(insert song: "Resort Girl" by Orikasa Ai)

At first Trunks was a little miffed at being wrenched from a life or death battle. He knew how easily little things screwed up time, being from the future and all. But after Riva assured him that they would be fine, and then broke the news to him that all he really did in the fight against Cell was die a miserable attacked-from-behind death, he was begrudgingly okay with things. Subaru did his best to comfort him, as the Omnyouji and the Saiyajin Warrior had clicked right from the start. That left Duo and Wufei to themselves. Or rather, it left Duo to himself and Wufei to himself. Wufei still hadn't quite accepted facts for what they were, and Duo found himself taking charge as unofficial leader as Riva once again left proclaiming she wasn't quite 'recouperated' yet. (True, the numerous bandages showing on her arms supported her claim)

At the moment, they were sitting around a fire with another group of travellers, as usual, their little quest was met with some amount of disbelief.

" So let me get this straight, " Lina Inverse said around a mouthful of fish, " You've only got one clue as to who you're looking for? "

It was true, they only had one clue;

" Purple hair. "

"Purple hair? " Duo echoed. He looked at Trunks and sweatdropped, " Don't tell me they're ALL gonna have purple hair from now on. "

Riva shook her head. " No no, silly. This is just a coincidence. Now off you go to LON-001.2. Bai bai! "

The only problem with said clue was that in the group of travellers they'd met there were two men with purple hair and one young girl who counted, since her black hair had purple in it. Riva had never said there was a limit on gender, and even if they were all male so far, if the purple hair was a coincidence...

One of the men in question was sitting up in a tree, holding his staff to his chest and smiling at Duo unnervingly. He wore a long black cape and baggy tan pants. His hair -- a deep violet like Riva's -- was cut pageboy style, hanging straight across his forehead and around his shoulders.

The other was a man made entirely of stone, with wild lavendar hair -- roughly the colour of Trunks' -- who wore off-white clothing and was currently nursing a mug of coffee he seemed to have pulled out of nowhere.

Lina, the girl who seemed to lead the whole party, looked at him and asked, " Whaddaya think Zel? "

Zelgadis looked at Lina, looked at Duo, looked at Lina again and said, " I think it's stupid. "

Duo's mind clicked. Pulling stuff from hammerspace, calling him stupid, and that voice. " Hiiro?! "

At the same time, Trunks clicked on the attitude and voice and exclaimed, " Paikuhan?! "

From the tree came a lilting voice that stated, " Maa, Zelgadis, I think it sounds like fun. "

Duo looked from Zelgadis to the tree and back again, deep in thought. One thought it was fun and the other thought it was stupid. Going by track records and the sanity factor that was apparant, Duo pointed at Zelgadis and said, " I think it's you! "

" I refuse. "

Wufei scoffed. " Good luck. "

From out of the blue a letter fluttered down and landed on Gourry's head. Everyone reacted to that so well. (They freaked)

" It's GOURRY?! " Lina demanded.

Duo spazzed and snatched the letter. " Did that girl LIE to us?! " He ripped open the letter.
 

  Dear Xellos Metallium
 I'm sending you on a journey with my companions here.
 Not necessarily to the west, but you are going in some
 sort of direction for some sort of purpose. I'm sure you'll
 enjoy it as much as the rest of them; but this is all I can
 tell you at the moment. I'm sending you with Duo, Wufei,
 Subaru, and Trunks to find the others.
 I hope that you will accompany me on this trip
  Sincerely, Riva Allard
 
 PS If you refuse, I will subject you to the folding metal chair
 and take you anyway. ^_^
 PPS Duo, you were taking too long, so I intervened. You have
 one minute before I send you all to Watase-Konan004

Xellos dropped from the tree and patted Zelgadis on the head. " Poor you, you don't get to go. "

Zelgadis grunted into his coffee.

" She wants Xellos?! " Lina sputtered incredulously. " Pfft, she can have him! "

Xellos pouted. " Linachan, I'm hurt. "

Gourry blinked in all confusion. So did Amelia.

Zelgadis stated, " One minute is up, " and before he finished, they were gone.

**

(insert song: "Love Me" by the Hong Kong Knife)

" Haaahhhhhhhhhh..... " Tasuki leaned over and lost all detail in his face. " I should have stayed on the mountain. "

Nuriko smacked him across the head. " Ba-ka! "

" Wanna make something of it, Nu~ri? "

Nuriko reached for the nearest table, but was thwarted as our protagonists appeared and landed smack dab on his head. They all tumbled down into a pile of bodies on the floor, upon which Tasuki blinked in confusion.

" More mikos? " he wondered aloud.

" Who're you calling a miko?! " " Get OFF me! " " Subaru, daijoubu? " " Quit asking and just get up! " " Hai. " " I'm warning you!! " " Maa~ " " Don't even say anything Xellos. " " Demo saa- " " Get OFF before I kill you!! "

Finally everything was sorted out and people got to their feet.

It was at that moment a man with long fushia hair burst in weilding a weapon with a blade on each end and... a cigarette? He took offensive stance and aimed first the cigarette, then the weapon (after realising his mistake) at the group. " I heard a lady scream!! " he declared.

Tasuki closed his eyes, leaned back, and said, " Nope, sorry, no ladies here. " This earned him another smack on the head.

Duo sighed immensely. " Oi, this just keeps getting better and better. "

The newcomer blinked at him in confusion. " Sanzou? "

" What is it Gojyo? " Sanzou asked, coming up behind him.

Wufei, Subaru, Trunks, and Xellos blinked at the blonde man in the kimono. " Duo? "

Duo scratched his head. " Huh? "

Confusion reigned in the room while Sanzou and Duo looked at each other. Eventually Duo 'meep'ed and fainted dead away.

**

(insert song: "Forest" by La'cryma Christi)

Duo groaned and opened his eyes to a darkened ceiling over his head. He could hear distant voices, but otherwise he seemed to be alone. Sitting up he tried to recall what had happened. They'd disappeared from LON, ended up in Watase-Konan, landed on some girl, been burst in upon by some guy, then another guy came and other guy was him but not him and... ugh. His head hurt. Bringing his hand down from his forehead, it made a crinkling sound as it hit paper. Duo picked up the paper and read;
 

  Dear Duo,
 It's become apparant to me that Watase-Konan has
 mixed with another dimension. It happens every once
 in awhile. It's called a crossover. Anyway, there is
 someone from the other dimension that I need you to
 recruit. There are two letters next to you on the other
 side. Please deliver them when you figure out who
 gets them.
 Oh, and Duo, fainting really is out of character for
 you, you might want to have Mitsukake look at you.
  Sincerely, Riva Allard

Duo didn't look very impressed when he finished reading. Sure enough, next to him were two sealed envelopes. Much as he tried, he couldn't see through the paper to read the names inside. He would have opened them if he wasn't afraid of whatever unsaid consequences would be delivered upon him if he did.

Duo moaned and flopped back down upon the pillow. He wanted to go home. He'd rather deal with a room full of Hiiros all glaring at him at once while 'Cry for the Dream' blared over a loudspeaker at max volume than keep going on this crazy quest. But the folding metal chair had looked damn uncomfortable. He couldn't back out even if he'd wanted to.

The door opened and someone entered, closing it behind him. " How are you feeling? "

Duo blinked at the shadowed figure. " Xellos? "

" Iie, " Hakkai said with a smile, " but it's true Xellos-san and I sound alike. My name is Cho Hakkai. You fainted before I arrived. "

" Oh... right... " Duo looked away. " I'm fine, really. Uh- my name is Duo. Duo Maxwell. "

Hakkai continued to smile. " Yoroshiku. "

" This bites. I mean really, we're on a quest for something that we don't even know! SHE doesn't even know! And then there's all these people sounding alike and Xellos making weird comments all the way here, and Subaru and Trunks getting along a little too well if you ask me and dammit why am I telling you all this? "

" People like telling me things. I'm a good listener. "

" Ah, sou... " Duo agreed.

" You're cute, " Hakkai told him, " You're like a younger, slightly happier Sanzou. "

" Yay for me, " commented the boy in question flatly.

**

(insert song: Sailormoon Battle BGM)

Duo and Hakkai entered the main room just as two things happened: a fight broke out for some reason or another between Tasuki and Goku, and a man with long gray-brown hair and feminine features entered from the other side.

" What's going on in here? " he asked. Five things responded to the sound of his voice.

" Zechs? " " Seishirousan? " " Again?! " " Rezo? " and " Hori-sama! "

All except for the five who shouted blinked in confusion. Duo could tell that this was going to be a recurring incident. There were just too many damn people that sounded like Zechs. It made it an even more good thing that Hiiro hadn't been included in this. The boy would have gone stark raving mad at the presence of this many Zechses. Duo snuck a glance at Wufei. At least nobody sounded like Treize yet. (hah!)

Duo gripped the letters tighter and took stock of everyone in the room. Two of these people were adressees of said letters. But who? Even if he took out the people who had arrived with him. That still left Hakkai and the three people travelling with him, as well as the woman they'd landed on, the firey-haired one, and the pseudo-Zechs. How was he supposed to choose?!

Through it all, one thought prevailed: I hate Riva...

**

(insert song: "Everyone was Hungry" from Slayers)

The other unfortunate thing about the new person meant that Duo had to explain the whole thing over again. Only this time he had to deal with inputted insults, inputted opinions, and complaints about being hungry. Eventually both Duo and Sanzou reached the ends of their tempers and yelled for everyone to shut up... in unision.

" Kowai! " Nuriko declared.

Next to him, Gojyo had his arm around Nuriko's shoulders and commented, " Scary as hell, I agree. " Gojyo knew Nuriko was a man, but that didn't exactly deter him.

" Oi, " Duo grumbled at Sanzou.

" Nan da? " Sanzou grumbled back.

Duo shoved a letter at him. " Betcha this is yours. "

Sanzou took the letter and opened it. He quickly skimmed it. " You're wrong. " He jerked his head at Tasuki, " It's his. "

Tasuki blinked. " ... mine? "

Sure enough, the letter was adressed to Tasuki and cited the same message. They'd found one, now the only question was who the other letter was for.

" Well, " said Trunks reasonably, " It would have to be for one of these four, right? Since Tasuki is from Watase-Konan. "

Subaru nodded in agreement.

Goku looked up from his food and wondered, " But which one of us? "

A slow smile spread across Gojyo's face. " You say this Riva is a woman, eh? "

" Well, yeah, " Subaru said.

" I'd say 'girl' more like it. She's awfully short, " Duo pointed out. (-_- gee thanks)

Gojyo leaned forward and snatched the other letter from Duo. " If a woman is involved, then there's no question the letter is for me. What woman in her right mind would want these three? Er, well, no offense Hakkai, but I draw more nice gals than you. Goku's a stupid monkey- "

" HEY! Who're you calling a stupid monkey? Erokappa! " Goku shouted in indignation.

Gojyo smiled and continued regardless, " -and Sanzou's Sanzou. Logic dictates the letter is for me. " He began to tear the envelope open. A quick read and his face fell. He scoffed. " Well whaddaya know. " He turned the paper around and teased with a big smile. " Sanzou-sama, you lady killer. "

Duo fumed. He'd been right in the first place.

Sanzou didn't look too impressed. " Ore...? "

" Hasn't anyone ever told you logic is overrated, Gojyo? " questioned Riva, sitting suddenly on the other side of him from Nuriko. Smiling in the way that made Duo and Wufei instantly aprehensive she cheerily gave them their next destination, " Tokyo version 108.1. Ikimasu! "

**

Next Chapter: Capture the Song Card! Beware of ASK!