promise that. He guessed at her reasons why...
But then the spell broke as Glyph began to laugh, it was a low chuckle, but it 
was enough to fracture the trance he was in.

Nani?

She removed her hand from where he assumed she had started to bleed. There was 
nothing there! "You dummy," she muttered before she got up.
And then Andrew looked up and noticed all the guys were sprawling on the floor. 
Someone had materialized bleachers before the match, but now the guys were 
getting up from falling onto the floor, when someone stopped the program. A few 
were rubbing their behinds from where they had struck the floor. Ow! Ouch! 
Andrew heard their yelps from across the room. Ryoko was to the side, and 
grinning slightly.
"And that's why you don't finish a program sitting down," she muttered, rather 
pleased.
Vegeta hovered down beside her, "Not all of us are gravity bound."
She and he grinned. Flying did have its advantages, as each knew well.

"The lance had dematerialized before it even touched me, Drew," Glyph shook her 
head. "Do you guys always gotta be beating each other's heads in before any 
sense comes in?"
Bryan now was getting to his feet. Glyph didn't look at him as she told of what 
Ukyo had said.

"I'm not stupid. I can guess what sparked this. Drew, honey, I know you're 
upset, but before you go bashing Bryan's head in, I want you to consider that he 
might not have been himself. Not even he knows. But there's one person on this 
ship who might. Zod."
Bryan recognized the truth behind what she was saying, "He's me with none of the 
self-delusions that people use to protect themselves. My brain, just a thousand 
times faster. I plug into that system on a regular basis. He knows what I won't 
even tell myself."
"So, how do I go about asking him?" Glyph asked.
"The core at the center of the saucer section. He's stored in there. Just ask 
him directly."
"Aren't you coming with?" Andrew asked Bryan, as he started walking towards the 
exit of the gym.
"I'm going to have Kasumi look at this bruise," And then, after the door closed 
behind him, he added under his breath, "And I'm not sure I'm ready to hear the 
answer."

The girls were all gossiping as they hit the showers.
"So what do you think, Rei?" Ayeka asked.
"I do not think Andrew should be there when Zod tells them what is on Bryan's 
mind...or in his heart."
"Why's that?" Asuka asked.
	"Simple," Belldandy replied, "If the computer truly knows how Bryan feels, 
then it is a window into his soul, and for Andrew to see what is most private to 
Bryan would be an invasion of privacy."
"Still," Akane said, "I don't think it's right for someone to interfere in a 
working relationship."
"So why Akane always butt in with Shampoo and Ranma?" Shampoo sniped.
"I WAS ENGAGED TO HIM FIRST!" Akane said, then, realizing her words flushed a 
deep red.
"What all of you fail to realize," Washuu said, "Is that Glyph may actually 
reciprocate those feelings. Human beings are complex creatures, and love is the 
most complex part of life itself."

Ukyo and Glyph stood outside the central block of Zod's memory banks. Andrew had 
remained outside. He didn't want to hear what the computer had to say, knowing 
full well that it was a glimpse into another person's most private memories and 
thoughts. He wouldn't want anyone reading his journal.

"You didn't tell Andrew everything," Ukyo said softly, "You didn't mention that 
the kiss was mutual."
"If it's just the love potion, then it's a moot point," Glyph said.
"You don't think it is, do you?" Ukyo said. It was phrased as a question, but 
Ukyo's tone of voice made it clear that she already knew the answer.
"Let's just do this, okay, Zod?"
The cylindrical room glowed blue. A hologram of Bryan appeared in the center of 
the room, "Yes?"
"Zod, I need to ask you a question about Bryan."

Duo and Gai were both plugged into Zod's external frame with help from Lain and 
Skuld.
"Ten bucks says Bryan is," Duo said.
"I'll take that bet," Skuld replied.
"Will you all be quiet," Lain's more assertive personality surfaced, "I can't 
hear!"
"The suspense is killing me," Gai said.

"Miss Bellchime, all information regarding my creator's mind is restricted. I 
cannot divulge what I know."
"Zod, this is important," Ukyo said. Understanding that this computer was based 
off of Bryan, she figured to play to the sympathetic side of the programming, 
"You know what's happening. People could be hurt by this. Please, if you know, 
tell her."
Ukyo's gambit worked, "Very well. Ask me, Miss Bellchime."
Glyph swallowed, "Did Bryan kiss me because of the love potion, or because he's 
truly in love with me?"
"Both."
"Well, I'm glad we cleared that up," Ukyo rolled her eyes.
"What I mean is, Bryan is truly in love with you. He has been for some time now. 
However, you may have noticed that his behavior in the rec room was a bit off. 
He was, for example, a bit blunt when he asked you to kiss him. That was the 
love potion unbalancing his brain.
"I suppose you know that he doesn't partake of any sort of mind altering 
materials, including alcohol. This meant that the love potion was affecting a 
predisposed system with no tolerance for foreign substances."
"In other words, he loves me, but the pill is what made him make a move?"
"Well, what made him make so bold a move. He's been making his own subconscious 
ovations to you for some time now, never even being aware of it. In time, he 
might have come to do something like that on his own. The love potion just sped 
things along a bit."
"I see."
"Now, may I ask you a question, Miss Bellchime?"
"Fair is fair," She said, "Go ahead."
"Do you love him?"

Duo and Gai both looked at the computer information, and gave a sigh that felt 
exhausted...
"Ya know, if we tell em what we really see, it'll hurt both sides..."
Duo scratched his head. "Yeah, it would...So?"
"If word of what we just saw leaks out," Skuld said menacingly, "I will 
personally see to it that someone gets a severe malleting."
"I concur." Lain said.

Glyph seemed listless...and the others noticed it.
Andrew said nothing. He wasn't sure what to say. But he knew what the answer had 
been. He turned to go pay Bryan a visit. Glyph started to call after him, but 
she turned away before speaking.

Belldandy saw the emotions in Glyph's aura, and went over to talk to her, 
leading her away to a private place so that no one might eavesdrop.
"You're very confused, aren't you?"
	Glyph smiled a half-cocked smile. "Nothing gets by you, does it, Bell?"
	"Do you know what you're going to do?" Belldandy put a comforting arm 
around Glyph's shoulders.
	"Talk to him, I guess, Zod kept going over my head a little," Glyph 
sighed. "If he was a sex ed teacher, he'd put the class to sleep."
	"Love seems very difficult to live with," Belldandy shrugged.
	Glyph turned and patted the Megami on the shoulder. "Wait till you meet 
Keiichi, Bell."

"So, you do love her," Andrew said, leaning against the doorframe of sickbay. It 
wasn't a question. His head was down, his arms crossed. If he was angry, he 
tried not to let it take control.
"If that's what Zod says, then that's the case," Bryan replied, looking at the 
ceiling. He just kept his gaze there.
"You know, I don't know whether to hate you, or pity you."
"Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm hardly competition 
for a guy like you," Bryan smiled sincerely, "Besides, it was one kiss in the 
heat of the moment. Look, we have things to do to get ready for tonight. I'm 
heading to the holotheater in a moment. Unless, that is, you want to beat the 
crap out of me."
Andrew sighed, "I don't. It wouldn't prove anything, anyway."
"I'll see you later, then," Bryan said.

Bryan was in the holotheater, setting a few things on a table, when he heard the 
door slide open. He turned around, wondering if Andrew had changed his mind 
about pulverizing him. He saw Glyph standing there, looking at him. Her normally 
blue eyes seemed overly blue.
"Are you...back to normal?"
"Yeah. The pill died out while I was in sickbay."
She sighed. It was one of confused thought and questions she wasn't sure she 
wanted to ask. She walked up to the table.
"Okay, I just want to find out a couple more things. Simple questions."
"Shoot," Bryan nodded.
"Zod said it was a awhile that you've been keeping quiet about this. Why, or is 
that you just didn't know?"
Bryan closed his eyes and sighed, "I suppose I've known for awhile now. We've 
been talking for months, and you were everything I'd ever dreamed of, but never 
dared to hope for. What was I going to say? You were in love with someone. I 
mean, if Andrew were a jerk, or insensitive, I wouldn't have any problem coming 
between you two. But he's not, and I knew nothing but trouble would come if I 
opened my mouth."
"Okay, the other is what's gonna happen now?"
"Honestly," Bryan looked into her eyes, "I don't know. My feelings won't change 
just because it's inconvenient. But at the same time, it's not like I have any 
sort of right to say that it should be one way or the other.  I guess it's 
really your decision, Glyph. I mean, I can decide to keep loving you, but that 
doesn't alter the situation, does it?"
Glyph sighed and sat on the table, looking down, "I guess I knew that already."
"Glyph," Bryan said, sympathy in his voice. His heart felt heavy seeing her like 
that.
Bryan touched her cheek with his hand. She looked at him, but said nothing. But 
then she reached  up and put hers on top of his. They held as if either was 
afraid to move.
"We'd better get to work," she interrupted.
Bryan's eyes lowered in response. Glyph though lifted his chin gently.
"I'm letting you into a secret," she murmured, bringing her face just as close, 
"I did like that kiss, a lot. And if Tenchi can be indecisive for a while, so 
can I."
Bryan's eyes went wide.

REBB smiled as he listened in on the communications system. "Hey, Jim Bean! 
Sorry you guys missed out on the fun! But hey, the party's still going on. You 
got the passengers I asked you to bring?"
"Yeah!" the kid's voice came over the intercom.
"What's your ETA, anyway?" REBB brought up the computer file on the group. "I 
can pay you the two bricks of latinum like I promised."
"That'll translate to about 80,000,000 Wong!" the older voice popped up.

As Andrew walked down the halls of the ship, he saw Vegeta and Ryoko in his 
direct path, leaning against either side of the hall with their arms crossed. He 
wondered if they were here on behalf of their captain, but dismissed that 
thought. Bryan could have accessed all the powers during the fight in the gym, 
but hadn't done so.
"So, Andrew," Ryoko put her hand on his shoulder as he walked past. She was 
using a conversational tone, as if they were discussing the weather, "Vegeta and 
I were just thinking."
"A day to be noted in history," Andrew said. He wasn't feeling up to being 
included in more gossip today.
"Now is that nice?" Vegeta asked in a frighteningly reasonable tone, "All we 
want to do is ask you a question."
"What's that?"
"It's an interrogative statement, designed to gather information, but that's not 
important right now," Vegeta said.
"Ha ha," Andrew said flatly.
"See, what puzzles us is this," Ryoko said, "When Bryan swallowed the love 
potion, you told him to look at Glyph."
"It was the only way to get the stuff out of his system."
"No. Looking at any female would have done that."
Andrew interjected, "Not without problems!"
"But you said Glyph in particular. Why was that, exactly?"
Andrew paused. Why had he told Bryan to look at Glyph? The room had been full of 
girls, some of whom knew about his cursed state at the time, and would have 
known how to deal with it. Even Ranma had been there, and could have been used, 
switching her to him quickly.
But he had said Glyph. Why?
>You know why< his brain said in a tut-tut fashion. No. No I don't.< he thought 
back.
>Yes you do. You just don't want to admit it<
He sighed. He DID know. He had known for some time that Bryan was falling for 
Glyph. He also knew that Bryan wasn't about to try anything. But more than that, 
he had known that Glyph was starting to feel something towards the other 
captain. Deep down inside, she had feelings for Bryan that neither would admit 
to so long as he and Glyph were together.
But did she still love him, Andrew?

Bryan was busy retrieving some equipment from the JEDRI, when he bumped into 
Ranma, who was still in his male form.
"So, I hear there's been some excitement," Ranma said.
"You aren't planning on threatening me too, are you? I've gotten dirty looks 
from Cypher, REBB, Asuka, and Skuld, a death threat from Inu-Yasha, a mallet 
from Akane, and a hex from Linna. And that was all on my way here."
"Sounds like a bad day," Ranma shrugged, "But it's not like you set out to do 
anything wrong. I mean, if I ever choose a fianc‚, I'm gonna break a few 
hearts."
Bryan smirked. He already knew how that was going to turn out, even if Ranma 
didn't
"It'll work out, Ranma," Bryan said.
"Well, so will yours, then."
Bryan gave a chuckle, hoping.

The Outlaw Star pulled alongside collection of ships that were already there. 
They'd meant to make the battle earlier, but their FTL engines were nowhere near 
as efficient as warp drive.
Cypher took a look at the screen, and smiled.
"Hey, Bryan-kun!" he called over the intercom, "We need someone to go greet our 
guests. Can you spare a couple of minutes?"
REBB came back to his station, carrying a bag of chips.
"Hey, I was going  to go get them!"
Cypher just smiled though-
"Just watch the screen, you'll see what I mean...Hey, you remember asking if 
Bryan if he was afraid of spiders?"
REBB thought for a moment. Then he smiled.
If Bryan could have seen it, he was have freaked about that worse than the hex 
Linna put on him.

Bryan grumbled as he entered the airlock. Doorman duty? It had not been his day.
Still, as he noticed the Outlaw Star, he had to smile a little.
And then he noticed a shapely pair of legs coming out of the door.
And another...
And another...
And another...
"Hey, Blackie! What was that sound?" Gene Starwind yelled from somewhere inside 
the door.
Blackarachnia stared at the human a little less than puzzled. Bryan, though 
valiant in other ways, apparently didn't think spiders were at all on that list. 
And after the day he had just had, so far...
"I think our host thought it was prudent to have a nap," she muttered.
Ayesha Clan-clan looked out the door as well. "I hate to tell you guys this, but 
I think he fainted!"

Bryan rubbed his head. Oh, that had smarted...the last thing he remembered was a 
REALLY big spider... and then he noticed the surprised group circling around 
him.
"Hiya there!" Ayesha Clan-clan popped her head over his.
"Ahh!" Bryan yipped. He pushed backwards and the others laughed. "Not funny," he 
groaned.

Glyph sat down at a table, and put two fingers between her eyes. She rubbed that 
spot as she tried to think.

Inu-Yasha looked at Pathos with a real puzzled expression. "You want to do 
what?" he asked.
The cat-boy smiled, producing a small circular disk in his hand. He tilted his 
head. "Do-wop, song, sing, us!"
Shinji scratched his head. "This song?"
Pathos shook his very fast up and down. His smile was very big.
Inu-Yasha got a little closer. "And you're gonna sing, too?"
"Why not?"
"In case you haven't noticed, you no speak no good!"

Asuka shook her head and paused when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She looked around. "Up here," a voice spoke.
Asuka tilted her head upwards. And started babbling incoherently, as she leaned 
backwards onto her back!
Bryan gave a sigh.
"You have that affect on people, don'tcha my love?" Silverbolt, the Cybertronian 
laughed.

REBB, Silverbolt, and Blackarachnia were walking through the halls of the 
Drummond when they encountered Rei Ayanami, still wearing her Decepticon t-
shirt.
"Traitor," REBB grumbled. But then he looked a bit puzzled on his own... "Damn, 
where did that come from?" He banged a hand into his forehead. All the memories 
of the planet were somewhere stored in his system...so there were always 
conflicting thoughts in his mind. That was what made him half crazy to begin 
with.
Rei put her finger on REBB's chin, "REBB, you have to consider my point of view. 
The Decepticon symbol looks cooler, and the purple goes with my hair better than 
the red of the Autobot symbol."
REBB gave a smirk. "At least, it isn't a loyalty thing..."

Melfina was walking off the Outlaw Star when she bumped into Zechs Merquise and 
Char Aznable.
"Oh. Hello." She smiled sweetly.
"Where's Captain Starwind?" Zechs asked.
"Oh, he and one other passenger were unloading a crate of fireworks for 
tonight's festival. Here they come now."
"Watch the gangway, ma'am," Gene called out to the person at the front of the 
case.
"I'm aware of it," Zechs heard a familiar voice.
"Noin?!"
"Zechs!" Noin rushed over to embrace her love.
KLANG!
"OW! MY FOOT!"
"Oops. Sorry Gene."

Andrew found Glyph sitting in the observatory, looking out at the stars. They 
hadn't really spoken to each other since the kiss, and there was a bit of 
unease.
"Glyph," he called softly to get her attention.
"Drew!" She seemed a bit startled by the sudden sound of his voice.
"Can we talk?" he said, in a chair beside her.
She was silent for a moment, "Yeah, we can."
They both paused for a moment, not sure what to say. Then Andrew finally got 
something off his tongue.
"I'm not mad at you, Glyph. I'm a bit confused. Like why you slapped me earlier. 
We've always been close. I mean, I've known you since before you were Glyph 
Bellchime."
Glyph nodded, "Yep, ever since that little run-in, really. We both kinda popped 
around that corner a little fast. And those papers..." She smiled while she 
remembered. "I'm... just confused. Sorry about slapping you. Part of it was 
that, the other is that you know I don't want my fights figured out for me."
Andrew looked a little miffed. "I did it for myself, Glyph. Bryan stepped over a 
line he shouldn't have..."
"Did he?"
Andrew now looked at her surprised.
"Drew-hon, I know you have been getting tired trying to balance being both the 
pilot and being a college student. I know you..." Here she brought her hand to 
his face. "And maybe a large change may help you. We have known each other for a 
long time and our relationship has hardly changed. Maybe this was the part that 
needed to happen."
Andrew sighed, thinking, then he chose his words carefully.
"So what it all boils down to is this. Do you love him? I mean, I know you care 
about him, but caring and love are two different things. And do you still love 
me?"
Glyph closed her eyes as she sighed. "I do love you, Andrew, but that may have 
to change...for both our sakes."
Andrew blew through his teeth. It was what he was suspecting, but hoping not to 
hear.

"Look, I'm telling you," Tenchi said, "If you open that box of carrots now, 
it'll never make it to dinner time."
"C'mon," Gene Starwind shrugged, "How many carrots can one little rabbit eat?"
"She's not a rabbit, she's a cabbit, and she's also a spaceship. She can eat 
what you've got there in no time flat."
"Hello, Ryoko," Twilight Suzuhara smiled, "Long time no see."
"Yeah. You still in the assassin trade?"
"Not really. I found such interesting people to occupy me."

Ayesha  Clan-clan bristled at the sight of Prince Vegeta.
	"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"
"Oh, hi, Ayesha," Vegeta said nonchalant, and then went back to watching 
football on the main viewer, "Oh, come on! I got eight thousand yen bet on these 
bums!"
"I demand to know why a mortal enemy of the Ctarl Ctarl Empire is sitting here 
as an honored guest!!!"
"He paid for the barbeque grill and the dips," Bryan said, walking past. He was 
also remembering the three basic rules to surviving interstellar politics.
1) Never cheat a Klingon unless you're sure you can get away with it.
2) The right expletives at the right times.
And the most important.
3) Never feed a Ctarl ctarl that was holding a grudge unless you had a Saiya-jin 
on your side.

Shinji and Rei were walking along the corridor together when they saw Char 
Aznable sneaking into the hangar bay.
"Um, Char, what are you doing?"
"Well, I figure that this is my big chance to learn the schematics of the Gundam 
and finally defeat that brat pilot in combat."
"It would do you no good," Rei said, "The Gundam was reclaimed by the storage 
sector for parts last night. We don't have much room for keeping mecha on hand. 
Only the Epyon, which is being repaired, and the Evangelion, which is bio-
organic, remain. And the Epyon is a Gundam, but it's far more advanced than 
anything you have seen, and the technology is inapplicable."
"In short," Ryoga said, "No cheating allowed."
"Where did you come from?"
"Well, I was trying to find my way to the head, but..."
"I'd better show him where the restroom is," Shinji said to Rei, "We don't want 
him to explode."
"I'm not four!" Ryoga grumbled. "I can hold it."
Rei gave a hint of a smile. "You just can't find where you're looking for..."
Ryoga had a rather funny half-smile, "Yeah."
Shinji groaned. But then he started humming his part of the song Pathos had 
mentioned. It had surprised him that even with the bad language skills Pathos 
had, he could belt out a song just like the best!
It's like a stutter...Shinji thought to himself. A person who stutters can be 
the most successful singer because it took different parts of the brain. Pathos 
kept it hid under that stutter...

Most of the group had started to converge on the holodeck. Ukyo had set up her 
grill, next to the barbecue grill. Music started pounding from a set of hidden 
speakers.
Cypher juggled a box for Ukyo, and dodged around teenagers left and right. On 
his back, he carried his guitar. He started to sing to the tune he was hearing.
"Lucky in Love," By Ace of Base.
"Cuz I have been there with you..." his voice carried across what looked like a 
very nice dinning room. Soon, he would have to get some practice in, if he was 
going to sing some.
The word passed around that the karaoke contest maybe going on tonight. Besides 
they needed some entertainment...

Glyph turned back to the window, tears starting to mist in her eyes. Andrew had 
excused himself.
At first, she had seen his mouth move, but the words had not registered.
"Until you can make up your mind, I'll back off," he had said. "We both need to 
think...I'll still pilot the JEDRI, because the others depend on me in that 
area. But you're right in that we could use some time..."
"Mind if I sit down?" a quiet voice murmured.
Glyph turned her head. Tenchi Masaki looked down at her, a mirror of her own 
face. She gave  half a smile, then signaled that he could. The teenager lowered 
down onto the seat.
"It's tough, isn't it?"
"What is?" Glyph looked puzzled.
Tenchi finally smiled on his own. "Trying to decide..."
Glyph smiled, getting his meaning...

Finally, the trio of Shinji, Rei and Ryoga made it to the holodeck.
"I am not going to ask, OKAY!" Shinji blurted.
Ryoga shrugged. The others looked up, with very puzzled expressions.

Andrew found his way to the arboretum, and sat next to one of the trees. He 
sighed, and picked up a smooth stone. He tossed it at the pond, skimming it.
"I think if you threw it a bit more sidelong, it'd go further," Andrew heard 
Bryan's voice, but didn't see him. He realized suddenly that it was Zod.
"What do you want?"
"Want? I am here to talk, nothing more."
Andrew smiled without any humor, "Let me guess, you know everything that happens 
on this ship, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Terrific."
"Andrew, I know a few things about humans from my source pattern, but for all 
intents, I am still a machine. I do not understand much of what has happened 
here. What I do know is this. You and Glyph love each other, but it is not a 
romantic love you feel, and I suspect you know that.
"Be honest. You think of her as a friend more than anything else."
"...I guess you're right."
"For all intents, she was your...I believe the word is 'buddy'."
"We were always hanging out, doing things together...but there were never any 
candlelight dinners, or flowers. No poetry, or date films. No picnic lunches. We 
kissed a few times, but...I guess I always knew that one day we would go our own 
ways. That doesn't make it any easier to deal with, though."
"Nothing in life ever is, I'm afraid," Bryan said, walking into the room.
"What are you doing here?" Andrew asked. He tried to keep his voice indifferent, 
but he didn't know if he was successful.
"Taking a walk. I didn't know you were in here. I'll go somewhere else, if you 
prefer."
"No. It's fine. Glyph and I...I think we've broken up."
"I'm...I'm sorry."
"I want you to understand one thing," Andrew looked Bryan dead in the eye, "If 
you ever do anything to hurt her, or break her heart, you WILL answer to me."
Bryan nodded, "I understand."
Andrew smiled a bit, a sad smile, but a sincere one, "Somehow, I think you do."

Washuu was examining the energy data, "It's amazing. She'll be perfect!"
"Washuu," Rei came into the room, "Just what are you doing?"
"I'm perfecting my cloning techniques," Washuu said, smiling, "Whoever did you 
was good. Nowhere near as good as me, of course, but they were quite skilled, no 
doubt about that."
"I see. Who's DNA are you basing this off of?"
"Well, I got a sample from Glyph, and I spliced in a bit of DNA from Belldandy, 
and a bit from Ukyo, and Bryan had a sample of Emeraldas's blood in stasis. I 
combined them all, and I think I've created the perfect clone."
"What will you call her?"
"I'm not sure. I was thinking either Elizabeth or Marie."
"I like Marie. It's very pleasant to the ear."
"You think so, Rei?"
"I am not Rei," Marie said, climbing out of the cloning vat and wrapping a towel 
around herself. She had a long braid of red hair, with turquoise eyes. She was 
tall, and elegant looking, with a no nonsense air about her. She rubbed her 
shoulder a little to warm herself.
"So I am Marie, then," the new girl reasoned. "And you are...?"
"I guess I had better fill in some information..." Washuu said flatly.

"Just look at these reports coming in," the Marshal complained, "From the Space 
Battleship Nadesico, a report of a misconduct from a ship called the JEDRI. 
Inappropriate behavior and indecent exposure. And then the Galactic Empire 
reports that one of their Star Destroyers received severe damage from the same 
ship. And now this report from the Klingon Empire about one of their ships being 
crippled and several more damaged, as well as a violation of their territory by 
the JEDRI, The USS Brian Drummond, and the Queen Emeraldas."
"Who's in that area now?" Asked the lieutenant at the desk.
"Detectives First Class Mihoshi and Kiyone are on patrol there. Maybe they could 
investigate. And hopefully, we can use this to promote Mihoshi out of harm's way 
again!"

"Tissue?" Tenchi asked.
Glyph laughed a bit, nervously, "I'll be alright."
"Can I ask a question?"
"Sure."
"What is it that you find appealing about each of them? Be honest with yourself. 
Why do you like each one? What do they mean to you?"
"Andrew is no nonsense, sweet, and caring. He could have ended up bitter with 
that mark of his, but he hasn't. He has always been sensible, even when I 
haven't been. He is a good friend."
"And Bryan?"
"He's kinda the same way, but more mysterious... And maybe a little more 
romantic in a way. Ya know, tall, dark, and handsome, for the clich‚ that it is. 
He's been a good friend, too..."
"But?"

Zechs and Noin were holding each other around the waist as they watched Ranma 
and Ryoga build the stage. Others were helping, but they carried the main loads. 
The two were impressive, to say the least, and Zechs couldn't help but chuckle 
at what a good team they made, despite their claims to being enemies. He ought 
to know, too, what with all his encounters with Heero Yuy.
Noin ruffled Zechs long hair and kissed him, "So this is where you hang out all 
the time."
"It's nothing compared to being in your arms, Noin."
"Geez, rent a room, you two," Linna remarked as she walked past.
Someone giggled.
"HIBIKI, YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" they heard a shout.
"Sorry!" the kid shouted back.

Cypher noticed the couple, and gave a sigh. He still had a lot to learn about 
interacting with other species. It wasn't that he was lonely, the Jedri crew was 
a pretty good family to him. But he was curious about the interaction between 
the male and female sides of the species. That, and learning about culture and 
music, though the other two have taken up most of his time, were the things he 
was striving to understand.
"Hey Linna!" he called. He put down his load to catch up with her.
Ukyo shook her head, giving a laugh.

Glyph got up, and gave a smile as Tenchi nodded. She would figure this out. 
Washuu then signaled with her commbadge.
"Glyph, I might have something that might interest you." Washuu sounded like she 
was smiling. "Would you come down to the Drummond lab, please?"

"You did WHAT?!" Glyph stared at Washuu deeply. Washuu, for her best impression, 
actually  looked surprised. Rei and Marie were over a computer console. Marie 
seemed to be learning quickly on the names of the people on board. She had gone 
through most of the basic school programs. She had even acknowledged Glyph when 
she had entered.
Glyph now got a closer look at Marie. She even brushed back her hair, and 
noticed the girl flinch.
>She looks like me...but her eyes are like Ukyo's.< Glyph thought. >What is 
Washuu trying to do?<
Glyph backed up.
"Captain Bellchime?" Marie turned around. "Is something wrong?"
>She is rather innocent of this, isn't she?< Glyph finally let her expression 
dissolve into a puzzled smile.
"Hello...Marie," Glyph sat down next to her. Washuu  had placed her jacket over 
the girl's shoulders at some point, but Glyph mentally told herself they were 
going to have to find some clothes for the girl.
"Captain Bellchime, I know some of what you know, because of Washuu..." here 
Glyph glanced mildly Washuu's direction, "...Please don't be mad at her. She was 
only trying to find a solution to your problem."
"News Flash, Mom," Ryoko appeared through the wall. "Glyph and Andrew broke up."
"Don't you ever knock?" Glyph and Marie said at the same time.
"Why, I just go through the door anyway."
Glyph sighed, noting the same reaction out of Marie.
Rei though spoke up. "Did it ever occur to you this might be a private 
conversation?"
"No."

"Still nothing?" Cypher asked Gai as the mecha jockey fiddled with some wires 
underneath  one of the speaker sets.
"I think I found the problem. A pokemon chewed through this wire..."
"Probably Fizz, if you saw a pikachu..."
Gai put his screwdriver in his mouth. "Who does he belong to?"
"SHE belongs to Andrew..."
"Tape," Gai put his hand out. Cypher put it in his hand. Gai twisted the wire 
together.
A loud organ and drums pounded from the speakers. The sound of "Centerfold" 
rocked the stage and room.  Some jumped, putting their hands quickly to their 
ears. Cypher heard a shriek. That had been by the major speaker.
He darted to the sound. Gai undid the wire, to make the music stop. Silence 
descended on the room.
"Tsubasa!" Cypher yipped.
The teenager suddenly was pounding at his ears. Andrew's closet seemed to have 
been  to have been raided, for the kid finally looked like a guy with his hair 
pulled back into a ponytail. In a T-shirt and jeans, he shook his head. He 
pounded at his left ear again.
"DID YOU CALL ME?" he spoke aloud.
"Hey, Tsubasa, you okay?"  REBB asked.
"WHAT?"
"Take that as a no!" Cypher shook his head.
"WHAT?!"

"...Marie, admittedly, Washuu was trying to help...but you don't have to follow 
that plan."
The young woman nodded. But there was something confused in her expression.
Glyph turned away. Ryoko, in finding that she wasn't wanted...or to avoid 
Washuu's prodding later...decided that discretion was the better part of valor, 
and disappeared. Washuu had found something else to do, while Rei and Glyph 
talked to the girl.
"Do you think that she might join one of the crews?" Rei asked.
Glyph pulled the Evangelion pilot over.
"Can you repeat that, to make sure I got this straight..."
Washuu suddenly jumped up.

"Oh no..."
Glyph whipped around.
"She's gone!"

Andrew and Bryan left the arboretum at least with a little more understanding 
than before. Andrew had his head  down.
Neither of them heard the soft pattering of bare feet on the corridor.
Marie had gotten herself lost, and was now frightened. She ran blindly ahead, 
tears forming in her eyes. The sensible side of her was conflicting with the 
puzzlement she  was feeling.
Andrew was starting to say goodbye, and was going to catch a nap before going to 
the celebrations later. Finally Bryan heard something...
Marie darted...

BAM!

Bryan went to help Andrew and stared at the strange girl. She gave a yip and 
pulled the robe over her body fast. Andrew held his head, and had his eyes 
closed.
"Okay, who's driving the truck?" he grunted. He then blinked.
The girl gawked, but then found Andrew's green eyes. They were gentle, even in 
surprise.

Whatever kernel of Glyph had in love for Andrew, made Marie feel...
"Are you all right, miss?" Andrew asked, after Bryan prodded him.

>She looks a lot like Glyph. I don't recall her saying she had any sisters...< 
Andrew wondered to himself. >Her eyes are different, though, and her hair is 
like mine. She is pretty though...Ack! I hope this isn't rebound...<

Washuu clucked as she tapped into the internal sensor systems, and found the 
pattern for the clone. She sent one of her spy cameras, and it buzzed quickly to 
the spot.
Glyph looked over her shoulder. Andrew was helping Marie to her feet. Suddenly, 
Washuu started to laugh.
"What're you finding funny?" she asked.
"I picked the qualities I thought Bryan would like the most..."
Then Glyph smiled.

"Ok, I know I'm going to regret asking this," Bryan looked up, which he often 
did when asking God 'why him?' and consulting with Zod, "But why is there a girl 
that I've never seen before running around naked on my ship?"
"Actually," Andrew held Marie around the shoulders to help keep the robe in 
place, "That's a good question. Here's a better one. Why does she look like 
Glyph?"
"The answer to both your questions can be found in the lab," Zod said, "I don't 
EVEN want to get started on this one."

"So, let me see if I understand this properly," Rei said, looking at Washuu, 
"You decided that the easiest way to cure Bryan of his feeling for Glyph was to 
present him with something to distract him?"
"Well...sorta," Washuu was rubbing her head in confusion, "What I was thinking 
was that I would use the info I found in Zod to custom design a young lady that 
would be perfect for him. So why is Andrew taking notice?"
"Because Zod isn't a perfect copy of me," Bryan smirked as he and Andrew entered 
the room, "He and I share a basic personality, but he lacks part of my humanity. 
Zod is a machine, and he can't be blinded by love."
Glyph gave a chuckle. She shook her head, and looked at the pair.
Andrew seemed a perfect match to the young woman. Marie might need a big brother 
type until she got the bearings on her own. And Marie did seem to look a little 
smitten with Andrew.
>Good luck, Drew-hon.< she sighed. >You deserve it.<
"Bryan," Andrew asked, "Are there any clothes we have that we can give her? She 
looks kinda...well...nervous."
"There's a storeroom that might have a few basic outfits in it, just out the 
door and to the left. Rei and Ryoko bought huge caches of clothes on other 
worlds and they never wear any of them."
Bryan sat down on a couch in the lab, "God, I need rest. I haven't slept 
in...snk...zzzzzzz."
Glyph couldn't help but smile. Mysterious? A bit. Tall, dark? Sure. A goober? 
Definitely. She sat beside him and ran her fingers through his thick brown hair.
"What an odd fellow," Marie shrugged as she and Andrew headed out the door. 
Andrew let his eyes roll upwards.
Glyph took Bryan's glasses off of his face so he wouldn't roll over and crush 
them in his sleep. She put them in her pocket, and leaned his head against her. 
Tentatively, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and then held him close.

Marie searched through the clothing and eventually tried on a silk blouse and a 
wraparound skirt with a pair of flip flop style sandals. She twirled around once 
to give her audience, Andrew, Rei, and Ryoko, a full view.
"Well, what do you think?"
"Kawaii," Andrew nodded with a smile.
"I think maybe a belt with the skirt," Rei said with a finger to her lip in 
thought.
"Oh, it's fine," Ryoko said, "I like it."
Tsubasa suddenly entered. He glanced at the surprised group. "Uh, can you tell 
me where..."
Here he paused as he saw the pretty Marie. And he grabbed her hand, shaking it 
up and down more rapidly than humanly possible.
"Hi, pleasedtomeetyou, I'mTsubasa, caretogoonadatewithme?"
"Can I help you-you?" Marie tried to wrench her hand away.
But Tsubasa clung worse than a leech...and placed his hand exactly where he 
shouldn't have! There was a screech from Marie that would have put most tea-
kettles to shame, and then, with amazing speed, she generated an energy weapon 
from her hand that looked a lot like a giant spatula. She swatted Tsubasa 
through the door...without opening it first.
"Hey, let's introduce her to Kuno next!" Rei said with uncharacteristic 
enthusiasm.
"Andrew!" Marie was holding onto Andrew's arm with a soft look in her eye that 
belied her show of strength from a moment ago, "That weird person just tried to 
manhandle me!"
Andrew gained a sweatdrop. >Oy vey!< he thought. But he smiled.
"Hey, can we introduce her to Happy while we're at it?" Ryoko asked.
"Speaking of Happy," Andrew looked thoughtful as he patted Marie on the 
shoulder, "Has anyone seen the old letch since last night?"

"Look, Akane," Ranma was backing away from the stage defensively, waving his 
arms in front of him in a protective gesture, "I didn't mean it like that. I 
just thought that maybe it would be best if Sasami made the sandwiches."
"RANMA NO BAKA!" Akane yelled, bringing her hands down in a swinging motion. She 
hit Ranma in the head, and then recoiled in disgust when she saw what she'd hit 
him with. He was a bit bumped and bruised, but he was undoubtedly Happosai.
But he ran out quickly.
"Come back here!" a trio of voices yelled. There was a scuffle...

"Miss Bellchime," Zod spoke up, "Please wake Bryan. I fear you two are needed."
"What's wrong?"
"Ranma ticked off Akane again, and she found the hole in your plan to get rid of 
Happosai."
"I was afraid that might happen," Glyph sighed.

Aboard the Yagami, Kiyone looked grim as the new orders came over the computer.
"Mihoshi, we have a job to do."
The response was immediate.
"Snkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz," Mihoshi snored, 
leaving Kiyone one twitch away from choking her partner. She always had felt 
stress at this job, ever since becoming paired with Mihoshi.
Too bad the definition of stress is the mind's ability to override the body's 
natural desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately 
deserves it.
"MIHOSHI!!WAKE UP!"

Glyph, and a very sleepy Bryan somehow figured out where they might find the old 
leech. Anywhere the girls had left their clothes from the night before...
But he wasn't there.
"Damn, where is the old codger?" Glyph sighed.

Jim Hawking was wandering the halls of the Drummond, rather bored. Being 
exceptionally bright at the age of eleven didn't give him much time for friends 
his age. Not that he didn't mind Gene, but it felt sometimes he was the acting 
parent of the older man.
Suddenly, Jim heard a yelp. And a small crash...
He asked the computer to open the door for him, and saw a kid about six rubbing 
his head. The kid had a few cut ropes around his ankles.
"Are you okay?" Jim asked. The kid turned, acting a little jumpy and surprised.
"Oh, you aren't Vegeta..." the kid sighed.
Jim smiled. He sounded a good deal older than he looked.
"I'm Jim," he said putting his hand out.
The kid looked a little surprised at that, but then smiled as he clasped hands.
"Xelloss."

Blackarachnia had paused upside-down in the corridor. With all the humans and 
other creatures, (she remembered  Cypher too well...) she thought it would be 
more prudent to stay well to the ceiling. REBB seemed to do well with these 
lesser creatures...
Suddenly, she heard a racket. She changed into her robotic form and stood 
straight. It was the shouting of girls...

Xelloss gladly followed Jim around. Maybe if he kept low this time, he wouldn't 
get the attention of the Saiya-jin. Something though made them pause in the 
corridor.
"Did that just sound like a cat yowling?" Jim asked.
"No, not really," Xelloss tilted his head. "I think that was someone singing."
They both neared the door they heard it coming from. It was another boy's voice, 
a little older...they both poked their heads in.
A blonde head turned.

Ukyo had the tempura pancakes about ready to go again. She would make the 
okonomiyaki later...and then smiled to herself.
She heard the song-"Tame Tomogo" (My Omelet)-and suddenly got a bright idea. 
Ranma, Ryoga, and Akane were delved into some sort of argument, with everyone 
else prudently staying out of the way...
"Hey Cypher, Ran-chan, Hibiki!" she yelled. "HEADS UP!!!!"
Cypher quickly picked up a set of plates.
Fwipwipwipwipwipwipwip!
PAP!
PAP!
PAP!
PAP!
PAP!
PAP!
PAP!
Then the others started to laugh and clap. Ranma was in the New Yorker's 
position, his hands over his head, holding  two plates that held the tempura 
pancakes.
Ryoga lifted his one hand to his mouth and removed the plate that had missed his 
hands. Another was in his left hand. But both had a tempura pancake!
And the rest turned to Cypher. He had a plate with tempura on them, in each 
hand, all three of them.
URK!
"You guys forget I'm a changeling!" he laughed.

Blackarachnia paused, and then suddenly found a small figure. Yeesh, he was 
smaller than the rest of the humans. She  held still, even though the strange 
little thing grabbed a hold of her and clutched to her...chest.
She then turned back into a spider, letting the creature scream for all it was 
worth. It sounded much like the little pigs that had wandered on proto-earth.
>A nice little fly< she reasoned.

Andrew jumped slightly when he felt a hand resting against his waist. Marie then 
tucked her head under his chin, even though they were about even in height. Rei 
looked somehow amused, while Ryoko about giggled.
"I think she's got the hots for you," Ryoko finally got out.

Bryan shook his head in complete wonderment as to how Happosai had totally 
disappeared from sensors. But then Zod spoke up...
"Bryan, I believe that someone is haling us. It appears to the Galaxy Police."
Glyph put a hand over her face while Bryan gave a groan for both of them. What 
else can go wrong?
"Well, it's like Jeff Foxworthy said," Glyph finally smirked, putting her hand 
down. Bryan looked at her with a very puzzled expression.
"It isn't a good party till the cops have been here a dozen times!"

"Would those originally aboard the JEDRI, come to the bridge? NOW!"

Cypher noticed the Yagami right away. "Well, ain't it the GP."
"Huh?" Duo blurted.
"The Galaxy Police, the cops, the fuzz, the P-I..."
Ryoga was suddenly there, wagging a finger at Cypher's face. "DON'T YOU SAY IT!"
"Watch it, that thing's loaded!"
Ryoga grumbled in the other's face. "You aren't a rock!"
"Looks can be deceiving, Hibiki!" Cypher said, "I may look like an organic 
jello-mold, but my molecular structure is crystalline. In other words, PUT THAT 
FINGER DOWN!"

"Three counts of indecent exposure," Kiyone was pacing back and forth in front 
of an assembly of men that had been on the JEDRI over the past few days, and a 
line of girls who had been on the Drummond, "Two-hundred fifty three counts of 
assault filed by the Galactic Empire. One count of willful destruction of 
private property..."
Here, Bryan interrupted, "Well, I'd like to report them for trashing our 
microwave, then."
Kiyone turned an ice glare on him that would have frozen the boldest of souls. 
It was a look that said, "I've had a long day and you're making it longer."
"...Three counts of violating Klingon territorial space, though the Klingons are 
willing to let that slide if you provide the phone number of 'the insulting 
brunette with glasses.'" Here Bryan now gained a sweatdrop. "One count of 
destruction of a Klingon vessel. Four counts of operating mecha without a 
license. Harboring known felons," here, Kiyone looked at Ryoko, Emeraldas, 
Twilight Suzuhara, Harlock, Vegeta, and Happosai, "Cloning without a license," 
Here she looked at Marie, "And if I were to take a good long look at the tech in 
these ships, I'd probably find outlawed equipment like Dimensional oscillators 
and Infinite Improbability Generators. Shall I continue?"
Glyph, Andrew, and Bryan looked at each other.
"Think we can plea this one down?" Andrew asked.
"I kinda doubt it," Bryan offered, "I could ask Lain to purge Yagami's memory, 
but that leaves Kiyone and Mihoshi."
"I can have the lot of you hauled in for this!" Kiyone continued.
Vegeta stepped forward, his hands outstretched. The others looked at him in 
astonishment.
"Well," Vegeta said, a smug look on his face, "Aren't you going to cuff me? I'm 
waiting."
Kiyone slapped a pair of handcuffs on Vegeta. He smirked, then pulled them apart 
as if they were paper.
"Oops. I broke mine. Can I have another?"
"Kiyone..."Mihoshi began to whimper at the Saiy-jin's display of strength.
"He's gonna get us in worse trouble," Glyph muttered.
"We can BE in worse trouble?" Bryan asked her.
	"THAT'S POLICE PROPERTY YOU JUST DESTROYED!!!" Kiyone yelled at Vegeta.
	"Oh. So sorry."
	"Listen," Glyph said to Kiyone, "I understand that you're upset, but can 
we work this out like rational people?"
	"WITH HIM ON BOARD?!" Kiyone pointed at Vegeta.
	"Actually," Zod said, "I must point out that we are currently in Earth 
territory. The Galaxy Police require special permission from the Juraian Royal 
Family to patrol this sector. Princess Ayeka."
	"Quite so," Ayeka intoned, "And these ships are under the direct 
protection of the House of Jurai, and are therefore immune to the Galaxy Police 
Statutes in this area."
	Kiyone's eye was twitching again, "You mean, I came all the way out here 
for nothing?!"
	"You're quite welcome to stay as guests," Ayeka said, "To observe the 
activities aboard, as it were, and ensure that nothing illegal takes place."
	"Have some saki?" Zechs offered a glass to Mihoshi.
	"Oh, thank you very much."
	"MIHOSHI! YOU'RE ON DUTY!"

	Having calmed Kiyone down (by use of Washuu's noteworthy tranquilizers), 
the crews returned to setting up for the night's festivities.
	Glyph sat down a moment to catch her breath, when she was joined by Marie.
	"I...hope I'm not disturbing you."
	"Not at all," Glyph waved for Marie to take a seat beside her, "So, how 
are you doing?"
	"This is a marvelous place. I don't know many of the people here, but I 
know much about them, from Washuu, and from some of your memories as well." 
Glyph smiled a little.
"I was wondering...would it be alright if I called you 'sister'?"
	Here Glyph's eyebrows raised.
	>Oh yeah, the sample of DNA< Glyph remembered. "Well, my parents would be 
a little surprised...But actually, can you call me Glyph-chan instead?"

	"She's a lot like Glyph," Andrew said to Bryan, "But at the same time, 
she's very different."
	"She's going to be joining you guys on the JEDRI," Bryan said, "She 
expressed the desire to do so herself."
	"What?" Andrew turned to stare at the girl, and blushed rather profusely.
	Bryan put his hand on his chin, and gazed at Glyph, finally breaking into 
a shy smile.

	"So, Xelloss, what's with the hot water and the animals?" Jim asked.
	"Oh, I've vowed revenge on a certain Saiya-jin prince, and I figure that 
these critters here will help me get it," Xelloss turned his attention to the 
ebon rabbit, dog, and bird that were on the floor in front of him. "Now, if I 
return you guys to your proper selves, will you behave?"
	There was a series of mewling noises that indicated their agreement.
	"I mean it. You know what I'm capable of, right? You just stick to scaring 
the daylights out of them. No actual violence."
	With that, Xelloss poured the hot water on the three. Jim about fainted 
when the Aliens resumed their proper form. The three beasts looked at the kid 
curiously.
	"No. He hasn't seen any of you before. Now get to work," Xelloss opened 
his eyes, "Or else."
	One of the Aliens made a series of hissing noises.
	"Good question. I can only tell you that that....is a secret."
	The aliens all face-faulted.

Glyph held the rice press over her head as she tried to hand it off to 
Belldandy. But she stumbled over an electrical cord. Yipping, she tried maintain 
her balance. Belldandy caught her with a little bit of magic.
"Hey! Ryoga-kun! Gotta a job for ya!" Glyph yelled.

Ryoga and REBB walked down the hall. "More electrical tape? Where would we find 
that?" Ryoga grumbled. REBB said he had some in the maintenance bay for a mecha 
he called the Oni...
To which they were now on the lower level of the Drummond, finding the 
connecting bridge.
Ryoga opened the door, "Do you think Glyph sent me for this to break up the 
fight?"
REBB chuckled, but then shut up.
Ryoga turned.
One  of the Aliens stared down Ryoga as if trying to figure out what he was.
"Eh, heh, SORRY, WRONG DOOR!" Ryoga chuckled, then yelled, slamming the door 
shut. The Alien then slammed a fist through it.
"Get back, Hibiki!" REBB bellowed. Ryoga covered his ears, as REBB set off a 
barrage from the varirifle. It pummeled the door, but also got the Alien behind 
it.
REBB gave a cocky smile when the smoke dissipated. Ryoga removed his hands and 
stared at the Cybertronian.
"You want your Alien extra crispy?"

Pathos went to join the rest of the party-goers on the Drummond holodeck. But he 
felt someone following him, and turned.
Nothing.
Pathos sighed.

At least the other two had found the rest of the party-goers. There was set of 
hissing between the two of them.
^^I sense human forms here.^^ one signaled to the other.
^^On the count of three, then.^^  the other agreed. ^^One...Two...THREE!!^^
When the door flew open, the Aliens paused. Mainly because they heard the 
unmistakable sound of three things: several energy and projectile weapons being 
cocked, swords being drawn, and cracking of knuckles. Kiyone even had hers out, 
and had whipped around the back of her chair to aim.
^^Whoops. My bad.^^ one of the Aliens hissed.

Then they heard a female voice yell. "BATHTIME!"
The water from the fire hose hit them head on.
Glyph and Marie both stood up, keeping the hose onto the creatures until they 
were certain as to being harmless again.
Everyone clapped. Except for one.
"Glllllllllllllllllllllliiiyyyyyyyyyffffffffffffffffffffpppppppppppphhhhhhhhhh!!
" Pathos whined, suddenly soaked. "Waaaooooww!" he began to cry, wringing out 
his shirt. "Cat no like wet!!!"
Glyph sighed. "Sorry, Pathy-hon, nothing personal."
"No harm done, kitten" Marie snapped her fingers and Pathos was dry once more.
"How did she do that?" Glyph asked.
"Must be the Belldandy in her," Washuu shrugged, "She has a few low level 
abilities that most people don't."

As the party got underway, Glyph spied Bryan serving himself a plate at the 
table. She walked up behind him and placed her finger in the point right between 
the shoulder blades.
Bryan jumped a foot in the air, nearly dropping his plate.
"You're jumpy," Glyph said, having been a bit startled by his reaction.
"It's not jumpy," Bryan said, catching his breath, "That's my ticklish spot."
"What? Between your shoulders?"
"Actually, the entire length of my spine. You know how barbers run shears along 
the back of your neck ?"
"Not really," Glyph said, holding her lengthy blue braid.
"Well, it's always a hassle to get my hair cut, 'cause barbers don't like it 
when I flinch. I can't help it though. The whole thing, from brain pan to 
tailbone, is ticklish."
Glyph got a devilish look in her eye, "Really?"

Belldandy handed off an asukuri bean pastry and began to wonder...where had Urd 
been all night?

"STOP THAT!!!" Bryan was yelling as he ran past. Glyph was pursuing him, a grin 
on her face.
"What, didn't you have fun doing this?"
"Fun for who...AHHHHAAHAHA!"
Andrew smirked, "I see Glyph found his ticklish spot."
"That reminds me," Marie said suddenly, turning to face Andrew quickly, "Yours 
is right here, isn't it?"
She got a pair of fingers between the last two ribs...
"Hey, no fair!!!"

Rei shook her head as she watched this unfold, then turned to Ayeka, "So, when 
are you lighting up the tree?"
"Soon," Ayeka said, "But first, has anyone seen Sasami?"

Glyph had lost track of Bryan when she spotted something she considered to be a 
bit strange, even for this group. A bowl on the table was moving, seemingly all 
by itself. She walked over and picked up the bowl, and underneath it were two 
white rodents.
"Um...what are you two doing here tonight?"
"The same thing we do every night," The smaller one with the oversized head 
said, "Trying to take over the world. And we have to hurry. I just got word that 
a Vogon Constructor Fleet is on its way to make way for a hyper-space bypass 
before the program spits out the Question to Life, the Universe, and 
Everything."
"And you need the bean dip, why?"
"Oh, that," The taller, skinny one said, "Well, we thought it would go well with 
our chips. Narf!"
"UNHAND THAT BEAN DIP!" a voice echoed through the holo-theater. A blue-haired 
girl in a really ridiculous outfit suddenly appeared in the rafters, "That bean 
dip is for all to share, and I, the Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, will stop you 
from absconding with it!"
"Makes about as much sense as some of the stuff that happened on that show 
anyway," Glyph sighed. Then she spotted Bryan again, hiding under the table.
"Comfy?"
"Not really, no."
"Gonna come out?"
"That depends. You gonna tickle me again?"
Glyph decided to play this. "Why not, it's fun!" When she heard him groan, she 
relented. "Well, if you ever catch me in the ribs or the inside of my 
kneecaps...Ooooo, you're gonna get it!"
She helped him up to his feet. "So how are we gonna stop the Vorgons? I thought 
that program wasn't supposed to give the answer to that for another two 
decades..."
Bryan actually got a very goofy grin, "I might have an idea..."

Aboard the lead ship of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, a very unusual call was 
coming in.
Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz sighed irritated, which was fairly common for a Vogon to 
do.
A large, misshapen Vogon appeared on the screen, "This is Vogon Councilman Weber 
calling. I need you to halt all operations right now.  It turns out that this 
planet Earth is under contract by the Vulcan Assembly, and you KNOW the sort of 
paperwork that you'll have to fill out if you destroy it.
"Aside from all that, I have orders here, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent 
back, subjected to public inquiry, lost, found, lost again, and buried in soft 
peat for three months to be recycled as firelighters."
"Orders like that to stop construction of a hyper-space bypass?"
"No. To save your grandmother from the ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. Best 
hurry. She's been there at least three months, and she can't keep that towel 
over her face forever." (Inside joke, kiddies. If you don't know, read The 
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by the late, great Douglas Adams)

As the Vogon Fleet turned around, Glyph kissed Bryan on the cheek, "That was 
great, Hon. You saved the Earth."
"I had to," Bryan smiled, returning the kiss, "It's where I keep all my stuff."

Finally, the entertainment was getting ready to start. There seemed to be a 
scuffle behind the curtain. Ryoga's voice was the loudest as he and Shinji were 
shoved out. In seeing the crowd, Ryoga tried to turn tail, but then found Duo 
holding something at his face.
"Where the hell were you hiding that?!" he yelped. Then he shrugged and turned 
back to the group, "Okay, okay, you win!"
"We lost the coin toss..." Shinji muttered.
"LOUDER!" one of the girls yelled.
"Uh, here's a little variety show the others have cooked up for us...uh, um," 
Ryoga started...
Marie though stood up from somewhere, "Weren't you guys gonna sing the opening 
number, like 'Something for Everyone'?"
"Don't know that one!"
Marie smiled, "Yeah, you do, Ryoga-kun! Glyph taught you! 'Something familiar, 
something peculiar'..."
"'Something for everyone, a comedy tonight!'..." Glyph filled in.
"Nothing for kings, nothing for crowns, bring on the lovers, lairs and clowns, 
ovituations, new complications, something for everyone a comedy to night!" 
Andrew supplied.
"Oh, yeah, 'something esthetic, something phonetic, something for everyone, an 
comedy tonight!...Nothing of gods..."
"Hey!" Skuld snapped.
"Nothing of fate...Weighty affairs will just have to wait-ATE!"
Ryoga moved over suddenly, as Cypher and REBB both stuck their heads out. "Hey! 
We're all back here, you know!" But then even got caught up in it, as did 
everyone who knew a line.
"Something that's bawdy, something that's gaudy, something for everyone, a 
comedy tonight...No royal curse, no Trojan horse, and there's a happy ending, of 
course! Goodness and badness..."

"Um...hi...My name is Shinji Ikari, and I'd like to sing for you. I'll be 
performing 'Komm Susser Tod.' From The End of Evangelion."
The lights dimmed and Zechs began playing piano.
Shinji opened his mouth and began to sing, "I know...I know I've let you 
down...I've been a fool to myself. I thought that I could live for no one 
else....."

Cypher strummed his guitar as those who knew "Chikyu Orchestra" began to sing. 
Those on stage, actually. He had gotten through pretty well. Then he switched 
off to "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" which cracked up the crowd.
Then Duo Maxwell had them rolling for moments with a bawdy ballad of "The 
Scotsman", especially with the last line of "Lad, I don't know where you have 
been, but I see you won first prize!"

Pathos surprised the group, as he, Inu-Yasha, and Shinji, actually did a pretty 
good impression of Hanson. And the song was a perfect compliment!
	Cypher then ambled into "Wet Dream", to which he had quite a few groans at 
the puns. And he got the laughs in definitely by doing, "Hello, Mudder, Hello, 
Fadder"
And then the guys did a whole rendition of  "St. George and the Dragnet". Ryoga 
at least kept a straight face.

"And now," Zechs said, dressed as a master of ceremonies, "We present for your 
viewing entertainment, Duo Maxwell and the amazing trained piglet, P-chan!"
Ryoga's eyes went wide at the sound of that, but not before he heard and felt 
the splash of cold water.
Duo walked with P-chan onto the stage, and made him jump through hoops and walk 
on his hind legs. P-chan, meanwhile, vowed that the Gundam pilot was going to 
get it when he got back to normal.
"Atta boy, P-chan!" Akane yelled her support from the audience, "You show 'em."
P-chan blushed, then got into the program.
Akane turned to Washuu, "Did I ever tell you about the time P-chan saved me from 
a cursed doll?"
Zechs returned to the stage, "And now we have the Martial Arts Drill Team, Ranma 
Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki."

As he returned to normal backstage, Ryoga gave Duo a death glare. Then he and 
Ranma walked up on the stage. Unfortunately, Ryoga was still dripping wet, and 
covered in water. And the stage had just the slightest bit of wax and soap on 
the surface. So when Ranma made the first attack move, Ryoga slipped and fell on 
his back.

"RANMA!" Ryoga yelled, a little embarrassed due to his fall. Ranma shrugged, but 
then he found Ryoga holding a stance. "Now you DIE!"
They matched off for a moment with everyone clearing the stage.
Suddenly, the music system started in, very loudly with... "Kung Fu Fighting"!
Everyone lost it! The whole group laughed at the odd coincidence.
Except for the two martial artists. Ranma looked to be fighting to keep his 
composure, while Ryoga silently chanted, "I will not break, I will not break..." 
It was like their faces were just daring the other to crack, and laugh.
Ryoga bit his tongue abruptly...
And Ranma finally chuckled.
Then they both laughed with everybody else.
Marie went backstage and found Mew sitting on the dimensional DJ station...and 
laughed herself, promising not to tell.

	Washuu found Urd in the galley with a large bottle of sake in her hand.
	"I know what you've been doing, Urd, and I'm going to tell the others."
	"Really, Washuu? And what's that, pray tell?"
	"You honestly expect me to believe that with all that's gone on with these 
two ships concerning relationships, the self-proclaimed Goddess of Love had 
nothing to do with it? I know you manipulated it so that Bryan would get the 
love potion pill.
	"I also know that it was you who meddled with my little cloning project. 
There's no way that Bryan shouldn't have fallen for Marie...unless she was made 
for him not to."
	"Well, I couldn't have done it alone," Urd smiled, "I know a good match 
when I see one, and Glyph and Bryan were a good match. She and Andrew were just 
really good friends. So, yeah, I guided his hand to the cup with the pill, which 
I have you to thank for bringing into play, by the way.
	"As for your clone, well, Skuld is more up on that stuff than I am, but I 
couldn't go to her. She's so na‹ve sometimes. Besides, I needed some things 
Skuld couldn't give me, like files on certain people. Zod helped me input all 
the data on Andrew I needed, and all the qualities from Glyph that he found so 
adorable."
	"But...but Zod didn't KNOW any of that!" Washuu said, "The only one who 
would know any of that and have it as a computer file would be...would 
be...Shara?"
	"Quite right," Shara's voice said, "I've known Glyph and Andrew forever, 
and I knew how Glyph felt about Bryan. REBB may have designed me before 
Bellchime and he met, but I have had a peek into her mind to establish a total 
female perspective. So, Zod and I shared a few files, and we created a basic 
personality tailored to Andrew, not to Bryan. Essentially, she's our child."
	"The human child of two sentient computers?" Washuu looked like she 
usually did when trying to explain something to Mihoshi.
	"Nothing so dramatic," Urd said, "I just had to keep you from meddling in 
my work. These two agreed to help."
"Sorry, Washuu," Shara said, "But Zod and I predicted that this would eventually 
happen."
Washuu tilted her head. But she shrugged...
"Maybe the damage may have done, but this might be for the better then," she 
then smiled in a rather pleasant matter, as if remembering something softly. 
"Couldn't it?"

Bryan and Glyph were sharing a banana split while Zechs and Noin performed the 
garden scene from Romeo and Juliet.
"I didn't know you liked ice cream like this," Glyph smiled. She glanced over to 
Andrew and Marie, seeing them share two shakes.
"Sure," Bryan said, offering her a spoonful, "But it always tastes better when 
there's someone there to share it with."
"It seems a little ironic, I tend to be a very visual person, but I seem to like 
guys that have. . .well, 'problems' with their eyes."
She gave a rather funny smile. Then she lifted Bryan's glasses so she could take 
a closer look. He tried to look at her face, but it was a blur. Puzzled, he 
reached up, only to find them gone.
"Like drops of chocolate," she murmured.
Suddenly, he felt a touch, but it was to his hair. She murmured that it felt 
soft like a cat's. Then there was another. . .
She was kissing him! Bryan felt his heart beat a little faster.

Andrew sighed, then suddenly felt a hand touching his cheek. Marie . . . he 
glanced up to her.
"Heh, what is wrong?" she smiled. But as he started to come up with some sort of 
lame excuse, Marie put a finger over his mouth.
Then words weren't necessary after all.

Ukyo sighed, and smiled Belldandy's direction.
"I have a feeling your sister got involved somehow," she whispered.

Still the night went well, and as Zechs and Noin finished, everyone clapped. 
Cypher again had a very funny song, catching Ranma for the second voice.

Somehow Fuzzy bounded into the room...accompanied by Ryo-Ohki and several 
Pokemon from the various collections on the ships. All of them seemed a bit 
harried and nervous.
"They say they saw something in the halls," Ukyo said after listening to her own 
Pokemon.
There was a loud noise, and a hideous creature marched into the room. Several 
people scattered left and right, trying to hide from this new monstrosity, 
bumping heads and tripping over each other. A few were still calm, notably the 
ship captains and the practiced warriors. Bryan let out a sigh as pandemonium 
ensued.
"Biff, I told you I'd bring you some cake and ice cream... LATER!"
"B-Biff?" Ayeka asked, her shield surrounding her and her sister.
"Oh, right," REBB snapped his fingers, "The monster that lives under your bed."
"The monster under your bed lives on cake and ice cream?" Ranma asked.
"Like I'd keep him under my bed if he ate anything else," Bryan shrugged.
"Oy vey," Glyph shook her head. And she smiled Bryan's way.

"I think that the situation between Glyph and Weber is going well."
"No shit, Harlock," Vegeta said.

REBB01 had discovered a set of plushie on one of the tables, and he picked one 
up and began to cuddle it. They were going to be the prizes for the treasure 
hunters...and the ones participating on stage.
"It's so cuuute and cuwuddly," REBB01 said, hugging the plushie in a deathgrip.
Rei's eye twitched a bit, "There is nothing cute and cuddly about Eva Unit 00."

Bryan was sitting a reclining chair with Glyph sitting with him. She had laid 
her head on his chest, and was listening to his heartbeat. The weight on his 
chest was comforting, and Bryan began to run his fingers through her hair. He 
had an idea, suddenly, and put a chocolate covered caramel in his mouth, and 
then kissed Glyph, passing the caramel to her in the kiss.
"Mmmm?" Glyph lifted an eyebrow, but accepted it, and actually smiled. Then she 
lifted her eyes just a little farther and noticed the grossed out expression on 
the faces of a few guys.
"What?" she shrugged with a giggle. Bryan then swung his head around and noticed 
as they shook their heads and wandered off.

Ukyo smiled, handing off a towel and a sugared orange to Ryoga. "Here you go, 
sugar...looks like someone decided to play a practical joke on you."
Ryoga smiled. "Thanks..." but when he got done with the towel, he noticed that 
the sugared orange was gone! "What the...!"
Something darted by his foot, and was knocking something orange colored around. 
He soon recognized it. "Fuzzy! Come back with my orange!" Ryoga darted 
underneath the table after her.
"Watch out for the grill, Sugar!" Ukyo blurted.

Soon the lights dimmed. Glyph patted Bryan on the knee, then got up on the 
stage. "Hey, guys, you enjoying yourselves?!" she called over the mike.
Several shouts greeted her back. "Well, before we conclude everything for the 
night-and light up that wonderful tree for Startica, Washuu-chan has a little 
announcement on who won the treasure hunt!"
Glyph waited.
And waited.

........................

"Pst! Where the hell is Washuu?" Glyph asked of Cypher.
"Don't know..."
"Call her, dammit!"
"Can't, she took her com-badge off," Cypher sighed. Glyph gave a funny grin.
"Uh..." she thought quickly, "Uhm, considering all of what's been going on 
today...Everyone wins if we can't find Washuu, within the NEXT TEN MINUTES!"
Nobody seemed to be in a big hurry to find her.

Considering the following events.
"Well, Lady Ayeka, care to do the honors?"
Glyph then sighed to Gene Starwind over her com-badge, "You got the fireworks 
ready?"
"Well, Captain Bellchime, uhm...you gotta come see this..."

With the halt on the proceedings, Glyph and Bryan both hurried to the cargo bay. 
Ayesha Clan-clan looked in the box. Bryan got in a look beside her.
"Uhm, Captain Starwind, did you know you had a stowaway?"
A very sleepy kid started to raise his head from one of the wooden boxes. Glyph 
started chuckle, but finally smiled.
"You didn't pick these fireworks on a sandy planet or from a captain with 
'idiot' scribed on her forehead?"
"The planet, yeah... from some old tribe..."
Glyph sighed, then looked up to Bryan.
The kid finally woke enough to mutter, "Aun?"
"Hi, Photon, sorry 'bout this."
Glyph then put an arm around Bryan.
"You know, that lady is gonna be pissed when she finds out her husband is 
missing..."

Ayeka nodded when they all returned. Glyph got back up on the stage, just as 
Cypher placed on the tune "Zettai!"
But he turned it down to let her  talk.
"Okay, let's get the show on the...!"
Suddenly, a ball of orange shot by her ankles, followed by a blue purry-furry-
blurry. "Fuzzy!" she heard a voice yell.
The creature saw all the people, turned tail, and dove back under the curtain. 
Then they heard a yelp.
"NOT DOWN MY SHIRT!" Ryoga's voice was distinct, "AAAAHHHHHH! THAT TICKLES!"
"Ayeka, just light the tree," Glyph muttered.
But then Ryoga fell through the curtain. He noticed all the people as some 
started to giggle. Then he looked up and noticed Fuzzy sitting on his head, an 
orange slice contorting her mouth into a goofy smile.
Glyph tried to hold a serious expression.

Everything closed down with a spectacular finish. But as everyone went to head 
for bed, Glyph took Bryan's arm. At first, he was puzzled, but then she gave a 
signal she wanted to take a walk...
Bryan looped his arm around hers, and they started walking down the corridors of 
the ship. Everyone else had either gone to bed or to the video lounge, and the 
passages were empty.
"I really enjoyed this little vacation," Glyph said, "Even if there were a few 
hitches."
Bryan smiled as she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, "Well, 
I admit things didn't go exactly according to plan, and we had a few mishaps," 
he paused, turning her to face him. He leaned down and kissed her once more, 
"But everything worked out in the end."
She had a soft smile on her face, "You're a pretty noble guy, Mr. Weber."
"Only because you bring out the best in me, Glyph-hime," he said, and they 
embraced, "I love you."
"I love you too, Bryan," She said, "You're the first person that ever called me 
princess before...not even my dad...and you're very... unique and gentle, Weber-
san."
They walked a bit more, neither one speaking for awhile, until they came to the 
Arboretum. They both sat under a tree, and after awhile, both were sleeping 
soundly, leaning against each other, their arms wrapped around one another in a 
gentle embrace.


Day Four

The next morning, all of the guests left in groups.
Ranma, Akane, Ryoga, and Shampoo were all sent back to Nerima via the 
interdimensional oscillator. They arrived at the exact moment that they'd left, 
and still had the weekend ahead of them. It seemed kind of ironic that Ranma 
carried a stuffed Ryo-Oki, while Akane showed off the stuffed P-chan doll to 
Ryoga. Ryoga had a strange expression, rather green.
But when they got to the Tendo Dojo...
"P-chan!" Akane crowed as the little pig jumped into her arms, much to the 
surprise of Ryoga and Ranma...
"Where in the..." Ryoga muttered.

"Am I done yet?" Cypher grumbled after changing back into his humanoid form.

Gene Starwind gathered all the people he'd come with, and departed in the Outlaw 
Star, but not before Ayesha Clan-Clan got into a heated argument with Prince 
Vegeta about him giving her a static shock.  Gene was grumbling about having to 
drop off unwanted stowaways on isolated planets at no profit. But then he was 
still scratching his head how the heck did he pick up Photon in the first 
place...

Harlock and Emeraldas both left aboard the Queen Emeraldas without incident. Of 
course, there were few in the group who were willing to cause trouble for the 
notorious pirates.
Char Aznable left on his own, heading back for Zeon controlled space. Not many 
missed him.
Inu -Yasha and Kagome were sent home quickly after they got into an argument 
about giving Shippo a little Pikachu plushie...
"Oh, come on, dog-boy," she finally laughed.

Jessie, James, and Meowth were accidentally sent to the same coordinates as Lina 
and Xelloss. The Pokemon thieves were a bit put out, but space time corrected 
itself after a few moments, and they were relatively unharmed by the fireball 
Lina had sent their way after Jessie had made the horrendous mistake of 
comparing chest sizes.
"Looks like Team Rocket is......"
"Aw, shut up!"

Shinji, Rei, and Asuka all returned to Tokyo 3 just in time for the power in 
Central Dogma to be cut as the Angel Matarael advanced on NERV.
Ukyo and Cologne were given charge of Happosai, Tsubasa, and Kuno. It took some 
convincing to keep them from using the Drummond's photon launcher to hurl the 
irritating trio into the nearest star.
"Come on, it would be worth it!" Ukyo snapped.

Tenchi, Sasami, Ayeka, Mihoshi, and Kiyone were sent back to the Masaki house, 
while Ryoko and Washuu stayed behind to help with the cleanup.
Noin remained on the Drummond with Zechs. She'd gotten tired of not seeing her 
beloved for long periods of time.
Pinky and the Brain were caught attempting to hot-wire the Drummond, as Brain 
had decided that such an advanced ship would be useful in his bid to take over 
the world. Bryan intervened on their behalf to keep Washuu from turning them 
into test subjects. Instead, they were beamed into another dimension, where mice 
were the most intelligent beings around.

The Megami were returned to Heaven, since Belldandy had been taken from a time 
before meeting Keichii.
Lain was returned to her own version of Tokyo, were she continued her laborious 
task to keep the Wired safe.
Gai Daigohji was returned to the Nadesico, where, tragically, he would end up 
dead by the end of the third episode. But his indomitable fandom lived on, as 
the entire crew of the Nadesico became rabid Gekigengar 3 fans.
Duo Maxwell went back to living with his sweetheart, Hilde. He seemed in a hurry 
to get out of there after he received a death threat from Ukyo for the streaking 
incident. Either that or get a spatula up the backside...

The JEDRI was loaded up as Cypher, REBB, Washuu, Ukyo, Andrew, and Marie all 
boarded. Mew and Mewtwo bid each other farewell, and then Mewtwo was returned to 
his Pokeball by Prince Vegeta.
	Vegeta, Ryoko, Zechs, and Noin all watched as Bryan and Glyph gave each 
other a farewell kiss that took about five minutes.
	"So..."Bryan said shyly, "Next Friday at seven?"
	"Better make it six," Glyph said, running her fingers through his hair, "I 
want to show you all my favorite sights in the galaxy."
	Bryan and Glyph kissed one more time, and then the airlock shut between 
them.
	As the JEDRI flew off into the Milky Way, Bryan gave a sigh.
	"What's wrong NOW?" Vegeta asked.
	"I think I'm going through cuddle withdrawal," Bryan said.

	Aboard the JEDRI, Andrew and Marie sat together in Andrew's room. He sat 
on the bottom bunk,  while she hung upside down from the top one, looking down 
at him with a smile.
	Glyph sat in a chair across from them, smiling serenely at the happy 
couple.
	"I'm glad you found Bryan," Andrew said after a moment, "He seems like a 
good guy."
	Glyph recalled that morning, and how she'd awoken next to him. He looked 
so peaceful in his sleep, and she had run her fingers through his hair, once 
more reflecting that his locks felt rather like a cat's. She had kissed him on 
the lips, gently waking him from his slumber. She smiled at the thought. And the 
sound of his breathing next to her cheek...
	"He's kind of a goober," Glyph said, her smile broadening, "I love it." 
She gained a wispy expression, but then turned to them. "And you? How are you 
two doing?"
	Andrew and Marie shared a grin, "We sat up and watched the sunrise."
	"And now we're very tired," Marie said, flipping down onto the lower bunk 
and snuggling up next to Andrew, "So we're going to catch a nap."
Glyph nodded, actually glad to see this.

Glyph walked to the bridge, a smile on her face. She sat down in the high-backed 
captain chair...only to feel something beneath her. Jumping slightly, she turned 
to see that she was sitting with Bryan, who looked half asleep himself.
"How...how...?" She sputtered, but when she felt his hair, she cradled his head 
in her hand.
	"There's a hologram of me keeping the others busy," Bryan said, snuggling 
with her. She sighed contentedly, "It'll be hours before they know what's up. 
So...shall we explore this crazy world together?"
	For the answer, Glyph smiled and kissed him.

The End.

Bryan's note: In case any of you are wondering, Glyph Bellchime and I ARE 
romantically involved. We are an official couple, and we want to thank the TMFFA 
for playing a part in our meeting.  She's a marvelous woman, and I am better for 
knowing her.

Glyph's note: Mr. Weber has added a new perspective to my life-and he is right. 
We have gotten romantically involved. He is the greatest thing I have found.
The TMFFA had opened a door that I never want to close again...