Adam Dravetra, Lexia's 25-year-old brother, had been Aryl's friend longer than Lexia had. Aryl met Lexia through Adam, and although a lifelong friendship had sparked from Aryl and Lexia meeting, Aryl and Adam were still extremely close friends. So, naturally, when Aryl realized that they would need a place to stay in California, the first person she called was Adam.

"Hmm? California? Why?"

"Well, as it turns out, Gaito's sending us a message through random natural disasters. The snowstorm here in Tokyo was the first, and we have a feeling the second message is in California." Aryl explained, as she lay back on her bed. She had gone back to the Pearl Piari with Lexia, but Hanon had pulled Lexia into her bedroom to talk to her soon after they'd arrived, so Aryl was by herself.

"Because of the fires? I guess I can understand that, but the hotels are all filled by the people who needed to evacuate."

"That's why I called you, silly." Aryl giggled, "You must know SOMEONE who has a place in California."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Aryl, but the only person I know in America lives in Michigan."

"Aww." Aryl said, "That sucks." She sighed.

"Wait." Adam said suddenly.

"Waiting." Aryl replied.

Adam was quiet for a minute, but a sound like him leafing through papers could be heard. He spoke up again, and Aryl opened her eyes. "One of my friend John's clients is in California this week, so John should be there. He can probably hook you up with a place to stay."

"Adam, you rule!" Aryl grinned, although she knew Adam couldn't see her.

"I'll give John a call and then call you back."

"Okay, talk to you later." Aryl hung up and hummed a soft tune as she left the room, pocketing her cell phone on the way. She walked into Kiri's living room, only to see Moiyu and Lexia yelling at each other. With no particular reason to talk to either of them, she left them to their bickering, and went into the kitchen. Kiri was seated at the kitchen counter.

"Yo." Aryl said, "Something wrong, Kir?"

Kiri looked up, and confusion crossed her face for a second, "Aren't you calling Adam?"

"He's trying to hook us up with a place to stay." Aryl shrugged, "He'll call me back in a bit."

"Oh." Kiri said. Aryl sat down next to her friend.

"What's on your mind?" she asked.

Kiri was silent for a few moments, contemplating how much to tell Aryl. When she finally spoke up, she was vague. "It's Elik." She said, sighing.

"Elik- your boyfriend, right? I haven't seen him since we got here. Where is the fellow, anyway?" Aryl asked, not getting Kiri's hint that she hadn't seen him either.

Kiri sighed at her friend. "At work. He hasn't come home since before you two arrived in town." She sighed, "He's been more and more distant lately. I don't understand."

"He's a boy, Kiri. I don't know any girl who understands them. Where does he work?" Aryl asked.

"A game company, downtown."

"Well, come on. Lexia's keeping herself busy; let's go see him. Can't hurt, right? I'm sure he misses you, so why not?"

Kiri stared at her friend for a second before realizing she was serious.

"I've never been there before." Kiri said, almost as if she was trying to figure out an excuse not to go.

"We'll find it." Aryl insisted.

"You're insane." Kiri muttered.

"I know." Aryl grinned, "I'm gonna go get the car started. Get me the full address, 'kay?" With that, she skipped out of the room.

Kiri felt herself almost dreading her encounter with Elik, if they ever even happened to find his office in the first place. That's when she realized that A, she WAS dreading an encounter with her boyfriend, and B, she hadn't missed him quite as much as she thought she had. She was worried about him, and depressed that his job was taking over his life more than she was, but she wasn't really missing him all that much.

Besides, he'd never figured out she was a mermaid.

Kiri sighed before running to stop Aryl from dragging her to his office.

XXXX

Lexia and Moiyu were currently not talking to one another. Or, at least, they weren't NOW. A few seconds ago they were yelling at each other like there was no tomorrow, with Jay watching the two of them, confused as to what they were arguing over in the first place. They'd probably still be arguing if Lexia's cell phone hadn't rung.

"Lexia, you there?" The voice on the other end asked, as Lexia snapped back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Alex." Lexia said, snapping her attention back to her phone call and running a hand through her blond hair. She grimaced as she hit knots. Where was her hairbrush at a time like this?

"So, the teachers say that classes'll be canceled until the snow melts and all of the students who are away have had a chance to get back to the school. I say two or three weeks."

"Good." Lexia said, "With the way things are going now, I don't want to go back to school."

"Is something going on?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing too important." Lexia lied, "Listen, Alex, I'd better go."

"Alright, give me a call if you need anything."

"Will do. See you soon." Lexia hung up, and put her cell phone back in her purse.

XXXX

Aryl jumped as her phone vibrated in her pocket. Kiri stared at her strangely and Aryl shrugged. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. "'Lo?"

"Hey Aryl, I've got good news." The voice from the other side, who Aryl was immediately able to recognize as Adam, said.

Aryl sat up at the sound of his voice, taking her feet down from on top of Kiri's kitchen counter. "Do tell."

"Remember that friend of mine whose client I mentioned might be in California right now?"

"Of course. I don't forget things THAT easily, Adam, and you only told me an hour ago." Aryl smirked.

"Right, well, I talked to him and he said that he could get you a place to stay for the week. Apparently Rayza was originally going to bring a good friend with her, but decided against it, so he had booked an extra hotel room they don't need. If you don't mind cramming into one room, you've got yourselves a place to stay."

"We'll take it. Adam, you're the best! But, did you say Rayza? As in, Rayza Dragon? She's John's client?" Aryl said, surprised.

"Yeah." Adam replied, "She's on tour right now. John's her agent."

"That's so cool!" Aryl giggled, "Anyway, thanks again."

"Of course. I'll call John back and let him know. How long do you think it'll take you to get there?"

"I dunno, how long does it take to swim to California? We'll be by in a couple of days, depending on whether we get lost or not."

"Alright, I'll tell him."

"Good. Thanks again, Adam."

"Yup. Tell Lexia I said 'Hello.'"

"Will do. Talk to you soon." Aryl hung up and grinned at Kiri.

"Adam got us a place to stay?" Kiri asked.

Aryl nodded, "Adam's the best." She said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my soaps are about to start."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Do they show soaps on Saturdays? Because, that's what day it is. Anyway, she missed them on Fridays, so to fill in a plothole that would exist if they aren't shown on Saturday, she's watching reruns. Sure. Anyway.

Sorry about the delay on this chapter. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I needed to wait to introduce that old/new character. Next chapter. Along with California. I needed another chapter in here. Moiyu and Lexia had to fight, and Aryl and Adam's relationship had to be established. Plus, I wanted to advance the Kiri/Elik thing. Hmm… wonder what's going to happen there.

Alright, as for info from me, I've decided to show you how Aryl came to be. All of these characters have an interesting backstory in their creation (not like an actual backstory. I mean, the way they evolved from the first time I used them.)

Aryl started off as a character in a Yugioh GX/Mermaid Melody crossover story I was writing a few years back. She started as 15, and went through 'til 17 before the story ended. She and her mom were NOT on good terms at all, and she was the lavender princess, not the amethyst one. I changed them all to birthstones to keep up consistency later. She also wasn't named Aryl here. But, I won't tell you what she really was named since I hated the fact that I used that name.

The next time I used Aryl was in another Yugioh GX/Mermaid Melody crossover, and she was named Mika. Mika later evolved into her own character, so I won't get too much into her.

Next I went back to her original name and threw Fushigi Yuugi into the mix to create my worst crossover ever, Yugioh GX/Mermaid Melody/Fushigi Yuugi. I later also added in Ayashi No Ceres. I never even TRIED to resurrect that story after I killed it. It didn't last long.

Finally, we see Aryl as she is now. I renamed her, changed some details about her personality, changed her age, and changed a few details about how she looked. Also, she used to fight with a bow, but I changed it to a gun. Changed her from the lavender princess to the amethyst one, too. And that is that for her. Lexia has a stranger backstory, stemming from the same Yugioh GX/Mermaid Melody crossover, but not in the same way, along with Kiri who started out as a normal human character. But, if anyone's interested, I'll type those up next time.

Anyway, sorry the chapter's short, I wanted to end it there.