The universe is filled with billions of extraterrestrial beings, many of them new and undiscovered! But one man named Dandy plans on finding and registering them all! He travels the universe with his crew and amazing pompadour in search of adventure, excitement, and boobies! These are the adventures of the dandiest guy in space, Space Dandy!

Dear reader, welcome back! I am so sorry; it has been way too long and we are way overdue for a new chapter. I know the past couple of years have been rough, not just on myself but everyone. But I do hope you are all well. Myself, I have taken up a few habits including-

Oh, you want to know how Dandy and his crew have been since the last chapter? Ah, very well. I understand… After all, that is why you are all here, isn't it?

Too much has happened since we last left our space crew, so I will do my best to bring you all up to speed. You see, that all-important subtext of the power triangle formed between the Jaicro, Gogol, and the Sol Empires finally came to a climactic head about a year and a half ago. You know, the one I've hinted at in a few forgettable sentences sprinkled throughout the last thirteen chapters? Yeah, I kinda forgot about that as well…

To catch you up, the Gogol and Sol Empires made their merger even more official by forming the new, more powerful military organization known now as "The Meta Empire." Unable to fight against the combined strength of this new superpower, Johnny and his Jaicro Empire were utterly defeated.

However, Claire, the empress of the now-former Sol Empire, then took advantage of Admiral Perry's weakened forces, betrayed him, and expelled him and his loyalists from her inner circle, further solidifying her authority.

Claire then took the research conducted by Dr. Gel and the former Gogol Empire on the mysterious particle known as pyonium and found a way to use its immense power to supercharge her most powerful possession, an Ethrite Crystal the size of a small moon. Doing so would grant her the power to not only control the universe, but the multiverse, effectively giving her power further beyond any god could even dream of.

Fully aware of her plans, Johnny, Admiral Perry, Bea, and Dr. Gel formed an uneasy alliance to try and stop her, however, their efforts failed and they have been forced into hiding in order to come up with a better strategy to defeat Claire and stop her from reshaping the multiverse into her own image.

Their current location happens to be the same space station that Dandy and his crew call home in this fanfiction, however, they are located on the far side. The reason they have picked this location is that not only does this station have a food bar that's out of this world, but because they have all come to the conclusion that Dandy is their key to defeating Claire and saving the multiverse. Unfortunately, due to their unfriendly history with each other, they haven't been able to agree on a plan.

Inside of Dr. Gel's ship, the Binding Liberty, Admiral Perry and Johnny once again bickered over how to best achieve their current objective like they've done every night. On every console screen, the original Space Dandy animated series played as the ship's command bridge echoed the show's theme song.

"I'm telling you," Admiral Perry yelled. "We should just grab Dandy and force him to help us!"

"And I'm telling you, Admiral," Johnny fired back. "That will just cause Dandy to become our enemy, too. If fanfic Dandy is as powerful as canon Dandy, we won't stand a chance! Dandy won't do anything if we force him! We have to ask him and hope he agrees!"

"I don't understand," Bea added. "Why don't you go ask him, Johnny. You guys seemed like good friends in the band episode, so you shouldn't have a problem convincing Dandy to help us."

"That was canon Johnny. Fanfic Dandy and I haven't met yet."

"Ugh, multiverse theory gives me a headache."

"Multiverse fact in our case…" Perry corrected him.

Bea rubbed his temples.

"I'm gonna go see if Dr. Gel has thought of something better than arguing and watching Space Dandy on repeat…"

"Tell that useless ape that we need him on the bridge pronto," Admiral Perry shouted. "And tell him that he needs to be thinking of a way to capture Space Dandy instead of running out like he's been doing every night."

"I will, sir."

Bea used the elevator to take him to Dr. Gel's private quarters. The normally tidy study was a mess. Papers and dirty laundry were strewn everywhere and the words "Space Dandy" were scribbled in every conceivable language all over the walls, floors, and ceiling. Dr. Gel sat face-down at his desk.

"Doctor, Admiral Perry wants you on the bridge immediately."

Dr. Gel let out an audible sigh.

"What's wrong, sir?"

"What do you care, you little traitor," the doctor answered, his voice muffled by his coat sleeves.

"Sir…"

"I've done something I never dreamed I'd ever do. It might be my biggest blunder yet."

Dr. Gel opened his hand to reveal a small photograph. He stared longingly into it, his hand quivering.

"I fear that I've made a terrible miscalculation in my latest plan to capture Dandy."

"Ah, so you have thought of a way to catch him."

"I thought it'd be simple, I'd befriend one of his closest peers to try and get close to him, but I never counted on this happening, Bea…"

Bea's arms hung limply at his sides. This may have been the most distraught he had ever seen his colleague.

"What happened, Doctor Gel?"

In a sudden rage, Dr. Gel snatched his assistant with his enormous hand and squeezed him tightly. Bea gasped as Dr. Gel put his face against Bea's.

"Why should I tell you, you little traitor!? You'll tell Admiral Perry and he'll blow us both to smithereens like he does every week!"

"I promise… I won't… sir…"

Dr. Gel dropped Bea and stared back into the photo. Bea picked himself up off the floor and straightened his coat.

"Forget it."

Dr. Gel headed for the elevator.

"Sir!" Bea yelled. "In the canon universe, I may have been a mole and a power-hungry traitor, and I may or may not be the same way in this fanfic, but I still like to think of us as friends. And I may shoot you in the chest or disassemble your atomic structure in the future, probably, but you can tell me anything, Doctor. And I promise Admiral Perry won't hear a word of it from me."

Dr. Gel stopped and turned to face Bea, eyes welled up with tears.

"You really mean that, Bea?"

Bea nodded.

"Now, let's hear this chapter's latest screw-up."

Dr. Gel lowered his head shamefully.

"You see, Bea… I thought that… if I befriended one of Dandy's easier to manipulate friends, then I would be able to use them to persuade Dandy to join our cause."

"Sounds like a solid plan. So what happened?"

"I'm afraid it worked a little too well, Bea… I got close to one of Dandy's friends and began spending time with them over the last couple of months and now… I'm not sure I can do this anymore, Bea."

"Don't tell me they discovered your plan!"

Dr. Gel smirked.

"No, Bea… they unwittingly ruined it."

"How, sir?"

"With three words."

Dr. Gel rubbed his fingers across the photo.

"I love you…"

Bea gasped.

"Don't tell me… you've fallen for them, sir?"

"It would seem so, Bea," Dr. Gel answered solemnly. He stuffed the photo into his pocket.

Bea flopped onto Dr. Gel's bed.

"You gotta tell me, sir!"

Dr. Gel grunted in indignation.

"No way, you'll make fun of me!"

"I won't."

"You promise?"

"With my life. Unless Admiral Perry threatens my life…"

Dr. Gel pulled the photo out of his pocket and handed it to Bea. Bea studied it for a moment.

"No way, sir!"

The photo showed Dr. Gel sitting inside a photo booth, an enormous grin on his face. Sitting beside him, to Bea's astonishment, was Carrie! The two seemed to be at some sort of carnival or fair, as both of them held sticks of cotton candy and sported face paint.

"I fear I'm becoming one of those characters that get shipped with some nobody's random OC!" Dr. Gel cried. "They'll burn me at the stake in the comment section! And what about Admiral Perry? He really won't be happy when he finds out I've been spending time with my girl instead of finding a way to capture Dandy!"

Bea slapped Dr. Gel in the face.

"Get a hold of yourself, Doctor! Who cares about what a bunch of random people on the internet think?"

Bea turned to the reader and raised his hands.

"No offense you guys. And you, Doctor, shouldn't care about what Admiral Perry thinks. As long as you're happy and she's happy. That's all that matters."

"But… but what about my orders? I wanna spend more time with Carrie, but I can't ignore my orders forever."

"Admiral Perry has relied on you to keep his Empire running for decades. I mean, you've never been able to capture Dandy… but you've won countless battles without any help from the Admiral."

Dr. Gel wiped his face with his sleeve and sniffled.

"You can go out whenever you feel like. I'll even cover for you while you're gone."

Dr. Gel crushed Bea in a bone-crunching hug.

"Thank you so much, Bea! You truly are a good friend. I'll remember this, even if or when you decide to betray me in the future."

"No… problem… sir…" Bea wheezed.

Meanwhile, aboard the Aloha Oe, the crew were indulging in their new routines. Due to the massive war mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, alien-hunting has been permanently suspended and the registry center temporarily closed. As such, the crew has taken to performing new jobs to continue paying their bills. Well, three out of the four of them…

Meow downloaded a few free apps to transform his online persona into a digital anime girl who streams the latest video games and earns thousands of woolongs in donations. He's gathered a sizable amount of watchers and has earned thousands of woolongs in tips.

QT has taken to cleaning the hangars, which in return, has resulted in a lessened docking fee. He only cleans part-time but cleans several high-profile businesses and starships due to his thorough cleanings and cheap service costs.

Carrie has picked up part-time work as part of the station's loading and unloading team. She works from after lunch until the afternoon using her brute strength to unload supplies for the space station's crew and stack the enormous supply crates at the docks. She then uses her money to go out every night.

And Dandy, in typical Dandy fashion, took to laying around and, in his words, "wait for things to sort themselves out." Aside from his occasional trip to Boobies and occasionally assaulting any rare-looking aliens he finds aboard the space station, he usually naps on the couch or hangs out at the mall to ogle the ladies.

"I'm telling you guys," Dandy said as he lounged on the couch. " I don't get why you guys are working your asses off every day. This war-thing is gonna burn itself out eventually and we can finally go back to hunting aliens."

"That's true, but it's still nice to be able to pay our bills, even if the jobs are a bit menial," Q.T. remarked.

Carrie then walked into the room with a box. She loudly dropped it on the floor, pulled two fifty-pound weights out of it, and started working out with them.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dandy asked.

"I'm gonna get ripped like those guys in my comic books," Carrie answered. "I gotta pump my arms up to match my pecs."

Dandy stared at Carrie's chest.

"Those are boobs, Carrie."

"Nuh-uh, those are my pecs."

Dandy raised up and poked Carrie in her left boob.

"If they were pecs they wouldn't squish in like that."

"Hey, I'm still working on them! Eventually I'll be as tough as She-Wrecks, from my favorite comic book."

Carrie lifted faster, failing to realize that with her own natural Sepian strength, lifting those weights would do about as much for her physique as lifting the remote control every day does for Dandy's physique. Absolutely nothing.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go hit the sack. I've got a date with Boobies tomorrow and Dandy needs his beauty rest, baby!"

Dandy got up and went to his room. Meow then entered, as usual, his face glued to his cell phone.

"So, I've got a collab tonight at eleven, ultra-chat reading at midnight, and a streaming of Blockminer at seven tomorrow morning."

"Sounds like you have a busy schedule," Q.T. said. "What about you, Carrie?"

"I'm going out with my bo-" Carrie blurted out, but she caught herself.

Meow turned his attention to the Sepian along with Q.T.

"With who?" Meow asked.

"Come to think of it," Q.T. added, "I have been finding strange hairs in Carrie's laundry lately."

Carrie sweated nervously as she sped up her "workout."

"I also notice she's stopped eating out of the trash cans. And using scale wax."

As if on cue, the scales on Carrie's face and tail gleamed like emerald jewels. There wasn't a scuff nor dirt splotch on any of them.

"It definitely sounds like she's seeing somebody," Meow teased.

"I wonder who," Q.T. said.

Carrie instantly froze and turned beet-red.

"I dunno, most people seem put off by the tail and her bust size is a little too much… Hey Carrie, who are you going out with tonight?"

Meow and Q.T. stared at Carrie, who had dropped her weights and was hopelessly trying to hide her face behind her hands.

"No. You'll make fun of me."

"Knowing Carrie, it's probably someone weird like whoever plays the mascot at Taco Star…"

"It's definitely the Taco Star mascot," Meow agreed.

"No it's not the Taco Star mascot!" Carrie exclaimed.

She flailed her arms, causing a photo to slip out of her shorts pocket. Q.T. caught it and Meow leaned over the little robot's shoulder to get a closer look.

The photo showed Carrie and Dr. Gel, pulling the sides of their mouths into similar goofy-looking faces. Their cheeks had carnival face paint on them as well as visible pieces of cotton candy.

"Ha, Carrie's dating a monkey," Meow pointed out. "Told you it was someone weird."

Carrie took the picture back.

"He's not a monkey, he's a gorilla!"

"Looks like a Gorillean."

Q.T. pulled out his alien book and turned to a page showing the cross-section of a Gorillean.

"They're actually pretty rare."

"You know," Meow. added, "this kinda reminds me of this old movie I saw where this giant lizard and gorilla fought each other to the death."

"Huh, it even says in the book that gorilla aliens and lizard aliens rarely get along and almost always wind up fighting to the death."

"Wow, tough break, Care," Meow said as he shrugged. "Looks like your luck with love is just as bad as the rest of ours."

"Yeah, I give your relationship chances at point zero four percent chance of lasting longer than another week."

Carrie tilted her head; she couldn't tell whether or not Q.T. and Meow were making fun of her.

"I will say this," Meow said. "He has good taste in clothes."

"I can't help but think I've seen him somewhere."

"Are you making fun of me?" Carrie asked directly.

"Not at all," Q.T. answered.

"We're just saying that your relationship will last about as long as Q.T. and Maker's and mine and Katie's."

Q.T. flashed an angry emoji across his LCD screen.

"You didn't even have a relationship with Katie!"

"Oh yeah, it was more of a relationship than yours was with Maker!" Meow shouted.

The two of them jumped at each other and started fighting and shouting, neither of them willing to accept that they were both sort of right.

"They're definitely making fun of me."

Carrie sunk her head into her shoulders out of embarrassment as Q.T. and Meow wrestled back and forth across the floor.

"You guys!" Carrie yelled at them.

The Betelgeusian and cleaning droid stopped suddenly and turned their attention back towards their Sepian crewmate.

"You can't tell the guy with the big hair," Carrie told them as she mimed the shape of Dandy's pompadour on top of her head. "He'll make fun of me worse than you guys are."

"Eh, I doubt Dandy would even care," Meow replied.

"He doesn't seem to care about much at all these days…"

Meow and Q.T. pulled themselves up off the floor.

"And we're not making fun of you," Meow added, knocking the dust off of his vest.

"Yeah, we just think that your new relationship is hopeless."

"You still gotta promise not to tell him!" Carrie shouted.

"Tell me what?"

Carrie stiffened as she heard a familiar voice. Dandy stood behind her, rubbing his eyes.

"I thought you were going to bed, Dandy."

"I was until you guys started yelling."

The three of them looked at each other. Dandy stared at his three subordinate crew members crossly.

Q.T. spoke first, causing Carrie's anxiety to skyrocket.

"We were just talking about-"

Meow covered Q.T.'s mouth.

"-Carrie's workout routine."

Dandy stared at them incredulously.

"Well keep it down! How the hell am I supposed to get any sleep around here with you three screamin' and yellin' all damn night!?"

Dandy stormed off back to his room, muttering about how obnoxious and weird his crew members were and how he wished he could replace them all with a team of hot bikini-clad space babes.

Carrie, Q.T., and Meow stared at each other, then Carrie turned her attention to the clock.

"Oh no! I gotta go!"

Carrie ran towards the ship's main hatch and forced her bare feet into a pair of white sneakers she had placed next to it.

"Pet me for luck!"

Carrie ran back over to Q.T. and lowered her head and the little robot obliged. She then lowered it in front of Meow.

"Oh no! You're not pulling this on me again! Last time you made me rub your head for ten hours! My arm almost fell off!"

"Fine! Bye-bye!"

Carrie hurriedly ran back towards the main hatch. As typical, she tripped over her untied shoelaces, slammed her tail in the door, and the impact of the hatch being forcibly slammed behind her caused one of Dandy's girly posters to fall off the wall.

"Say Meow, how did that movie you saw end?"

"The gorilla beat the giant lizard by drowning it in the ocean."

"And my guidebook says Gorilleans were known to hunt lizard aliens and wear their skin as armor."

Q.T. and Meow stared blankly at the door for a moment as a sudden realization very slowly set in, and when it finally became clear, they screamed.

"Shut the hell up!" Dandy yelled back from his room.

"What if Carrie's gorilla boyfriend skins her alive and turns her into a Sepian skin jacket!?"

"If that happens, the writer might take even longer to write the next chapter! Or worse, he'll completely abandon the fic and we'll be buried with all the other abandoned fics for eternity!"

"That's true too! Plus, Carrie's our friend! We gotta look out for her!"

Meow nodded.

"I'll cancel my streams."

He then grinned.

"Besides I already made over fifty thousand woolongs reading off random comments!"

"Whatever! We have to follow Carrie and make sure the Gorillean doesn't kill her!"

The two of them ran off after their friend as fast as they could.

On an interesting note, Q.T. and Meow's concerns are not entirely unfounded. In fact, before they died out, the Sepians and the Gorilleans waged an intergalactic war against each other. Gorilleans, while scholarly, were also immensely territorial. And Sepians were highly imperialistic and aggressive, so when they eventually butted heads with each other, the ensuing war resulted in the destruction of a thousand galaxies and the near extinction of both races.

However, we have to throw in a little nature vs. nurture theory here. While Carrie does show some aggressive tendencies, she spent most of her life in a loving home rather than being bred and trained for endless conquest. And Dr. Gel has always been pushed to place his passions above all else by his loving, albeit strict, "maman."

Carrie wasn't too hard to catch up to; her large, heavy tail keeps her from going too fast unless there's food involved. Meow and Q.T. still kept their distance, partly because they didn't want Carrie to know what they were doing and partly because they had become quite winded trying to catch up to their slow, fast-walking friend. They followed her all the way to the other side of the space station, where Dr. Gel's ship was docked.

As instructed to do so by Dr. Gel, Carrie waited at the observation window, which allowed her to remain out of sight from the Gorillean's boss, as well as allow herself to be visible from the window in Doctor's private study.

Dr. Gel immediately noticed a green glare shining into his window.

"What is that, Doctor?" Bea asked.

"It's my little Care-boo! Bea, you have to help me!"

"Sure I'll cover for you."

"No, no, no! I have to tell you something, Bea! Last night on our date, before we parted ways, Carrie told me she loved me!"

"And let me guess, you didn't say it back?"

"Well, uh… No. No I didn't. I just said 'I know' and left…"

"Wow. Awkward."

"But now I want to show Carrie how I feel by escalating our relationship."

"Sir, please don't tell me you're going to turn this into a smut fic…"

"Well, uh, that depends, Bea… I was going to… try to hold her hand-"

Bea gasped.

"Sir!?"

"What, is that too fast?"

"Sir, in this day and time, hand-holding is too suggestive for our readers! You'll change their personality completely! They'll all turn into perverted, pairing obsessed neets who draw hentai and fight over pairings in the comments! We may even have to raise our rating from T to MA plus-plus!"

"You're right, then our fanfic will get banned and I'll never see Carrie again. So I'll have to think of another way."

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

Dr. Gel sighed.

"Bea, I've fought in many wars over the past millennia… faced every danger the universe has thrown at me… and faced oblivion on a weekly basis… but that is one thing I am simply too afraid of the consequences of to do."

"Dr. Gel!" A booming voice shouted.

Admiral Perry emerged from the elevator, his face contorted into an intense scowl.

"Admiral! S-sir!"

Admiral Perry sneered.

"I heard everything, Doctor!"

Bea and Dr. Gel gasped in shock and horror. They grabbed each other as Admiral Perry slowly stomped closer to them.

"I know that you've been sneaking out instead of working…"

Bea and Dr. Gel screamed.

"I know you've been fraternizing with the enemy!"

Bea and Dr. Gel screamed again.

"I heard everything you just said. And I've just got one thing to say…"

Admiral Perry leaned in to the point where his face touched both Bea and the doctor's faces. His menacing gaze made them feel like they would instantaneously explode at any moment.

"You're a coward, Doctor!"

"What?"

"You're letting your fear hold you back. You're afraid of what the readers will think of you. You're afraid of what the author will think. And you're afraid of what I will think of you."

The Admiral scooted Dr. Gel's desk chair around and sat in it.

"Believe it or not, I too know what it's like to be in love."

"You, Admiral?" Bea asked sheepishly, still shaking in fear.

"Of course I do!" Admiral Parry snapped. "What do you think, I've been a lonely old man for the past ten thousand years!?"

The Admiral cleared his throat.

"If you are serious about your feelings… you will tell this girl how you feel. Otherwise, you will regret it for the rest of your life."

Dr. Gel's eyes welled up.

"Those were some truly inspirational words! Th-thank you sir!"

"Don't thank me yet. Unfortunately you now have a much heavier burden on you than just your feelings. Because you've been hiding your feelings, we haven't been able to agree on a plan to get Dandy on our side in our fight against the Meta Empire. You have to get this girl to convince Dandy to join us. Johnny is right, if we try to force him, he will try to fight us, and we are in no position to fight Space Dandy…"

Dr. Gel's face sank.

"But… What if she thinks I've been trying to manipulate her this whole time. I don't want to break her heart."

"You have to, Doctor. Not just for the sake of the multiverse, nor for me or even yourself. But for the girl."

Admiral Perry pointed up in the air.

"For the past year, Claire has been out in space, collecting as much pyonium as she can to destroy and then rebuild the multiverse as she sees fit. If you can't convince the girl to talk to Dandy on our behalf, Claire will destroy not only you and the universe, or myself and Bea… but her."

Admiral Perry pointed out the window, where Dr. Gel saw Carrie waiting patiently for him.

The realization hit the Doctor harder than every impact, every explosion, and every demise that had befallen him in every universe combined.

"You're right, sir. Even if it destroys our relationship, I must be honest with Carrie. About everything."

"Well, maybe not everything Doctor. Some secrets are best-"

"Enough. I know exactly what I have to do now."

Dr. Gel put on his cape and hat.

"But first, I want to spend just one more night with her. Just to see her smile, make her happy. I feel like I owe her… at least that…"

Dr. Gel grabbed a small box out of his sock drawer and stepped into the elevator.

"For the sake of the multiverse… I hope you know what you're doing, Doctor…"

Meanwhile, snooping around the Binding Liberty's main hatch were Q.T. and Meow. The two of them were trying to find a way to open the door and get inside.

"We have to find out if this guy really wants to skin Carrie into armor like the author said,'' Q.T. exclaimed as Meow tried to force the door open.

"You actually read what that guy writes?"

Before Meow got his answer, the door slid open and Dr. Gel's enormous boot stomped on both of them. He walked onto the lift and it took him all the way to the observation platform, Q.T. and Meow stuck to the bottom of his foot like gum.

They finally fell off as the doctor stepped off the platform and into the observation area where Carrie enthusiastically greeted him. The two of them hid in the doorway as they watched the Sepian and Gorillean tell each other about their day.

"He's huge," Q.T. observed.

"Yeah, he's almost as big as the gorilla in that movie…"

"Oh, it's your turn to pick what we do tonight," Dr. Gel said. "So, my lady… what would you like to do?"

Carrie knowingly looked up at the doctor and grinned. She then wrapped her arms around his legs and threw him over her shoulder.

"It's a surprise! You'll love it!"

Meow and Q.T. watched as Carrie comically touted the Doctor off as if he were one of those oversized stuffed animals you can sometimes win at fairs.

The two of them followed the lizard girl and gorilla alien the whole night, the two of them having a great time.

Their first stop was the arcade, where they spent hours playing video games, winning each other prizes, and trading figurines with each other from the gacha machines.

Next was dinner at the Nebula Burger, where they took on the restaurant chain's famous infinity burger. Though they appear to serve ordinary hamburgers, each burger is made from infinitely large ingredients that have been compressed down to the size of a regular hamburger, and then seasoned with a special grilling seasoning that keeps them from collapsing into a universe-destroying singularity. No one had ever been able to finish eating one in one sitting… until that night. Carrie and Dr. Gel beat the challenge easily, earning themselves a laser-engraved plaque on the wall, matching t-shirts, and free lunch for a year.

And finally, their evening together was capped off with a visit to Planet Grease to see the "Dancingians", glowing rings of spinning, brightly glowing lichens that "dance" across its atmosphere once every 500 years.

The two of them watched inside of an enormous spaceship with a giant window designed specifically for watching the glowing lichens. Carrie sat on Dr. Gel's gigantic shoulders, both wearing the shirts that they won from Nebula Burger. Q.T. and Meow watched closely from underneath a table.

"They're so pretty…" Carrie said in awe.

"Not as pretty as your lovely scales."

Carrie laughed.

"I had a fantastic time tonight," Dr. Gel said. "Just hanging out and spending time with you has been the highlight of my year."

"We should do it again tomorrow after I get off from work."

Dr. Gel frowned. Carrie noticed his face as his smile dropped into a sullen frown.

"There's something I need to tell you, Carrie…"

"Huh, what is it?"

"That day, when I saw you unloading my ship… The reason I-"

Dr. Gel fumbled his words, half-wanting to hold back and half forcing himself to tell her.

"You see, initially, when I approached you, it was so I could get close to your friend, Space Dandy."

Carrie tilted her head in confusion.

"Are you saying… you don't-"

"No. Not at all… I mean… not at first. You see, I recognized you as a member of Dandy's crew, so I thought I'd befriend you and get you to convince Dandy to join me and my boss."

"So you don't love me…"

Carrie pulled her legs up to her chin and coiled her tail around herself.

"That sucks… I loved you…"

"But that was then. You see, after that first day we spent together-"

"Yeah, we went to that stuffy restaurant. I accidentally tripped the waiter with my tail, and the manager got mad and made us leave. Then we both laughed about it and just went to the mall."

"I realized something… I hadn't had anyone to spend time with like that since I was a child. So rather than ask and risk losing our friendship, I kept putting it off until I found that, rather than making myself happy, I suddenly wanted to make you happy."

A tear fell from Dr. Gel's eye.

"Carrie."

Carrie lifted her head from out of her knees.

"I do love you. And that's why I need to finally ask you if you could let me see Dandy. I need to ask him something very important."

Carrie smiled, her own eyes overflowing with tears. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around Dr. Gel's giant head.

"Yes."

Underneath the table, Meow also cried and the crying emoticon appeared on Q.T.'s LCD screen.

"It's so disgustingly mushy…"

"As a robot, I don't normally care about romance stuff but it's even getting to me…"

"You know," Carrie said, "you could've just asked me the first day we talked and I would've taken you to him."

"Wait… really?"

The lizard and gorilla stared at each other, then laughed. Carrie then wrapped her tail around Dr. Gel's neck.

"But I'm glad you didn't."

"You know, me too…"

"Hey! You two!"

Dr. Gel and Carrie turned around to find Q.T. and Meow standing behind them, both of them were wet with tears. Or LCD cleaning fluid in Q.T.'s case.

"We'll help you talk to Dandy," Meow sobbed as he blew his nose into his forearm.

"He's gonna be real mad when we wake him up, but if it's that important to you…"

"It is extremely important," Dr. Gel said. "The fate of the entire multiverse depends on it!"

"Then it's a good thing I brought this!"

Q.T. opened up his storage compartment and pulled out a glowing bracelet.

"But Q.T. I thought the teleporter was still broken," Meow pointed out.

"Not anymore! I used the extra money from my new job to buy the parts needed to fix it!"

Q.T. grabbed Meow and wrapped his extendable arm around Dr. Gel's ankles. He then pressed a button on the bracelet and the four of them were instantly teleported to the teleportation platform aboard the Aloha Oe.

The robot and Betelgeusian then ran into Dandy's bedroom, grabbed the sleeping alien hunter (without giving him a chance to put on a pair of pants), and sat him down on the couch.

Dandy sat there in his underwear as his three crew members all tried to tell him what was going on all at once. Groggy, aggravated, and quite frankly, far too sober for their bullshit, Dandy finally snapped.

"All of you shut the hell up!"

Carrie, Q.T. and Meow all obediently shut the hell up and gave the alien hunter their full attention.

"Now someone please tell me why the hell you guys woke me up and why there's a giant monkey aboard my ship!"

The three of them took turns giving Dandy every detail, all except for Dr. Gel, who could only stand and stare at Dandy. Never had he been so close to his lifelong goal of capturing Dandy, and yet there he stood, mere feet away!

"And so, this guy says he needs to ask you something really important," Meow finished.

Dandy raised his eyebrow and examined the doctor.

"So, monkey-man, what do ya want?"

"Dandy, I know we have been mortal enemies for a long time…"

"We have?"

"And I know that I've made it my life's mission to capture you and use your great power to help my boss achieve intergalactic conquest…"

"You did what now?"

"But now I have a greater purpose."

Dr. Gel took the box out of his pocket.

"You see, Dandy, both the Gogol and Jaicro Empires are no more, and this new Meta Empire has taken them both. It is now looking to build a device that will allow it to control not only the universe, but every universe, the multiverse."

Dandy stared at Dr. Gel slack-jawed.

"Huh?" He mumbled as Dr. Gel continued his explanation.

"But now, I simply cannot risk losing you again, Dandy. I desperately need your help. And I will get it one way or another!"

Dr. Gel opened the box and a bright red light engulfed the room as a red vial floated out of it.

"This is the last sample of pure, concentrated pyonium"

"Pie-what-ium?" Dandy asked.

"Dandy, you are a being composed completely of pyonium! If this vial breaks, this sample of concentrated pyonium will be absorbed into your body. The reaction will destroy all of space-time in this dimension! I'd rather sacrifice everything than let that mad woman destroy the one I love."

"You can't be serious!" Dandy exclaimed. "I don't know what this stuff is, but whatever you want, I'll do it!"

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Of course. Carrie may be a pain in the ass, but she's my friend. And I'll do whatever it takes to protect her… as long as it doesn't keep me from going to Boobies."

Dr. Gel let out a sigh of relief.

"Then I guess I better put this away before-"

Before Dr. Gel could put the vial back in its box, it shattered. The glowing red orb of pyonium floated in front of Dandy, his crew, and the Doctor.

You see, while Dr. Gel was correct in assuming that the pyonium would be attracted to Dandy due to his unique biological makeup; it was also attracted to Carrie.

You see, it's a little known fact that Sepians possess a unique ability to absorb certain particles, such as dark matter and certain radioactive isotopes into their scales, which is used as a defense mechanism in a similar manner to animals who secrete poisons or rub poisonous substances on their bodies. This simultaneous pull between the pyonium, Dandy, and Carrie caused it to stabilize, which effectively kept it in place.

Unbeknownst to the other four, during the discussion between Dandy and Dr. Gel, Carrie had zoned out, her capacity for paying attention expiring around the time Dr. Gel revealed the box of pyonium. But the glowing substance snapped her back into a new focus, this curious, brightly glowing particle that now floated in front of her.

The pyonium hypnotically pulsed and undulated before the Sepian. As she stared at it, Dr. Gel noticed that the pyonium had not induced a reaction between itself and Dandy, however, he failed to attempt to re-contain it. Instead, he spent that valuable time attempting to come up with a theory as to why the pyonium failed to react the way he expected it to. This pause gave Carrie all the time to indulge in the one impulse her brain signaled her to do…

In the blink of an eye, Carrie opened and snapped her mouth over the floating blob of pyonium. Immediately after, it began to absorb into her scales, the stabilizing pull between her and Dandy now broken.

The other four gasped in astonishment as they watched Carrie swallow the pyonium in one bite. While Carrie has eaten stranger things before, nobody, at least in this universe, had ever eaten pure, highly concentrated pyonium before.

While part of the pyonium found itself absorbed into the scales adorning her face, back, and tail, the part Carrie had swallowed also began reacting with the infinity burger still digesting in Carrie's stomach.

As the reaction occurred, Carrie's stomach lurched and she doubled over from the severe abdominal pain. The scales on her face and tail suddenly began to glow the same color as the pyonium she had just eaten.

"That doesn't look good…" Dandy commented.

The reaction taking place in Carrie's stomach reached critical levels, causing a sudden surge of power. The Sepian then started to grow and mutate.

As this happened, Dandy, Q.T., Meow, and Dr. Gel hastily abandoned the Aloha Oe as Carrie's growing body smashed through the roof of the ship. Once they were sure they were far enough away, the four of them stopped to catch a glimpse of the changes in their once short-stacked friend.

Carrie had grown to the point where she was effectively wearing the Aloha Oe as a size five-thousand and a half shoe. Red streaks ran across every part of her human skin while her scales gave off a bright red glow. Her eyes, once green, were now a glowing crimson red. Her mouth had been mutated into a gaping bear-trap like maw adorned with enormous teeth. Floating above her head was a red ring of pyonium with large spikes that gave it the appearance of a crown of thorns.

Her transformation complete, Carrie let out a roar that caused the entire space station to tremble.

"Aaannddd, Carrie destroyed my ship. Again!"

Carrie started thrashing as soon as she discovered that the hangar wasn't quite tall enough for her to stand completely upright.

"This is all my fault. I shouldn't have brought that pyonium with me," Dr. Gel lamented.

"No shit," Dandy

"Look on the bright side," Meow said. "At least it can't get any worse."

Carrie then smashed through the hangar walls and into the heart of the space station's main ring, where most of the station's businesses were located. As Carrie began her rampage, the space station's tenants screamed in horror and panicked.

Suddenly, the space station reeled from a blast, not from the newly mutated Carrie, but from an external laser blast. Alarm klaxons blared as our remaining four heroes turned towards the open hangar door.

Thousands of Meta Empire warships now orbited the station, with even more of them pouring out of hyperspace. They opened fire on the station, blasting away bits of it with an intense barrage of laser fire.

A giant ship that vaguely resembled a naval battleship dropped out of hyperspace right in the middle of the fleet. Aboard it was Claire. She stood in the ship's command bridge along with mixed defected Gogol, Jaicro, and soldiers wearing crimson red armor.

"Keep firing until the station surrenders its pyonium," Claire commanded.

"Well would you look at that, it just got worse!" Dandy yelled as he struck Meow in the head.

"They must've detected the massive energy release from the concentrated pyonium," Dr. Gel reasoned. "I've got to warn Carrie!"

Dr. Gel ran after the now monstrous lizard girl as she rampaged through the space station.

"Monkey-man, wait!" Dandy called after him, but Dr. Gel ignored the alien hunter.

Dr. Gel caught up to Carrie quickly as she smashed through the space station's internal city superstructure in a manner reminiscent of a certain giant movie monster from the 1960s.

Dr. Gel caught up to Carrie and tried to climb onto her tail, but the intense heat of her now pyonium infused scales was too intense for him. It burned off most of his clothes and singed his skin until he finally let go.

As the Gorillean fell, he suddenly found himself floating as he hit something hard. He raised up to find himself sitting in the hand of a giant robot; the Hawaii Yankee! Dandy sat at the robot's controls, Meow and Q.T. crammed in the cockpit beside him.

"You idiot, you're gonna get yourself killed!" The alien hunter shouted.

"I've got to try and reason with her," Dr. Gel shouted back.

The mech's head opened up and Dandy stepped out.

"Here, take the Hawaii Yankee," he told Dr. Gel. "It's not as powerful as the Hawaii Yankee Special ™ but it should be enough to let you do what you gotta do."

"I don't think I'll be able to fit in there…"

"Just shut up and get in the damn robot…"

Dr. Gel crammed his huge body into the small cockpit of the Hawaii Yankee.

Unfortunately for him, deep inside Carrie's belly, the other half of the infinity burger she had eaten had finally begun to break down from Carrie's stomach acid. This breakdown caused a secondary reaction, which in turn caused Carrie to undergo a second growth spurt.

Now far too big to fit inside the space station, Carrie's body smashed through the upper hull of the space station, where she came face-to-face with the Meta Empire's battlefleet.

"There's the source of the pyonium," Claire pointed out. "Neutralize it and prepare to transport."

The fleet of ships opened fire on Carrie, but even their heavy cannons could do little more than piss her off. She opened her mouth and like a black hole, every single photon was absorbed into her gaping maw. This caused this small section of the galaxy to temporarily turn pitch black for a split second, save for the bright orb that had formed at the back of Carrie's throat. Then, everything was re-illuminated by a blinding flash as every photon was concentrated into a powerful beam of energy and fired at the nearest group of ships, completely obliterating them in the all-consuming blast.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gel, still piloting the Hawaii Yankee, crawled up Carrie's thigh. A blast from one of Claire's ships nearly hit him, causing him to fall, but he managed to save himself by grabbing a hold of the laces on Carrie's overly-stretched gym shorts.

"Ma'am, we can't hold out against firepower of that magnitude!"

"Then we have no choice but to destroy it," Claire replied cooly. "Prepare to fire the wave-motion cannon."

As Carrie continued blasting away at the attacking ships, Dr. Gel continued his ascent. He had just made it to Carrie's waistband when the Hawaii Yankee picked up an enormous power reading coming from Claire's ship. He turned towards the attacking fleet to see Claire's ship, still dead-center. The bough of her ship opened up to reveal the barrel of an enormous gun. A cylinder at the very end of the barrel began to spin wildly as energy gathered near the opening.

Carrie roared, and using the sheer force of her roar, though it could no longer produce any soundwaves in the vacuum of space, she created a powerful gravitational wave that slammed into the fleet of attacking ships. Claire's wave motion gun fired, but the gravitational wave caused the blast to miss. The blast traveled some distance away before it lit up the side opposite of where Carrie stood with a blinding flash, its shockwave causing the space station to list forward.

"Prepare a second attack, quickly!" Claire ordered.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gel had begun climbing again. The Hawaii Yankee was now balanced atop the waistband of Carrie's gym shorts. Dr. Gel turned back to see Claire's ship charging up for another attack.

"I'll never make it like this!"

Dr. Gel tried to fire the mech's boosters, but the thrusters just smoked uselessly. Dr. Gel slammed his fist on the controls in a rage, which caused the Hawaii Yankee to extend its arm up towards the hem of Carrie's shirt, which was now vastly overstretched and came up to just under her breasts. The little robot pulled itself upward and Dr. Gel slammed the booster controls again, propelling the robot over Carrie's boobs and directly in front of her face.

Carrie turned her attention away from her attackers and onto the little Hawaiian-themed mech that floated before her. It seemed… vaguely familiar. Dr. Gel called out to her from inside the mech.

"Carrie! I don't think you can hear me, but you have to stop."

Dr. Gel then suddenly felt strange. It turns out that, while he came in contact with Carrie's pyonium-infused scales, he himself had absorbed a small amount of pyonium. He could feel its power surging through him, and he felt that he was able to project his newfound power through the mecha he was controlling.

"You have to focus! You have to take Dandy and get out of here!"

Carrie looked closely at the mecha, now covered in a crimson aura from the pyonium. As the aura intensified, Claire's wave-motion gun fired another shot, this one aimed directly at the oversized Sepian.

Using his new powers, Dr. Gel flew the Hawaii Yankee at the attack. The two enormous powers collided, creating an enormous explosion. The blast caused the Hawaii Yankee to be sent hurtling backwards, now badly damaged, where Carrie caught it. She looked at the now-limbless mecha, Dr. Gel unconscious in the cockpit. Her eyes downcast at first at the sight of her beloved unconscious in her hand, she was then consumed by intense rage.

Claire watched in shock at what she had seen.

"Fire the wave-motion gun one more time."

The ship's wave-motion gun began to charge again.

Carrie opened her mouth, and once again, everything was consumed by a near-complete darkness save for the energy gathering both at the back of Carrie's throat and inside the barrel of Claire's wave-motion gun.

Carrie's attack finished charging first, but rather than blast it at Claire's ship, she aimed it directly at the spiked halo that still floated over her head. The beam was absorbed into the hole at the middle as pyonium energy crackled between the halo's spikes.

The blast then emerged from the top of the halo and collected itself into an orb above it. The wave-motion gun fired first, but Carrie's attack went off before the blast could reach her. Carrie's blast branched off into multiple shots, each completely annihilating different sections of Claire's ship and causing the wave-motion blast to fizzle out from the intensity of the attack.

"Impossible!" Claire exclaimed as a final blast struck her ship, causing it and every other one close-by to disintegrate into nanoparticles.

As the last of the infinity burger digested completely in Carrie's stomach, the reaction began to die down and Carrie was able to shrink down to her regular size.

Later that evening, Dandy and his crew met directly with Johnny, Bea, Admiral Perry, and Dr. Gel, who was now bandaged up from his injuries.

"I'm afraid that won't be the last we see of Claire or the Meta Empire," Perry warned. "Claire's not really a physical person, but an alien who can project her physical appearance somehow. I can't really explain it myself…"

"Well then, that just means we're gonna need all the help we can get," Johnny added. "Will you join us, Dandy?"

Dandy hesitated at first, but then he gave Johnny a thumbs-up along with his trademark Dandy smile.

"You can count on me, baby!"

"We're going to have to find another place to stay," Dr. Gel said. "There's no doubt that Claire knows of Dandy's true nature. We'll have to hide until we can gather our forces and strategize on how we can defeat her."

"But Dandy, Carrie completely trashed the ship," Q.T. pointed out.

Dandy and his crew spun around to look at the crumpled remains of his ship.

"And I'm afraid the Little Aloha isn't in good shape either."

Dandy and his crew then turned towards the wreckage of the Little Aloha. It was half-transformed with the arm and leg pieces from the Hawaii Yankee detached and scattered around it.

"I'll see what I can do to get your ship repaired," Johnny said. "I promise, it'll be better than ever after I'm done with it."

"In the meantime, you can stay with us," Admiral Perry. "I'll admit, Dandy, it's going to be hard for me to put aside the unyielding rage I hold against you for thwarting my plans time and time again, but for the sake of the multiverse, I am willing to let bygones be bygones."

Admiral Perry extended his hand to Dandy for a handshake. Dandy gazed at him for a minute. He wasn't sure what the old man meant, but he eventually accepted the handshake.

"Sure, whatever you say, old-man…"

"Now that that's settled, I suggest we leave as soon as possible," Johnny added. "We have a lot of preparation to do…"

To be continued…