The heroes watched as the two men held up their right fist with their rings pointing at each other. The rings pulsed brightly once and then returned to normal.

"And that's that," Xander said, holding out a palm for Green Lantern's ring.

John Stewart sighed and depowered, removing his ring and handing to Xander. "It's a shame, I liked being a Green Lantern. I really felt I made a difference."

"Did I blink and miss the contest?" The Flash asked as everyone stared in confusion.

"Yeah," Plastic Man chimed in. "Where was the battle?"

"It's not a battle," John said as the heroes rejoined them. "The rings are connected to their bearer to such an extent that they become extensions of them, which means the two rings simply compare data to determine a winner."

Xander removed his yellow ring and placed it next to the green one, closing his hands around them both for a moment before opening them to reveal a single yellow-green ring that he put on his finger. A moment of concentration created a green bubble in his hand that vanished a second later.

"You did a lot of good work, John," Superman assured him, "and just because you don't have a ring any more doesn't mean you have to quit the League. I'm pretty sure you have the will to continue being a hero without the ring."

"Batman, Steele, Green Arrow," Plastic Man began listing off heroes without powers who used home-made equipment.

"OK, OK, I get it," John said with a smile.

"The ring was just a tool. There are other tools available," Batman pointed out.

"You will always be my hero, Boo," Vixen said, pulling him down for a kiss.

A flash of green heralded the arrival of a short blue figure with a large head.

"Guardian!" John exclaimed with a mixture of reverence and shock.

"Greetings, John Stewart," the Guardian said. "We received a message that you lost your ring in a challenge, is that correct?"

Everyone turned to Xander who waved cheerfully.

"I was battling Sinestro when his ring chose a new wielder," John explained. "When I went to retrieve the ring from its new wielder, Spider-Man, I inadvertently entered into a ring challenge, which he won."

The Guardian cupped his hands for a moment, causing them to glow bright green and making everyone flinch, but when he opened them he held a new Green Lantern ring. "We are not directly involved in the ring challenges, as order without compassion leads to injustice, but we do have some interest in the end result of the challenges."

John Stewart caught the new Green Lantern ring as it flew to him and welcomed him to the corps.

"Try not to lose this one," the Guardian said, amused. "May I see your ring, please?" he asked Xander.

Xander slid the ring off his finger and let the Guardian scan it.

"So is it like two or three times as powerful as a normal ring?" Gear asked curiously.

"Fear erodes will, will crushes fear," the Guardian replied.

"Erm, translation?" Gear asked.

"It's nearly powerless," Xander explained. "The two forces are like heat and cold, they cancel each other out."

"Then why would anyone challenge for another ring?" Plastic Man asked.

"Once more, we didn't make the challenge," Xander said irritably. "Anyway, as we said, the challenge is about a philosophical argument among the Lords of Order. We don't have words for the concepts involved and they are completely over our head. It has nothing to do with gaining power, though if it had been blue and green... that would have been a ring of some power."

The Guardian scanned Xander before handing back the ring. "Your clothing has a slight connection to the yellow spectrum," he noted.

Xander consulted with his symbiote and discovered its ability to generate a fear aura and slight tele-empathic ability, had been enhanced by contact with the yellow ring. "We know," he replied, not wanting to go into its feeding habits.

"Thank you for your time," the Guardian told Xander. Turning to Green Lantern he nodded slightly. "Keep up the good work, I must be off now."

After the Guardian had vanished, Green Lantern turned to Xander, "Thanks."

"Don't thank us," Xander waved it off. "Your ring is the one who wanted to send a message. We just agreed because the Guardians are good guys and we figured you'd get a replacement ring faster."

"You knew they would send a replacement ring," Gear said. "That's why you were acting like it wasn't a huge deal."

"We figured since Green Lantern was chosen before, the replacement ring would choose him again and regardless of the outcome they would need to send another green ring."

"You knew the contest would leave the winner with a powerless ring," Batman noted.

"It was pretty obvious," Xander said with a shrug. "Complementary emotions they are not."

"And you aren't upset?" Plastic Man asked. "That's a huge step down in power, from ring wielder to... well, non-powerful-ring wielder."

Xander shrugged. "We admit we were looking forward to flying, but that's about all we needed the ring for."

"Aren't you homeless?" Static asked.

"Yeah, but since we're not a criminal, a power ring wouldn't change that. We need actual identification so we can get a job, so we can rent a place and buy food, especially since we're eating for three now," Xander finished as his costume informed him of its current condition.

"Eating for three?" Plastic Man asked, confused.

Xander nodded. "While we slept last night, a girl crawled into bed with us and she was radiating ... erm, we really don't want to get into how complicated our reproductive cycle is, but it boils down to, we're pregnant and we don't know who the mother is."

Plastic Man's jaw hit the ground as he demonstrated the proper way to pull off jaw dropping shock.

Batman backtracked Xander's movements using his handheld (and bat themed) link to the station's computer and discovered which female had inadvertently shared his bed, before Plastic Man had picked his jaw off the floor. "Starfire," he announced.

"We should probably meet with her," Xander said.


"Um, Starfire?" Robin asked.

"Yes, Robin?"

"Did you sleep with someone on the Watchtower?"

"She wouldn't do that," Beast Boy quickly jumped to her defense, as Robin and Starfire had just started dating recently.

"Not on purpose," Starfire admitted. "He was invisible and asleep when I crawled into bed with him. I was exhausted and depressed, the Bosnia mission was a success, but over a dozen children died. It was actually a relief not to sleep alone."

"I understand," Robin said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"So... why bring it up?" Raven asked curiously.

"Erm... Due to the unique physiologies of the individuals involved... he's pregnant!"

*THUD*

"Star? Star?!" Robin shook the unconscious superheroine.

AN: Typing by Ordieth!