It's back. It's silly. And my brain is ridiculous. I started this story as a stress reliever and that's exactly what I want it to remain. There may be problems since I've went ahead and said, "Bubbles, don't worry about this story because it's here for laughter and insanity." She's awesomely taking care of BR's next chapter right now. I would rather use her lovely talents for my more detailed stories.

Like I said before, this one is just for insanity-

And ooooh does it have a heaping dose of that.

This day is just going to the pits… Van thought sourly as he leaned against the door and his chin fell forward on his chest. What just happened? Who was that crazy, green guy? Glancing worriedly at Allen, he watched his friend set the keyboard stand on the white carpet and clicked it into place. An encompassing fear for the unknown crawled down his back and Van suddenly shivered.

In the span of only a few days, his world had traveled ruthlessly down a rocky spiral filled to the brim with mental people, and he felt like he had hit every speed bump along the way. Not only had he had two, almost three, accidents – all of them involving this crazy waitress who came out of nowhere – but the regular parts of his life were beginning to unravel like a frayed ball of yarn.

All because of one stupidly, important thing:

Money.

"Dude, brah, snatch that cord and jam it to the socket 'round back."

"Allen, can we talk about what just happened in there?"

"What's ta chat? We gots da get the tunes did. I made sure your spare guitar was tuned 'fore you got here, yo. You so late tada, brah."

"I am aware we need to record and that I'm late today, but do you realized you hired a lunatic to be our manager? What happened to Mole?"

Allen gave Van a strange look before letting out a laugh.

"Dude, you remembs what happen to Mole! He bailed out on our very last tour! I don't want that puck in da squad! And what's not on point wit Gad? Brah, he's bullet. He be doin' solid for da gig. He's gettin' da vid."

"How is he getting the video?"

"IDK, brah. He's da shit, doh."

"And speaking of that," Van chimed in with a groan, "we are not using that video."

"What you say!?" Allen turned swiftly from the stand and his long hair caught a bit on a screw. "But da vid's on fleek! It goes with da single! Hand 'n hand 'n all that."

"I don't want it. We don't need it. We can do something else. That Pancake Song was not supposed to-"

Allen crossed the floor so fast, Van jumped back and his head hit the doorframe painfully. The blond man's wide blue eyes shinned with a fierce gleam as he pressed his face close to Van's threateningly. Hands springing up in defense, the black-haired man could practically taste the waves of anger shimmying off his partner.

"You came to me for help," Allen hissed dangerously, his ghetto accent completely forgotten. "You came to me asking for a better life for Merle, and I graciously took you back. If you didn't want this then you shouldn't have signed the contract. You will do what I want, Van Fanel. This isn't The White Dragons anymore. We are on a new path. A new age of music. No one wants the ballads or the sonnets. They want the booty shake. They want the sex, the drugs. They want to forget."

"How is a song about pancakes supposed to do any of that?" Van injected darkly, his anger rising to match Allen's. "How is nonsense supposed to make people forget? And why would we want to do that? That's not who we are!"

"I decide what we are! Not you! Me! This time I'm in charge! So, get with it or 'bye, Felicia'!" Allen pointed at the door behind Van with his thumb and Van's eyes noticed the fake bejeweled rings decorating his fingers. The stand-off was short lived as Van felt the fight leave his bones.

He was chained to this. He knew he was. Money made it so.

Allen's mouth curled slightly as he saw Van's shoulders lower in defeat.

"Can we at least revise The Pancake Song?"

A small laugh escaped the blond man before he turned back to turn on the keyboard.

"Hells, no."

This day is just going to the pits… Hitomi thought bitterly as she hesitantly settled down in the squashy seat next to the tall man in the small yellow cab. Amano had insisted on sharing a taxi and paying for the entire ride. As much as she loathed the guy, she couldn't resist a free ride. She had thought she could handle a few minutes of uncomfortable conversation. Turns out it wasn't the conversation that struck a hard cord with her heart – it was how freaking close the guy was sitting next to her. His long leg brushed against her knee as the car turned right and she pressed herself harder against the door. Staring out the window, she missed the pleasant smile that was planted on his lips.

"I'm so glad to see you! What a coincidence you are in the city! I just moved here! What have you been up to?" Amano checked his phone in his pocket. She glanced at him just in time to see the sleek iPhone disappear from sight. His black pinstriped suit, rich red tie, and polished leather shoes made her clutch the edges of her yellow wrinkled uniform in self-disgust. She wished she could sink into the germ-covered leather seat of the taxi and disappear from sight.

"Working."

"As what?"

"Teacher," she semi-lied through her teeth.

"Teacher, huh?" Amano's dark eyes raked up and down her body and she clenched the fabric in her fist tighter. "What school?"

"What about you, Amano?" she evaded, trying to keep the distain from her voice. "You seem to be doing well. That's a nice suit."

"Oh, this?" He brushed a hand over his smooth jacket and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I just got out of an interview. It's been tough trying to get a job out here in the city, but I'm not giving up." A large smile crossed his lips. "I'm happy you've found a good job at least. What's with the yellow dress though? Is it for some kind of project or play?"

"Sure," she replied darkly turning back to the window. Amano opened his mouth, but closed it audibly. It seemed he'd finally noticed her frosty countenance.

The silence was deafening. The cab stopped at a red light.

"Look, it's really weird running into you like this. I'll be the first to admit. Yukari-"

"Amano, don't. Just… don't right now, okay? I have already had a rough day." Her green eyes flicked on his sincere face and he blanched from her spicy glare. "I appreciate the cab ride, but that's all this is."

Her old ex-friend's mouth closed and he blinked several times before turning away to look out his window. Hitomi felt a little twist of shame in her stomach, but immediately brushed any remorse aside.

Amano, innocent and yet so incredibly, stupidly guilty, finally moved his leg over to give her more space.

Merle pulled Van's tattered baseball cap further on her forehead and ducked behind the aged-bricked wall swiftly. Tugging at her pink hair nervously, she leaned forward to inspect the bakery across the street.

"What are you doing?"

Merle let out a solid shriek and sprang forward like a startled cat. With her hands immediately clenching into fists, she turned to glare at the auburn-headed waitress from the restaurant. The woman's yellow uniform was stained with brown spots and her ponytail was loose and messy. Her brown eyes, though tired, were narrowed with suspicion. Dropping the large black bag full of trash she was carrying to the dumpster, the waitress took a step closer and glanced over Merle's head.

"Are you spying on the bakery?"

"What's it to you?" Merle shot back.

The woman quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Look, kid. I don't care what you're doing here as long as you leave poor Hitomi out of it, understand? My friend has had enough problems with this video and work and school-"

"It's not for her, stupid!" she shot back. "It's for my brother! For his band!"

That made the waitress' eyebrows raise in surprise. "You are going after the guy who filmed the video for your brother's band?"

"Uh, yeah, that's what I just said! That video belongs to him!"

The woman snorted and raised a hand in defense. "Like I said, I don't care what you're doing. Just leave my friend out of it." As the waitress walked back through the rusted backdoor, Merle rolled her eyes and turned back to the bakery - just in time to see a young man stroll out the bakery door in a black wife beater; his hair so blond it looked silver.

Immediately hurrying to try and catch him, a green blur raced past her and almost knocked her over.

"What the hell?" she cried, catching her footing. "Watch where you're going!"

Merle stopped short, her eyes growing wide as the green blur skidded to a stop and backed up. It was a dark-headed man in a terribly vibrant green suit. Turning back to glance at her with his chocolate hair flopping in the wind, she could tell from the glazed look in his eyes that there might be something wrong with him mentally.

"I'm sorry, little boy."

"I'm a girl, moron!" Merle hissed angrily underneath her ball cap.

"Can you help me, Poika?" The man took a few steps closer. Lifting a hand, he pointed at the busy intersection. "This is where the puke video happened, right? The one that got all popular on the screen with the flashing lights?"

Her eyebrows raising, she blinked several times. "Flashing… lights?"

"Com-pu-ter," the man annunciated like she was slow. "It flashes occasionally, right? Obviously, I meant a computer, doi! You're kinda dumb, aren't you, Garoto?"

She was speechless for a second. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Language, Puer! Now riddle me this: is this the intersection that the puke video was filmed at?"

"Yeah," she answered hesitantly. "But what do you want with-"

"Excellent. Good. Perfect. Enchanting. Lovely. Wonderbra!"

"You mean, 'wunderbar'?" she offered with a quirked eyebrow. Glancing over his shoulder, she saw the boy climbing rusted stairs on the side of the building in the alleyway. Clicking her tongue with annoyance, she made a move to brush the green man aside, but he jumped back in her way.

"Where are you going?"

"I wanted to talk with that blond-haired dude over there." She scowled and pointed to the alleyway across the street just as the boy bent to unlock the door with his keys. "Because of you, I missed my opportunity to ask him if he knew who filmed the video! Get out of my way, stupid!"

She never saw the excited spark glaze over the green man's dark eyes as he watched the boy enter through the door and it slammed shut behind him.

"You know what this song could use?"

Van shrugged his answer; still feeling the sour bitterness about their stand-off earlier. Having finished panning out the chords to The Pancake Song, Allen had moved on to another one of Van's destroyed masterpieces: Crispy Crisps.

"This chorus is hellz on fleek, but these verses are crap, brah. It needs a rap. Like something with rhythm. Something that tells a story or some shit."

"You want a rap song about chips?" Van's voice almost cracked with the absurdity of the sentence. "Allen… come on, man… "

The blond turned with a sharp look in his eye and the ghetto dropped once more. "You want a paycheck? Write me a rap! I want it tomorrow and we will record it with The Pancake Song on Saturday."

She buzzed down the road on her motorcycle and tried to push down the urge to go home and crawl into Yukari's couch. With the crate full of syrup strapped to the back of her bike, she hit another bump and heard them rattle loudly like the sound of a medieval death cart.

Clang, clang… "Bring out your dead!"…. clang-cla-clang… "Bring out your dead!"

"Balgus is going to kill me," she breathed into the streaming air as she hurried through another yellow light. Sliding to turn left, she passed a taxi and tried to keep the shiver of guilt and disgust off her shoulders. She might be late on delivering the syrup, but she would have been later if she hadn't taken that taxi with Amano.

She had sacrificed her pride for the old man and his stupid restaurant.

"I can't tell Yukari though…" she decided out loud. "She can't know Amano is here. He doesn't deserve her anxiety."

Increasing her speed, she bled past a few more cars, and her heart began to somewhat settle. From meeting up with that Van guy to getting a free ride in a taxi to finally getting the syrup from Plaktu, Hitomi had to admit.

Maybe today hadn't been so bad after all.

Merle crossed the street briskly with the green man panting at her heels. Dodging pedestrians, she hurried over to the alleyway and stood staring at the steps leading to the apartment above the bakery. Narrowing her eyes, she leaned back to glance at the front windows. A surge of hope filled her.

It was the perfect angle for the video. This had to be the guy who filmed it.

"Wait, young man! You're running too fast!"

Merle rolled her eyes yet again as the green guy finally caught up with her and panted violently in her face.

"Stop following me!" she hissed angrily backing away further.

"…Video…" the man choked. "I need… the video…"

"I want the video, too! Just because you want it doesn't mean you're going to get it! And what is your problem? We just ran less than 50 feet! Why are you so out of breath?"

"Hate… running…" he heaved. "It shows off… my high-waist… hips…"

The pink-haired girl crossed her arms. "Why do you want the video anyway?"

"That is between me and myself, garçon,"

She scowled, but then her dark eyes turned thoughtful. "Is this for The White Dragon's?"

His mouth flopped open with comedic surprise. "How do you know about that? Did someone tell you? Was that person named Steve? Chelsea? I know! It was that damn Dryden again, right? That guy is totally obsessed with me-"

"What the hell are you talking about? I know because my brother is Van Fanel, you idiot! He's part of the band! He's the one in the video and it rightfully belongs to him!"

The green man's glazed eyes sharpened suddenly and he held out a hand for her to shake. "Oh, hello, little Chico. Name's Gadeth, and I'm their new manager."

Now it was her turn for her mouth to drop open. "You-You're what?"

"Yeah!" he grinned and spread his arms wide as if to hug her. "I'm their manager, I think! I guess this means we're family!"

"No, it doesn't! You are a crazy person!" Leaving him and his hug behind, she turned and climbed up the rattling steps to a decrepit, paint-peeling door. Steadying her nerves, she knocked loudly.

There was a bated breath.

Only silence.

"Lemme try!" The green man named Gadeth hollered and pounded up the steps after her. Clearing his throat, he brushed her aside on the top step and lifted a foot.

"Wait, what are you-?"

He kicked the door so hard, it squelched loudly and a terrible splintering wood sound from the door frame. He swung his thin leg back once more and slammed the toe of his boot even harder. Merle was frozen solid as she watched him ready to give the door one last violent kick until-

"Who the hell is kicking my door!?" A silvery blond-haired young man wrenched the door open briskly –

Only to get a large boot smashed into his face.

She knew Balgus heard her bike. His anger was palpable even through the brick walls of his small, decrepit restaurant. Yukari rushed out to greet her with soft brown eyes worried and confused.

"Oh, Hitomi! What took you so long!? Are you okay?"

The pixie-haired girl simply shrugged – unable to form the words to describe her day - and unbuckled the case quickly. Though her friend's eyes narrowed suspiciously at her silence, she grabbed the other side of the case.

"Let's get this in. Balgus has been pacing for hours. We are almost out of eggs, but now that we have syrup, it should hold off the crowd. Everyone's been wanting pancakes!"

"Oh, my god! There's an IHOP three blocks from here! Why do they want pancakes?"

"Because that's what got thrown up in the video…"

Panting, both women pushed the crate through the door of the back kitchen. Hitomi straightened up with a disgusted face. "You can't be serious! That's so gross! Why would people want to eat something that got thrown up in a video? Is everyone nuts?"

"Hey, it keeps Balgus occupied. I'm not complaining," Yukari smiled lightly. "And speaking of Balgus…"

The pixie-haired woman groaned and leaned against the metal racks holding mustard and ketchup bottles. "Lemme guess: he's pissed at me?"

Her friend's smile turned sympathetic. Patting her shoulder, the redhead turned to the main kitchen's swinging doors and whispered, "Just go in there and take it. He can't yell for long since there's so many customers."

"You broke my nose!"

"I was knocking at your door!"

"You were kicking my door!"

"You weren't answering to normal knocks! I thought this would get your attention!"

"What do you want!?" The youth roared through the hand covering his bleeding nose. The red dripped off his chin and splattered on his black shirt and shoes.

"I need the barfing thingy!" Gadeth announced, and he turned to Merle with an encouraging nod. She had started backing down the steps slowly to avoid getting into this growing lawsuit. "She does, too! It's a really important video! We need it for our brother-!"

"Van's not your brother!" She cried just as the blond boy shrieked, "Get off my property!"

"Not until you hear us out-"

"Hear what out?! The video is not for sale! I should sue you for attempted manslaughter!"

"You're going to die from a nosebleed?" Gadeth stopped confused.

"We should go, man!" Merle beckoned to Gadeth from the bottom step. "He could call the cops on you!"

"As a matter of fact, I think I will!" The youth shouted, his amber eyes flowing with rage.

"WAAAAAAAIT!"

Gadeth's scream echoed down the alleyway and into the busy square. Many people stopped with startled curiosity as the green man launched himself on the youth and wrapped his arms around the boy's waist with a vice grip.

"Get off of me, you bloody-"

"I can make sure your job application goes through!"

The boy stopped and Merle's mouth fell open once more. What the hell was this man talking about?

"How do… How do you know about…?" The boy stuttered just as shocked. "How do you…?"

"I have my ways," Gadeth grinned up at the youth with his arms still around the boy's body. His dark eyes glittered mischievously. "I know the man who runs Fassa Network and I can get you that editing gig. I can push your resume to the top of the list. In return, give me the video and the rights to it. All this can be yours and more at the price of a bloody nose and a possibly broken door…"

"Which he will pay for!" Merle added loudly. The boy's amber eyes finally turned on her with surprise as if he'd just noticed she was there. Meeting his gaze, she felt her cheeks blush lightly and she pulled on the cap quickly.

"Which I will pay for!" Gadeth announced and nuzzled the side of his face against the boy's thin stomach. "Once I get the video!"

"Get off of me!" he snarled, shoving the green man away. His face was twisted with suspicion, but his eyes had a hopeful gleam. "You said you can make my application go through? You sure you can get the job for me?"

Gadeth grinned brightly from where he kneeled on the ground. "As sure as I'm homeless with no place to go!"

The boy sighed and winced at his bloody nose.

"When you – I mean, if you do that… then the video is yours."

The day had been long, his brain was fried, and his eyes were beginning to cross as he stared at the empty lines on the pad of paper lying on the kitchen table. Dropping his pain-wrecked head into his hands, Van pulled on the strands of his long dark hair with a defeated sigh.

A rap.

Now a damn rap.

A rap about chips…

Van didn't even know how to rap. Was it like crude poetry? Poetry was something Van could do in his sleep. He always had a knack for words. Raps were all about the rhythm and rhyme, right?

Rhyming wasn't the problem…

Chips… dips… slips...

Nips…

"Oh, my god…" The black-haired man groaned. Reaching back for his jacket on the chair, he checked the pocket for headache medicine and sighed with realization. Of course, he hadn't bought any. He had been with that force of destruction that manifested itself as a five foot tall, pixie haired woman. Her angry green eyes floated into his mind and he snorted with a shake of his head. It really was something how they kept meeting up. She almost went hand in hand with the insanity that Allen was spewing.

From a song about sexy pancakes to a rap about chips…

With a twist of a smile falling on his lips, Van plucked the once discarded pencil that had rolled to the middle of the table, and pulled the pad of paper closer. The memory of vibrant green eyes and messy short hair crossed his mind and his smile grew wider.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd found his inspiration after all:

"So, today, I was told to write a rap about chips
Yes, the kind with potatoes and salt licking lips.
Money seems to drive my apocalypse.
Chained financially strapped up in the grips
Of a friend turned nutcase's fingertips.
Struggling for the ropes to keep afloat my ships
And that's when my life started going to the pits.

"Wavering on foot with my head in my hand
Eyes blackened, brain pounding with terrible demand
Transforming my work and to feed the brand
All for the sake of my White Dragon band
Shopping for meds to keep in my nightstand
That's when I heard the terrible command.

"'Get out of my store, you miserable girl!'
The store owner's anger boiled over to unfurl
At a woman in yellow dress, familiar whirl
Shock danced in my head with a terrible twirl
She shined from the doorway like a perfect pearl
And that's when a voice made my stomach curl.

"'On the floor and no one will get hurt!'
Gun pointed at the woman in the rumpled skirt
Store owner yelped frightened and hit the dirt
Meanwhile, I made my way around behind the perp
Jumped, tackled to the floor, and his hands were girt
That's when an avalanche hit the back of my shirt.

"My nose collided something soft and sweet
Monsoon of bagged chips; gust of tasty treat
Pinned down, the perp trapped cursing near my feet
Yellow woman struggled hard, but she admit defeat
And the woman, yes, her form so lovely petite
Suffocated me slowly with her Nutrasweet teat.

"Doritos, Fritos, Lays potato, Sea-salt vinegar
kept us all in its cage like a chained up prisoner
Ears straining for a siren; a quiet listener
Po-po come and saved; a welcomed visitor
All for the sake of a case of the cylinder
Bottled neck syrup; a chaos contributor.

"Once freed from the chips, the rack all broken
Perp's dragging away cursin' po-po-policemen
I sit on the floor, crisps surrounding my feet when
Yellow woman sit beside me; total intuition
How this chick run into me; total demolition
She follow me around like an stalking acquisition

"If that is the case, I'll probably see her again
I guess I'm stuck here for now with the hip-hop hooligan."

"How in the world did you know he had submitted an application for employment at Fassa Network? And how in the world can you make sure he gets the job? And how in the world did someone like you get to be my brother's new manager? " Merle asked incredulously as she walked down the afternoon streets beside the smug green man. He tossed his arms widely as he walked, and, Merle had to admit, he kinda did have a high waist…

"Oh, my dear mal'chik, I told you…" He shot her a look and blinked his eyes tightly -she realized he was trying to wink at her. "I'm homeless. Besides, we Fanels have to stick together!" He laughed and draped his arm around her shoulders happily. The pink-haired girl scowled and shrugged off his arm.

"We aren't related, you weirdo! I just met you!"

"Welp, I'm hungry! Let's go home!"

Merle stopped walking and crossed her arms. "Uh, no! You're not coming home with me!"

"I'm thinking I'll pick up Bagel Bites at the store! Would big brother like Bagel Bites?"

"Listen, you freak! We aren't related-!"

"I can't wait to see big brother's face when I tell him I've got the video and Bagel Bites!" He waved his arm without looking back at her and continued strolling joyfully down the street with sashaying hips.

Merle's mouth fell open. She stomped quickly to catch up with him. Grabbing his arm, she spun him around to yell, "You're not coming home with me! What are you? A stray cat?"

The guy stopped and his eyes took a strange serious glint.

"No video then," he said and crossed his arms.

"What?" Merle shrieked.

"No video unless you let me stay with you," he nodded and then with a quick thought added, "and call me 'little brother'."

"But I'm younger than you-!"

"Fine. No video!"

"You can't do that!"

"I sure can! I believe the old man said he would give the video to me, Ragazzo."

"He wasn't old! And stop calling me weird names!"

"You want the video? You know what to call me!"

They both froze; dark eyes leering up into delighted chocolate brown.

The stand-off was almost a metaphysical being shivering between the two opposing forces. One, a teenage girl with a hard attitude and a wish for rebellion. The other, a man with a single love of Bagel Bites and, though mentally screwed in the wrong way, surprisingly good at his managing job. The clashing wills sizzled between them like sparking static.

And, with a terrible defeated sigh releasing in a huff out of her lips, Merle caved.

"…Little… brother…" she hissed.

Instantly, the green man pulled her into a hard hug; lifting her feet off the ground and twirling her around. Her swinging feet hit several people passing them by and many stopped to shoot the pair weird looks.

"Let me go, you moron! I'm hitting people!"

"I love you, too!" the man squealed.

"Stop spinning!"

Gadeth let her go and she stumbled as vertigo hit. Suddenly, she felt a hand grab hers and pull her quickly down the street.

"Let's go home!"

"Van's going to kill me…" Merle murmured weakly.

Hope you guys enjoyed this little nugget of ridiculousness. Just something to keep you occupied while everything else is getting worked on. I truly missed this story.

As always, thank you so much for reading! And reviewing! And everything else in-between! You guys are the absolute best! Honestly, I love all of you! Especially for dealing with this story! lol!

Have a day filled with friends, family, and potato chips!

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