First co-write and first crossover with Gundam Wing

PHANTOMNESS DOES NOT OWN POKEMON. Despite the fact that it’s splattered on every page of my writing, I’ll just mention it again to prevent any misunderstandings. This is non-profit fanwork, mine under the international copyright law, and no infringement on Nintendo is intended.

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks. Age tweaking and lots of good stuff… um… Championshipping! (Ash x Lance)

Started 4/6/04

Summary: A freak teleportation accident sends Ash and Lance to… England? While the two attempt to survive the conditions of private school and make it back home safely, they become entangled in a different fight – one of hearts?

COWRITTEN WITH ROXANNE DEWINTER

Chapter 1: The stage is set

 

            It was storming.

            Ash fidgeted.

            Lance was sitting across from him on the bottom half of a bunk bed, brushing out his wet hair and looking ready to kill.

            Ash winced. It was his bad luck... or some type of special skill. They always happened to run into these kinds of situations with him around.

            It had all started when they had been late getting back to Indigo after a meeting with the Governing Council of Kanto and Johto…

 

            Ash admitted that perhaps since he had been the one who suggested they teleport, he should not have distracted the person doing the job. Since dragons can’t normally teleport, Lance had tapped into his hidden power and warped the lines of reality around them to get them back.

            That was when Ash had kissed him.

            Startled, his concentration broken, the Dragon Master had accidentally let go of one very vital thread of magic…

            And thus, when the blue glow cleared, they weren’t ‘Home’.

            Instead, they had wound up by the side of a busy highway, in the midst of a frenetic rainstorm, while Lance was barely conscious. So Ash was the one who had to try and explain to the gendarme why he and his ‘older brother’ were loitering when they were supposed to be in school.

            School!?

            Indigo didn’t have anything like that, at least most people just took courses during pokemon training.

            It took longer, but they could multitask. That wasn’t the point though. Seeing as they were not, the police pronounced them delinquents, and the next thing Ash knew, he and Lance had been registered at the Belvedere Catholic School…

            Which led to the situation now at hand.

 

            It was raining, and England’s weather was unpredictable. Lance wasn’t about to be caught using his dragons to control the weather; especially since there was no way he would label himself as a freak. Were they even in the same dimension?

            If not, flying home was not an option.

            Pikachu had been forcibly sequestered in a poke ball, despite his attempts to zap Ash in the process. So now, all they could do was wait.

            Lance was definitely not happy with this turn of events.

            Ash eeped as the Dragon Master finished his hair, now mysteriously dry and back to its dark red state, and gave him a single, poignant glare. Things did not seem to be boding well at all…

 

**********************************************************************

           

            “Lance-chan…”
            “Don’t call me that!” The older boy snapped. “This is all your fault you know.” He crossed his arms, unhappy that he couldn’t wear his cloak because of stupid school clothing restrictions. At least he kept his black clothes, but still…

            “B-but…” Ash teared up. “Pikachu’s gone.”

            “What do you _mean_ Pikachu is gone. I thought you locked him in a poke ball.”

            Ash blushed. “Um… well…er, I let him out to get a little fresh air.”

            “You let him out to get a little fresh air.” Lance repeated. “Ash, if I didn’t love you I’d be grinding you into little tiny pieces and hand-feeding you to Kairyuu!”

            “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

            “Sorry is not going to cut it. Being sorry was what got us in the mess in this first place! You were sorry that you ‘accidentally’ groped me in front of the entire freaking Indigo League Council, so you decided to kiss me _while_ I was doing delicate time-bending maneuvers to teleport, which was the whole reason we landed here!”

 

            Ash went from artfully teared up to waterfall tears in less than two seconds. “You don’t love me anymore! You hate me! I’m not good enough for you!”
            Lance’s mind immediately snapped from irritation to guilt in even less time, as he patted Ash’s cheeks dry with a handy bed sheet and hugged him tightly. “You know I love you no matter what.”

            Ash sniffled. Then, he took full opportunity of the kawaii little me advantage he had at the moment.

            The next thing Lance knew, Ash was somehow pressed tightly against him, therefore he was unable to _breathe_, while he proved that there was no such thing as accidentally touching.

            That was when the window imploded. Glass shards and smoke billowed everywhere.

            Thus, what might have been a championshipping yaoi moment was ruined.

            “Prepare for Trouble!”

            “Team rocket…” Lance frowned. “Well, that saves me a trip. Give back Pikachu.”

            “… What?” Meowth queried. “We don’t have the rat!”

            Jessie took in the scene before her and sweatdropped. “Well, hand over all your pokemon!”

 

            “Kairyuu… Hyper Beam.” Lance said, as one of his poke balls burst open and the Dragonite inside obeyed quickly.

            “TEAM ROCKET’S BLASTING OFF MUCH TOO SOON!” The two yelled.

            “Ne, Lance-chan, why did you do that?”

            “A. They didn’t have Pikachu. B. I think we were doing something more important.” Lance said before he pounced.

            Ash eeped.

 

 

            Treize Khushrenada was not a man known for his restlessness. But ever since they had arrived to the small English town of Winchelsea Sussex, it seemed to Zechs that Treize did nothing but pace back and forth and glare at random people. This was not the way for a usually charismatic and graceful general to act.

"Is something bothering you, Your Excellency?"

"Oh, put a sock in it Zechs! I hate being called that." Treize muttered, dark blue eyes glaring at the raindrops forming on the windowpane.

"Are you feeling all right? You've been angry since you've arrived here."

"I'm fine. Just on edge."

"About what?"

"It's a long story."

Treize Khushrenada was bored out of his wits. Idiots masquerading around as world leaders kept knocking at his door, he kept finishing them off with the same arguments. They were all snobs with sticks up the wazoo and their nose so high their vision was impaired. Treize, being the kind of man he was, could not tell them this in the face. He had to keep impressing them with stupid facts that would only interest boring people.

But this was all nothing new to him. Any job, especially anything politics-related, guaranteed exposure to idiots. Yet even great men get bored of routine, Treize decided it was time for a getaway.

Winchelsea Sussex was not an ideal vacation town. Bad weather, bad food, and politician's wives tended to be uglier than usual.

But Treize had his reasons for coming here, reasons he could not confide in his most trusted confidante.

Treize smiled darkly. Zechs backed away slowly.

 

"... he groaned as the taller man pushed him to the bed, kissing him with bruising force. His hand went up the boy's knee, tearing away what remained of his pants, roughly grabbing his----"

"Top of the early morning to ya!"

Heero cringed, quickly minimizing the saucy window on his laptop.

"Go away," he sneered, glaring at the annoyance.

Nothing was worse than a mood being ruined by a loudmouth imbecile.

"What are you doing up, Heero? It's five AM! So you ever sleep or are you a cyborg?"

"I'm writing.... mission reports. Go away."

"Liar! I saw you typing at nine! I can't believe you're still up!"

"What are you doing up, Duo?" Heero raised an eyebrow.

"Can't sleep! Let's talk----"

"NO, Duo. I'm busy. LEAVE. NOW."

Duo shrugged, "Fine, be that way. I'm making coffee, want some---"

"GO!"

Duo stumbled out the door as it slammed behind him.

"Weirdo."

England was an interesting place.

Except for the time difference from outer space and the horrible food, Duo could imagine living there. The cities were beautiful, the weather was dark and gloomy, and the people ran around with accents that made every word sound acclaimed and intelligent.

Duo hummed softly as he fumbled through the cabinet, "Coffee, coffee, hmhmhm, I love my coffee..."

Suddenly, something skittered by on the countertop. Duo's ears perked up and his large, dog-like violet eyes shone menacingly. Quietly, he closed the cabinet, hunter's instincts awoken.

"The taller man pushed him to the wall, roughly rubbing against the boy. "D-don't stop I---" the boy's cries were silenced by another kiss. "Just do it, just f----"

"HEERO!"

Heero was jolted out of his trance as he slammed down the laptop, his mood ruined.

"HEERO! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!"

"You *IDIOT*! You're ruining my concentration on the mission reports!," Heero yelled, with uncharacteristic loudness.

"Heero! Come here!"

Heero stormed out of the room into the kitchen and found Duo standing on a heavily vibrating laundry basket.

"Heero, before you tell me how important mission reports are, you have to see this. It's the largest rat I've ever seen!"

"He disrupts my mood for a "funky rat." Heero thought, darkly, "MY MOOD for a rat."

Duo warily got off the laundry basket, and the movement stopped temporarily. Flashing a grin at Heero, Duo lifted up the basket slightly and talking in a soft voice, "Hey, big fella, how about y---"

It happened in a flash. The laundry basket was flipped over and Duo was writhing on the floor with what appeared to be a giant *something* stuck to his face.

"Get it off! Get it OFF! HEERO!"

Mutely, Heero turned on the light.

Small. Yellow.

.... And absolutely cute.

Heero's eyes shimmered, "It's not a rat, Duo. It's obviously a puppy."

Duo ripped the thing from his face and glared at it.

"I've never seen a spiky-eared puppy before."

"This is England," stated Heero, "So maybe this is an English dog."

The strange creature stared at Duo, "Pika?"

"... dogs don't go 'pika.' " Duo said dryly, looking up at Heero.

"Pikachu!"

Heero knelt down, "Pikachu. That's a good name for a dog. Come here Pikachu."

The spiky-eared, red-cheeked "dog" scurried to Heero, who instantly took it in his arms, “I want to keep him."

"He should have an owner." muttered Duo, "He BETTER have an owner."

"We can't and won't contact anyone, it risks our cover." answered Heero, a hint of smugness in his voice.

 

Treize forced a smile at Lady Une. As much as he adored the woman who organized inhumanely large amounts of work for him, he loathed her "surprise visits." She was good woman, Treize knew that much. But she had a nagging suspicion that Zechs and Treize were an item. This wasn't entirely false, which was why Treize hated "surprise visits." Treize didn't love Lady Une, but she seemed to think the opposite. Perhaps it hadn't helped much that Treize was a flirt by nature and was leading her on... It wasn't intentional, Treize couldn't help himself.

"...And as you can see, Your Excellency, the next flight to China leaves in a few weeks, so I'm stranded here."

"Yes, that is *indeed* a problem." answered Treize, darkly.

Lady Une stared expectantly at him through he thick-rimmed glasses.

Zechs coughed.

"I have an idea," Treize said, as if reading off a script, "Why don't you stay here?"

Lady Une knew better than to beam victoriously, so she instead nodded curtly.

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

 

Private school. The uniforms. The small classroom size. The smell of honor students in the morning.

"And that is how masturbation helps relieve stress. Any questions?" The Sex Ed teacher, a bored young woman of about thirty, surveyed the class.

"If we guys, like, keep producing semen, won't, like, our balls eventually explode? Do we, like, have to masturbate to keep our balls from bursting?"

The teacher smirked, "No, Billy, the sperm die after a while. Even now you have dead sperms in your balls."

Billy shrunk back, "Dead sperms... Ew."

There was a short pause.

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

The teacher sighed, "Yes, Billy. You may go to the bathroom."

Duo sighed. This was such a frustrating class.

"Now," the teacher breathed in, "I will hand the class out some pictorial models of the reproductive organs.... they're worksheets, label each body part..."

"Ew!" a boy shouted, "This is porn! *PORN*!!! I'm telling the school board!"

Duo banged his head against the table.

"PORN!" a redhead boy's eyes shimmered, "Gimee that! I like porn! Especially if it's not convictable! Oha, oha oha!!! Lookit that chest! Haha! She's *naked*! Oh *my* *God*... I love this class!!"

Duo groaned, hitting his head repeatedly on the table, hoping the lesson would end.

After one more hour of stupid comments and questions, an irritated Duo stomped out of the classroom, and right into a taller boy.

Papers flew across the hall, landing without a sound, heavier books made loud thumps as they hit the floor.

Duo blinked at the glaring redhead, "Oh! I'm so sorry... my next class is PE, I won't suffer missing parts of it, here, I'll help pick these up---"

The boy was quiet as Duo picked up the papers and books. Duo paused to eye him, asking, "So, huh, what's your name?"

~~~

Lance POV

Private school.

He supposed it could be worse. How _much_ worse was still undetermined, but Lance was trying to make the best of the situation, at least until he recovered and they could go home.

… That recovery also depended on this area, because if there was no magic to absorb, he would have to generate it and that would take forever. That was why he hung around Whirl Islands with Lugia-san so much. So what if he had lied about his age? They couldn't tell, and they wouldn't know who he was anyways. Besides, he had lied for Indigo League and they had much better security. It wasn't hard playing a teenager, Lugia knew he still _was_ one, so making himself seem two years younger was just too easy. At least the uniforms weren't too bad, and he liked black. Still, the Dragon Master decided, as he traversed the halls, scanning for his little one, they had better get home soon. It was annoying. Sure, Biology and P.E. were easy and English was passable and even though he hated Calculus with a passion there were still…. Ways around that. But that wasn't the point. It was so utterly boring, being stuck here.

He sighed inwardly and kept walking. Note to self… buy a backpack so I won't have to carry this all…

That was when someone knocked into him and everything went flying, even that stupid lab report that took _hours and hours and hours when I could have been doing something better_ last night.

~~~

The boy was quiet as Duo picked up the papers and books. Duo paused to eye him, asking, "So, huh, what's your name?"

"Lance." Lance said simply, taking the papers.

"Lance...." Duo thought of something good to say. Duo was aching for a conversation, and the boy before him didn't seem too threatening.

"That's an interesting name." he stated, grinning, "My name's Duo. Duo... Maxwell." Screw the mission. Duo figured there was no way this school kid was an enemy who would gain anything from knowing his name.

"Lance is actually short for Lancelot, ya know," Duo continued, watching the boy's eyes for signs of interest, "Lancelot was, like, a knight from 'Knights of the Round Table,' which is a crappy book, but he was this prince of water, or something like that. Lancelot... it's so English! I wish I was English."

Lance hid a smirk. Prince of water? How appropriate, although prince of dragons would be much, much closer... but that wasn't the point. He might as well make a little conversation, he wasn't particularly looking forward to that nasty Spanish class next period either... what was being 'English'?

"I'm not English either."

"Oh. Well, you don't sound too English. Exchange student, ne?" Duo beamed. It was so easy to get into conversations! Too bad Heero never felt in the mood to talk. "Too bad," Duo thought, "I can't stay in England, too bad I always have to keep moving around." As the two began to walk, Duo talked on, "My next class is Spanish. I flunked a test there yesterday. I'm American, ya know. You'd think coming from another continent would mean you could take English as a second language. American English is different from English English. When an American like me talks, people are all "oh, it's just that boring American." But, when English people talk, it's like everyone's a PH.D! Yeah, I'd like to be English."

"How interesting." Lance said, "I'm from... Japan. Kyoto. " It was the closest match he'd found to Indigo in this world after poring through the world atlas for hours trying to find _something_ worthwhile, but that would work. "I have Spanish class next as well. It seems Ms. Rivera has something against me though... even though I clearly deserved a B on the last test she gave me a D so I failed as well..." He trailed off, not wanting to divulge too much, such as how he had been sorely tempted to set Hakuryuu and Dragonair on that imposter who didn't know a B from a bull's foot. Tsk.

"Ah! Japan! Just like my roomie! Only you're not a pain. Spanish... he doesn't take it. He warned me not to, but I took it just to prove to him I could do it. Of course I flunked it, but there's no way he's going to know that. My roomie's right most of the time, you know those kind of people who're so right they're wrong?" Duo was often told what a big mouth he had. But as much as he talked, he would never reveal any important secrets. It wasn't too weird to have an obnoxious Japanese roomie, right?

"You seem to be in the same boat as me." Lance said, except that Ash was annoying and not a know-it-all. He was just too... touchy-feely at times. "My roommate is also Japanese and he just loves distracting me while I'm trying to finish my assignments. But, if you need a little Spanish tutoring, I might be able to help..." Lance sighed to himself. Four more days, Ms. Rivera, and if you don't shape up I'll have Ptera flay off your skin... that'll be fun...

"Nah, he can't be worse than Heero. Heero just found this bloody yellow dog. I swear, he loves the thing to death. It's almost like it replaced me. I mean, you do sometimes have to NOTE your roomie, ne? But for him it's all about that bloody dog. It doesn't even look like a dog, it doesn't even BARK. It just attacks faces." It was good to let that bout of steam out.

"A yellow dog that doesn't bark?" Lance asked, narrowing his eyes as he instinctively reached for the ultra balls hidden underneath his shirt in the black carrying case. If that was Pikachu, then he could get it back quickly. If not, well, any other pokemon would indicate evidence of a way to get back home. "And it attacks faces? Hmm... might it have an affinity for chewing on electric wire?"

Duo took his seat,” I hope so! It----" suddenly, the bell rang. Class had started.

Lance sat down, took out a pen, and began writing in kanji as the teacher droned on. He'd give Ash the note later.

Duo stared at his roommate, occasionally looking at the teacher and nodding as if the lesson was fascinating. Chewing on wire... he'd have to see about that. Maybe this kid was the owner, or knew who was. Duo cackled mentally. Maybe getting rid of the yellow pest was easier than it first appeared.

 

Ash was sitting mournfully on the bed as Lance came in. "Lance-chan?"

"I think I've found Pikachu, so quit moping." Lance said.

"Honto ni?!"

"I'm not sure, but I've got a very good feeling." Lance said. "So, I'll send Ptera out to do a little spying once I find out the address."

"You're the best Lance-chan!" Ash cried, as he jumped on the other trainer. Lance smirked.

"Hai, hai. Now, I have to finish this homework…"

Ash leaned over Lance's shoulder as he quickly finished biology and English, and then just left Calculus blank.

"Aniki!"

"What? I don't even like Calculus."

"B-but then how are you going to help me on my pre-calculus homework?" Ash pondered.

"Kairyuu…"

Ash stepped back as Dragonite appeared.

"I thought you weren't going to let anyone see them!"

"You know who they are." Lance said. "Kairyuu, could you?"

Dragonite harrumphed and then picked up the pencil.

Ash's jaw dropped. "Lance!"

"What? You think I'm actually going to do that? I only need Statistics and Calculus and I passed the AP tests for both of them already."

"I can't believe you… can he do mine as well?" Ash pleaded.

 

"Duo?" Heero looked up from the laptop, directly at Duo.

The longhaired brunette nodded, "Yeah?"

"What do dogs eat?"

Duo shrugged, "Dog food, I guess."

"Where do you buy that?"
"Uh..." Duo looked thoughtful, "I'm not sure if this town has any shops that sell it. But it's worth a try."

Heero nodded, grabbing his coat, "Watch Pikachu while I'm gone."

Duo gave him a mock salute, "Yes sir!"

The moment Heero was out the door, Duo glared at pikachu.

"Okay, you yellow, face-attacking demon, it's only you and me here. I'm going to go look online and post a classified. Don't try anything."

"Pika." Pikachu glared back.

Duo sat down to Heero's laptop and began to type. When, suddenly, it turned off. Duo twitched, turned around.

Pikachu was holding the main power wire between it rodent-like teeth.

Duo slowly got up, Pikachu ran away.

"You won't get far, you bloody---"

Dog food has a unique smell. This one in particular smelled like beef, it must be high quality...

"Uh--Huh--- Hi Heero!" Duo grinned, "Fancy bumping into you here! I didn't know you'd be back so soon!"

Heero picked bits of dog food off his jacket, glaring at Duo, "Hn. Idiot... you almost spilled the whole bag. Watch where you're running around. Why were you running in the first place?" the wing pilot raised an eyebrow.

"Pikachu."

Pikachu was at the moment doing his darnest to look adorable.

Heero put down the dog food and picked the small yellow "dog" up.

"Why would you want to chase him?"

"Because that bloody thing ate your laptop wire."

Duo smirked. This should get that stupid face-attacker kicked out in no time. Heero was very possessive of his laptop, God help the man... or beast... that messed with it.

Heero pouted, and held Pikachu out in front of him the way a mother would hold out a baby, "That was very bad of you." he said almost cutely to the now puppy-eyed Pikachu, "Don't touch my laptop. Ok?"

"Pika!"

Heero hugged his pet, "Good dog!"

Duo was speechless, "That--- but---"

"Shhh," Heero glared at Duo, "He said he was sorry."

"This--- this--- This is unheard of! That beast knows very well what it did!" Duo's eyes were wide; “You would never hug me if I did that! But that MONSTER!!! I'm going to find its owner if it's the last thing I do!"

In a huff, the Deathscythe pilot was gone, leaving behind a gaping door.

 

Duo had not been back in half an hour, but Heero didn't bother. Duo had stayed out in town all night at times, and nothing had happened to him. Heero wondered if Duo really hated pikachu that much. There had to be more to it than that first incident?

Duo Maxwell was a pilot who withstood more pain than a dog jumping at his face. There had to be more to it. Typing on his laptop, Heero simply shrugged the matter off. His eyes shifted towards Pikachu, who was presently glaring at the window as if laser beams would shoot from his eyes.

Heero blinked, "Pikachu... do you want to go for a walk?"

"Pikaaaaa...." the yellow "dog" sounded jumpy over something.

"I'll get your leash..."

Pikachu was motionless as the leash was put on him.

But the moment Heero opened the door, Pikachu ran out as if the devil was after him.

Heero looked startled and somewhat hurt, "What the heck?"

 

Why oh why oh why did I let Ash 'convince' me to wander around aimlessly looking for Pikachu? Lance wondered as he walked through the drizzling rain. There was no way in hell he would be able to find an annoying little yellow uber-powerful rodent. If it were Ptera or one of my dragons, I could just use 'Dragon's eyes' and I could find it in an instant, but no... this is all Ash's fault. He shouldn't have let it out to get 'fresh air'.

Pikachu sniffed the air. Lance. It smelled like Lance. Looking up, he saw a hovering dragon. Pikachu flashed a toothy rodent grin.

Lance's eyes widened in shock as crackling blue electricity surrounded him _and_ Gyarados, and he really should have taken Ptera, because Gyarados was super weak to electricity, and in either case they both landed on the cement below with an audible *thump*. It felt worse than it sounded.

 

Treize put his mashed potatoes into a heap and began carving designs on them with his fork as he patiently listened to Lady Une speak. Treize had come to England for a very special reason. Lady Une was ruining his plan... and if this plan didn't go through, OZ would have a cranky general for the next few months.

He wanted to leave the table. No, needed to leave the table. But how could he sneak out without arousing suspicion?

"... and that's what happened with Tsuberov."

Treize was in no mood to think straight.

Lady Une stared at him, expecting him to speak.

He eyed her and stated, "My lady, I feel horrible to interrupt you, but I have some business to attend. Zechs will tell you about it."

Zechs blinked and eyed Treize in disbelief, but said nothing. Zechs, please keep Lady Une comfortable all evening. I'm *so sorry* I have to leave."

 

“Lance-chan? What happened? Did you find Pikachu?” Ash asked worriedly as Lance opened the door. It had been too long… Maybe he shouldn’t have sent him scouting after Pikachu in the rain…

His eyes immediately zoned in on the fact that Lance was shirtless and soaking wet, but unfortunately any hentai thoughts that might have occurred were squashed when he realized that there were strips of black cloth wound tightly around Lance’s chest and his eyes were practically oceans of pain.

“I am going to _kill_ that rodent.” Lance hissed through gritted teeth. “Do we have any means of first aid?”

“How bad is it?”

“I can’t tell, my Viridian Power’s been frozen since we got here, remember?” Lance told him. “So I can’t heal my pokemon either… we’ll have to do it slowly… poor Gyarados, it’ll take him weeks to get back to full health in the poke ball.”

“Demo, what happened?”

“What happened?” Lance began to laugh, maybe the pain was making him irrational or his anger meter had shot up again. “Next time, you go look for Pikachu.”

 

 

"You'd think in such a small town an owner of a yellow dog would be easy to locate..." Duo thought allowed, the English rain hitting his head, leaving behind wet marks instead of the blood fists would.

He felt like a cartoon character with a cloud casting rain over his head. Duo could put up with a lot of things, being ignored was not one of them. Heero paid him very little attention in the first place, but since Pikachu had arrived, Heero spent all his time babying the yellow monster. Duo felt like a stranger, and it didn't help much that pikachu was a spoiled brat who couldn't stand him. It seemed to look right through him, and when it did note him, it would be a deplorable brat.

"Pets are always something like their owners. No wonder Heero likes Pikachu so much," Duo mused, sulkily.

It was one thing to simply be ignored by Heero. It was another thing to be ignored and sit by watching Heero baby this *ugly* dog.

Sighing, he looked up and saw a lone figure wandering the empty streets.

"Maybe THAT guy will be Pikachu's owner...." Duo thought aloud, "He *better* be Pikachu's owner,"

Treize scurried across the streets, almost skipping. It was not nice to leave Zechs with Lady Une, but Treize would make it up to the good man. It was two AM, but he needed this meeting.

"Hey person!"

Treize almost cringed.

He knew that voice.

 

There was a loud series of splashes as a short youth ran up to him.

"Hey man, eh, mister. Sorry, I'm not that English yet. But, man, er, mister, do you know this dog might belong to?"

Treize blinked. He couldn't quite hear what the boy said over the rain.

The boy fumbled in his jacket and pulled out a rough picture of a little, yellow, pointy-eared...

Treize grabbed it, "It's... Pikachu...."

Duo looked bewildered. He knew that voice...

"James! We've been looking all over town for you! We checked the bars and strip joints but you weren't there, so Meowth suggested you might be wandering around drunk. And here you are!"

Duo and the man spun around to see a woman with strangely styled red hair, a short with skirt and cropped shirt with letter "R" on her chest.

"Jessie," the strange man said slowly, hiding under his hat, "This isn't a good time."

"But James~!" the woman, Jessie, cried. "We haven't seen Pikachu for days! The brat doesn't have it..."

The woman looked mad... Duo backed away. He thought he heard the word Pikachu, but the only thing on his mind was that this man must be in some deep crap, and would not appreciate hearing about a little yellow dog at the moment.

As Duo slowly disappeared, Treize breathed a sigh of relief. He was pretty sure the boy was Duo. He had seen the boy before, no one else he knew had that same thick Southern accent. What he wasn't sure of was if Duo had recognized him. Perhaps not... in a neon blue stripper wig, a hat, and a trench coat in the middle of a dark rainstorm, Treize knew that he could've been just any odd English man.

 

It was white.

Fingers slowly moved a metal spoon around the mug, stirring delicately until the last drop of honey had melted.

It was white.

Eyes half-closed in concentration, almost white themselves. White and white and more white, all over the place…

"Lance-chan! You have to drink the milk while it's still hot, otherwise it won't help with the pain."

He took a sip. Too hot…

 

Duo slammed the door behind him, threw his boot on the floor and plopped down on the couch.

Heero was opposite him, typing on his laptop, looking remotely like death.

"Heero," Duo commented, "You look horrible. Pikachu bite you or what?"

"Pikachu," Heero sneered, "Is gone."

"Oh! Finally! You threw the dreadful yellow monster out." Duo beamed.

"That "yellow monster" ran away when I wanted to take it on a walk," Heero glared at Duo, "Could you stop insulting him? You've been a pain since he got here."

"Ran away?' Duo's smile faded, "Oh."

 

"Lance-chan?" A puzzled frown settled on childish features.

"I'll be fine." How Ash had managed to get the bandages for free from the school nurse's office. He was staggering, but they did help. Still, he was glad he had pulled it off…

There was no blood, really, just dark spots of agony. It was hard to sleep, but if he were tired enough, the pain didn't matter.

"What did you tell the school office?"

"You fell off your bike and it'll take a while to recover."

"Thank you." Lance said.

"It's the least I can do, because…" Ash stopped, and tried not to burst into tears. It was just so _childish_, but…

"It's my fault this time, and I can't do anything to help…"

 

Heero shook his head, "It's horrible weather outside; Pikachu must be starving." he murmured.

Duo sighed angrily, "Starving. Huh. *You* hate *me* insulting that bloody dog? *You* insult me all the time. I may not be cute and yellow, but I don't like being ignored. The yellow beast will be fine for a few hours outside, he'll survive without you hovering around him."

"I'm not hovering. You just don't ignore something that needs you." stated Heero, "Pikachu doesn't know anything about me, he treats me the way he was raised to treat people."

Duo snorted, "Is that so? I am used to treating people as if they exist, people need to be acknowledged time to time. But apparently, to you, that rule only applies to obnoxious yellow dogs. I always thought you hated everyone, but apparently your coldness varies. You hover around an animal like some pathetic mother hen, yet you can't even look up at me when I walk into the room. You can't say "good morning" to me, yet you constantly talk to Pikachu. And he's a DOG, for Christ's sake! He doesn't understand a word you're saying! No one likes to be ignored, Heero! I can fight alone, but I do want people to notice me. And not just when I've done bad, not just so you can call me an idiot and tell me where and where I went wrong! I want you to treat me like a housemate, like a fellow pilot, like someone you've been partnered with for months, someone who is with you on EVERY stupid mission!" Duo sighed again, this time quieter, "Treat me like a human deserves to be treated, treat me as a friend."

Duo leaned back into his armchair, nearly blending into the beige folds.

Heero stared at him, but couldn't think of anything good to say. When Duo was right, he was right.

 

Lance finished off the rest of the honey milk and tried to concentrate on anything _but_ the pain. At least that made Ash happy…

He almost jumped when Ash put his arms around him from behind. The lack of any source of magic was really grinding his nerves…

"Ash?"

"M' sorry…"

"Don't cry." Lance said. "I-." He winced, hissing in pain as Ash accidentally brushed against one of the aforementioned dark spots of agony.

"Ah! Gomen!" Ash quickly backed away, looking rejected.

"Just… stay with me." The Dragon Master said, allowing his invulnerability façade to crack.

Ash still looked teary, but nodded, and kicked all thoughts of manipulation out of his mind for the time being.

 

It was 3 AM.

"Give it up, Heero, you're tired." stated Duo, wearily.

"And you're not?"

"No."

"I'm waiting for Pikachu. I don't want to say I didn't wait."

"Whatever." Duo leaned back and flipped open a magazine. After some time, he put it down.

"You know, if he doesn't come tonight, you'll have wasted your rest. This mission is a cupcake, you're the one who's saying you have to exploit every chance to rest."

"I don't feel tired." countered Heero.

"Now you're lying." stated Duo, annoyed, "Don't lie when it's obvious."

Heero snorted and looked out the window.

"Fine conversation we're having."
"Shut up."

"Put a sock in it." Duo sat up, "Your tough-guy act isn't fooling anyone. You're just a pain."

"If I could choose something to love, it wouldn't be you." stated Heero, "At least pikachu doesn't talk."

"Ah," Duo's eyes widened, then narrowed, "So you don't like me talking back?"

"I don't like it when idiots talk back."

"Who are you to say who's an idiot?"

Lightning crashed. The rain grew harder.

Heero's face turned towards the window, worry in his eyes.

There was an uncomfortable silence that hung over the room, like a heavy English fog.

"We all want love sometime." Duo said quietly, breaking the silence, "If not love, human recognition, friendship, sympathy at the very least. Is it too much to ask for that? Why do you go on missions with me anyway if I'm such an idiot?"

The question hung in air for a few minutes.

Heero bit the urge to answer "to keep you out of trouble," and instead said, "I don't go with you; you tag along."

Duo snorted in contempt, "Figures. Only I would be masochistic enough."

Heero spun around, swiftly adding,"... but you're not a bad partner."

"That the best you got?" Duo turned to eye Heero and answered his own question, "Yeah, I figured it was."

"What do you want me to say?" Heero sighed, "You're a good pilot. Happy?"

For a brief moment, the only sound in the area was the pitter-patter of the rain on the windowpane.

"...You really think so?" Duo cocked his head slightly, to get a look at Heero's eyes, which were studying the floor.

Heero looked up and gave a curt nod.

"You're a good pilot, too," admitted Duo, "But I guess it doesn't mean much, cause everyone tells you that already. I honestly say I can't give a half decent complement in return."

"But, that was a complement."

"Hunh?"

Heero yawned quietly, "It means you think I'm so good at what I do it'd be useless to complement it. To you, it's understood that I'm good."

"Nyeah, I guess you're right. My head's fucked up, it's like, what, 3AM?"

"3:30."

"Hn," Duo laid down and stared at Heero from the corner of his eye, "We should have more of these 3AM conversations."

 

"Where were you?"

Zech's tone was cool, but Treize instantly sensed the slightest undertone of annoyance.

"A meeting." answered Treize, taking off his coat and hanging it on the coat rack near the door.

"Ah, of course." Zechs murmured under his breath.

Treize sat down at the kitchen table and tilted his chair, "What did you say?"

"Nothing significant, Your Excellency."

Treize sighed, "I know what you think. It's not quite like that."

Zechs stared fixedly at him, slowly walked over to the table and picked a single blue hair off the general's coat.

He stared at it as if in a spell, then eyed Treize, "Blue hair."

"I noticed." Treize couldn't tell Zechs about the wig. It would just further his suspicions of something being up.

Zechs dropped the hair to the floor, leaned against the table and crossed his arms. His eyes were downcast, his lips carved into a straight, unmoving line, "Was he good-looking?"

"Zechs, that is--- that must've fallen on me as I walked by someone."

"Huh. You walk by a lot of interesting people." Zech's tone was hushed but regular, like a ticking bomb. It could barely be heard over the storm outside.

There was an awkward silence.

"Une thinks that about you. If I have your promise that you didn't do what she thought you were doing tonight, then I won't raise the issue up. You've never lied to me."

"The hair doesn't belong to anyone I slept with. I didn't sleep with anyone tonight," Treize stared fixedly for a change of intensity in Zech's eyes.

"Okay." Zechs began to walk away, "Thank you.

"For the record," added Treize, "I think English boys, in this town anyway, are ugly."

It was worth a shot to lighten the mood, but Zechs just gave a mysterious half smile.

It was obvious he had not gotten quite the answer he had looked for. Treize knew it would be a long time before Zechs forgot the incident or moved on, he probably would never know the truth.

 

School.

Ash really didn't want to go to school! Lance-chan was still injured, and… and… but he had to go.

Stupid law…

Someone had to take Lance-chan's homework home for him. And Lance did do his homework, except for Calculus… but that wasn't the point. He shouldn't fail even if they were going to go home. What if they got stranded here?

He stared somewhat blankly at the worksheet. It seemed simple enough, but with lack of sleep and all that; even basic limits were beyond his ability to understand. With a sigh, he began the quiz.

"Pass in your tests! Time is up!" Mrs. Jones squawked.

Ash winced. * This is not going to help my grade at all… *

He brought up Tetris on his graphing calculator while she began droning on about end behavior models.

Yuck, yuck, and yuck! It wasn't fair! He wanted Dragonite to do his homework too… still, this way hopefully he'd learn the information.

But it didn't mean he had to like it.

Heero did his homework as if in a trance. Literature was an easy subject, all the answers were in the book. The book was boring, that was an incentive to finish homework.

The homework was boring. Something about drawing a picture and answering some questions. The teacher wouldn't look at it anyway.

 

Things with Duo were pretty much back to relatively normal.

Heero said, "Hello" from time to time, and would say something whenever he felt he should. School was boring, and Heero counted days in seconds. Ever since Pikachu disappeared, he'd been a bit closer to Duo, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. He didn't have Pikachu as an excuse not to talk to the violet-eyed pilot. Duo had a way of talking, moving, *being* that made Heero afraid to be dominated. The longhaired boy was always so self-assured, so unmanageable, so un-impressible. He didn't seem to give much over what Heero did, how many people he had killed, how many well-executed plans he thought up. Heero wanted to mean something to someone, but what was he if not an extraordinarily good soldier? If that failed to impress, what was left? He was cold, boring, and completely uncharming. If it weren't his youth and reasonably good looks, no one would give him a second glance or care about him. That was why Heero disliked the school uniforms that made everyone look alike and unstriking... it rendered him unable to stir anyone's interest. He would give anything to attract someone to him. He had attracted Duo a long time ago, but now Heero didn't know what to do with him.

 

Zechs paced back and forth. Treize was gone.

"I will not think he is cheating, that is a self-fulfilling prophecy." Zechs thought to himself, restlessly.

Lady Une sat on a chair and looked out the window, eying the fog that had settled on Winchelsea Sussex.

Zechs eyed her. The more time went by, the more he was irritated by her presence.

"Just when does your plane leave?" he asked, as respectfully as he could.

He admired her as a hard worker, but presently she was standing right between him and Treize.

If she wasn't here, Zechs would have probably gotten into a harsh confrontation with Treize and set things straight. But, officially, they were not supposed to act like a couple (it was illegal to be in the OZ army and have a lover there, because it would make room for favoritism.) Not to mention Lady Une would be crushed if her love were with Zechs. God forbid the woman got a heart attack, or crushed and scarred for life... whatever Treize said. Who then would organize all the important things she supposedly organized?

Zechs nearly ground his teeth. The woman couldn't be that useful...

"Just when does your plane get here?"

"I don't know," Lady Une said coldly, "Whenever it chooses to arrive."

Zechs snorted quietly, "Right."

"What could be taking Treize so long with that meeting of his?"

Zechs faced her, "I don't know," he almost hissed, "Should I know? You're the one organizing his meetings."

"No I'm not. Not here, anyway."

"Hm."

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"Maybe..." Lady Une's eyes shifted before focusing on Zechs, "Something happened to him?"

Zech's eyes shone, "Well, then I should go check..."

Lady Une shook her head, "Not without me. We wouldn't want something *happening* to *you*."

Zechs clenched his teeth, "All right. But whatever we see, you shouldn't be afraid."

"I've been in *many* battles, Mr. Marquise." Une assured him, coldly.

"Hm. Of course."

"Shall we go?" The Lady stood up and faced Zechs.

"Whenever you want."

So it was a childish excuse to sniff into Treize's business. But it sounded honorable on paper.

 

It had been a rough, rainy night. The town was covered in a heavy fog the let sparse rays of sunshine through. It was a haunting sight, like beams from heaven were shining into the mortal world. Duo sat on the windowsill, looking out at what he could see of the horizon.

Mesmerized, he asked, "Heero, do you think it'll rain?"

Heero shook his head, "No, I think the fog will pass."

"Awww."

"... But, this is England, so you can never know."

Duo turned back to the window, "Ah."

"It's strange that no one has contacted us in such a long time."

Duo shrugged, "Well, I know *I* could always use a vacation."

There was a long silence.

Duo spun around, his hands on his knees and his head thrust forward just slightly, "But, I can't help feeling that every vacation I take, I'm making the war longer."

"Just because you're around won't make the war go away." stated Heero, "Wars go on as long as people want to fight."

Duo laughed, "Huh, do you think we'll ever get peace? Like this blasted war will stop and everything will be sushi-sushi-happy-happy?"

Heero blinked, "Sushi-sushi-happy-happy?"

"Uh... in German, they have this good saying for everything being perfectly goodie goodie... but I keep forgetting it, so I figured I might as well say "sushi-sushi-happy-happy."

Heero's eyes widened in though, then shrunk back, "That's interesting."

"Now you're just flattering me." Duo raised a finger and spoke in his best fake-English accent, "Ah! But it must be the ole' English air, muah-haha-hah. I forgive ye."

Heero smirked, "No, but I... I think you're interesting."

 

Duo's smile faded slightly before he regained his usual game face, "Is that a good or a bad thing? Interesting, like you'd find a serial killer interesting, or just interesting like--"

"Don't play dumb. I don't think you're interesting in a freak-like way."

Duo blinked, his game face gone, as he was now uncharacteristically attentive, waiting for Heero to say something.

"You... just... have way of making everyone happier, or at least forget what worries them. Even if you annoy them to death, at least they're not worried about what worries them."

Duo's eyes lit up, but he said nothing.

"You seem so normal in comparison to the others... you're just happy and carefree and some people hate you for it. But, maybe that's your way of being weird. Though you're not like Trowa, who walks around everyday depressed for being alive, you do the opposite. I'd say you are stronger than me, that Trowa, and even Wufei, you never show any signs of being worn down. At least, none that people can see."

Duo looked down, humbled.

"If you flatter me anymore," he looked up, a smile, not a smirk, gracing his features, "I'll die."

True smiles are contagious, so soon Heero found himself smiling, too.

 

Chang Wufei was a boy known for his restlessness. So he wasn't at all out of character as he drove his motorcycle down the small-town streets, scaring several tourists with his maniacal driving. He had been on solo mission for months now. Solo missions were always somewhat dull. Missions weren't always blowing up things or thrill-seeker's delights. In fact, Wufei's last mission had been going undercover in a weapon's factory and hacking a few computer systems. It had been a very boring mission, and going home to an empty apartment didn't make thing better. Wufei was starving for safe human company, and meeting once more with people he could relate to. He anyway needed a small vacation, and this area was wonderfully secluded. Wufei remotely knew where Heero and Duo were stationed, and it would take him at least half a day to reach them.

Suddenly, a car whizzed by, and Wufei swerved, nearly crashing into it.

"Fucking assholes, watch where you're driving," he muttered angrily.

 

"Zechs, you're driving like a madman." stated Une, crossing her arms.

"You drove for the last hour." answered Zechs, swerving to avoid a squirrel, "And we found nothing. If you want something done right, you have to do it quickly. Otherwise, you get bored to death."

"My driving isn't boring," protested Une, "It's thorough."

"We haven't found Treize yet. I will find Treize, and then you can tell me just how bad my driving is."

 

The mist had been clearing for some time now. The famously unsuccessful Team Rocket was making their way through the streets of Winchelsea Sussex, looking for one cute yellow beast that would bring them a fortune.

"We've been walking for an hour," moaned James, trying to liven up his damp blue hair, "I'm hungry."

"We're all hungry!" Jessie muttered. "I doubt the brat's out in the rain..."

Meowth shook himself.

"If Meowth wouldn't have gotten us kicked out of that apartment, we wouldn't have to be doing this."

"Hey! I don't have fleas! It's that stupid old man's fault!" Meowth yelled.

Jessie hit him. "You know, maybe we could sell meowth... I'm so hungry... steal him back later, I bet people here would pay for a talking cat..."

Just then, out in the mist, a spot of yellow shone like gold against the dark gray sky.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's a pikachu," stated James, his voice hushed.

"It has to be pikachu! Let's go after it!"

 

He kissed his young lover before sweeping him into his strong, muscular arms, "I will love you forever," he said. His small, brunette lover purred slightly, "You better..."

"Pikachu's still not back, ey?" asked Duo, putting a hand on Heero's shoulder, "Why are you so attached to that yellow... *dog* or whatever it is? Because I don't really think that's a dog."

Heero was sitting cross-legged in front the apartment's one large window, staring out into the clearing fog. He sighed and shut his laptop. He couldn't concentrate on the fanfic anyway. Every five seconds, he paused to look out the window to see if something cute and yellow would magically appear. Since Pikachu left, Heero had felt very unimportant. If he would grow old and ugly, who would be there to bother how he felt?

Heero shrugged, opting not to bother Duo with the truth, "Long story."

Duo sat down beside him, "Well, I'm bored either way."

"TV broke?" asked Heero, sarcastically.

"How'd ya guess?"

Heero blinked. This wasn't the first time sarcasm was truth, "I know you too well."

"I read an article, you know, on how married people get so used to each other they start predicting what the other will do. Isn't that horrible?"

Heero shook his head, "Not really. It's bad to be with someone you can't predict."

"What about Pikachu?"

"He's predictable if you know him well enough."

"Ah. I wouldn't have guessed. I never had a pet before, everything I had... well, it died one way or the other."

There was a long silence.

"Is that why you hate Pikachu?"

"I guess." said Duo, quietly, "I kind of kill things by accident. Don't get me wrong, I actually love animals... I'm just afraid I'll hurt them. I'm really clumsy, I had ten animals in five years and each died trying to escape from me. So I gave up keeping animals. I don't hate Pikachu... I just dislike him. Not because of my luck with animals, though. It's a long story. But if it makes you happy, I'll put up with anything."

"You won't have to put up with him for long. I have the feeling he has an owner either way."

"What makes you say that?" Duo cocked his head.

Heero shrugged, "With animals... you can tell by the way they look at you, if you're really their one and only."

There was another long silence.

"There was something else I wanted to tell you for the past few days."

Duo smiled and clasped his hands to his chest, his eyes shiny and his posture effeminate, "You love me?" he asked, trying to lighten the heavy, awkward air.

"Well, actually, yes."

Duo blinked, "Uh...Wow, you're right, we do predict each other."

"Duo, I'm not joking."

Duo laughed nervously, "What can I say? No one's ever confessed love to me before."

"There's a first for everything." Heero stood up, "I just noticed a few days ago that we act like a married couple."

"Oh, that's horrible, married couples break up after twenty years, and if they don't, they kill each other." Duo's _expression turned slightly morbid, but his eyes sparkled teasingly.

Heero sighed, "Never mind."

Duo looked down, trying to hide a faint blush, "I'm sorry, Heero... I'm being a jerk, ne?"

Duo Maxwell was not known for being a puddle of mush. He feared love would turn him into it, and change him in other disgusting ways.

"Jerk isn't the right word."

Duo sighed, "Please, I don't want to fight with you again. We were getting along these past few days... I do love you, I told you, I'm happy if you're happy."

"Since when are you bent on making me happy?"

"Since we met. Well, not the shooting part. But when I rescued you... I know this sounds really, really dumb... but I didn't know you too well, and, I... I kind of had this fantasy about saving you and being your savior. I mean, on the long run, not just once. You know, us fighting side by side, only with each other... all the cheesy stuff you see in bad movies." Duo's hands fidgeted slightly as he talked, "It's stupid, I know. You're the last person that needs saving. I knew that much, I mean, not many people can survive falling from a mountain, but... I just wanted to impress you, so you'd want to spend time with me."

Heero blinked, Duo had talked so fast, the only thing Heero heard was how Duo wanted to impress him, "But you have lots of friends, everyone loves you."

"You know that's not true," answered Duo, "I mean, as a soul mate... I've seen people together, right... they leave me as soon as their best friend comes along... you know, I also want a friend like that, someone to love. And I figured since you have no best friends, maybe I could be it. I never thought it would happen, though. And I figured while I wait, I might as well make you less gloomy, since you didn't seem to have anyone else... to do that for you."

Heero smiled, "Come here."

 

Wufei parked his motorcycle in front of a small apartment. He took off his helmet, brushing his hand through his hair. He didn't wear it in his usual ponytail, he had decided to let it free for once. Rubbing over it just slightly to make it look wilder, he walked to the apartment's door. He had a copy of the key, and quietly removed it from his heavy black rider coat.

Wufei wanted to surprise Heero and Duo. For all the crazy things that had happened, all that had changed in this war... Heero and Duo couldn't possibly have changed. They'd probably be fighting, and welcome Wufei with open arms. He was, after all, a mutual friend.

"Hell---" Wufei paused, looking at the scene in front of him,"....o."

Heero and Duo were sitting on the couch, kissing, not seeming to notice that Wufei had entered.

Wufei stood at the door, frozen his steps, "Since when...."

Duo pushed Heero away for a second and gave a shy wave to Wufei in a fake British accent, "Jolly ho, Wufei! Care to join us?"

Heero smirked as Duo laughed, Wufei bolted out the door.

 

"I didn't mean it, do you think he thought I meant it?"

"He probably had some mission news for us. Good thing you scared him away," Heero advanced closer.

 

Where had Ash run off to this time?

"_How_ can I lose sight of a hyper black-haired child in an almost empty park I'll never know..." Lance muttered. "Stupid blasted yellow rat. It seems to be the root of all my problems..."

Said Pikachu was... wait, was that it over there?

Well in that case... Lance quickly stalked through the wet grass and grabbed Pikachu around the neck, thus preventing him from being shocked for the time being, and went back to searching for Ash.

 

Wufei shivered in the mist. Before he had come to this small town, he had been just fine. Only a little battle-weary. But now... was a little peace and quiet, a little normality, too much to ask for?

As he walked through puddles, his head down dejectedly, he muttered ,"One more thing happens, and I am going to lose it..."

 

Bingo. Lance quickly ran over, although his ribs still protested slightly. Bloody yellow rat. Well, it wasn't his responsibility now. "Ash, love, I found Pikachu-" He stopped, the mouse still dangling as he stared at the black-haired male for a few seconds. "Ah! I'm sorry!"

Pikachu was not having a good day. No, he was not. He decided to express his outrage with one simple action. "PIKACHU!"

Lance had enough presence of mind to step back out of shock range.

Wufei froze, his eyes darting between the man and the strange yellow rat, "THIS TOWN IS SICK!!!"

He turned, and bolted away He wasn't in any mood to bring attention to the town, nor was he up to a fight with the strange yellow rat that shot out sparks.

 

He didn't run for long, because presently he crashed into a tall blue-haired man.

"Twerp!" Jessie said excitedly. "Prepare for Trouble and hand over Pikachu now!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

James froze, recognizing just who lay atop him, "Uhm... I don't think that's..."

Wufei struggled off, before the strangely clothed woman held him back.

"What the hell is a Pikachu? I don't know what you're talking about, weakling woman!"

Jessie's temper flared. "Weakling? Arbok, teach that twerp a lesson!"

James coughed quietly, reluctantly throwing a poke ball, murmuring, "Go Weezing."

"Arbok, Poison Sting, now!"

Wufei stared at the strange beasts around him.

 

"Kairyuu..." Lance said, releasing his Dragonite. "I don't know what your plan is, Team Rocket, but I'm far to annoyed to care at this point." Dragonite roared and began charging up Hyper Beam.

James's mouthline tightened as he leaned over to Wufei, "Just play along. Now's not the time for pride."

Wufei twitched at the sound of that voice, "Treize?"

Before Treize/James could say anything, Wufei fainted.

"Kairyuu, Hyper Beam!" Lance called as the dragon roared, sending a highly focused beam of energy slamming into the ground right in front of Team Rocket. There was a *ping*, and when the dust cleared, they were gone.

 

Duo didn't really know how he and Heero had gotten to kissing like romance-book lovers, or why he had made that dirty joke to Wufei. Duo blamed it on being caught up in the moment, love did funny things to people. It was like being drunk, without the hangover. But while the kissing might have been out of hand, but the love was perfectly on course. The words exchanged before were real, not some mindless speech memorized by heart. The thought made Duo felt bouncy and cutely cheery, which frightened him more than anything.

After seeing Wufei bolt out the door, he had realized just how carried away he was.

"I'm sorry Heero, for cutting us off like that. I felt guilty about scaring Wufei."

"You always pull pranks on Wufei, what was different this time?" asked Heero.

"It wasn't a prank." Duo smirked, "And even if it was, all those other times, he didn't look shocked and run out of the door like the devil was after him."

Heero couldn't honestly say he wasn't mad at Wufei for ruining the mood. But perhaps things were moving along to fast. He knew which words were spoken, and he wasn't going to take them back. He wanted to be in love, to have someone to confide in and treat like no other. Love is the deepest form of friendship, after all, and Duo was a person who was easy to trust with it. He didn't want to cheapen what they had. Love was like good wine, it had to be aged.

"Wufei couldn't have gotten far," stated Heero, changing the subject, "What he had might have been important. So you're right, we should have looked a long time ago."

 

"Here." Lance said, dropping the exhausted Pikachu into Ash's waiting hands. "If he weren't your starter, I'd..." Lance quit talking as Ash turned puppy dog eyes #3 on him. "Arigato, Lance-chan!"

Lance shook his head. * Not again... why do I always fall for that? Well, if he's happy... * A smile twisted across his face wryly. "Say, Ash, shouldn't I get something for finding Pikachu?"

Ash blinked as Lance put his arms around his shoulders and then kissed him quickly. Pikachu wouldn't shock him if Ash was holding him, luckily. "Ne, Ash, that's fair, isn't it?"

"Hai!" Ash said, turning pink.

 

Duo paused, staring ahead of him, "Hey, that's that guy from my classes. Did I tell you about him?"

Heero thought a while, "I think so..."

"Hi Lance!" Duo waved.

Heero studied the two boys walking together. The one on the left looked somewhat familiar.... a little like Wufei.

"Duo! I haven't seen you since I fell off my bike. How have you been?" Lance lied effortlessly.

"Eh..." Duo thought a while, "Life's been interesting."

Heero coughed to make himself known.

Duo's eyes sparkled, "Oh, Lance, this is Heero, Heero, Lance."

"Pleased to meet you." Lance said to Heero.

Ash peeked over Lance's shoulder, Pikachu in hand.

Heero's eyes sparkled, Duo looked somewhat mortified.

"That's pikachu," stated Heero, his voice low, so no one would note how it had suddenly started to quiver.

"Pikachu?" Ash hugged the pokemon tighter.

"Pikachu..." Lance said thoughtfully. "I wonder..."

"He's yours, isn't he?" asked Heero, looking at Ash from the corner of his eye.

"Hai." Ash nodded. "Why? I caught him years ago."

"Oh. Hm." Heero looked away, grabbed Duo's hand.

Duo noted the awkwardness in the air, and clasped Heero's hand as he changed the conversation.

 

"So, what brings you out here?" he asked, lamely.

"Well, we were searching for Pikachu." Lance said quietly. "And then I accidentally scared off this young man, but..."

Duo eyed Heero, then eyed Lance, "Haha, what'd you do?"

"Well..." Lance said dryly, "I don't think he liked Pikachu."

 

Wufei woke up to see something that appeared to be a malformed cat, standing upright on two legs, staring at him. Startled, Wufei skidded into a sitting position, remotely resembling a spider when doing so.

The tall blue-haired man he had crashed into earlier approached him.

"Meowth, he's awake! Get some water."

"Right!" the talking cat, Meowth, skipped out of the room with feline agility.

Wufei looked startled, "A talking cat."

"Yes, his name is Meowth. He knows what you know."

Wufei stared dumbly, still not quite knowing how to respond to the honorable Treize Khushrenada wearing a neon blue wig, eyeliner and a Team Rocket uniform.

"The woman you angered was Jessie. She tends to get mad at everyone, she's a bit like you. And if you know anything about yourself, you'll know getting mad solves nothing."

Wufei blinked, still transfixed by Treize's new look.

"You could stop staring at me," Treize sighed, "Everyone does their own things they do to stay sane."

".... blue hair?" Wufei asked dumbly.

"Well, some would say "James" is my alter ego. Rich, spoiled, stupid. Beautiful." Treize paused, "But who says that being general Treize Khushrenada is not James's alter ego?"

"Is that eyeliner?"

Ignoring the question, Treize continued, "Team Rocket is my way to burn off stress. Because, being a general gets dull at times. Don't you do anything? I say no, you always get angry."

"Well, but... But you're crazy!" Wufei concluded.

"Maybe." Treize smirked.

What is this thing about 'Pikachu'? What were those *things* that tried to attack me?" Wufei changed the subject.

"Pokemon. Little beasts created by science to make the world a better place by fighting. Peace is created through war, through battle. People have an alter ego when in battle. In pokemon battle, I wanted to be a different warrior, I didn't want excellence to be forced by expectations of people. No one expects anything from James, and that's why I love being him. Pokemon is so different from human warfare, and that makes it fascinating. The tradition of combat and warfare is kept alive, without destroying the beauty of peace---"

"Pikachu is a pokemon, then?"

"Yes," Treize seemed mildly annoyed at having a speech ruined, "Team Rocket is supposed to capture it. It's not really about getting the pikachu, though. It's more about fulfilling a mission, feeling the pride of success. It started out for money, but it became more. I know we'll never catch him. But pikachu keeps Jessie and Meowth wanting something. He gives them a job, a goal, something to crave. If I had used my head, I could have caught pikachu long ago. But I don't want to catch him. I know that Jessie and Meowth should stick to this goal. If they caught him now, I don't want to think what they'd do. They are criminals, I just don't want to lose them to a life of crime."

Wufei breathed out, "I won't even try to figure out your reasoning, Treize. Just tell me why I'm here?"

"Pikachu's owner is a boy named Ash, whom you remotely resemble. I know you aren't Ash, so does Meowth. But Jessie doesn't want to let you go because you called her a weakling. If I were you, I'd apologize..." Treize trailed off, "Though I know you won't do that."

"So what do I do?"

"I wish I could just release you, but then I would betray the team. But I could smuggle you out, but you must agree to never tell anyone about James."

Wufei nodded slowly, "Tell this to someone? It's already bad enough that I know this, the last thing I'll do is torture someone with tales of your weird personal life."

 

"I like the idea of having a steering wheel on the right side of the car, don't you?" Duo asked awkwardly, trying to distract himself from the fact that lovey-dovey thoughts were taking over his brain.

"It's strange. But this is England, after all." Heero paused, "Love."

Duo choked back a laugh as the car suddenly took a sharp change of lane, "What'd you just call me?"

"Love... since you like England so much, we might as well call each other the way English people do."

Duo laughed, "English people aren't known for being romantic."

"We're not exactly romantic either, Duo."

"Speak for yourself."

A small, smirky silence took over the car.

"Duo... Love... Don't you think your friends were a bit... that they were maybe..."

"Well, yes, I always thought Lance was one."

Heero looked bemused, "No, I meant, do you think that guy he scared was Wufei?"

Duo laughed, "Wufei? Scared of that thing... eh, what was it called...?"

"Pikachu."

"Wufei would never be scared of something you're not scared of. Unless it's me, of course..." Duo cackled.

Heero shrugged, "You know Wufei better than I do."

"But..." Duo paused, "What I don't get is how he could just disappear."

Heero faced the road, "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Always. I always have a plan, I always know what I'm doing. It's just this was all kind of sudden, and I'm making due with what I know. Which is, in short, nothing."

Heero smiled slightly, "So in other words, you don't know where you're going."

"Yes." Duo ground out, "If you think you can do better, here, you can drive."

Heero gasped as Duo leaned back and let go of the wheel, and the car almost spun out of control.

"I didn't say I could do better." Heero said quickly, grabbing the wheel and putting the car back on track, "Now will you take the wheel back?"

Duo put his hands on the wheel, his mouth drawn tightly.

 

A shadow dropped over the car, oh-so-ominously.

... giant... what in the seven hells was that?

Whatever it was, it spelled out danger.

"How did you talk me into this again?" Lance muttered as Hakuryuu flew on. "Right... you didn't. You just threatened to never speak to me again unless I went off and rescued the poor unfortunate soul whom I accidentally scared off, isn't that right?"

Ash gave a smile that wasn't really a smile but in any case... everything _seemed_ fine until...

 

It was not a joyous event as a loud banshee-like screech penetrated the air. Metal met metal and became one smoking mess. Nothing could tear them apart now.

A dead silence filled the air as Duo scurried out of the car and kicked the now useless heap of metal that used to be a sports car.

"Worthless piece of crap!"

Heero, with nary a scratch, climbed out of the wreckage seemingly indifferent.

"I hate sports cars." Duo declared, crossing his arms.

"It wasn't a good car anyway." Heero shrugged, and turned to the second wreck, "Looks like you crashed into someone."

"I didn't crash!"

"It was a parked car," stated Heero, quietly.

"It was parked badly!"

Heero stared at Duo and smiled slightly, "Maybe we could meet the car's owner?"

"The idiot! The stupid idiot whose mother shouldn't have---"

Suddenly a dismal shadow fell over the land.

"Duck!" Heero yelled as he jumped under the wreckage.

Duo shook his head, "I'm so mad, I dare OZ to take me on."

Heero looked up from his position under part of the wreckage, "Don't be an idiot."

"Are you saying I can't stand up to OZ? Are you saying I'm weak?" Duo looked at the dark mass floating just slightly overhead of him and pulled out his gun, "Eat lead, bastards!"

 

"Hakuryuu, we seem to have run into some idiots. Reflect..." Lance sighed. * Today is just not my day, is it? * Bullets whizzed through the air, impacting the shield with a little 'kerplunk' sound and rebounding off again.

"Hn. Guess I'll take care of the problem myself, it's just one person firing at us, right?"

Dragonair nodded.

Lance slid off Dragonair's back as his steel wings sprouted out and he landed, dragon blades in hand, ready to tear out the throat of the unwary fool who had _dared_ cross the Dragon Master.

Duo clasped his gun, his eyes shining wildly, "Face the God of Death!"

Heero rolled his eyes, "Not this again, Duo..."

Gold met violet in combat-fashion.

Duo blinked and let down his gun, "Lance?"

 

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Uh--- this gun--- I like guns. I---"

"He wants to get into a gun club," stated Heero.

"You're very lucky you didn't hit hakuryuu."

"Uh... haku-what?"

Dragonair made a graceful landing with Ash still hanging on for dear life.

Duo breathed in, eying Lance's newly shown wings, "You're an angel..." he said, swaying slightly.

Heero climbed out of the wreckage and dusted himself off, "Are you a pikachu, too?"

Lance twitched.

"That's what they're called, aren't they?" asked Heero, "Pikachu isn't a dog, right? And that... giant reptile you're on isn't any known species of animal."

"They're called pokemon," Ash declared.

Duo nodded slowly, "Pokemon."

"We're from another world."

Duo's eyes widened, then shrunk back to normal size, "You're aliens?"

"No, not quite."

"In a nutshell, our mode of transportation broke down and we're kind of stranded here until it gets... fixed. That's all."

"Ours was crashed." stated Heero in blatant monotone.

"I told you! That car was badly parked." muttered Duo.

"In any case, I have to be on my way to rescue that black-haired guy I scared." Lance turned to go.

 

"Wait." Heero paused, "Was he..."

Duo rolled his eyes, "Screw the mission, Heero." turning to Lance and Ash, he explained, "A friend of ours... he... he was supposed to give us important information. I---"

"You scared him," added Heero.

"Yes, I scared him. So he ran out. Heh. And Heero and I have been looking for him ever since."

"He's about my height, black hair... Japanese---"

"Chinese." corrected Duo, "Bug-like eyes, weird white pants... uhm... he gets mad a lot."

"Great, that's who I'm looking for. I still owe him an apology."

 

As Une drove through the narrow town streets, Zechs glared out he window.

"We've been driving around for hours..." he murmured.

"Don't start this again," warned Une.

Sighing, Zechs turned his attention back to the window.

Tree.

House.

Bush.

40-foot dragon.

Zechs rubbed his eyes, "I have to get more sleep."

 

"Pass the chicken."

Wufei stared at Jessie and Meowth, who were both devouring their food. It was strange to see Treize... er, James do the same.

"Aren't you going to eat?" asked Meowth.

Wufei stared at a chicken drumstick held in Meowth's furry paw.

"No thanks."

James stood up, eying the last chocolate-chip covered scrap of chicken.

"Mine!" he declared, jumping on it.

Meowth jumped with feline agility at his face, claws bared.

"Eeek! Get it off! Get it off!" James screeched.

Jessie calmly stabbed the last chicken piece with her fork and popped it in her mouth.

Wufei took a deep breath, "One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels...[1]" he chanted, closing his eyes.

 

Cool, salty air brushed against Duo's face, playing with his hair. He had never thought when he arrived to Winchelsea Sussex, that he would end up on a forty-foot ice blue dragon.

"Could we go a little bit slower?" Ash asked, "I'm getting airsick."

It was a beautiful view from what could be seen from passing clouds. Lush green valleys, punctuated by small stone manors and tiny houses. Fluffy sheep dotted the hills, giving the whole countryside its dreamy, forgotten air.

"So what now?" asked Heero.

"I feel sick..." Ash repeated.

Lance glared, yanked Ash towards him, and practically shoved his tongue down the other boy's throat. "Feel better now?"

Heero turned to Duo and smirked.

"No." Duo crossed his arms and looked forward.

 

"How can you stand to hang around those two idiots?"

Treize smirked, "They grow on you."

Wufei sighed, "I can't wait to get away from here."


Suddenly, Jessie pranced in with the morning paper, "Guess what!"

"Jessiebell died so now I can be rich without marrying her?" guessed James, dumbly.

Wufei blinked, "Jessiebell?"

Jessie smacked James/Treize, "No! Look!" she shouted, throwing the paper at James.

"William Chang wins sixty million in the Chinese lottery." read James, "Do we know him?"

"Look at his picture," Jessie ground out.

"He's ugly, so?"

"You idiot!" shouted Jessie, "Don't you see the resemblance between him and our captive?"

Wufei looked down, "Now I feel insulted."

"We'll hold him for ransom!" declared Meowth.

James eyes Wufei.

"I don't have parents." stated Wufei, dryly.

"He's certainly old enough to be your grandfather..." mused Meowth.

"Doomed are the hotheads! Unhappy are they who lose their cool and are too proud to say, 'I'm sorry...'" Wufei ground out, his hands locked in fists.

 

"Are we there yet?"

"We don't know where we're going." stated Heero, "How can we be anywhere?"

"Would you two shut up? We're looking for someone, why don't you look at the *ground*?" Duo put his hand on his chin, looking perfectly peeved.

"You can't see anyone or anything from this height." stated Heero.

Lance held out an arm and whistled as a gray blur settled. After a few seconds, it flew off again.

"ETA twenty minutes." Lance said shortly. "We've found them."

"How?"

"I have my ways..."

Duo was still looking at the ground, "I would have spotted them. Eventually."

Dragonair swooped to the ground.

"Wait." Heero paused, "We still need a plan."

"We're not going to walk, are we?" asked Ash.

"_We're_ not going to walk." Lance said, as he held Ash to his chest and kicked off, letting his wings sweep them into the air as Ash clung onto him, hooking his legs around Lance's as they flew a couple of feet ahead.

 

Heero looked at Duo, smiling.

"Geez, Heero, if I'd known you were so horny, I never would have---"

"I'm not horny." protested Heero, "I thought you were the romantic one."

Duo fought the urge to have a long, deep conversation, and instead answered smirkily, "Don't call the urge to fuck 'romance'."

There was an awkward silence.

"Do you think OZ might have Wufei?"

Duo shook his head, "Treize? Here? No way. We'd notice, there would be a lot of hooplah and security following them."

Lance put Ash down, noticing the others catching up to them. "Do you have a plan?"

Duo shook his head, "I wish. We could infiltrate the base. Eh, hideout."

"Just wiping the base off the surface of the planet wouldn't work..." Lance mused.

"Where is the base?" asked Heero, "Duo says "infiltrate it" to everything."

Duo giggled, "No I don't!"

"Of course you do---"

"Unfortunately, the base happens to be an underground basement..." Lance remarked.

Duo coughed, "You could lower me in. Wham, bang, I'll blow the out and get Wufei too."

"We have no rope." remarked Heero.

"No, but..." Lance looked at Ash. "Bulbasaur."

"No!"

"This was _your_ idea, Ash. Now."

 

With a sigh, Ash released Bulbasaur and the pokemon obligingly extended her vines. "Rope... what else?"

Heero picked up the vine and grinned, "How far in does he have to go?"

"All the way." answered Ash, unwittingly.

"All the way... down?"

Duo cackled and his eyes shimmered.

"If you get stuck, we can pull you out." replied Ash, turning to Duo.

"There might be water down there. It could get wet." Duo smirked.

"It doesn't matter. The building seems penetrable, do what you must to gain access." stated Heero.

"You don't think we could go through the back door? We could use a battering ram..." Duo paused.

Lance looked up, "Get your mind out of the gutter."

 

Zechs looked out the window, still disturbed over seeing that dragon.

"Une, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Maybe."

Zechs looked out of the window, "Did I ever tell you I'm afraid of reptiles?"

"No." replied Une, "Why should I know this?"

Zechs looked out the window as the car neared a familiar curve. The dragon was gone.

"Uhm, never mind."

 

"Hello? is this the residence of William Chang?" asked Meowth, in a deep and unrecognizable voice.

"Who?" asked the high-pitched female voice at the end of the line.

"The guy who won the lottery? William Chang?"

"No, this is Villhem Chang."

Meowth blinked, "Eh, nevermind."

Jessie sighed, flipping through the phone book, "How many Changs are there?!"

James giggled before Jessie slapped him, "Shut up! This is not a laughing matter!"

Wufei sighed, "What's the meaning of this?"

"You want to go home, don't you, boy?" asked Meowth.

Wufei groaned, chanting, "Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances..."

 

"Lower me in gently," stated Duo, tying the vine around his waist, "I bruise easily."

Landing silently, he stared at the multitude of tunnels leading in every which way.

"You guys have to see this. Someone's been busy at work... actually, come to think of it... this could be really old, some criminals, to escape from dungeons, dug tunnels and---"

"Just walk, love." stated Heero.

Duo blinked, "Uh... of course, right."

 

"Is this the residence of William Chang, Chinese lottery winner?" asked Meowth, exhausted.

"This is Willie space M Chang!"

Meowth hung up, "How many are in there?"

"Just one," stated James.

Meowth stared at the paper, and dialed the number with a practiced-speed.

"Is this," he breathed out, "William Chang, Chinese lottery winner?"

"Yes," replied the wheezy voice at the other end, "I am he. What do you want?"

"We have your grandson!" declared Meowth, triumphantly.

There was a long pause, before the wheezing breaths increased, "My grandson?"

"Yes, and if you want to see him again, you have to shell out! We want one million dollars!" Meowth's voice gained enthusiasm.

There was another long pause, "My grandson, ey? WELL YOU CAN KEEP HIM! That good-for-nothing lazy schlub! Good riddance!"

The line went dead, the phone dangling from its chord clasped in Meowth's hands.

Wufei took a deep breath and sulked, "I feel so unloved. And he wasn't even *my* grandfather."

 

"It's been two hours, Heero, aren't you worried?" Ash asked, swatting mosquitoes that buzzed around him.

"No, should I be?" Heero swatted one away from his arm.

"Then you don't care about him?" his eyes grew large, as he swatted a few hundred more mosquitoes.

"I never said that. I trust him."

Lance studied the blade he was holding, a mosquito impaled on the tip.

"Say, that cave looks pretty mosquito safe..." commented Ash, "Just how many tunnels were there?"

"A lot. But I told you, I'm not worried."

"People starve to death in old English tunnels. One story I heard told of a man who drowned to death in an English tunnel. There was no water source nearby, but you know about groundwater..."

Heero stared into the tunnel, then, after a few minutes sighed and said, "Let's just see what he's up to."

 

Treize/James walked into the small hideout's kitchen for a snack. Jessie and Meowth were with Wufei in the other room, driving the boy to the brink of insanity for not being profitable.

As he reached for the last, decadent morsel of chocolate-chip chicken he had secretly hidden away earlier. When suddenly he heard footsteps. Quietly, he checked the global positioning system currently stowed in the icebox.

His mouthline tightened, "Just as I thought. He's here."

 

Pikachu was getting angry. Very angry. His Pikapi was totally ignoring him and instead was holding onto that _other_! It wasn't fair! There was one way to solve the problem...

"PIKACHU!"

Electric bolts shattered the cave stillness, as well as the hidden camera, exploding in a brilliant display of eye-scarring flashes.

A quiet thump was heard. Heero's ears perked up as he crouched down and picked up a small fried piece of metal.

"What do you have there?" asked Lance.

"We have company," stated Heero, "This is what is left of a camera that probably was hanging here before Pikachu... shocked it."

There was a quiet pause.

"You might want to leave and take your... friend... and pikachu... with you."

"No, it's partially our fault he got kidnapped, too."

Heero shook his head, "No, you don't understand. Duo and I... we're gundam pilots."

Ash blinked, "What's a gundam pilot?"

"Duo and I... we. Okay." Heero breathed out, "OZ is an organization that terrorizes colonies in outer space. We fight them with giant advanced machines called Gundams. We've killed a lot of their men, in short, we are a thorn in their side. I think they might have Wufei. He's a gundam pilot, too."

"If he's that important, we should definitely help rescue him." replied Lance, "It's not like we're helpless, either."

"Duo and I are undercover here," explained Heero, "We can't risk drawing any more attention to ourselves. Duo and I need to do this ourselves. Besides, who knows what they'll do if they get pikachu?"

"There's only one group that wants Pikachu, that's team rocket, and they're only a joke." countered Lance. "We're just wasting time standing here, let's go."

"I will go on without you. Just find your way back."

"Ash, take Kairyuu and-,"

"No. I'm not leaving you." Ash said stubbornly.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." said Heero, striding deeper into the cave.

 

James/Treize paced back and forth.

His surveillance camera had just gotten broken, but right before it did, it had noted something disturbing.

Not only was Ash here, with Lance in tow... but so was Heero. And where Heero was, Duo would surely follow.

Grinding his teeth, he thought of how to turn this situation around.

When suddenly, an idea hit him along with a high-heeled shoe.

"You took the last of the chicken!" shouted Jessie.

James threw his arms out wildly and hugged Jessie, "Thank goodness you're here! There is someone in the cave! I'm scared!"

"Get off me!" Jessie screeched, pushing James away.

James sniffed, "Can I stay here?"

Jessie rolled her eyes, "Well, we need someone to watch the prisoner anyway. He must be good for something..."

 

Duo felt frustrated. The cave was grungy, clammy, and dirty. Water had obviously flown through here mere minutes ago.

The mud on the ground stained his clothing, and mosquito larvae swam around his shoes, and a few stuck to the sole.

"Fucking peachy---"

suddenly a hand grasped his shoulder.

Duo froze and instinctively kicked his "attacker" in the groin.

"Heero!" shouted Ash.

Heero fell with a thud, swearing mildly.

Duo jumped slightly, "Eek! Sorry Heero! I didn't know it was you! you shouldn't sneak up on me like that..."

There was a long silence.

"Did I break anything?"

 

"How did you get the horrible woman to leave?" Wufei stared at Treize with crossed arms.

"If you're calm under pressure, you can do all kinds of things." Treize smirked at Wufei.

"Can you give a clear answer?"

Treize sighed, "Your friends are here. I told her that."

"How will that help anything?"

"For one, she'll be gone. And, I can let you go."

"Ah."

 

"I'm so sorry, Heero, I didn't know it was you."

"It's ok." Heero stated, looking at Duo.

"No, I mean, I shouldn't kick people randomly like that."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not ok. Man, I feel so guilty..." Duo sighed heavily.

"It's *ok*."

"No, it is *not* ok. I mean, what if I would have broken something? That would be horrible, and---"

"Duo, nothing was broken. It's *OK*."

"But, if something would have been... man, I feel like such an *idiot*."

"You are not an idiot," Heero ground out, "But you're starting to act like one."
"I'm only being worried," replied Duo, "Because I kicked you in the---"

"Shh, the whole cave doesn't have to hear it," Heero crossed his arms, "We're being watched."

"Well, then they would notice the way you're walking...."

Heero ground his teeth, but said nothing.

 

Lance looked at the little rat sideways. He still didn't trust the little fur ball…

Ash was blissfully oblivious and fawning over pikachu as always.

"You know, sometimes I think you love Pikachu better than you love me…" Lance said.

Ash looked up to see Lance's own variant of the puppy dog eyes staring at him. "I… I…"

"Do you?"

"No!" Ash said, as he dropped Pikachu, much to Pikachu's shock, and hugged Lance tightly. "I don't."

Pikachu's rage increased.

"PIKACHU!!!"

A bolt of lightning shot into the black velvet of the night sky, bringing down a heavy piece of metal with a loud clunk. The giant robot that squirmed with its last energy on the floor was a casualty not invisible to OZ headquarters.

 

"Suite down! Suite down!" yelled a young soldier, "Send in back-up! I repeat, send in back-up!"

Heero put his ear to the wall, and turned to Duo, "This is hollow."

"Think this is OZ's headquarters?"

Heero nodded, "They're everywhere."

A snap of a twig threw an air of tenseness upon the cave. A shrill voice broke the silence, followed red hair, white clothes and long legs, "Prepare for trouble, twerps!"

Lance sighed. "Well, then... Ptera..." Aerodactyl popped out of his poke ball at the ready, razor-sharp wings glinting in anticipation.

"You can't have Pikachu!" Ash yelled

Heero blinked and turned to Duo, "Pikachu?"

"We'll see about that!" Jessie pulled out a poke ball and smirked, "Go, arbok!"

The snake-like pokemon showed its fangs as its eyes shone with predatory enthusiasm. It hissed its name, coiling its head back, ready to attack at the slightest command or provocation.

Lance chuckled, Aerodactyl's wings slicing deep gashes into the snake's skin. "Don't you think you're a bit outmatched here?"

Aerodactyl's golden eyes matched his master's as he shrieked.

Meowth lashed out instinctively at this new threat with his claws.

Lance looked up from where Aerodactyl had just KO'd Arbok _again_. "Bakas..." With a flash, he recalled his pokemon.

As Heero was fixed on the battle, Duo quietly observed the wall he was leaning on. Some of the ceiling fell to the floor.

"Hm, apparently, this cave is made of more than just... metal... the top isn't very secure." he mused.

 

"Wheezing, Explosion!"

"Hakuryuu, Light Screen!" Lance cried, throwing out one of his dragonair. The clear defense dropped around Ash and Lance. "Good! Now use Hyper Beam!"

Wheezing's explosion bounced off the barrier. In any case, that pokemon was out as well. Hyper beam smacked into the Dustox Jessie had just released and… well, let's just say it wasn't exactly in battling condition either.

Dustox smacked into the cave with a loud crunch. Rock fragments began to fall. After all, the force applied had rather high acceleration, so…

The cave began to rumble slightly, and Heero's attention was stirred.

"Heero, I think the cave is collapsing..." stated Duo.

Heero put his finger to his lips, "Shut up and get on your hands and knees..."

"Not in front of everyone---"

"---No, *love*, I need to stand on your back so I can hear something."

 

The clanking of the giant robots as they covered the grassy plains of Winchelsea Sussex was unlike any other. The legendary army of OZ was scouting the plains, looking for who shot down one of their own. They did not care about the complex system of tunnels underneath their feet, ancient tunnels that one false step could easily collapse.

Treize carefully pushed aside the dusty crate hidden in the corner of the room, and fumbled with the lock on the small, newly visible door.

"Go through here... I'll stay."

Suddenly the cave vibrated.

"What was that?"

Treize shrugged, "Could be... Hmm, could be OZ. I won't wait and find out."

 

Duo stepped forward, "Stop this right now---"

"Charizard, Flamethrower!"

Ash smiled as Jessie's Cacnea went up in flames. "Yes! Fire beats grass!"

Lance watched impassively, wishing the battle were over.

"I said," Duo breathed in and shouted loudly, "Stop this!"

There was an awkward silence.

Duo took a deep breath, before continuing, "The top of this cave isn't held up that well... one more attack, and it could collapse."

Heero blinked and Jessie put her hands to her hips.

"Though I wouldn't mind if the cave collapsed on *some* people, I don't think we should take this risk---"

"Twerp, how dumb do you think I am?! You just want to trick me!"

Seviper menacingly advanced to Duo.

After all the crazy things that had happened, Duo was completely unimpressed.

"I don't care what you think. Consider this a friendly warning. And get that fucking snake out of my face."

 

The trip was slowly starting to wear down on Duo, and the impact of all that had happened before was finally getting to him. Wufei missing, OZ in the area, the new relationship with Heero, the lack of sleep... it was all too much.

"Lance, there are several mobile suites above our heads." stated Heero, coolly, "If the cave explodes, they wouldn’t just crash down on our heads..." the cave vibrated again, "They would also explode because there’s fuel in them, and if you’re really going to use any more fire attacks..."

"---I think we could survive an explosion..." Lance cut in.

"... besides that, it seems OZ is here for us, they found us... somehow." finished Heero, a tad annoyed to be cut off.

"I know a way out." Lance said.

Heero turned to him. "Oh? Do you have any more bright ideas? You've already nearly collapsed the cave." Well, all right. Maybe he wasn't in the best of moods at the moment.

Seeing that Jessie had stopped attacking him for the time being, Lance swapped Hakuryuu for Gyarados.

"Gyarados, Dig! The rest of you, grab a ridge and hang on!"

Heero and Duo barely had time to do just that before the serpent dived underground and blasted through the cave wall.

"WOAH!"

Lance brushed a few specks of stray dirt off his jacket, making a mental note to work on shielding while escaping. "Well, we're out-."

He stopped short.

 

Zechs looked with the maturity of a bored 12-year-old at Une.

"Don't look at me like that, it's distracting."


Zechs rolled his eyes and continued to gawk.

"I think we've been driving in circles a bit too long... murmured Une.

A silence followed.

Zechs breathed in, "You're right, we *have* been driving too long."

Une lit up at Zech's acknowledgement that she was right.

"For Treize being missing, you don't seem too worried," stated Une, taking a soft turn,

"Hm. This isn't the first time he's disappeared on me like that. I'm never worried when he's gone. Whatever happens, it's our win."

"What do you mean?"

Zechs leaned back, "I think Treize is just fine. He knows what he's doing. I think the last thing he needs is us sniffing into his business."

Une nodded, "Well, we do have a right to worry."

"Yes, we do. But, professionally, I'd say this search is unnecessary. No one wants Treize dead, everyone just wants him to screw up.... and to live through the humiliation. I don't think he's doing anything like that. Or at least, he won't get caught."

"Hm."

Une turned her attention back to the road before an explosion forced her to swerve violently and come to a screeching halt next to a smoking crack in the highway.

A roar that reached beyone city walls, a roar of a cave collapsing echoed through the still air.

A dragon blasted through the rubble, the beautiful, proud and sea-worthy gyarados, flying right past Une and Zechs.

Une blinked then turned to Zechs, whose face held the same bewildered _expression as hers.

"Did you see that?" he drawled out slowly, "I'm pretty sure that was---"

"A figment of our imagination, we've been driving around too long." replied Une, her voice wavering slightly before returning to its former dominance.

Zechs eagerly nodded, "Yes, you're right, let's---"

"...go back to headquarters. Quickly. Very quickly."

 

The cave collapsed into a mess of rubble and dirt, leaving behind the light of thousands of flames and a roar that reached far beyond the town borders. Duo looked down from the dragon, enjoying the chaos. The faint sound of echoes from the collapse, the metallic smell of OZ suites burning and thousands-year-old rubble being blown through the air. And to top it all off, a light snow was now falling, almost as if the explosion had torn the robes off the angels of heaven. It took his mind off the strange situation in his life.

As he was savoring the wreckage, Duo suddenly recalled Wufei.

Turning to Lance he asked, "Any sign of him?"

"He can't be dead, right?" Ash asked.

"Ash, you've already asked five times. If you ask a *sixth* time I'm leaving you three to control Gyarados and taking Ptera to go ahead alone!"

"You wouldn't really leave me would you?" Ash asked, eyes shimmering with large, artificial teardrops. Well, perhaps they were somewhat genuine, due to Ash's tendency to get airsick, but…

"No." Lance resisted the urge to hit himself for being such a sucker for that move. But…well, some reassurance wouldn't hurt.

Ash smiled as Lance turned around and hugged him. "Promise?"

"Of course I won't leave you koibito…"

 

"You'd never leave me, right? KOI?" Heero asked, slyly but with a glint in his eyes that hinted at a joke.

Duo, overstressed and not in any mood to joke, simply glared, "You call me that one more time and I wouldn't be so bloody sure about that. *Love*."

"How cute!" Ash said, clapping. "Are you a couple?"

Duo stared, a look of bland annoyance, on his face, "Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Ash blinked.

Heero crossed his arms, "He's just in a bad mood. Don't mind him, this isn't the first time he's said something dumb."

Duo stared at Heero, "That *I've* said something dumb?"

Lance lightly whacked the still-oblivious Ash on the back of the head. "Don't pry, Ash."

"He doesn't need to pry, I'll gamble with you Duo will probably talk without any need for prying."

"You might have survived all kinds of things, Heero, let's see if you'll survive me pushing you off this dragon."

Ash looked from one back to the other, feeling as if he were missing something.

Lance closed his eyes, wishing the argument would quickly burn itself out. If they started fighting on Gyarados, something unfortunate might happen.

"What's wrong, Duo? Are you airsick?" Heero cocked his head.

"I'm not bloody airsick, stop talking to me like I'm some bloody damsel."

Heero smirked, "You're airsick."

"And you're thick-headed, so?"

 

Lance took a deep breath and nudged Gyarados to go faster. That would at least forestall the argument. Hopefully.

There was a temporary silence.

"For the record, a bad attitude is not a symptom of airsickness." stated Duo, quietly.

"Are we there yet?" Ash asked.

"No, we are not there yet." Lance said, as he reached for Aerodactyl's poke ball.

"You promised you wouldn't leave!" Ash sniffed.

"I am not 'leaving', technically." Lance drawled. "I'm only trying to spare myself the sight of two bickering males."

"I'm not bickering!" whined Duo.

"No, but if you were a woman, you'd be PMSing."

"I don't even know what that is."

"Can I go with you?" asked Heero, turning to Lance.

"You can't go," stated Duo, coldly, "Lance, tell him he can't go."

"Sorry, Heero." Lance said, "But forestalling any arguments only makes it worse in the long run." He clipped Aerodactyl's poke ball back on his belt without another word.

Heero sat back, crossed his arms, and looked away.

 

"This whole trip was a disaster," stated Duo, "I mean... Wufei's missing, OZ knows we're here, my love life is suddenly complicated, I managed to wreck a perfectly good car, and I have the tendency to fall in love with people who treat me like a bloody damsel, and---"

"Maybe you should lie down." suggested Heero, cautiously.

"You can't lie down on a dragon, stupid."

"I meant when we got off. You're exhausted."

"I am not exhausted."

"Then you're hysterical."

 

Bloody blasted advice, why did I bother giving it? Lance thought as he tried to tune out the noises. Having nothing better to do, he turned to Ash. "Well, Ash, according to calculations we can get home possibly tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow?!" yelled Duo,"... Wufei probably had some message for us. We don't have that. One day... that could mean everything in war, maybe---"

"Maybe Wufei just wanted to inform us of something unimportant. Relax, you are getting on everyone's nerves."

"By home I meant something else." Lance said. "Are you two finished yet?"

"I miss mom... Lance, are you sure you have enough power to get us home this soon?" Ash asked.

"Where is your home?" asked Heero, interested in anything that didn't involve arguing.

"The closest comparison would be Japan, cross-dimensions." Lance said.

Heero nodded slowly, "Oh."

Ash sniffled a bit.

"Don't give me that, Ash. It was your fault that we landed here." Lance pointed out.

 

Heero sat back then turned to Duo, and cocked his head critically, "Are you crying?"

"That's right, yell it out for everyone to hear," came the hushed reply.

"Well, I would cry too..." Heero thought a while,"...if my dog died."

Duo quietly laughed and hid his face in Heero's neck, "Yeah, just tell them my dog died."

Lance held Ash quietly and prayed to Lugia that they would get to their destination quickly. He couldn't take much more of this!

Heero was just slightly surprised that Duo had fallen asleep so quickly, as he turned to Lance, "Forgive him. He's just stressed."

"Just stress, no injuries?" Lance asked.

Heero shook his head, "If he was injured he'd be too stressed from that to bicker. I don't know how you and Ash manage."

"If you mean the injuries, well..." Lance paused, discovering a scratch on his arm. "That's curable." Golden light surrounded him for a second as the wound closed up. "But if you mean getting along, that's harder."

Heero just stared, one look saying enough.

"Lance-chan! You shouldn't scare them like that!" Ash scolded.

Lance looked amused. "You haven't called me that in years. You must really be upset."

"Of course I'm upset, you're showing off for no reason!"

"He asked..."

"You don't sound fifteen, Lance. How old are you anyway?" asked Heero.

Lance paused for a few minutes, calculating. "Mmm... 21..."

"Age doesn't have much to do with this, or does it?"

"It depends." Lance looked thoughtful. "Sometimes, it depends on exactly how much you're willing to give up for the other person. Sometimes it's factors you can't control. Sometimes it's fate..." Lance trailed off, closing his eyes.

Ash hugged Lance.

Heero's bright blue eyes reflected the sky, with all its dewy morning light. His mind was going through what Lance said, before he nodded and said quietly, "I understand."

 

Zechs quietly opened the door to the hotel, feeling and looking like he had spent the entire day driving around in circles. Une followed, looking just as road-weary.

Treize looked up at, "Oh hi. You two look dreadful, what happened?"

Zechs blinked, "We were---"

"Looking for you." stated Une.

Treize blinked, "I was here for hours. Dreadfully sorry I didn't call."

Zechs eyed Une.

"You don't look to well-rested either, Your Excellency."

Treize, always armed with an excuse, answered, "I couldn't sleep well not knowing where you and Zechs were."

Zechs smirked, Une rolled her eyes, Treize knew he fooled no one. Yet, no one seemed interested at poking at this situation any longer.

 

The OZ army was completely unprepared for the stealthy advance of the stealthy Shenlong Gundam.

Gundams were only the most advanced robot combat machines in the universe, and Shenlong with the epitome of beauty and deadliness in one hard gundamian body.

Wufei carefully took out a few suites. He knew it was not necessary, but he needed some stress relief.

The battle was over quickly, and Wufei's pointless mission had come to an end. For now, anyway.

Reluctantly, he whipped out his cell phone, "Duo? Hi."

 

Duo sleepily grasped for the phone. It was noon, and he had just awoken. Where was the dragon? Where was Ash? And Lance? The clouds... One look at Heero, who was standing nonchalantly at the door, said enough.

"Hi Wufei!" he said with all the energy he could muster, "Where are you?"

"I'm... someplace. I got out of that cave by myself some time ago. OZ is gone, I took care of them. Thought I should call. Treize wasn't here."

"I never thought Treize was here."

"Oh." Wufei paused, "Well, just so you know. Never mind."

There was a long awkward silence on both ends of the line.

"Just so you know," Duo scrambled for what he wanted to say, "I think it'd be better next time if you wouldn't surprise us with your visits."

"Oh, I found that one out already." Wufei held back a laugh, yet his tone was anything but serious.

"Huh. Well, but, uh. Hm. I guess."

"Duo Maxwell, at a loss for words?"

"Just once. I just wanted to say...." Duo breathed in, "Sorry for scaring you out of the room. I wasn't thinking straight. Straight. Heh."

"Neither was I. But what else is new?"

"Well, for one, you sound... calm."

"I am. Calmer, anyway. I'm finally convinced that now I've seen everything. I think I'm going to try some stress relief... like someone suggested to me. Till we meet again."

Wufei stared at his cell phone as if it had suddenly morphed into a tree of broccoli. That had been surprisingly easy. He had said he’d try some stress relief... Wufei ran threw his hair. But how? Suddenly, he had an idea.

 

The boy whimpered as pain and pleasure flooded his mind. Feelings that frightened him yet took over all his thoughts and feelings.

"Don't push me too far.... oh God... Oh God..."

back a cry as all his mind was numbed out with pleasure.

"Harder," he groaned, "Harder..."

He was shocked when his love pulled away, "Beg me."

Duo giggled quietly as Heero walked into the room, holding a cup of coffee.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded, looking at the screen and nearly choking on some _mocha.

"Reading some... things." Duo smirked.

Heero took a deep breath.

"Did you write this?"

"Some of it," Heero admitted sheepishly.

"Mission reports, ey?"

Heero nodded coyly.

Duo turned off the computer, stood up and sat beside Heero, "Heero, do you think I'm starting to act unlike myself?"

"Yes and no. I don't really know what I should be expecting. How do people in love act?"

Duo shrugged, "I don't know. I just hope it won't include scaring Wufei out of any more rooms. Or turning into a sappy mess."

"Scaring Wufei was actually pretty funny." Heero paused, "But you were never a sappy mess to begin with. And I don't think you'll become one either."

Duo shrugged, "We'll see."

"I noted with the cave that you seemed..."

"Well, I was worried it would crash and someone was going to die."

"You know I don't die, and you call yourself the God of Death. And Lance and Ash look like they've been through worse."

"I guess this whole being in love thing is making me think of things I didn't think of before. I mean, I did think of those before, but, now that we're together, I finally see something happening, and, it's just kind of a dumb time to die." Duo looked slightly frustrated, he knew he hadn't quite put his thoughts into the right words. But Heero seemed to understand what he was getting at, and that was good enough.

"That's probably something we have to deal with. We can't turn back now and pretend nothing happened. But we could try what we can to keep our feelings out of the battlefield. But don't forget, we might have the obligation to fight, but we didn't choose to be Gundam pilots. We'll do our jobs, but there is life after war, and we shouldn't throw that away. We might have stumbled into this a bit early, but I know this won't disappear either."

Duo blinked, "I never thought I would have heard that from you..."

"... someone had to say it."

"Well, for what it's worth... I think we should cool it."

Heero's eyes widened, "What?"

"We shouldn't get so close that we don't know what we're doing. I'm afraid we'll cheapen what we have, and I'll do something I regret."

"You have a good head on your shoulders."

"Yes," Duo paused, "And I also know I want to not have a quickie, and I do want to live the sappy dream of getting married and growing old together."

"I do, too. If I wanted a quickie, I could go to anyone, I wouldn't have to sit here reasoning with you."

"But... but if you don't want a quickie, then that means we're together to get married, but I don't want to marry you now, or plan to marry you, or... I don't even know you so well, and--- I don't even know anything---"

"You're hysterical. Calm down." Heero crossed his arms and looked thoughtful, "There's a fine line between getting married and getting to know someone, and patience could help. You can look at it mathematically: if you get to know me now, by the time we're twenty, you would not have to waste time getting to know me because you'd already know me. Then when you make up your mind, which should probably be made up fairly easy since you already know me, we'd be married by age twenty-five. And since the average human lives eighty years, we'd have 55 years to grow old together and live in married bliss, not counting the happy years we spend getting to know each other."

Duo laughed, but clenched his fist at the same time and said, "It's not funny. Besides, you can't predict how I'll be years from now."

"Then let's wait and see. If you think you've found someone who makes you happier and brings you closer to the sappy dream, then leave me. I'm not happy if you're not happy. But for now, why don't we keep something nice alive? We might not be in love forever, but let's see how long we can keep things this wonderful. It may or may not become something, but you never know if you don't try. There'll always be risks you'll have to take, it's better to take them then spend all your life wishing you had taken them. What is the worst that could happen?"

"You could die."

"And so could you." Heero pointed out, "But that's a risk you'll have to take, especially if you want to live the 'sappy dream'."

Duo turned away and looked out the window, noting the 4 P.M. sun was shining meekly and a light rain was tapping on the windowpane. The weather was just as indecisive as he was. But that was going to change...

 

Heero was lying in bed half-asleep when I was awakened by something--- *someone*--- jumping onto the mattress like a wild animal. He sat up just as Duo jumped under the covers, grabbing the blanket like it was dear life itself.

"What was that for? Celebration for making up your mind?"

Duo's head poked out from under the white blanket, his eyes scanning the room before fixing on Heero's face, "I made up my mind. But THAT, that was for... Monsters."

Heero cocked his head, barely hiding a smirk, "Monsters?"

"Well, I don't *really* believe in them, I just fear that there's one right by the crack between the bed and the floor, and it'll suddenly grab me and---" Duo paused, noting he was sounding laughable, "Well, you know, horror is more about surprise than really scary things. I could look any bogeyman in the eye, I just hate being surprised."

Heero laughed quietly as Duo's head vanished under the covers again, and the mattress bounced up and down as he tried to make himself comfortable.

"You really shouldn't be telling people your fears..." Heero warned, his eyes betraying his serious tone.

Duo's head poked out of the blanket again, "Trust me, Heero, you couldn't scare me if you tried."

Then it vanished under the covers as quickly as it had come up.[3]

 

The sun shyly climbed unto the horizon, peeking at the new day unfolding.

Duo was awake early, staring at the boy who slept beside him before turning to the window, and the beautiful view that greeted his clear violet eyes.

"You're awake early." stated Heero, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

His voice was hushed by the morning, making it soothing.

"You wake up early if you're nervous." stated Duo.

"Still?"

"Yes. Don't give me that look. I told you, I've never been in love."

A slight rustling sound outside the window interrupted them, as Lance and Ash dropped into view on a dragon.

 

"We came to say goodbye." Ash said shyly.

"And to thank you for your help." Lance added.

Duo smiled, "Sorry if I was being a fury yesterday. I wasn't myself."

"Nonsense, we all have our down times." Lance smiled. "Well, it was nice meeting you, short as it was."

Ash tugged at Lance's sleeve. "We have to hurry, Lance..."

"It was nice to meet you, I hope we meet again," stated Heero, pleasantly.

"Me too." Ash said, taking Lance's hands. "Ready?"

"Ready." Lance agreed.

A brilliant beacon of blue light surrounded the two, and when it cleared, they were gone.

Duo turned to Heero, "Think we'll ever see them again?"

Heero shrugged, "Maybe."

 

3 Months Later...

Duo barely recognized Wufei as he jumped out of his Gundam’s cockpit.

"Nice hair."

Wufei brushed through his long ginger-orange hair, "You like?"

It wasn’t just the hair that was different... Wufei never wore black sweaters and snug formal jeans before, much less big black boots.

"Like it?" Duo paused to think, "Yes. But it looks very Treize-esque."

Wufei blinked, "I never looked at it that way before."

Usually, he would have appalled at being compared to Treize. But for some reason, he felt flattered as he added,"...But thanks either way."

 

Treize Khushrenada was not a man known for his restlessness. But he was restless no more... Zechs pondered darkly, staring at his former superior’s grave. He had died in battle a month ago, at the hands of Chang Wufei. It had been a planned death, those who knew Treize well figured that. Lady Une, deep down, knew that as well. The only thing Zechs regretted was never being able to confront his former flame, to find out the truth about the suspicions he had so long harbored. Now he wouldn’t have the chance.

"Rest in peace, Your Excellency."

 

"So how do you think their love turned out?"

"What brought this up all of a sudden?" Lance asked, looking up from his semi-recumbent position on his bed, a pen in one hand and a notepad in the other, giving the illusion of hard work.

"Just… curious."

"Curious…" Lance's eyes sparkled. "Well, what say you we satisfy that curiosity?"

"What?"

"I've got the coordinates for their location on my laptop." Lance said, pulling up a screen. "Shall we?"

Ash hesitated. It would be nice to see their kind-of-friends-slash-allies-for-a-few-hours, but… what about the consequences?

"No."

"You've grown up." Lance commented. "The Ash I knew before would jump in headfirst, no questions asked."

"Lance… I think… I think it was important for us to go to England. It wasn't so much relationship problems, but…"

"I understand." The Dragon Master said, as Ash flopped down next to him on the bed and hugged him.

In the grand scheme of themes, maybe our love doesn't matter… but it matters to me - to *us*.

Scenes change, places change, people change, relationships change. But you never know how things will turn out if you won’t and don’t try. Know what your goal is, and stop at nothing to achieve it.

The End

 

[1] Credit and kudos to Woodrow Wilson for that enlightening quote!

[2] Credit to Robert H. Schuller for this quote!

[3] Sappy, I know. But syrup has sap in it, and it goes good with pancakes. Thus, even sap is useful! - Roxy

 Cowritten with Roxanne de Winter

Phantomness’s notes!

Heh, I enjoyed writing this, no matter what I may say on the subject. And I’m *still* clueless about Gundam Wing…

Championshipping forever! ^-^

I have absolutely no idea which universe this takes place in within my fics pokemon-wise. I’d assume it’s one where Lance is male, has steel wings, knows Lugia’s his father, and knows the Dragon Dance, but that covers quite a few fics.

Guess what! Phantomness doesn’t own Gundam Wing!

Completed 12/8/04

I hope all my readers like it!

Phantomness & Muses: Ja ne!