A multi-crossover fanfic. "Anime Jam" By Julian Soullard (e-mail: jnsoullard@hotmail.com) All of these series have there own respective author and company. I'm not implying that I created or own such series, I don't even want to think what would happen to me if took credit for creating them. Anyway, there are so many companies and authors that I won't even bother in telling you which one is which. The only thing that needs to be perfectly and absolutely clear is that they're not mine and I'm not making ANY financial profit out of this and don't plan to make any in the future, so please don't sue me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AND NOW, ON WITH... Chapter 2: Like putting all the eggs in one basket. At Tokyo's bus station, two weeks after all the contestants received their invitations, we see a group of four people apparently waiting for something or someone. Two of them are girls who appear to be around fourteen years old, a redhead with her hair tied up in a long pigtail and a girl with long blue fair hair, each one using a school uniform the same color as their hair. Next to them, there's a tall man dressed in black and with short black hair. The other guy is almost as tall as the first, only with light brow hair and is dressed in a white shirt and green jeans. He also seems to be a couple of years younger than the other guy. "Fuu is going to be late if she doesn't hurry up." Hikaru brought out as she consulted her wrist watch "I hope she'll make it." "Don't worry so much." Lantis commented "Ferio and her are probably sightseeing, they'll be here on time." "You really look good using earthly clothes." Umi told Ascott, not very worried of her companion's delay. "You really think so?" Ascott asked nervously while scratching the back of his head "I thought it would be best if I didn't attract too much attention with my normal clothing." "By the way, where did Mokona run off to?" Hikaru questioned "I can't see it anywhere." "Now that you mention it," Umi noticed "where did that walking marshmallow go?" "Here they come now." Lantis pointed out to a young couple further away. The other three turned around to locate them. Both Ferio and Fuu were walking towards them while holding hands. Fuu was dressed in her usual green school uniform; Ferio, on the other hand, was wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a couple of sneakers as well. Probably thinking of the same situation Ascott did about being seen in a flashy outfit. "Are we late?" Fuu asked her friends once she reached them. "Not really." Hikaru said to her "It isn't time yet, but what took you so long anyway?" "We were just hanging around some stores." Ferio responded while showing their shopping bags "I guess we lost track of time." "So you were only shopping?" asked Umi a little suspicious "You didn't took advantage of your little private moment, did you?" That remark only managed to make both Fuu and Ferio blush. Fortunately, Ascott acted fast enough to bail his friends out of trouble. "You know guys, maybe we should go and wait for the bus at the gate." he stated in order to change the subject "Just in case it shows up early." "Er... yeah, good idea." Ferio declared "Let's go!" as he hurried towards the gate while still holding Fuu by the hand. "I don't get it." Hikaru asked "What were you talking about *having some time on their own*? Why were they blushing?" "I'll... explain it to you later..." Umi said while putting an arm around her shoulder "[The girl can be so dense by times.] C'mon, let's go search for Mokona." At the gate where some of the contestants were supposed to wait for the bus, another group awaited for their transportation. A teenage girl with short brown hair wearing her beige school uniform, a boy around the same age with medium length black hair wearing a red T-shirt and white trousers, a guy around twenty to thirty years old with long blond hair wearing black trousers, white shirt and a blue overcoat. A woman around that same age with short blond hair wearing a white summer dress, and a short girl who appeared to be half-cat half-human with a pink dress. All of them with their respective luggage in hand. "This place is so unlike Gaia." Allen commented "It really isn't as I imagined it." "I really would've liked bringing my sword along." Van brought out "This place looks like a jungle. I can't say I feel very comfortable being here." "Don't worry, Van." Hitomi told him "After all, it's a small price to pay to get a wish. You'll get the hang of it soon enough. More importantly, I hope you guys got the rules sorted out." "This basketball sport isn't as anything I've seen in Gaia before." Serena said "But it looks really fun. I'm sure we'll have a great time during the tournament." "It's nice to see you so enthusiastic about it, Serena-san." Hitomi stated to her while smiling. "Hey, everyone!" Meruru declared as she showed her friends a strange little fat bunny with a ruby on it's forehead "Look what I found." "What's that thing?" Van asked. "I don't know." Hitomi said intrigued "I've never seen such a thing here on Earth before." "Pu Pu!" "And it makes noises too." Serena added "It's so cute!" "Meruru, you didn't steal this from someone, did you?" Van asked her. "Of course not, Van-sama." Meruru replied "I found it among the crowd. I think it's lost. Can I keep it? Pleeeeaase!" "Maybe it already has an owner." Hitomi brought out. "You're always contradicting me, Hitomi." she said as she stuck out her tongue at her. "Meruru; why don't we go and buy something to eat for your pet until someone claims it." Serena suggested "My treat." "Sure!" Meruru accepted joyfully, along with the fat little rabbit who seemed to understand what they were saying. "Just don't take too long." Allen told his sister "The bus might get here any minute now." "We won't be long." As Serena and Meruru went towards a snack bar, Hitomi and Van approached Allen who was still looking at Serena before she disappeared among the crowd. "You're sister is so kind, Allen-san." Hitomi remarked. "It's even hard to think that she once was Dilandou." Van added. "Van!" Hitomi complained as she elbowed Van for his lack of tact. "There's no need to worry, Hitomi." Allen reassured her "Whatever Zaibach once did to her is now part of the past. I'm very happy for finding my sister after so long, and right now, not even the sad stories from the past can take away this happiness." "And hasn't she changed back into Dilandou sometimes?" Van asked, still with an incredible lack of tact. "Actually, it's quite rare when she does that." Allen responded apparently not upset by the question "I think it's just a matter of time before she overcomes it completely." "Excuse me..." said a voice behind them, as the three of them turned around, they saw Hikaru and her friends next to them "Wouldn't you know by any chance if this is where the bus going to UBT. will be coming?" "Yes, it is." Hitomi answered "Are you going to be in the tournament?" "Yes." she responded. "Good, that means we're in the right place." "You'll be in it too?" Fuu asked. The three nodded at them. "I suppose we're waiting for the same bus." Allen stated. "Pu Pu!" "Hun?" Hikaru asked as she turned to the noise origin. Up ahead she saw Serena and Meruru heading towards them while this last one was holding Mokona in her arms "Mokona-chan! There you are!" The fluffy fat bunny immediately jumped out off Meruru's arms to Hikaru's once it recognized her "Where were you? You had us all worried." "Is it yours?" Serena asked her "Meruru found it near the gate." "Thanks a lot." Hikaru declared "By the way, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Hikaru Shidou, These are my friends: Umi Ryuusaki, Fuu Hououji, Lantis, Ferio and Ascott." pointing to each one of her friends according to their names. "Nice to meet you." Hitomi stated "My name is Hitomi Kanzaki. This is Van Fanel, Allen and Serena Schezar, and this is Meruru." Everyone briefly said hi. No one knew exactly what to say next, after all, this tournament thing was rather weird and either one of the two teams knew exactly how to approach the subject. "So..." Umi started "Do you know anything about this UBT business?" "Well..." Hitomi responded almost knowing in advance what was going to be her question "Nothing much really. Besides the fact that they're organizing everything and offering a wish for the winner of the tournament." "I don't think any of the other contestants know much about our host either." Fuu stated. "Everything looks more like a practical joke the way I see it." Van declared. "That thought crossed our mind too." Ferio added "But I think there's only one way to find out. And that's being part of the contest." "Well in that case," Allen said "good luck in the tournament. Let the best team win." "Good luck to you too." Lantis proclaimed. "What intrigues me is the fact that this organization knows so much about us." Ascott brought out. "Same with us." Hitomi went on "I can't imagine how they found out about Gaia." "Gaia?" Fuu asked intrigued. Hitomi then noticed her mistake by speaking about Gaia. Still, her four other friends didn't seemed disturbed by her mentioning their home planet. After all there was nothing to feel ashamed of. "Gaia is our home world." Serena told them as if it was something absolutely normal. "You guys are from another world?" Hikaru asked. "All of us except Hitomi." Meruru responded. "Well, at least it's nice to see we're not the only ones." Ascott declared. "Don't tell me that you guys..." "Yup." Ferio interrupted "Lantis, Ascott and I are from Cephiro." "No kidding?" Van asked with a certain amount of disbelief. "How wonderful." Fuu stated "Imagine what coincidence in finding another group coming from another world like ours." "So, how does Gaia looks like?" Ascott asked. "Well, basically..." Serena was about to say when suddenly a bus drove by and parked next to where both teams were having their chat. At the bus' flanks the letters U, B and T were inscribed. "I suppose that's our ride." Lantis remarked. As the doors from the bus opened, a woman around twenty to thirty years old was revealed sitting on the driver's seat. She had shoulder length brown hair and was wearing a uniform that consisted in a white shirt, blue blazer, blue miniskirt and blue cap which clearly identified her as a guide of some sort. Although conservative, the uniform had a hard time hiding the woman's physical attributes. Once the bus was stationary, the girl got out of the bus to receive her passenger. "Good afternoon!" she said to both teams "You must be the competitors I was asked to take to our facilities." All of them nodded in approval. The men however, had to make a special effort in not staring at her too long in order to avoid their female companions from getting jealous and/or upset. "Allow me to introduce myself." she began "I'm Cutey Honey, but everyone calls me Honey. I'll be your driver to UBT's sport center." Hitomi raised an eyebrow when the driver introduced herself. She sure had a "peculiar" name. But after all, names like "Meruru", "Ferio", "Ascott", "Lantis" and "Van" weren't very usual either. So she really didn't give it much thought. Honey stepped inside the bus again and took out a clipboard from next to the drivers seat. By doing so she obviously had to bend down showing off her rear. The five men conveniently took their sight elsewhere. Lantis suddenly took an amazing interest in watching the floor, Allen took his sight towards his shoulder and began shaking off with his hand whatever unexistent dust his shirt had, Ferio began to consult his wristwatch (even though he didn't have one), Ascott admired the structure of the station's roof and Van pretended a sudden neck ache which swiftly made him turn his sight somewhere else. Once Honey stepped out of the bus with her clipboard, she started to check the number of passengers she had on her list with the number of people that were in front of her. After checking, her sight hardened as if something wasn't right. "We're missing a team here." she said. Her passengers took a look around seeing if one of their teammates was missing. "Our team is complete." Hitomi stated. "So is ours." Hikaru added. "There's supposed to be three teams for the ride." Honey explained "And there's only two of you." "We didn't see any other team while being here." Allan pointed out. "I suppose we can wait a few minutes for them to show up." Honey declared while looking at her watch "I just hope they won't take too long. I have a schedule to keep." "Well I'm taking a seat in the meantime." Meruru made clear as she jumped inside the bus in a cat-like way "Wow! This place is so cool from the inside!" "Guess there's no point in waiting outside." Umi told her friends as she went inside the bus as well. About five minutes had passed and everyone except Honey decided to go inside the bus and take a seat. Both teams went on with their chat that was interrupted by the bus' arrival. Oddly, they noticed that Gaia and Cephiro were very similar, except for some little details that is. After all, both world were magical in a certain way and both seemed to have just come out of some sort of crisis. The war with Zaibach in Gaia, and the restitution of the Pillar in Cephiro. Actually, everyone was getting along quite well. Honey decided, after waiting another two minutes, to step inside the bus. "Looks like they're not coming." she declared as she took the driver's seat "Might as well go." she turned on the engine and shifted the gear to reverse when suddenly she heard a voice shouting from outside the gate. "WAIT!!" said the girl with long blond hair tied up in two ponytails "Don't go!" Honey stopped the bus. After turning off the engine and opening the door, she stepped outside with her clipboard. In front of her were five teenage girls and a guy in his early twenties. Two of the girls were blondes, one with the "buns" on her head who made the bus stop earlier and another one with long lank hair tied up by a red ribbon. A tall brunette with her hair tied up in a ponytail. Another one with long raven black hair, and the last one with short blue hair. The guy had short black hair and was rather good looking (but then again, all of Honey's male passengers were good looking so she wasn't too impressed). "Well, you sure took your time." Honey made clear "We were going to leave without you." "Sorry..." Rei said while regaining her breath, apparently all of them had to race to the bus station "But *someone* set us back." as she glared at Usagi. "I already said I'm sorry!" Usagi repeated. "Anyway," Honey went on "I think you should better get on the bus now. We're already late." "Okay." As the six of them went to there seats, the four "love hungry girls" (yes, I'm including Usagi even though she already has a boyfriend. I'm not talking about Ami) just couldn't avoid noticing that their male bus companions from the other two teams were considerably attractive. The bus finally departed from the bus station after everyone was inside and in a couple of minutes they were in the highway. Since the bus allowed only two persons sitting next to each other, the couples were as following: Usagi with Mamoru, Makoto with Ami, Minako with Rei, Van with Hitomi, Allen with Serena, Hikaru with Lantis, Umi with Ascott, Fuu with Ferio and Meruru was sitting with Mokona while playing. "Hey Rei." Minako started "Take a look at the hunk over there." as she pointed at Lantis. "I'm looking, I'm looking!" she responded almost drooling "He's sooo dreamy!" "Girls..." Artemis stated as he got out of Minako's backpack "Remember we're here to learn how this organization found out about your secret identities. There's no time for chasing after guys." "Stop being such a spoil sport Artemis." Minako told him "It's not as if we can't have some fun during this tournament." "That's right." Rei added "We could meet some very interesting people in this contest." [I'll bet...] Artemis thought imagining the Senshi going after every good looking guy in the tournament "Anyway, don't you think that he's a little too old for you." "That didn't stop Usagi." both said simultaneously. "Well... yeah, okay." he admitted "But then maybe that girl next to him is his girlfriend." "No way!" Minako replied "She looks much too young." "She looks more or less the same age you girls are." "She must be his younger sister." Rei commented. Artemis took another look at the couple they were discussing about. At that moment, Hikaru snuggled closer to Lantis who gently responded to the gesture by a kiss in her lips. Artemis then turned to see his two companions faces who, all of the sudden, seemed to have lost their previous smile. "Well if she's his sister," he joked "then he *really*, *REALLY* likes her." "Shut up!" Minako told him as she pushed the cat back in her backpack.