Anime Survivor 5: Moon Kingdom Side Stories

by CHROMUS

The longest running anime survivor series continues with the longest running Side Stories. New author, new place, but same scenario! Read, write and enjoy!

3. Side Stories 3

Side Stories 3

Disclaimer: All the authors and readers that appear in this side story own themselves. Original characters that appear belong to their respective creators. Any nods and refs mentioned over the course of this document belong to their original sources.

Author's Notes: This should bring everything up to date. In a small way, the delay of the crossover ep may have been a blessing.

Thanks to the usual suspects, which include DotD, Donald Marco, Joe Mello, Star Otaku, Adam Pulver, AMZ, YamatoLee, JusSonic, Digifan, Artful, Fetch, littlekitty, and anyone else I forgot.

* * * *

DAY 13

Kelly was not pleased.

Why you may ask?

Simple. Something hadn't gone her way.

"WHY ARE YOU BRINGING THIS 'GUY' HERE TO HELP OUT? I SAY IT'S AUTHOR RIGHTS BEING USED TOO MUCH!" Kelly screamed.

Chromus however stared a hole through the girl which made her whimper slightly.

"Before you accuse me of anything, here are the facts."

Chromus lift a finger up. "Fact one, you made the O.K for Tom 'Baka' Greenville to come to work with Donald." Chromus didn't say a word of the counter threat with Raye he was planning but…

"Yes, but he's human!" Kelly said.

"An author created human I might add. Anyway, point 2…you pretty much made me force Ichino out of the hotel last night…and considering Akari might me coming here in a few nights time, that isn't good for my blood…"

"What can I say? J.P filed complainted about character cruelty!" Kelly defended herself.

"So why wasn't Amara restrained…plus the amount of time Keitaro and company have been bashed…even if it is with good reason…"

"That girl…Ichino…she isn't even a part of the survivor game! Her show isn't here, and the person you've requested isn't from an anime…" Kelly was grasping with as long a straw as she could find…

"…so? You've got Kingdom Hearts characters, Golden Sun, Yu Yu Hakusho, but no Ichino. Plus, I heard you brought in a kid from the Yu-Gi-Oh Movie as well, can you say the words 'Completely unfair? "

…sadly, Chromus cut them quickly enough.

"Well, I er…"

"Plus, as you said, no, he's not in the anime…but he's from the Ranma ½ manga, so I suggest that's at least one half fair, if you forgive the pun."

Kelly was running out of ammo.

"And final point. Even after doing this, you STILL haven't sent for Casey's family!" Chromus did not like incompetence, and even though this might add to the male vs. female debate, it was pretty much on the lines of 'Like I give a damn' now.

Without waiting for Kelly to make a reply, Chromus continued. "So, I've decided that with the obvious female dominance in the kitchen, and as much as I tried to get those Ichiban fellows to help, they wanted a vacation, so they got it. So…Konatsu-chan?"

The pretty (male) chef from Ranma ½ came nervously from behind Chromus, and bowed to both him and to Kelly, Kelly a bit disgusted with the cross-dresser, but the last time she said that to one, Nuriko nearly threw her into a wall.

"Thank you very much! I would be honoured to help!" Konatsu said.

"Of course. And now you're here, that makes two of us hoping for Ukyo's victory." Chromus smiled. "O.K, let's get you sorted out…"

As Chromus and Konatsu left, Kelly was fuming.

"Life's a bitch when it doesn't work against you doesn't it Kel?" Jayson snickered from his hiding place.

Kelly said something which can't be said here, because we have young kids walking around the places. (Although Kasumi said 'Oh my, what not nice language!' if that helps)

"I guess you didn't get to beat up Kouji much, and your power helped get Mina before me…once again." Jayson smiled. "So how you going to ruin the next ep?"

Kelly snickered. "Well, next ep…I'll go again. Then we'll have another guest h.."

"I knew it."

Kelly looked up. "Huh?"

"You are doing this to annoy me. Get a host after every ep you're on to make it longer before I get on. Well, you're wrong. I just received a phone call from the boss…and he and Chromus made a deal beforehand to bring Chromus' 'Animole' show to the Moon Kingdom. It's episode 6…and guess what? I'm the guest host for Animole whilst Chromus is the guest host for AS6…oh well, too bad, sucks to be you, yadda yadda…"

Kelly was steamed. For the boss calling him, for the fact that the person she just argued with had a guest host spot, and the fact that she didn't get a chance to rub the superiority off Jayson's face.

Jayson left, Kelly fumed. The two…hanging by a thread of dignity.

However, Konatsu, being a male, and entering an annoyed Chi-chi for not being informed, was probably the biggest scare of the day…

* * * *

"Cheers!" Tom said to Jim, Sam and Donald as the four Quad-R members were back together, doing their thing as they always did.

"Are you sure it's O.K to spend our money like this?" Jim asked.

"Of course! Whilst we may not agree with it, Tom is one of us, and we've finally got together to do business our way…" Sam said.

"…and the glorious fact that Miss Clemens has been a successful team leader for the past 6 days! Continue on young electabuzz…although Pikachu still rules more…" Tom said.

His three companion facefaulted, but smiled. Their business was still strong, despite a few payouts for Kouji, their takings from Une and Michelle had removed that problem.

Life couldn't get much better…

* * * *

In the restaurant, JusSonic, Digi-Fan and Fetch are talking about what happened recently.

"So long will this stupid war go," asked Fetch.

"Ah, it is so lame. You don't see me kicking girls' butts just to prove I am better. And I should know because Digi-Fan here is a girl." JusSonic answer.

"That and I got a wand." Digi-Fan reminded him.

"True, true." JusSonic remembered.

"So did you challenged Washu to open the portal that brought those evil versions of Globie, Star, and Blackstar?" asked Digi-Fan as if she is accusing him.

"Nah. All I did was call him a dimwit and insult her. She was only trying to prove she is a genius and now, she got dopes to handle." JusSonic chuckled.

Indeed, the others knew JusSonic had a grudge against the genius of Tenchi Muyo since the last AS, but JusSonic tries to ignore her annoyiness of saying she is a genius. But those thoughts are interrupted as a portal opens in the restaurant.

"What the..." Henry said seeing this. "Did Washu opened another portal???"

A person comes out of the portal. He looks familiar. He sees the author.

"Excuse me, did you see three villains in here?" asked the person.

"You're the only weird person here, buddy." answer Fetch. "But if you mean the evil versions, then yes."

"Good. My name is Alan." The person introduced himself.

Takato screamed. "AAAHHH!! RUN BEFORE HE DESTROYED US ALL!"

"Alan" sigh, knowing this would happen. "I expected him to do that."

"Why is that?" asked JusSonic.

"In this world, I am a villain, yes?"

"Well...of course! You must be a good version of Alan from that other world! I should know, me and the Histerians have experiences with the evil versions." JusSonic said, remembering the time with the Evil Histerians.

"Well, I better go before those villains, Globie, Otaku, and Blackstar get the things they need to come back to my world and take it over. And I do mean the evil versions." Alan said.

He left, to the stunned of others. Then they go back to what they were doing.

"Well, it is now his problem, not ours." remarked Fetch.

* * * *

"TAMAHOME!!!" Zoe kept running until she found the Suzaku warrior. Then she jumped into his arms.

"I see some people are taking advantage of Miaka's absence," noted Nuriko, who was standing beside Tama-chan.

"What's wrong?" Tamahome looked down at Zoe.

"Tommy's trying to kill me!" Zoe looked back to find the still-possessed child staring back at her.

"I will defeat you Karin!" Tommy stood there with a martial arts pose. He was ready for battle.

Nuriko took Zoe into safety as Tamahome prepared himself to fight.

It took awhile for either of the two to start.

Tommy seemed to snap out of his trance. "Hey! Brock! Could you help us out?"

Brock was casually walking down the hall. He saw the two, ready for battle. He knew what to do.

"Ready? Fight!" It was on.

The two clashed in an epic battle. Tamahome connected first, sending Tommy reeling back. Then Tommy attacked with surprising strength... sending Tamahome reeling back. This continued on and on for about a minute, with neither side gaining anything. Until Tommy summoned a ki blast that whisked down the hallway. Tamahome, among others, were down for the count.

"Uh... Tommy wins..." Brock was in shock. He didn't realize digi-destined could summon that kind of force.

Zoe peeled herself off of Nuriko. Both were caught in the blast. She saw Tommy bowing at her.

"And you're next Karin!" He snarled back.

* * * *

It wasn't strange at all to see authors working out among the most powerful of anime. A few authors would step in from their way between the hot spring and the locker rooms and stop to check out the odd light spar between Ranma and Gohan, or spot Jackie lifting weights.

So it wasn't at all strange to see them co-exist in such a place without competitive spirits getting too high.

Well, it was when there was the normally mild Star Otaku practicing a few blows to the air with her lunch bag.

Chromus and Artful observed her as she was being cutely vicious... much like the bunny rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

Artful nodded his head. "Ah... what do you call this technique of yours, dear?"

"Yeah, Star-chan! It looks strangely familiar..."

She stopped and let her arms drop to her sides. She turned to them and smiled. "It's the Anything Goes Anti-Hentai Martial Arts!"

"And they said that fighting anime wasn't wordy enough..." Chris remarked sarcastically.

"I think it's time I used it a little more than I'd like, what with-"

"GOOOOOMEEEEEEN NEEEEE!" cried Keitaro as he was sent hurtling over their heads. Mark that as hot spring incident # 538...

"-that happening more and more around here," Star continued, without missing a beat.

Artful and Chromus shook their heads in pity for the poor boy. It wasn't like he did it on purpose, though they did wonder how one boy could have so much bad luck.

Suddenly, Ryoga was sent in the same trajectory as Keitaro was. His extended wail said something about looking for the cafeteria...

And they wondered no more.

Following Ryoga was an angry mob of quickly dressed women from the hot spring, with Naru being the ring-leader, naturally.

"Perverted males! All of you!!!" And in a blind fury, Naru sent a punch flying... in the general direction of Chromus.

"Why me..." the big Brit muttered.

But thankfully, quick reflexes blocked the Naru-punch. Naru's flesh collided with the material of Star's lunch bag.

The small girl looked up at the fiery Hinatasou resident, frowning. "Miss Narusegawa... You should watch where you aim. You might hurt someone you wouldn't intend to hurt..."

A little shocked at seeing her attack effortlessly blocked, Naru shook her hand first then snapped out of it. "And why should I?!"

"Because these two gentlemen are my friends, and I can vouch for them that their intentions are good..." She looked to see Ryoga and Keitaro picking themselves out of a section of wall. "And those two boys just got into accidents, so there's no need to brutalize them!"

Naru looked at the authoress in disbelief. "How can you be so naive?"

A groggy Keitaro managed to make his way to the mob, maybe he was being suicidal, but he was going try and apologize to them. Unfortunately, he slipped on an errantly misplaced wet towel and slid towards Star! As his unfortunate fate decreed, Keitaro collided with Star, and they fell together onto the floor, and ended up in a compromising position.

Naru was enraged at Keitaro's misplaced hands on the girl's body, and wound up another rocket fueled Naru-kick.

Artful was seething that the boy was on his girlfriend, though he knew it was an accident, he was still angry. Credit it to irrational male possessiveness and jealousy.

And Chromus was beginning to regret having his Angerspace sealed.

"Hah!" the petite authoress cried as her bag slammed into Keitaro's chin, sending him... Standing upright?!

The angry girl's kick sailed into the space where Keitaro used to be, and she tripped backwards.

All were shocked... The ronin wasn't sent flying into a wall, or into another deadly female situation? He was hit by a girl only to be brought back to his feet unscathed?

"Wha...?" Naru muttered.

Star picked herself up, then looked down at her and shook her head. "Anything Goes Anti-Hentai Martial Arts. I've been perfecting the technique for a while. If he truly was a hentai, he'd be in for a world of hurt and frequent flier miles. But if it were a genuine accident, he'd be sent back a short, and I mean short, distance, relatively unhurt and probably just a little dazed. Sempai, can you please help demonstrate?"

Artful looked at her, reluctantly moving.

"Please, sempai?" She turned on the doe eyes.

He sighed. "The things I do in the name of cute girls and science..." Artful stood beside her and asked, "What shall I do?"

"I want you to do something ecchi, but tasteful, in this public forum."

"Right." Cracking his knuckles and working the cricks out of his neck, he was ready. "Here goes..." And he planted a hand on her chest.

Star wound up her bag arm and was ready to go in for the kill. She struck him square in the jaw... which didn't affect him at all.

Everyone looked at her, sweatdropping.

Star looked confused, and Art still had his hand on her chest.

"Oh yeah! There's one draw back to this: It doesn't work against your true love!"

And everyone facefaulted en masse.

* * * *

DAY 14

It was supposed to be just another ordinary day at the Floating Hotel's cafe and restaurant, the main feed bag of the entire AS 5 residence for administration, characters, entourage and authors/reader cameos...but then again, when you're talking Anime Survivor, normal is just another six-letter word that means, well, nothing.

The two elder members of the Chuuka Ichiban crew, Shel (the burly Frenchman) and Lei-On (the former Dark Culinary League hitman) were sitting at one of the windowside tables, having what was supposed to be their first made-for-them Chinese lunch. While Meirii and the others were off somewhere having already finished their meal, the two elder crew members decided on a later lunch after a dip in the hotel's artificial hot spring.

"I'm hoping this should be good...I've always wondered how Chinese cuisine would evolve past our time." Shel began.

"For all of China's sake, I hope it hasn't been taken over by the Dark Culinary League." Lei-On replied.

One of the waiters, Konatsu, came out from the kitchen, holding a steaming pot smelling of a rich salted fish. He meekly placed it onto the table for Shel and Lei-On, and opened the lid for them, to reveal a bubbling concoction of eggplant and a spicy sauce. "Your salted fish and eggplant hot pot, sirs." He meekly replied, and tried to slink away.

"Hold on a minute, young man." Lei-On ordered him.

"Y...yes?" Konatsu replied.

"How come you are so afraid of us?"

"Um...well, customers first!"

Lei-On wasn't impressed. He had known how the women have been trying to bully some of the men, and the beating incident after a couple Immunity Challenges won by the Tai Yang Pai at the theatre didn't escape his eye. But this by far had gone beyond too far. Meanwhile, Shel had dug into the pot, and tasted the eggplant...and promptly spat it back out.

"Ugh! What is this? This doesn't taste natural at all! It's filled with...ugh!" Shel spat, trying to rince out his mouth with tea.

Lei-On then proceeded to take a taste, and his reaction was almost the same. After taking one bite of the pot, he promptly covered it back up with a lid, and handed it back to poor Konatsu, who was already terrified of what had happened to Shel.

"Young man, please take this back to the kitchen and tell your head chef to come and see us." Lei-On ordered gently yet strongly.

Ukyo's right hand cross-dresser quickly complied, and a few minutes later a scream and a pot crashing to the floor was heard followed by the matriarch of AS feedbags, Chi Chi, stormed out from the kitchen in quite a huff, with Konatsu pulling at her apron strings in an attempt to calm her down.

"So, you don't like my cooking, huh?" Chi Chi snapped at the two gentlemen, who remained calm.

"Madam, no offense, but the hot pot tasted like dog's crap!" Shel gagged. "Ah Tsing would never cook this pile of dog s*it for us to eat!"

Chi Chi was clearly offended, as the room raised a couple degrees in temperature. "So you're calling our cooking crap, is it? Typical of you ignorant men." She snapped.

This raised Shel to his feet, holding onto his heavy metal staff in battle position. "Is that a challenge you are offering, madam? A cooking contest to see which gender can cook the best dishes?" He ordered.

The matriarch was clearly caught offguard by this new change. "F...fine! Name your ingredient and we'll have a one-five-five battle. One theme ingredient, five cooks, five dishes."

Lei-On was now quite interested. He wanted to see how these 21st century cooks would fare against their old-style Chinese cooking, without all of the classic razmatazz and doohickeys. It would be a classic wok and steamer vs. rice cookers and blenders.

"Okay, we'll offer up tofu. This will be a cinch, since Ah Tsing will naturally be on our side."

"Um...Shel, you do realize that Ah Tsing is still in the game, and..."

"Yeah, but still, we can take them, with or without Ah Tsing!"

"And where are we going to find five cooks?"

Of course, an argument of this magnitude always attracts some sort of a crowd, as indeed one has gathered around them all, and were looking on with some interest. In fact, the entire restaurant's staff and clientele had gathered around the commotion.

"Will three brave gentlemen step forward to bring glory to old-style cooking?" Shel declared to the crowd.

"Okay, ladies, rally around! Let's show these ignorant men what cooking's really about!" Chi Chi shouted.

At first, only women began to congregate around their leader, as Lita, Shinobu and Kasumi quickly took to Chi Chi's side. However, the men remained quite alone...until...

"I...I'll help." Konatsu meekly volunteered.

"Excellent! Here is one boy...albeit dressed as a woman...who is brave enough to help us! Or are the rest of you men cowards?" Lei-On declared.

Just then, Tenkawa wandered out of the kitchen, having heard Lei-On's cries, went through the crowds and took their side, much to the dismay of Chi Chi and the rest of the female cooking staff. "Tenkawa! You traitor!" Lita cried.

"Don't expect me to give you a good word ever again, young man!" Chi Chi added.

"He does not need your good word, you wench." Shel laughed back. "Here is one more man who is willing to take on the cause for old-style cooking! Will there be one more?"

Of course, here comes Brock...having wandered in hearing about a battle, he (literally) floats into the scene, and takes Chi Chi's hand. "I'll take your side any day, ladies..." He cooed. "I'll help you win this battle..."

Of course, this shocks the men's side, much to the pleasure of the women. Shel looked at Brock with disdain. "Coward. Cozying up to the women to curry their favour."

Chi Chi smiled back. "So, are you ready to call it quits?"

"Not on your life!" A voice added.

Another figure walked into the room, revealing the tall, slender and blonde Amarah. She immediately walked over to the side of the men, much to the women's shocked and surprised looks. "

"Looks like this woman has seen the light!" Shel gloated.

"And we've got one of yours!" Chi Chi replied.

Just then, from out of nowhere, Kelly jumped into the fray. "THEN, IT'S AGREED! IT WILL BE A ONE-FIVE-FIVE IRON CHEF COOKING BATTLE! THE MEN VS. THE WOMEN IN A CLASSIC TOFU BATTLE!" She shouted, with a voice the cross of Mr. Referee and the funky Iron Chef dubbed voice.

"And just to make this battle impartial, I'll be commentating with her!" Jayson added, also jumping out from nowhere...and landing right on top of Kelly.

"In a week, we will gather here at the cafe to decide which gender is truly the real cooks of this world!" Kelly declared, shoving Jayson off her back. "And

Shel and Chi Chi glared at each other, both sides with fire in their eyes. "We'll teach you some real home cooking, that's for sure." Chi Chi snarled.

"Bring it on." Shel replied, as the room heated up another couple degrees...and it will only get hotter.

* * * *

"So, how do you think Tristan is holding up?" asked Yugi as he, Joey, Téa, and Mai walked across the hotel lobby.

"I'd say his chance are pretty good," said Joey.

"Tristan can hold his own," said Mai, "Unlike that Kouji kid."

Just then, a young boy with long turquoise hair no taller than Yugi (if just maybe a slightly bit shorter) ran into the spiky-haired Duelist.

"Sorry!" said the boy.

"That's okay," said Yugi. As he helped the boy up, he recognized him immediately. "Shago?!"

"Yugi?" Shago looked up and into the face of his old friend, "Yugi! It's you!"

"Shago! I haven't seen you since that tournament Kaiba held when he took my Puzzle!" said Yugi, clearly overjoyed.

"Who's the kid?" asked Mai.

"That's Shago, a kid from Yugi's neighbourhood. He used to get teased a lot because he wasn't a very good Duelist. But now, he's one of the best ever," explained Joey.

"Joey! Téa! It's good to see you again," said Shago.

"So Shago, how are you feeling?" asked Joey.

"I'm in the mood for a duel," answered Shago, "I've been dueling a lot ever since you and Yugi helped me gain the confidence I needed."

"Then why don't I take you on?" Joey volunteered.

"Hmph. The kid could probably beat you hands-down, Joey," said Kaiba, who was sitting not far away.

"Grr! I'LL SHOW YOU!" shouted Joey before turning back to Shago, "Let's duel, Shago!" He held up his arm and his Duel Disk activated.

"You can borrow my Duel Disk," said Yugi as he handed his over to Shago.

"Thanks, Yugi," said Shago. He strapped the device to his arm and inserted his deck into the card reader. The Duel Disk unfolded and the holographic image projectors were deployed.

"Let's duel!" said both Duelists.

20 minutes later…

Joey's LP: 450 // Shago's LP: 550

"It's your move now, Shago!" Yugi called.

Shago slowly drew his next card and looked at it. Upon seeing it, his face lit up. It was his favorite card.

"Joey, I now sacrifice Ansatsu and Kuriboh to bring out my favorite monster!" announced the young Duelist as he slipped his two monsters into the Graveyard and placed his new monster onto the field, "The Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The card appeared on the battlefield and from it emerged Shago's rarest creature of all.

"I haven't seen a Red-Eyes in a long time," said Joey.

As Shago looked up at the creature, he remember some words that had been said to him the day he got his Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

The Blue-Eyes Dragon will bring victory. However, what the Red-Eyes Dragon brings is not victory, but potential.

However, this is only for the one who has the courage to duel.

Those words stuck with Shago ever since he saw Yugi duel Kaiba. AS he looked in his hand, he came up with an idea. It was the same tactic he had seen Yugi use to defeat Kaiba.

"And now I'll play Polymerization!" announced Shago. His Magic card appeared on the field and glowed brightly.

"And I'll use it to fuse my Red-Eyes Black Dragon with the Meteor Dragon in my hand!" The latter monster

appeared on the field and the two dragons converged on each other and fused into one creature.

It's that monster again! thought Kaiba as he remembered the one monster that was able to destroy his triple Blue-Eyes and Chain of Wickedness combo.

"The BLACK METEOR DRAGON!" announced Shago. His newly formed monster rose into the air and fired its attack down on Joey's Thousand Dragon, destroying it and wiping out the rest of the blond Duelist's Life Points.

Joey's LP: 0 // Shago's LP: 550

"I can't believe I lost!" shouted Joey in disbelief.

"I can't believe how much Shago's improved," said Yugi as he walked up to his old friend, "That was a great duel, Shago."

"Thanks, Yugi," said Shago.

"We should get together some time and catch up on things," said Téa.

"Hey Shago, why don't you join us later for lunch?" asked Yugi.

"Sounds good," answered Shago as he returned Yugi his Duel Disk and placed his cards back in his deck protector and returned them to his pocket.

* * * *

"Looks like the dog got whipped…" Kaiba smirked before heading out.

"I AM NOT A…" Joey exclaimed.

For some reason, Fetch passed by, Excel was chasing Menchi, Videl was feeding her dad's dog, Eien began shaking water over Faye and Spike and although technically not a dog, Ryo-Ohki was playing hide and seek with Sasami.

O.K, that didn't really happen…but Joey felt like it did…

"Gah…I wish there was some way…"

Suddenly, he noticed a small crowd outside what appeared to be a tent. It was bright red, it symbolised an aura that Joey was surprised at, and on the outside, there was a large flashy sign.

"RAYE'S PSYCHIC HANDLING! PREDICTIONS OF ANIME SURVIVOR! FIRST SESSION FREE!"

Joey was intrigued at least, especially as he saw a few authors AND anime characters head in the direction of the tent. The word 'free' obviously tempted them…and Joey decided to go for temptation. At least he could hide his face after losing two duels coming here…

Inside, was pretty much what you expect from a Miko's seance. A circle of blue fire (not too dissimilar to the Black Luster Ritual) was around the priestess girl, as Joey noted.

And she was quite cute to boot as Joey hid a goofy smile under his face. Almost like that Mina girl…

Also there were Tasuki, Genma, Soun, Ryuji, Ryoko and Ryoko, plus a few authors and cameos were there, namely Digifan, Ash Lillymon and a now discharged Persona, obviously trying to limit his destruction intake for the time being.

"What's going on?" Joey asked as Raye opened her eyes from the meditative stance she was in and smiled.

"This is Rei's Psychic Handling. I am going to predict the next eviction of Anime Survivor. As you know, yesterday, the tribes swapped. This could bring in new ideas and the stars have predicted many changes…plus if I'm correct, you could be very wealthy." She smiled.

A few sweatdropped (although most were sweating from the heat) as Tasuki spoke. "Well, I like a little gamble every now and again, but what if you're prediction is wrong?"

"Then take it up with Chromus. He'll guarantee you'll get your money back if my prediction is wrong, out of his purse…"

(Outside the tent, Chromus prayed the mole was helping him with his cheques)

"…so you've got nothing to lose."

It was obvious that people weren't completely convinced, but they let the Scout of Mars continue her work. In reality, the setting was all for show, and for Raye's comfort.

Just under her crystal ball desk was a piece of paper with the words 'ROGER SMITH' underneath.

"O.K…sun, moon, earth, stars…sun, moon, earth, stars…" Rei went into her chant and her eyes snapped open.

"The next eviction is…"

* * * *

"So, you're going to try it Tendo?" Genma asked.

"If there is nothing to lose Saotome, then why not? The Tendo Dojo needs to make any chance of making ends meet…" Soun said.

"Then…can you lend me 5 yen?" Genma said, to Tendo's disgust.

"Ah…why not? I'm not doing anything else at this popiscle stand, and the last time I did bet, it was on Miaka and Tama-chan's bruises are still showing…"

Whilst a few of them were still not too convinced, a majority had decided to see if Raye's words came true, and headed for Donnie's betting booth. Outside the tent, Raye wiped off a bit of sweat.

"Will any others turn up?" Raye asked.

Chromus shook his head. "Start off small, and when more people win, word will spread out, and more people will flock. More people means more destruction for poor Donnie…the ultimate revenge!" Chromus laughed an evil laugh (because he felt he deserved one…)

Raye sweatdropped. "Are you part of the Heart Snatchers?"

* * * *

It was a bit weird for Donnie now that the whole gang was here, but after the old switcheraoo, he needs to change the odds slightly. Kiyone, once the favourite to go, now had a lifeline away from Casey and Jade. Although Seiya wasn't helping any trust with the Yueh Liang, he was now the favourite to go for that tribe, with pretty much any of the guys in trouble for Tai Pang.

Suddenly, a few people came in, not too many to worry about. Just Tasuki from Fushigi Yugi, those two cheapskates from Ranma and also Digifan, who lost last time.

And Persona…

"Need some money to repair the nightclub…your room…or your mind?" Jim asked.

Persona grumbled. 'Might as well give it a shot…'

"5 bucks on Roger. What's his odds?"

"Ah, let's see…Roger is joint favourite with Tristan at 5-1, and as immunity hasn't happened yet…

"Whatever, here ya go."

Donnie smiled. Another 'satisfied' customer. Which was why he was surprised when all the others began to bet on Roger. Of course, nothing major as very little money by the Ranma group, although Tasuki had bet 3 silver pieces which translated into about $15, and Digifan went with three English pounds.

Again, not too bad, as Seiya had practically been the one betted on throughout. But if either of those two went, with only the odd bet on Kiyone, Mutsumi, Miaka and Onizuka…the rainbow may not be so clear…

* * * *

DAY 15

"Yahoo! Twice in a row for semi-Captain Casey!"

One would expect that cheer to be from a member of Casey's family. They'd be half right. It came from Pokemon Reporter Tom Greenville, who had already payed for and brought a round of drinks to the Clemens' and was now carrying a bunch of sodas to a table where Ash and Misty were sitting. Brock was supposed to be with them, but he was, again, chasing skirts.

*BOOM*

One had to wonder if Brock was going for the girls themselves, or for the Nurse Joys in the infirmary.

"Hail, to thee, Captain, and most gracious First Mate."

With Misty in the classic "Secretly Denying it with extreme prejudice" scowl, Tom immediately held up his free hand. "Hey, you wouldn't hurt a guy with glasses, would you? Especially since they're yours." He indicated the drinks on the tray he brought from the bar.

"I probably would... but at least I'll wait for them to be emptied." replied the young redhead female who then took the glass that Tom offered her.

"And here, oh most glorious Captain, is thine Chalise."

"Uh... thanks." Ash was a bit apprehensious. He was half expecting Tom to have bought the sweetest tasting liquer that, while tasting very good, would have Ash out like a light or else doing something... untoward. And with Misty in the room, depending on what he did, he'd either end up in the infirmary, or, well... let's not go 'there' with these guys.

To Ash's surprise, it was just plain simple draft Root Beer on the rocks. Ash had to admit, Tom may have worshipped Ash as though he were a Celebi, but at least Tom didn't want to make Ash do something humuorously stupid. Or... well, if we don't go 'there' with Misty, they we CERTAINLY won't go 'there' with anyone else.

"So, how about that Electabuzz?" Tom asked as he took Brock's former seat. By the looks of things, he wouldn't be back tonight.

Normally, when that question was asked of a person not owning that particular Pokemon, it was in reference to the baseball team. But in this case, it meant the girl who was almost as much a fan of that team as Tom was of Ash.

"Well…she's got a legacy to uphold with our performances but…" Ash said.

"…she's doing great!" Misty smiled.

"How about we raise a toast!" suddenly exclaimed Tom, as he rose and lifted his drink.

Unfortunately, while Ash and Misty didn't have any alcohol, Tom apparently did, because he didn't have the best control of his glass...

Before Tom could get down to grovel, Misty was sending him to the infirmary via infamous "Mallet Express".

What made things worse was that Tom's drink hit, let's say, a strategic spot. And also while Misty was quite flat for the first couple of years, and hasn't grown much in that area recently... any progress is obvious when it is first observed. Though it's apparent only through a shirt splashed with liquid. Then again, it's apparent even to a 13-year old Pokemon trainer. As evidenced by the slight drop of blood from Ash's nose.

"What are you staring at!?"

"Uh..." Ash immediatly covered his nostril. "Nothing," he replied hoping to avoid the wrath of Misty's Mallet.

He got the smaller Croquet mallet instead, and was merely knocked into dreamland, where he would likely dream of one of two things. Being a Pokemon Master... or well... maybe for once he would dream of going 'there'. Or perhaps both. Misty dragged him back to his room with her left hand; her right holding her larger mallet ready to send any perverts to join Tom.

* * * *

Zoe sat in the hospital waiting room. She didn't want it to come to this, but she no longer had a choice.

Nurse Joy walked out. Zoe stood up.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Oh, Tommy will be fine. He just got knocked out, that's all. You can see him if you wish."

"Thank you." Nurse Joy walked away as Zoe turned. "Thanks Gohan."

Gohan smiled, "It's no problem, but you could have told me I'd have to go Super-Saiyan to knock him out."

Zoe headed to Tommy's room, where he was just starting to come to.

"Hey there Tommy... looks like you got your head handed to you."

Tommy's eyes flashed open. He looked at Zoe.

"Paula!"

"Paula?"

Tommy jumped out of the bed and pulled another invisible weapon from out of nowhere. He held it like a baseball bat. "Come on Paula, we have to save the world!"

He ran out of the room. Zoe was right behind him. She had to keep tabs on him. At least in whatever he was hallucinating this time she was an ally.

However, it soon became clear that Takuya and J.P. weren't.

"Ah! The enemy surprised us!"

"Um... we just heard Gohan sent you to the hospital. What happened?" Takuya asked.

"Paula- Use PK Freeze!"

"Are you talking to me?" Zoe asked.

"Do something Paula! They're going to attack us! Use your frying pan."

Zoe was still confused. But she didn't want to incur Tommy's wrath again. She shrugged, then clobbered Takuya with a frying pan she pulled out of mallet space.

J.P. quickly backed off after that.

Tommy and Zoe continued their journey through the hotel grounds, looking for the enemy so they can save the world. They were still looking when they found Ash and Brock chatting it up. Brock immediately stood up upon seeing Tommy.

"Out of my way!" Tommy held his weapon at Brock. Brock put his arms up.

"Don't hurt me Tommy!"

Ash stood up. "What's going on!"

"That's kid's scary. He took out Tamahome!"

"And now I need to fight you! The fate of the world depends on it!" Tommy yelled.

"Well, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. Pikachu!" Ash called out for his yellow rodent.

Pikachu jumped in front of Ash and hissed at Tommy, "Pika..."

"I guess I'll do this again. Ready? Go!" Brock yelled.

Pikachu started out with a quick thundershock, which clearly hit Tommy but didn't seem to affect him much. Then Tommy dove after Pikachu stupidly. Pikachu jumped up, and summoned a thunderbolt. Again, it hit Tommy, but didn't affect him much.

Tommy got up and summoned his own attack. "PK FLASH!!"

He raised his hands up and flashing light rose to the air. When they reached Pikachu, they exploded in spectacular green flash. Pikachu was dazed, and knocked back.

"The match is mine now!" Tommy flicked his wrist. Pikachu somehow was knocked backwards, even though it was lying five feet away. Tommy whirled his arm around until resting it at its side.

"PK Fire!" Another bolt of energy from out of nowhere. Tommy set a few plants on fire, but Pikachu's agility got him out of there in time.

Pikachu landed in front of Tommy and charged an attack, "Pi... ka..."

Tommy responded by swinging his arms around like he was holding a baseball bat.

SMAAAASH! Pikachu was airborne, and signed off with the trademark Team Rocket "ding!"

"Pikachu!" While Ash ran after his poor mouse, Brock quietly backed away again. Zoe attempted to approach Tommy, but he was too busy waving and flashing peace signs to notice.

* * * *

"That's right Yoshikawa! Onizuka is still in it…although his strategy is what I don't expect from him…never mind, I'm sure he'll do well…hey, he promise to treat us all to lunch if he won…"

Ryuji chuckled. Even if he did win, Onizuka was Onizuka. A che…

Azusa Fuyutsuki put down the phone and sighed. It was nice to get the time off from Holy Forest Academy, and whilst Onizuka's ways on the island have been a bit more disturbing than she expected from him, strategy was what was needed to win these games, so she hoped that was the case for Eikichi Onizuka, and not…

"O.K, O.K! Meeting in session!"

Both GTO representatives turned to see what appeared to be a flock full of anime women, lead by Chi-Chi, but there were plenty others as well to say the least…and it appeared they were having a private meeting. Curious, Azusa went over to see what was going on.

"O.K, the meeting is now in session! We are now here to discuss who is safe from us, and who needs to be sent out of here as quickly as possible!" Chi-chi said.

"Get rid of them all!" Naru shouted.

"Now Miss Narusegawa, that isn't the case. You said that Miss Otaku developed a martial arts technique for judging who is right and who is wrong, correct?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Er…hai?" Naru said.

"And you also mentioned that your boyfriend…"

"HE'S NOT MY…"

"Yes, we've heard it before. Basically, your friend was found innocent of all charges, and despite seeming like a perverted lech, he actually has been cleared of all charges on account of being simply a clumsy fool." Chi-chi said. Naru blushed, but quickly got back.

"O.K, we'll get back to that in a second, but the next item on the inquest is the cook-off. Now, those two Ichiban fellows along with three others have challenge 5 ladies…" Chi-chi thought for a second. "…O.K, 4 ladies and one pervert who just happens to be a good cook…hey, I'll let exceptions ride for now…"

Mass sweatdropping.

"…versus 4 guys and 1 lady…how the heck did that happen Lita?" Chi-chi asked her second in command.

"Gimme a break, Amara pretty does her own thing…" Lita said.

"And then that traitor Tenkawa and that new weirdo go over to their side, absolutely prepostrous, to go against myself, Lita, Brock, Shinobu and Kasumi. I mean, why, we accepted them, we praised them, we…"

"Um…" Shinobu timidly put her hand up.

"Yes Shinobu-dear?" Chi-chi asked.

"…you…er…well, you were scaring Konatsu as soon as he came in…" Shinobu said.

Chi-chi fumed as Kasumi said an 'Oh my', but calmed down. "Never mind. All we can say is that us women are going to cream the men!" Chi-chi said.

"Bravo sister!" said a new voice from the back.

Kelly Silversmith.

"That was wonderful…and the perfect way to shut up the guys, especially that ignorant SOB Jayson!" Kelly said.

Chi-chi shrugged and went back to her original point, and trying to see if they can get Miss Otaku to learn the Anti-Hentai style (Akane in particular) and Kelly hid an evil grin.

"…and I've got the perfect way to do it…"

* * * *

"Why are those two bringing so much angst?" YamatoLee asked JusSonic.

"Relegated…" Chromus said.

"Defeated…" DigiFan said.

"Oh, just some soccer/football problems." Jayson Gold helpfully added. "But I gotta drag his carcass to the island now so…"

In a scene not too disimilar for Pokemon fans, Jayson dragged the poor fan out of there, as Kelly fumed from the sidelines.

"Trust me…you'll get yours…"

* * * *

Fetch was perfectly content... until he heard it.

"Pokéball... GO!"

He muttered, "Why do they always shout first?"

In a flash, he transformed into his Growlithe form. He turned towards the
direction of the shout and delivered a flamethrower attack at the perpetrator.

Tommy just barely dodged out of the way in time. He consulted his left palm.
"The Pokédex says this could be a tough one." He reached for his belt and pulled
out air. He held his imaginary pokéball up and allowed it to grow to full size.

"Fortunately... I know just what to use." He threw, "Kumamon! I choose you!!"

One spirit evolution later, Kumamon was standing in place of Tommy.

"Kumamon! Use Ice Blast!!" Kumamon shouted. Since he was giving orders to
himself, obeying wasn't a problem. He sent his Crystal Freeze attack in Fetch's
direction.

Fetch was caught off guard, and was frozen solid.

Kumamon quickly turned back into Tommy, who once again held and threw thin air.

"Pokéball... GO!!"

Fetch was awfully concerned that nothing was heading his way... especially when
that nothing fired a tractor beam and sucked him into a the cramped conditions
of a Pokéball. He fell to the ground. Despite his best efforts to get out of the
invisible prison, he couldn't.

"Alright!! I caught Fetch!" Tommy spun around and flashed a peace sign. However,
when he walked up to claim him, Fetch disappeared.

Then littlekitty started bouncing on his head.

"What... did... you... do... to... him?!"

"Ow... ow... ow... ow... Hey! A Mew!" Tommy spun around and grabbed another
"pokéball" from his belt. "Ready to go KoriKakumon?"

Before he could go after her, she telleported away.

Tommy was down, but not out, "Aw... well I'll still be a master someday!"


littlekitty teleported away to a safe place, where she kept Fetch levitated
above her palm. He was clearly uncomfortable.

"This is weird. How can this be possible? It's a Pokéball... but I can't see
it!"

She grabbed it, and freed Fetch. This was getting beyond unusual.

* * * *

Roger Smith, living in the year 2099, Paradigm City, Criminal Negotiator, involved in the race to activate Big O.

And 5th eliminated from Anime Survivor 5.

It was just not his day.

He sighed as Mina returned from the hotel with him. Sure, he should have been happy being with a beautiful girl, but three beautiful girls had helped kick him out of the game, along with that rat Onizuka. He hoped that Tristan could somehow survive.

What was not a surprise was Dorothy being there, although being melancholy as usual.

What was a surprise was 4 kids with her smiling.

"Dorothy, who are the kids?" Roger asked.

Dorothy shrugged. "Just some kids supporting you. I don't know why but…"

"We're sorry Roger!" Takato said.

"Trust me, I know the feeling of going early, it sucks…" Henry added.

"At least you beat that Frontier idiot…" Rika added.

"It's been a bit scary with that Tommy around now hasn't it?" Jeri said.

Roger shrugged. He didn't know who they were, but at least he had some support. The crime-fighting millionaire smiled and put a hand on Takato and Henry's shoulder.

"Thank you. Come on, let's get some lunch…some real food…make sure Ah Tsing didn't hear me say that…" he chuckled slightly as one ladie's man, 4 Tamers and an android almost indistinguishable from real humans who may hold the secret to humankind's amnesia headed out for lunch.

* * * *

Jim was waiting for Donald when the latter arrived to input the new odds into the computer.

"Rough Night?" asked the Co-host turned Guest-Host.

"Not really. The devil's still in the details, though. Tristan and Seiya are up the creek without a canoe, though it seems to me that only Uyko and Jade are truely safe. Miaka and Goten somewhat so."

"You mean Onizuka doesn't hold a majority?"

"It's tenious at best. The girls could pull the rug out from under him at any moment if they realize their power. And Kiyone seems the type to take charge."

"These switches are the pits, though."

"Yeah. But what are you going to do. I couldn't predict how the balls would pop out."

"Nope, you couldn't..." Jim trailed off.

"Something wrong?"

"Just looking at the profit figures. We had more people than I would think vote for Roger on Day 15."

"Hm... I don't know, Jim. His faction WAS in hot water."

"Yes. But Tristan was in that faction too. You'd think that a more popular show would have higher visibility."

"OR a higher fanbase, which would vote otherwise."

"Yeah, but in this activity, visibility is supposed to hurt more than it helps."

Jim had a point, Donald had to admit. But it was only a reduced profit level. It didn't seem dangerous. Yet.

* * * *

DAY 16

Yamato Lee snuck back into his hotel room sometime after midnight, praying his roommates didn't wake up. Reaching up into one corner that had a good view of the door, and another section of wall with a view of the bathroom, he planted what he came in for, and got out.

An hour after Lee's last visit, a hooded man slipped into Yamato Lee's hotel room, grumbling to himself. A pale green glow emanated from his hands, spreading to envelop the 3 sleepers and leaving the walls tinted a slight green. His hood slipping down a bit to uncover his face, Yamato Lee left.

A tall figure wearing the strange combination of a trench coat and a large cloak paused on the top floor, looking down into Persona's nightclub. It was too early to have any customers, but there was that peculiar man relaxing behind the bar. The figure decided that passing where the man might see it was worth the risk. Scowling beneath its cloak, it faded to a shadow and slunk past the bartender. On the other side, it continued on to the twelfth floor, avoiding all contact. As it approached its destination, it felt a powerful ward, a very specific one… one directed at it. "He got here first." The figure hissed, its voice sounding pleasant despite its frustration. "Well, there are other ways…" The figure slipped deeper into the hotel.

* * * *

The three authors, JusSonic (Histeria! author), Digi-Fan (new honorary H! author) and Fetch are walking around the place. JusSonic is on his cellphone as usual.

"Okay, when you get to the convention, do me a favor and try to stay out of problem?" JusSonic listens in, he rolls his eyes. "Well, the same to you, Sammy!"

JusSonic then hangs up.

"You know what?" beginned Fetch.

"What?" JusSonic answered.

"I wondered how you and Digi-Fan are here while you two are on that bus trip to that convention right now." Fetch said puzzled.

"I don't know. I also don't know how Ash can be in the Mole: The Anime Edition and Anime Survivor at the same time. It's a mystery." Digi-Fan remarked.

"Huh. I got to give arpulver a call." mumbled JusSonic. "Well, it could be better or worse. They could get lost again and this time ended up in a town with foul-mouthed puppets and screwy celebrities."

"True." Digi-Fan said.

"So anyway, it is true you are considering making a survivor of your own?" Fetch asked JusSonic.

"Yep. It is sorta of continuum to arpulver's Animation Survivors, except it is not really canon, it is called Cartoon Survivor, and the AA isn't involved. And good thing too, I never liked that son of a guns." JusSonic said, remembering what happened in Grim Reality.

"So who's the co-hosts?"

"We haven't started yet or who knows when it would start, but it's safe to say that me, Digi-Fan, and my friend Robert is the hosts of this one." explained JusSonic further.

"That would sound pretty cool." Fetch said.

"Thanks." reply Digi-Fan.

Just then, security ran past them.

"Whoa! What's going down?" asked Fetch.

"Better check." said Digi-Fan.

The three followed the security and the room they entered is a mess. It is the storage room and it is a mess. Security are cleaning it up. Some Anime characters are there.

"What's going on?" JusSonic asked.

"The storage room has been broken into." Ash yelled over the noise.

"What's been taken?" asked Fetch.

"Spirit cards, dark balls, you know those kind of items that would make villains powerful." explained Naru.

"You don't think the evil versions are doing this, do you?" JusSonic asked Digi-Fan.

"Nah. They got their buttes handed to them when they try to cause trouble the last time. Besides, the good Alan is looking for them right now." Digi-Fan remarked.

"Good what?" asked Uncle. "Is this an invasion of universal proportions?!"

"Hey, relax there, guy. You need to lay your feet down. Those dogs are barking." JusSonic said.

"WHAT?!" Everyone in the room said shocked and confused.

"Sorry. I don't know why I just said that." said JusSonic embarrassed.

* * * *

It was another normal day in the hotel, with the normal things going on. Blackstar was wandering the hotel, while the Adepts were in his room, doing various things. Isaac and Garet were having a sword fight, Ivan was reading a book, and Mia was busy combing her hair in front of a mirror.

"Y'know, I think we need to ask Blackstar to send us back to Weyard. We've already spent enough time here, and already asked too much of Blackstar..." Ivan said while closing his book. Isaac and Garet stopped their sword fight to look at him.

"Well, you have a point..." Garet started before being cut off by his friend.

"Ivan, you do have a point. We DO need to get back to our world, but you've heard Blackstar. Time is virtually stopped on Weyard while we are in this world. But hey, look at the bright side, we have tons of training time while we are here." The two immediately started going at it again, more furiously than before.

Ivan sighed. "I guess you're right."

Mia decided to speak up. "Hey, guys, do you know where Blackstar went? We need to catch up to him!"

"He went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat! He said he'll wait down there for us!" Ivan yelled back over the noise of the sword fight.

"Alright, I'll be done soon!"

Blackstar was heading down the hallways, all the way down to the cafeteria. It was quite a pleasant few weeks, as he got his cameo done sooner then he thought...Even if it did take some of his power, the challenge was actually pretty entertaining to watch.

The god was almost near the end of the hallway when...

"KEITARO! YOU STUPID PERVERT!"

"I'M SORRY!"

*KABOOM*

The sound of someone being launched in the air was heard throughout the entire hotel, and no one minded.

Blackstar ignored it and continued down the hallway, when he noticed another figure walking towards the way he came from.

Naru was walking in a huff, oblivious to everything around her. "Stupid pervert...How dare he see me undress!" She continued walking towards the stairs, still oblivious to everything...Including that fold in the carpet.

Her foot got caught in it, and with a gasp, she tripped, with her arms outstretched to soften her fall.

She didn't hit ground though...

She opened her eyes in surprise...

And then saw a man right in front of her...

With her hands grabbing onto that certain area...

"Uh...I-I'm sorry?" She said while a huge blush crept across her face.

Blackstar twitched.

*Thwack!*

*Swish!*

*Slash!*

*Smack!*

*BOOM!*

Naru was sent flying into the opposite wall, leaving a Naru-shaped hole inside the wall...With her in it.

This time, some people couldn't ignore it. Blackstar went downstairs before anyone can get up there.

Shinobu ran up, and gasped in shock in seeing Naru imprinted in the wall. "Oh my gosh! Naru-sempai, what happened?!"

Naru fell out of the wall with swirly eyes. "Oh mommy, can you please get me the 5 Liddo-kun dolls flying around my head?"

Shinobu sweatdropped.

* * * *

"…I still don't understand why you did it…" Lita complained to Amara.

"Simple. I don't wish to live by stereotypes. That Junpei fellow found out the hard way…" Amara smiled as Michelle tried hard not to laugh.

"…but…"

"Don't you have a man with your team?" Amara questioned.

Lita shrugged. She'd hardly call Brock a man compared to her old sempai, what the heck Mina saw him him…or that Joey for that matter…but then again…

"It just seems…" Lita asked.

Suddenly Ami came up to them along with Fushigi Yugi's Mitsukake. Despite being from different times and worlds, the two had struck a repor with each other with their skills in medical training (or in Mitsukake's case, healing)…

…that, and Ami had that quality which attracted anyone to her.

"Hello there!" Ami said, unaware of what had gone on in the past few days, it had been a busy night when Akane had tried some of Miss Otaku's fighting style…

"Ami! Haven't seen you in a while…been busy?" Michelle asked her fellow maiden of the water.

"Yes…I've come to return a book to Mr Marco, do you know where he is?" Ami asked.

"The booth I presume. That Tom is back as well, but they seemed a bit less happy than before…weird…" Amara said with interest.

* * * *

Joey Wheeler was Angry.

And I mean Angry.

Even more Angry than would usually be accredited to the hot-tempered duelist.

And I don't mean the "you wrecked my bike" kind of angry. I mean the "you spit upon and trampled all over my little sister" kind of Angry.

Joey Wheeler was Angry.

The reason for his anger?

His so-called best bud Tristan was lusting after another girl.

The problem with that?

He was already bonding with Joey's sister Serenity. And while Joey joked that he'd never let Tristan and Serenity sit on the same sideline of a dueling arena, even he'd have to admit that the two were fast friends. It would take him a while... a LONG while... before he could accept even the outside chance that Tristan could be his Brother-in-Law, but at least the thought of it didn't make him vomit anymore.

But, if ANYONE, even his other best bud Yugi, the most powerful duelist in the world in more ways than one, ever betrayed Serenity, then that person would make a sworn enemy of Joey Wheeler.

And Tristan was skirting that line.

At the least, Tristan had to be taught a lesson.

Unfortunately for Joey, right now Tristan was in a place where Joey couldn't reach out and strangle him.

But then Joey remembered that there was a betting booth where you could try to predict who would be voted off. He headed in that direction... and litterally bumped into Raye Hino.

Raye had been informed that Chris' 'outside help' had agreed for this deed. Although the person in question was not a dishonest person, she needed an excuse to use her talents to the upmost ability, and not be kept in a coup with…

"OUCH!"

Joey got up, and recognised the girl as Raye Hino, that 'psychic' from the other night. Now, he had his doubts, considering his dealing with 'psychics' like Mai Valentine and of course, Maximillion Pegasus. However, the girl did get the Roger guy right, although Joey didn't have a bet himself.

"Hey, watch it!" Raye screamed, rubbing her head. Joey blushed slightly but shook his head.

"I'm sorry miss…I was a bit lost in thought…" Joey helped the Sailor Scout up.

"Yes, I could sense that." It was true, Joey's aura could have been easily detective by the shrine maiden. Still, Raye wasn't a full fledge psychic and couldn't read the boy's thoughts, so the only thing she could do was…

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Joey sighed. He hated having his feelings built in. He was on the verge of tears when Mai found him collapsed after 'losing' his card that Yugi gave him. And Raye was a more kinder (unless you're Serena) figure than Mai.

It wouldn't hurt to spill his guts a little.

"Sorry. It's just that..." Joey choked slightly.

"Just that what?"

"It's just that..." Joey then looked directly at the Shinto Priestess and even a normal person could see both the flames and the tears in his eyes. "…my soon-to-be ex-best bud is looking lecherously at one of the other contestants... while he's supposed to be chasing after my sister! I want to make him pay for even THINKING about betraying my sister in that way!"

Raye was struck by the emotion from this poor boy. From what she had heard about the girls/boys problems on the hotel, she didn't know what to say to him. However, despite how he appeared, Joey was a decent human being. And Raye couldn't stop to see him in despair. Raye herself had her own problems in the past and the current about being love, not just with Darien, but with Chad as well.

Raye sighed, and put a comforting hand on the duelists' shoulder.

"It's okay to be angry. But it isn't okay to ... ."

"Well I can't hurt him from here, can I. But I can bet against him. And dat's what I'm gonna do." He turned to march off.

Raye looked at him for a second. But right now, her mind was not on how to resolve his problem... it was on the next phase of the plan. She had just received her information that Miaka was the next one to be voted off and... [

"Wait a second. Isn't Miaka the one this Tristan fellow prefers out of the contestants?

Raye put two and two together. Doing a good deed…and helping get revenge for Michelle.

Easy decision.

"Joey, wait!"

Joey stopped. "Yeah?"

"Listen. What I'm about to say may sound strange. Especially coming from someone like me. But maybe you shouldn't curse your friend. Rather, curse his temptation, so that it may not be there anymore."

"Uh..." Joey wasn't the most insightful person in the world. "Ya kinda lost me there."

Raye sighed. She'd have to tell it straight out. "Look. Whatever you'd bet on Tristan, bet on the girl who he's set his sights on."

"Miaka, right?"

Raye nodded. As she did, a thought came to Joey. "Hey... you were the one who predicted Roger would be
goin down. Does dat mean..."

In response, Raye gave only a slight smile. Which sent Joey running to the betting booth.

And, as she faintly heard Joey delcare an amount of currency equal to $20 on Miaka, she smiled slightly, that she could redirect a person's destructive energy into something positive. "Ammount of currency? Man! He would've destroyed himself in his rage. But now he'll really help my boss' cause…."

As Raye continued past, doing a good dead, she was stopped again, but this time by a much happier person.

"Well done miss! Thank you very much miss!" Genma Saotome said to the Mars scout. Raye smiled slightly.

"That's O.K…" Raye started.

"So, tell me miss, who is your next prediction? I've brought a few others telling them about…"

Actually, Genma only told two people, one was Soun, and the other was a girl that had been scared of him in panda form…fortunately, that was Mihoshi, a bigger blabbermouth you would never meet again.

Raye was stunned to see a list of people consisting of Vash, Persona, Soun, Mihoshi, Ryoko (Tenchi), Kitsune, Tasuki, Tamahome, Ryuji, Leena, Jessie, James, J.P, Digifan, Ash Lillymon, Duo, Nabiki and Mai heading towards the shrine maiden.

'This is going to please Chromus…" Raye thought, and quickly happy with her cut coming up.

"This will be an introductory offer of 1 dollar to come to my shrine…or whatever equivilent you may have. If my prediction is incorrect, you will get your money back. Understand?"

A few moaned about the money, but realised it was a no-lose situation. A long queue headed towards Raye's tent, for her latest séance.

And somewhere, on the Moon Kingdom, an evil genius in disguise smiled.

* * * *

DAY 17

The inclusion of the Animole team had brought an interesting spark of conversation in the team, as people recognised old favourites and friends.

Chichiri and Tasuki waved Chiriko flags (and Tasuki ready to tease Chiriko's relationship with Rika) no da.

Ash, Brock and Misty realised trouble was afoot when Duplica and Giselle were there.

Takato, Henry and Rika were amazed seeing the two adventures (and again, the Frontier kids seemed disgusted…if Tommy wasn't still causing havoc…)

Keitaro was amazed Haitani was still there…(and nearly passed out when Mutsumi kissed him), of course, Motoko and Naru had a quiet word with him (although Naru was surprisingly subdued)

But the biggest surprise was the end of the night…

"What the he…" Kelly said as a smart-ass Jayson came…with 10 people with him.

"It's for one night, and they are taking Chromus' room. It's a suite so there is plenty of room. Besides, they needed someplace to stay…not a problem is it?" Jayson said.

"I TELL YOU IT IS! WHO GAVE PERM…! Kelly started…but got swamped when a number of the people, both anime and human tried to see who went.

And when Giselle was nowhere to be seen, Misty cackled evilly.

"Ah Chiriko! So you managed to foil an evil scheme! Good work…" Tasuki said and then smiled. "And who is this?"

Chiriko, embarrassed, was still holding Rika's hand. Fortunately, the CCS girl introduced herself well enough.

"I'm Rika Sasaki. Nice to meet you." Rika bowed.

"My my, a polite young lady…completely different to you eh Tasuki-chan?" Nuriko said to the bandit.

"And completely different to you as well Nuriko!" Tasuki said, but Nuriko did the Yukino evil look and Tasuki wisely backed off.

Brock on the other hand…

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Miss Kanzaki! My name is Br…" A glint of an evil Chi-chi's eyes made Brock stop before Misty could drag him away.

"Er…thanks…" Akari sweatdropped.

"Brock…where's that girl who was with my son…" Chi-chi asked, as Brock pointed her in the direction of Duplica (and then resumed trying to flirt with Akari…and then Misty pulled him away).

"…so glad she's gone, hopefully peace can…huh?" Duplica's conversation with Naoko was stopped as Chi-chi bent down and hugged her.

"THANK YOU FOR RESTORING MY SON'S SANITY!!!"

Mass sweatdropping.

"Hello there, I hear you're from the Nadesico in the future!" said a smiling Akito Tenkawa.

Haley was very nervous with Akito. Unknown to Tenkawa, he was the 'Prince Of Darkness' and also Ruri's one time guardian before he and Yurika had been reported dead along with Inez-san. Of course, it turned out to be a protection conspiracy by Nergal, but the fact that Tenkawa in a few years would change so much…

"Er…y-yes! Haley Mabiki….please to meet you!" Haley said bowing to Tenkawa.

"Hey, no need to be so formal…let's get you some lunch…Tenkawa style ramen!" Akito said as Haley was dragged to the kitchen.

"First Roger, and now these guys…what do they have that we don't?!" Takuya and Zoe pretty much said in unison as the Tamers were talking to Ken and Yolei, the two adventurers.

Naoko and Kensuke, along with Akari and Rika began talking to anyone and everyone, whilst Haitani went searching for Keitaro.

And all of this as Kelly was trampled underneath.

"I'll…get…you…for…this…Jayson…"

Ash had a question to ask though…

"If you're all here, where's Giselle?"

* * * *

Tom had got the 'honour' of getting Giselle to the tunnel where she came through.

The feeling wasn't mutual of course.

"Man, I'm actually glad to see you, Giselle."

"And what do you mean by that, Mr. Greenville?" A hint of threat evident in her voice.

And guys like Tom... don't know how to take hints. "If it was Duplica, I wouldn't know whether to hate her or feel bad about her leaving. At least with you, I could just despise you without..." He never got to finish, as a Right Hook in an already sensative head area KOed Tom and sent him to the infirmary for the second time in about forty-eight hours.

Then again, consdering the perverts and leechers, Tom got off relatively easily, and would be released the next afternoon.

Off in the distance, Jayson was contemplating who was worse, Giselle... or Kelly. Thankfully, he set some distance from the former.

"JAYSON!"

Of course, he HAD to bump into the latter.

* * * *

Peace and quiet was sparse in the Surivor Hotel, but for Jamie Hemeros, the lobby was quite fine for him. The young tactician had quite enough of his teammates harrassing him (in case Bit or Harry wasn't around) so he made sure that he got out of the hotel room often. At this point, he was reading peacefully as the world passed by him.

Unfortunately, one part of that world, currently known as Leena, decided not to pass.

"What'cha doing, Jamie? Hm?" The Gunsniper pilot quieried pesteringly.

Jamie moved to his side, away from the redhead. "Go away. I'm reading."

"Reading? What?"

"None of your business. Now go away."

Leena was playfully suspicious. "Ooooooh. Are you reading something your not supposed too?"

Jamie fired back. "Don't try and pull that on me, Leena. I know what you've been keeping under your bed."

A vein popped on the femme fighter's forehead. "You know, you shouldn't be nosing around in the room of a lady."

"Hey, I have to be the one that picks up after you, and besides, the only lady I've seen around the base is Naomi."

That did it. Even though Planet Zi may have been light years away, you still didn't mention Naomi Fleugel around Leena unless it was either accompanied by an insult about her or it was just dropping a name. The two pieces hanging from Leena's head magically raised up in anger. "You little punk!" she exclaimed. "That's it!" A short tussle ensued as Leena tried to snatch the book from Jamie's clutches. The young pilot managed to evade his teammate quite well, but in the end, Leena was able to claim the book with an emphatic "Yoink!" The victor then examined the pages of the manga she had purloined. "Ooooooooooooh," she said with that naughty tone. "Fushigi Yuugi #1."

She glanced over at Jamie who was smiling, but blushing under the eyes. "What can I say? I think Miaka's kind of cute."

"Uh-oh," Leena called out teasingly. "Jamie's got a girlfriend." (At which point, all fans of a Jaime/Pierce grouping formed an angry mob.)

Jamie darkened a little. "Well, she is on the island and all." He lightened up a bit and added, "But I'm sure if Tamahome wasn't an issue, there wouldn't be a problem."

Oh, but there was a problem. See, just as fate would have it, a certain Suzaku passed by the two Zoid pilots as they exchanged their dialogs, and the mentioning of his removal made for an upset Tamahome. He raced over and grabbed Jamie by the collar. "YOU TRYING TO MOVE IN ON MY GIRL?!!" the enraged Tama-san bellowed. "I'M ALREADY LOOKING TO ADD TRISTAN TO THE GRAVEYARD…BUT YOU WILL BE A NICE APPETISER…"

Jamie looked for help from Leena, but she wasn't going to give any. Nervously, he replied "Uh, no sir. I was just . . . admiring her from a distance."

"Well, it looks like that distance needs to be WIDENED!" With that, Tamahome picked up Jamie and sent him flying down a long dead end hallway head-first.

Big mistake. You never want to send the schizophrenic Jamie Hemeros flying. Almost in an instant, something in Jaime, kind of like a switch, turned on, and his mood changed instantly from a shy young boy, to that of a badass Zoid pilot. "Jamie" executed a double somersault and was able to plant his feet on the back wall. He then lunged back and did another 3/4 flip with a 1½ twist and stuck the landing.

Tamahome was agape, but Leena knew what happened. "Uh-oh," she said in a kawai childlike tone. "Ya shouldnta gawn n done that, Mr. Tamahome."

Tama-san finally managed to get some words out. "How did?! . . . what the?! . . . Who are you?!"

The cocky young pilot just put his hands in his pockets and spoke with a voice that sounded totally different from the Jamie that they heard eariler. "If you wanna know, . . . they call me . . . The Wild Eagle." He went up to Tamahome as if this was a scene from Trigun. As he passed, he added quietly, "You don't wanna mess with the King of the Sky, now do you?" With that, he calmly exited.

Tamahome was still waiting to find out what happened. Leena just left, following the Wild Eagle.

Eventually, Chiriko came. As the voice of reason, he asked a still stupefied Suzaku, "What are doing just standing here, Tama-san?"

Tamahome snapped out of his little daze. "Oh, sorry. I don't know. Just some weirdos from another anime trying to hit on Miaka."

"That always seems to be the case, doesn't it?" Tamahome sweatdropped. "You know," the young Suzaku continued, "you really should stop overreacting to every little comment about Miaka. She is kind of important around here."

Tamahome just shook his head. "You just don't get it. Well, I guess you'll learn when you get older."

"This isn't about love, is it?"

"Heh heh." Tamahome escorted the Animole contestant out of the lobby.

"Oh…I think I'm starting to learn…"

* * * *

DAY 18

It has been five days after the challenge gauntlet was thrown down between Shel and Chi Chi, as both sides were rallying their troops in preparation for the big competition in less than two days. A wave of fresh ingredients have been coming via a FedEx rocket (courtesy of NASA), as both sides prepared their best menus for the judges to taste. Of course, the most important ingredient, the tofu shipment, would be the very last, as the finest handmade tofu from Hong Kong had to be imported first from the territory itself, then loaded onto a rocket at Cape Canaveral before arriving at the hotel.

To keep watch of the shipments, was none other than Kelly. As the crates of the soft bean product came through the airlock, Kelly got a nasty idea...she scanned the two crates, each marked with the teams' names...the Old-stylers, led by the men, and the New Cooks, led by the women. Of course, she made a beeline to the old-styler's crates, and wheeled it off to the nearest service elevator.

"Let's see you men win your stinking competition with this!" She laughed, as she pressed a button for the hot springs floor. Once there, she found no one there, and promptly dumped the crate into the hot boiling water. After 10 minutes, when the crate finally bobbled up from the bottom, Kelly pulled out the soaking wet crate, placed it back onto the dolly, and returned it to its original place.

"No one will suspect that I've tampered with it....but just for insurance..." She smiled, pulling out a large bag of salt, and pouring it into one of the crate's open gaps. When the salt began to overflow, she chucked away the empty bag, rewrapped the crate in its original FedEx packaging, and walked off.

However, this did not go unnoticed...

"That Kelly...the lengths she will go to show me or any man up. What a bitch..." He grumbled, promptly switcing the labels on the two crates, so that the opposite package would go to the men.

Just as Jayson left, Shel appeared. "Well, it's about time the tofu arrived...better get it into the icebox before it spoils." He grunted, as he picked up the heavy crate onto his burly shoulders, and walked off.

"Hey, are you stealing our tofu?" Lita snapped, as she also appeared as he prepared to leave.

"Your tofu, ladies, is over there." He replied, pointing to the other crate.

Shooting Shel a dirty look, Lita wheeled the crate into the kitchen, not knowing what surprise was about to await them when they would finally reveal the crate's contents...

"OH NO! THE TOFU! IT'S BEEN RUINED! WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS?"

The battle continues...

* * * *

Miaka Yuki, priestess of Suzaku, the 6th victim of Anime Survivor 5.

She sighed. She made a mistake, and paid for it. Still, she lasted much longer than I think she expected.

"At least I'll get a good meal now…" Miaka said to the returning GH.

"No worries about Miaka-chan…" Chromus said and then smiled. "It seems you've got company…"

Miaka looked ahead. And they were all there…(minus Chiriko).

Hotohori, kind, gentle emperor of the Konan empire. Nuriko, the brawn of the team, a bit weird, but faithful friend. Chichiri, the fox-eyed sorceror, with his trademark mask and smile. Tasuki, a cocky fanged smile with his diamond fan ready as always. Mitsukake, gentle soul and healer of the team, despite his massive size.

And of course…

"TAMAHOME!"

Miaka leapt into her boyfriend's arms, as Tamahome in a small way was glad she was back. Considering what people have been talking about on and off the island with her, it was kind of a relief.

"Miaka…I've missed you so much."

"We all have." Hotohori said as Nuriko smiled.

"Welcome back Miaka…we're all proud of you." The she-man said.

"Everyone…thank you…"

Of course, one person had to ruin it.

"Well, Miaka, I'm surprised you got that far without inhaling the teams supply of fish and rice! BWA HA!" Tasuki said.

"Oh Tasuki-chan…" Nuriko said.

"Yep?"

Nuriko held out a sign in English. "Can you read this?"

"DELICACY."

"Exactly." And Nuriko's bracelets glowed. "TRY TO REMEMBER WHAT IT MEANS!"

Cue more repairs to the hotel as Tasuki was blasting off.

"Nuriko…no fair! I wanted to kill him!" Tamahome complained.

"Oh, you still can no da! Apparently Tasuki betted on Miaka to be the next off no da…." Chichiri said…but it wasn't Tama's aura that was powering up.

It was Miaka's.

"GUYS…I DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE THIS…" Miaka glowed angrily and headed in the general direction of Tasuki's aerial body.

The members of Suzaku sweatdropped as they heard the words "MIAKA LARIAT…HIP ATTACK…BACK DROP…SPLASH MOUNTAIN 95!" each accompanied by a bandit's scream.

Tamahome facefaulted. "Sometimes I wonder if she is the strongest…"

* * * *

Joey was pleased.

As pleased as punch.

As pleased as the round of "punch" he was buying for everyone at the bar with some of the proceeds of his bet on Miaka. Many were toasting the latest victory of the Guys, while a small knot of others were toasting the victory of Casey's faction at Council.

The money didn't really matter, although it was a nice bonus.

The key thing was... Tristan's 'failsafe' was out.

The possibility that Tristan could cheat on Serenity was still there, especially after seeing his words about that Giselle and Akari, but at least he had been denied his primary choice.

Joey was pleased.

However, when he saw the victim of the recent vote come in along with a rather large fellow and that sort of sad happiness that comes with being with a true friend after an ordeal, Joey was not so pleased.

Joey felt guilty.

Sure, Tristan had to be taught a lesson that you don't think about trying to cheat on Serenity Wheeler and expect to get away with it... but seeing others suffer in the administering of the lesson didn't sit well with Joey Wheeler. He went up to the couple.

"Hey. Sorry ya lost back there."

Miaka looked at the boy at the bar and smiled slightly.

'It's all right. I made one big mistake. But I'm back with my friends now.'

Joey decided that wasn't enough.

"Will you be all right?"

Miaka gave a bigger smile and squeezed the arm of the man she was with.

'As long as Tamahome is here, I'll be Ok.'

Joey sighed. He felt rotten, but the least he could do was to give the girl an appreciation of the winnings he won of her. (Not like he'd tell her that)

"Well, let me buy you two a drink."

"Thank you," said Tamahome. "That is most generous of you."

"Hey, no Prob!" Joey replied as he hunted down a waiter and arranged their drink orders.

'I hope that Big Guy doesn't figure out I bet against his girl.' Thought Joey as he made a discrete exit from the bar. 'Still, it's nice to see that Tristan wouldn't have gotten anywhere with her. Big Guy would've made sure of that. Tristan will still have to reckon with me, but I MIGHT go easy on him. THIS time.' His net profit from the bet? A couple of drinks, and a small amount to possibly use on another bet.

* * * *

Donald couldn't believe it.

Over the course of the past two days, a large number of people bet on Miaka to go down.

Sure, Miaka was middle-of-the... aw... who was he kidding? She had the 4th most outside chance of being voted off. Of course, he didn't think the tribes would switch back, but even then, the lot would fall on Casey, Jade, or Kiyone. (Nevermind the fact the first two had as high of odds as Miaka.)

Except for her homesickness, Miaka was almost as under-the-radar as Ukyo, who was the outside pick. So it seemed illogical that so many people would bid on Miaka.

But bid they did... and now Donald was in the Red on a session for the first time since Anime Survior 3.

That thought recalled the Ruri-chan scandal of AS3. Which recalled Chromus' involvement. Which recalled Chromus' request back on Day 4 to be a part of the action.

Could Chromus have a hand in this evolving gambling scandal? Or even worse yet... could he, and not Ruri have been the TRUE mastermind of the Ruri-chan scandal?

It couldn't be. Could it?

One thing was for sure.

Donald had to get to the bottom of this. And Fast.

* * * *

A hard days angling seemed to have had it's rewards for Raye Hino.

Personally, revenge for the way Michelle was treated.

Professionally, publicity for the Hino Shrine and a 60% cut. And with the better success, the higher the price.

But for now, it was a nice long soak.

In ways, it was nice to be on her own. Her friends had different lives here, Amy with her skills as a doctor, Lita with the whole cooking things she's been going through, Mina being a guest host and Serena…well, being Serena.

And away from her peeking grandfather as well, although a slight twinge of regret that she didn't invite Chad came across her, she dismissed it as Serena would have teased her to hell and back.

She stepped out of the bath and began towelling off. She wore the towel back into her room, not realising that she wasn't alone.

"This is definitely not the right place," one of them said.

There were three intruders. Raye recognized two of them- it was Henry and his friend Takato. The third she didn't know. She couldn't get a glimpse of his face since it was buried in a camera lens.

Instinctually, Raye screamed. The three turned around. Raye's anger intensified, especially since she was not only in the presence of perverts, but one of them was videotaping her half-naked.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!"

She didn't bother listening to Takato's reply. Instead, she chased them out of the room. Takato and Henry were quick on their feet and ran while the camera operator waited for the two to exit the room. He tried to go after them, but was knocked aside by Raye.

Raye continued to run after them- they had to pay. The chase continued down the hallway, as several unassuming guests were knocked over in the process. Unfortunately, before she could destroy either Takato and Henry, they vanished into thin air.

"Huh?" She stopped and looked around. They were nowhere in sight.

Raye turned back towards one of the patrons in the hallway. Akito Tenkawa was on the ground, but had noticed the incident. "Was that a... Boson Jump?"

"They. Die." Raye didn't care what it was. All she knew was that Takato and Henry were both going to experience true hell the next day.

She was willing to wait a night. It was late, and she was tired after watching Tribal Council in the lounge with all the masses, her forecasting career hanging in the balance.

And besides- she still had one poor schmuck to take care of.

The videographer had set his camera down, so Raye could get a better look at what she was about to kill- his blond hair almost reminded her of Akito Hayama. That was enough of a red light in itself, even if this particular pervert was much older than Hayama.

The marked target pulled out a cell phone and attempted to connect.

"Jerry? Jerry?? C'mon, don't tell me you've got your phone turned off..."

It didn't matter. Raye snatched the phone out of his hand, threw it to the ground, and smashed it to pieces with her slippered feet.

The camera guy looked up at her, "What was that for?" He raised an eyebrow in realization. "Aren't you Raye Hino?"

Indeed it was, and he was properly introduced... to her right hook.

With one of the three perverts plastered against the wall and the other two marked for annihilation the next day, Raye went back into her room to call it a night.

"So... Takato and Henry are perverts..." Takuya was another witness to the incident. He turned to Koji, "I think this can be useful."

"For what?" Koji reached down and picked up the camera. It was a professional camcorder- not something any average consumer that wasn't named Madison would use. On the side was a red and yellow insignia.

"Well, those Tamers think they're so high-and-mighty. But I guess they're nothing but a bunch of perverts. I think we can use this to our advantage, don't you?"

"I've seen enough gross perversion in the last few days to know that it should be punished." Koji turned back to Takuya. "But I think you just want to raise random chaos." He smiled, "Great- count me in.'

Takuya took Koji's shoulder and let him down the hallway. "Okay, first we have to..."

As they walked down the hallway, the camera guy peeled himself off the wall. He did a quick status check. His camera was fine and the footage was intact. The only problem was that his cell phone was not only unable to make a connection... it was merely a stain on the carpet.

A. R. Pulver sighed, "This is why I never ran camera for the AA..."

* * * *

Author's notes 2;

A nice enjoyable ride with a few plots and twists coming together, plus some madness thrown in just to help. (Sorry, Excel Saga's fault…)

The bit with the soccer joke is just a small joke between myself and Digifan , that only us two will probably get. No worry, just someone to put my depression about this season into words. ^_^

Anyway, hopefully, more ideas and scenes will head into the dreaded merge. And hopefully, the choices will narrow down as the weeks go forth. Who will win? Wait and see.