Disclaimer: All the authors and readers that appear in this side story own themselves.  Original characters that appear belong to their respective creators.  And all anime characters that appear belong to their respective series, companies, and creators as well.  Any nods and references mentioned over the course of this document belong to their original sources.

Author's Notes: Thank you everyone for making the Mole 2 Side Stories just as accepted as the AS Side Stories!  To let you know, I have been getting some positive feedback for the mailing list and cameo offers.  I hope to gain a few more names for both lists.  For those who are still asking for cameos, like I said, those offers will be accepted via the review system; so leave your name, e-mail address, and of course, your cameo request.  Chosen ones will be contacted via e-mail.

The Mole 2: AE - Side Story 2

Yawning and rubbing the sore spots that were received from sleeping in such closed quarters, the authors and anime characters got up and gathered round the small dining table for breakfast.

Being one of the oldest ones there, Yamato was given a chance to navigate the early morning route.

"Why do I have to do it?  And as this early in the morning?" groaned the former astronaut.

Tenchi clapped him on the back.  "It's dark enough outside to still see the stars, so think of it this way: it's like being back on a rocket ship!"

Yamato looked at the boy incredulously.  "Don't tell me you've been to Mars too..."

"No!  No!  I've just flown past it a few times.  Never actually stopped there."

Yamato slapped his forehead.

Nabiki abruptly slammed on the brakes, causing everyone to jolt forward a little bit.  She looked back at the group and frowned, waiting for her substitute.  "I could fall asleep at the wheel... Anyone gonna take over now?"

Tired eyes turned on the Ishida male.

Resigning into defeat, Yamato climbed into the driver's seat, muttering, "I get no respect."

Settling herself before one of the available table seats, Nabiki took a simple serving of the simple eggs and pancakes going around the place.

While the meal progressed, Adam looked over to her sleepily.  He lazily waved a folded up map in her face.  "So, would you care to share with the group where we're going?"

Wrapping up her napkin, she said, "I'll do even better.  I'll show you who we'll meet as well!"  Whipping out a small leather bound agenda, she flipped through the booklet and placed it flat out on the table for all to see.  She pointed at the box containing the day's date.

Scoul: Cosplay Costume Challenge - Sora Ishida, helper.

That was what was written on the page in black ink.

Taichi let out a small gasp at that, attracting some suspicious looks his way.  Looks that seemed to say, Still not over her, eh?

The authors, ironically not paying any mind to the coupling speculation, were poring over the map.  Adam found where Scoul, Switzerland was and pointed at the location.

"We'll be heading there today."

"We're going to need some help," said Mei.

Shinju held out her palm and managed a puff of magenta smoke from her hand.  "Sorry, but if I had my DP thingy, we could contact a bunch of people at once!"

They all looked at Star.  She wasn't paying attention to the conversation, instead she was furiously pushing random buttons on the thing.  "Where's the self-destruct?  Where is it?"

Realizing the importance of the tool in her hands... they jumped her and restrained her.

"Get off me!  This isn't funny!"

"Don't destroy that thing!" cried Adam as he pinned her arms.  He tried to wrest the device from her hand.

Mei and Shinju each held onto a leg.  "Don't do it Star!"

Hayama and Takato, seeing the opportunity the splayed out authoress presented, decided to jump onto her midsection.  "Yes, yes, we need that," Hayama said monotonously while trying to cop a feel.

He, and Takato, was warded off with a shot from Sana's cute little red and yellow croquet mallet.

Adam still continued to coax her.  "C'mon, do us all a favour and make some calls to help us along the way.  If it'll make you feel any better, I know some people and I can call them using my AA toys."

She stopped struggling.  "Fine.  Just as long as it doesn't involve calling him."

He loosened his hold.  "I wouldn't dream of it."

Shinju and Mei did the same thing.  They both helped Star get back on her feet.

The four looked at each other and nodded at once.

"Let's make some calls."

===

At some point on the trip, there was bound to be a mass pit stop made.  While Nabiki refueled, everyone who couldn't wait for the RV bathroom made a run inside; and those who were hungry decided to stop and have something to eat and drink.

Taichi found an opportune time to call his wife using his cell phone.

"No, I'm not on business, I'm just traveling with a bunch of old friends... I'm remembering the old times- it's like they haven't changed a bit!"  Taichi quickly covered up the phone, "Which scares me half to death."  He resumed the conversation.  "I'll be home in a few weeks.  Heck, if you have time, you can stop by... I'm sure they'd love to see him... yeah it's great.  Yamato's here, and we're just having a blast.  We replaced the tea they were serving with Schnapp's... no I don't think any of the kids drank it."

Taichi was immediately proven wrong as an obviously drunk Satoshi stumbled by.  "Go Hikaru!  Fight and win!  Be the best Angel you can be, and we will dominate in Angelic Layer!"

Tomoyo had to catch this on her camcorder.

"So I'll, uh, call you back sometime... No, I don't know when... Yeah, I love you too, bye."  Taichi quickly hung up and shook his head.

"So was that Sora?"  Tomoyo's forwardness had caused Taichi to drop the phone, which was immediately stepped on the pavement by the still inebriated Satoshi.

"Hikaru!  Quick attack!  Speed is an advantage for lightweight types!"

Taichi ignored Satoshi and turned to Tomoyo.  "W... why'd you think it was Sora?!  That was my wife!"

"Oh... I thought you married Sora."

Taichi was getting aggravated at the thought.  "Are... you still being the Mole?"

"You looked so good together."  Tomoyo was turning on the cute reflections, which were driving Taichi to the edge.

"Jeez- there was nothing *ever* between me and Sora.  I don't know where people keep getting that idea."

Unfortunately for Taichi, Adam, who had been thoroughly enjoying Satoshi's drunken rendition of Angelic Layer had overheard that.  "Nothing, Taich?  I just don't believe that."

"Why not?  What is it about me and Sora that..."

"Look, look, Taichi- there's an easy way to settle this."  Adam smiled, adjusted his glasses, and continued, "I've been with the AA for a couple years now, and they've got a whole bunch of nifty toys that they ain't telling you about.  I know for a fact that Manny's got a device with him that actually measures romantic tension.  Sora's helping out with one of the challenges today, and knowing Manny they'll dump her on the street like everybody else.  When we pick her up, we'll try that thing out- we'll see if there's really nothing between you two."

Taichi was obviously nervous, but accepted the challenge.

Then, Mei walked up to Adam holding a tea cup in her hand.  She made a strange face as she approached him and held the cup up under his nose.

"Arp, this tea tastes funny.  I don't know if it's just me, but... can you take a sip?"

"Uh... are you sure you just made a bad batch?"

"I didn't make it.  Taichi and Yamato did! *sigh* *ahem* Anyways, I don't know if tea turns rotten, but it sure tastes like it.  It looks like Satoshi is hallucinating from food poisoning..."

Satoshi stumbled by again with his drunken mutterings about Angelic Layer and pokemon.

Deciding to clear himself from the blast zone, Arpulver left before he'd have a chance to sip some of the spiked tea.  Besides, he needed to make a call as well... he did remember meeting an enthusiastic fan who might want to help out in this kind of occasion...

He held the cell phone to his ear.  "Hello, Flower Cannon?"  He smiled at the surprise in her voice.  "I don't mind contacting a fan every once in a while.  In fact, I was wondering, would you like to go on a trip?  Glad that you'd love to do it.  I'd hate to say this though; you're gonna have to find your own way to meet us in Scoul.  Think you can make it?"

Adam pulled away to shield his ears from the squeal of joy.  "I'll take that as a yes," he yelled into the receiver then hung up.

Finished, he wandered into a corner to find Star talking on the DP3 with an old colleague.

"Hey Donnie, I was wondering if you could do me a favour..."

"A favour?  You've gotta tell me first before I agree to anything."

"I'm sure you've noticed now I'm missing from the Safari Zone."

"Yeah, and soon I will be too."

"Then that might work into my plans.  I was wondering if you could come over to Europe and help me and Adam get around.  The AA left us and a few of the Mole contestants behind..."  She made a nervous face, not wanting to get into the details.

"Sorry Star.  I'd love to go there, really, I would, but I'm busy with the Quad-R.  But, I can send someone in my place..."

"Really?  Whoever he is, can you send him to meet us over in St. Moritz, Switzerland?"

"Sure thing!  Hey, maybe if I can get some time off, I can join you guys over there."

"That sounds great.  See ya!"

"Keep me informed if any pairings come about!  Bye!"

The calls taken care of, it was time to hop back into the RV and resume their ride.

===

It was another typical day at the HQ of "Donald's Second Generation Parodies."  Sam was at the com desk taking calls from and giving them too potential sponsors, the crew and new reporters were getting briefed, and...

"ALL RIGHT!  Take THAT Gymshippers!  Ha!"  Tom was in ANOTHER frenzy having to do with Pokemon.  This time, it was about the pairings issue and the recent episode of Johto League Champions.  It seemed that Breedershipping was alive and very healthy, increasing the odds of Pokeshipping.

James Slica sighed.  He and his boss, Donald, were in agreement that it would be premature to call AAML "Pokeshipping" until it was verified, on account of the fact that the name defines the primary coupling in the series.  Instead, they either referred to it as Saka-, the Rocket favorite "Twerp-", or, the boss's personal favorite, "Stormshipping".  When he presented it, the boss went on a 15 minute dissertation on how it WOULD be accurate to term the pair as a "Thunderstorm."

At the moment, Donald was out in the Pokemon world assisting Survivor Globie, though he'd be back around the time that Issue 2 would start being recorded.  It would be in mid-season, so it'd be time sensitive.  Anyway, Jim was monitoring the watch board and comp to see if he could find some more fics.  Yesterday, he spotted a Dr. M who was about to complete one Survivor fic, and had just announced an unprecedented four upcoming ones.

Suddenly, Sam entered the room.  "Mr. Marco wishes to speak with you."

With that, Jim allowed Sam to lead him to the video phone.

===

"So, what did you want to call me about?  You're not one to gloat over your assignments."

"No.  But speaking of which, I have an assignment for you."  Donald described the assignment...

"WHAT?!?!  You want me working with that... that... witch!?"

"She's not a witch.  She's just a little over-furious when angered.  As you no doubt understand."

"Don't remind me..." said the co-host as he rubbed the back of his head as a reflex.  The injury at the half-time show, though long healed, was still as sharp in his memories as if it occurred last week.

"Anyway," continued Donald, "all I really need are an interview with Tomoyo on what she thinks of this season of Adam's work, as well as possibly an interview with Adam himself on the use of multiple dimentia for characters."

"What about Washu?"

"If she's been eliminated, you can interview her instead.  But you still have to interview Tomoyo."

Jim thought for a moment.  "All right.  If it's just two interviews, I shouldn't be too much trouble.  But being with... HER all that time..."

"Oh, don't worry.  You'll be extracted around the same time I'll be extracted from here.  But the Tomoyo interview is time sensitive.  It HAS to be done either one or two days before you leave.  Any earlier and it becomes dated.  And we can't push back Issue Two much more than we already are.  Oh, and you will be given a generic crew and equipment."

"Thanks.  I don't want to have to rely on HER whims, and the only quality AA stuff is probably already in use.  If they have any left."

"I think you'd be right.  Have Sam arrange the travel orders.  I'd do it myself, but I may be called at any time..."  As if to illustrate the point, Donald looked over his shoulder as if he was listening to a PA at his location.  "Oops... gotta go.  Make the Quad-R proud, Jim."

"I will, boss," said Jim as he terminated the link.  He looked around for a minute.  It would be nice to get out of the office every once in a while.  Heck, maybe I could even have an adventure.  Sam's competent enough to keep the studio from blowing up or pushing red.  And Tom, well... at least he isn't as bad as Mr. Edwards of AA.  But still, having to work with *Star Otaku*?  The wielder of the Lunch Bag?  Oy vey...

===

Sora Ishida finished arranging the racks and racks of Coplay Catalogue costumes.  She turned to Barb Bresnick and bowed.

"Thank you for having me here Ms. Bresnick.  It was great to try out some samples on the contestants.  I'm glad that some of them enjoyed them!"

"Actually, the pleasure's all ours.  Except for Keitaro here."  She nodded at the incapacitated contestant, now stripped of his Pikachu costume.  "If you don't mind, I better get him back to the others."

Sora plaintively waved at the hostess dragging the Hinata Inn manager by the collar.  Then a thought crossed her mind.

"How will I get home?"

Suddenly, a girl approached her.  She was shortish in height, with long red-brown-blonde hair and blue eyes.  The girl smiled brightly and held her hand out in greeting.

"Mrs. Ishida?  My name is Flower Cannon, and I couldn't help but hear about your predicament."

"Were you sent here by the AA?"

Flower just kept smiling.  "Oh... you could say that.  In fact, I think the Animation Alliance is sending some people here at this very moment."

Sora sighed slightly.  "That's a relief."

"In fact, why don't I wait with you?"

"Thank you!  I just hope that they don't take too long."

"Trust me, I'm sure they're on their way."

===

Nabiki stopped at a short distance from the challenge site, where she allowed everyone else to get out and stretch.

Inside, Adam was rifling through the motor home, trying to find something.

The official driver leaned against the driver side door and looked into the window to see the author rifling through the glove compartment.

"What're you looking for?" she asked.

"I was wondering if Manny left behind any AA toys in here..."

"Well, he said something about safekeeping some bag," she managed to slip out.

He was interested.  "Where?"

"I think I'll need something to help refresh my memory..."

"Oh.  I'm sure many have danced this dance before."

"It seems that since I'm helping you and your friends when I'm not supposed to... I should be compensated.  Unless, the Animation Alliance happens to hear about the trouble you're stirring up..."

"That's extortion."

"I prefer to think of it as insurance."

"Three thousand yen is all I have."

She held out her hand and moved the fingers inward together, in a come on motion.  "Upfront."

Arp reached into his pockets, grumbling.  He forked it over and Nabiki pointed to a compartment underneath the passenger's seat.  Bending over, he searched the compartment until he found what he was looking for.

In his hands he held a small device in his hand.  It was a hand-held box-like machine; it had an on-off switch, a small antennae, and a meter with an arrow settled in the left and would rotate to the right if anything was detected.

With the romantic tension meter in his possession, he'd be sure to win the bet.

===

Flower Cannon was bored.  She was sitting with Sora for hours and she didn't know when Arpulver and the rest would arrive.

Deciding to give them a call and see if they were running late, she brought out her Extra-Spiffy, Lean and Mean, Pink and Green Vintage Mimi Purse.

She was about to pull out her cell phone when she saw a motor home parked a few ways away from their location.  A few figures were gathered around it, and from the few she recognized, she saw the familiar Taichi and Yamato.

"Mrs. Ishida, I think your ride has arrived.  Follow me, please."

===

Taichi was talking to his friend.  He remembered that he had driving duty that morning, so he wasn't able to see the expected surprise.  "Listen, Yamato, since we're here, I'm going to have to warn you that there is the possibility we'll be running into Sora."

Yamato paled.  "Her?!  Not here!  Not now!"

"Look!  You'll be fine.  There's the smallest, slightest possibility we may run into her.  So calm down.  She might have lucked out and the AA is giving her a ride home and she'll be long gone by now!"

Yama smiled.  "You're right.  I mean, if she did get a ride, I wish it was me instead of her, but I'd rather not have her terrorizing you guys!"

Tomoyo and Sakura were running up to the grown men.

"There are two red headed girls coming our way," reported Sakura.

"Yeah, and since one of them is much older and wearing a kimono, I think that's Sora," said Tomoyo.

"Why don't you go and say hi to her Taichi?  Don't forget too, Yama!"

Yama gave out an "Eep!" and cuffed Taichi across the head.  "That's for being wrong!"

"Ow!  Can't you leave the fights in the past?  Hide in the motor home and I'll talk to Sora.  Keep an eye out and then you can emerge when the coast is clear."

He did as he was told and left.

Sakura and Tomoyo looked a little confused, shrugged, and then went off to their own little corner.

Fast approaching was Flower Cannon and Sora.

"Right this way Mrs. Ishida!  I'm sure you might see a few familiar faces, one in particular."

When they arrived, Flower looked around for Yama so that the fun could begin.  Unfortunately, it was obvious he wasn't there.  The only Chosen Child left there was Taichi.  It wasn't going to be just as fun.

Leaving Sora to chat with Taichi, she decided to walk around.  She found Adam Pulver, Star Otaku, Shinju Meg Uchuno, Mei Hanaiki and Tomoyo huddled behind the RV, peering over the corner to catch a glimpse of Taichi and Sora chatting.

Adam was pointing a small device at the two while the girls crowded around him.

"It's not working.  Maybe it ran out of power," suggested Star.

"No, no... these things aren't supposed to," answered Adam.

"And you'd know how?" mused Mei.

Shinju reached over and gave the thing a whack.

Adam pulled it away from her.  "Hey!  The AA invests a lot of money in these things... and I don't want to lose what more I already have..."

"This is interesting," Flower said to herself.  She joined the authors.  "Mr. Pulver, thanks for giving me a chance to meet the characters here."

"Oh, well, you're welcome."

Shinju decided to explain things to the newcomer.  "If you're wondering what we're doing, we're trying to see if there's anything going on between Taichi and Sora using this romantic tension meter."

"Cool," Flower said, then joined the group in observing Taichi and Sora.

"So we're just here to pick up the contestants, not challenge helpers.  Sorry about that."

"It's okay.  I mean, I do have the money to buy myself a ticket home.  Or I can just sit tight and wait for the AA to pick up the pieces."

Taichi gave a small chuckle.  "Yeah, maybe they'll do that."

Sora turned around and was ready to leave.  She looked behind at Taichi and smiled.  "It was nice talking to you again."

He gave her a small wave in return.  "It was nice talking to you too."

As soon as Sora was out of the picture, he turned to the authors, "Well?"

"This thing's gotta be broken.  That was Taiora.  There is nobody out there that can say it wasn't Taiora."  Arp was adamant.

"It wasn't Taiora."  Taichi cracked a smile.

"Let me see here..."  Adam wanted a closer look, while Taichi enjoyed his victory.

"Give it up Arp!"

"It's broken, it should have at least picked up something!"  Arp grabbed the indicator and started holding it around, trying to see if anything was wrong with it.

Meanwhile Taichi drummed up his best Bill Clinton impersonation.  "I did not have sexual tensions with that woman!"

"Oh, shut up!"

Sakura, curious about the commotion, joined Tomoyo and the group.  She noticed the needle rise slightly.  "Hey, it's picking something up," she observed.

A confounded Adam looked for the source, and found the clearest readings- Tomoyo and Sakura.

"I'll be damned, " swore Shinju.

Tomoyo laughed nervously, as Sakura backed away from her.

"Ha!  There's more romantic tension between Sakura and Tomoyo than there is between me and Sora.  I love it!"  Taichi was enjoying this.

"Hey, Taich', she gone?"  Yamato was hiding under the RV, waiting for his wife to leave.

"Yep!"  Taichi gave the all clear, and Yamato climbed back out.  Yamato and Taichi high-fived.

"Sweet!  Let's go see if we can get Satoshi drunk enough to think he's in Yu-Gi-Oh!"

"All right!"  Taichi and Yamato were about to leave, when they were stopped by a quick beep.

"Don't tell me..." Arp was fearing the worst.  Sure enough, the meter was focused on the two grown men, and was up even farther than Tomoyo got it.

Mei looked down at the evidence and smiled.  "Sweet Yamachi..."

Taichi and Yamato sweatdropped.

A clapping of hands and Nabiki's voice told everyone that it was time to pile back inside and get on their way.  "The longer we stay here, the bigger the distance between us, and the more we have to play catch up!"

Groaning at the interruption in entertainment, the crew regrouped.  They did not want to be trapped in there for another day or two.  As much fun as staying together in closed quarters was, it would soon get quite tiring and aggravating.

The authors looked back on Flower Cannon.

"You joining us?" asked Mei.

"It'll be a tight squeeze," warned Shinju.

Flower nervously fidgeted with her Lean Mean Green Mimi Purse.  "Ah... well, I'd love to, but I don't want to be a bother.  It was really nice of you guys to let me hang out for a little bit."

Star didn't want anyone to go away disappointed.  "Um, maybe we can give you a ride to the next pick up stop?  I hear there's a train station you could hook up with."

Flower perked right up.  "Really?  I promise that you can drop me off once we get to the train station, unless you need me for another challenge..."

Adam shook his head.  It was one rule to never listen to the fans, and it was another to give in to their requests; it was just a matter of balance.  He held the door wide open for her.  "Hop in.  Ladies first!"

===

It was late by the time they got there, and it was most probable that the contestants had long left the station.  The train station wasn't as busy as it was during the day time, and the only people there were the ones that bustled around the nearby bars.

Jim looked at his watch, a little impatient that he was the first of the Quad-R crew to arrive and that the ones he was waiting for were so late.

"They're probably late because of... her," Jim grumbled to himself.  He thought about all the possible ways she must have been conjuring up chaos and mischief for the sole purpose of making them late and making him miserable.

"Because of who?" asked a voice.

Jim looked up from his pacing and saw an athletic boy with black hair bound into a small pigtail at the nape of his neck.  He was just some stranger, and it probably wouldn't hurt to tell.

He rubbed the healed over sore spot.  An nervous habit that he now developed.  "Oh, just some girl that gave me the beating of a life time..."

The boy shook his head in understanding.  "Ah, one of those macho chicks that give you hell for the slightest thing you do."

"You understand my plight then.  Sorry, didn't catch your name.  I'm Jim Slica, com one for Reality Review, Round-up, and Recap.  I'm here for an interview."

"Ranma Saotome.  Martial artist and executed game show player.  I just got dropped off and I'm here waiting for my ride to... wherever it is us executed players go."

It was quite the stroke of luck... almost.  He was with the just executed player and both of them would meet up with whoever they were waiting for.  It was quite probable that both wouldn't be far from each other.  But from the looks of things, it would be a long wait.

"Since whoever we're waiting for will take a while, wanna get a drink with me?" Ranma asked him.  "I know a great bar that's in the area."

"Why not?  It's not like I'm on the job now."

"But you soon will be!" said a feminine voice.

The looked at the source to find Nabiki.

"I couldn't help but overhear a little bit of your conversation.  Saotome, your ride is with me."  She paused to smile a little at the chance to torment the poor boy.  She turned her attention to Jim.  "And Adam and Star are with me.  They're just a few platforms away saying good-bye to a friend."

The two men followed her, and they soon approached the motor home to see the two authors coming back from seeing Flower Cannon off.

Jim stopped in his tracks.  "It's her," he said grimly.

Ranma recognized that tone and saw Star.  "So she's the uncute girl?  She certainly doesn't look it.  But then again, at first glance, Akane doesn't either."

Not really hearing the slight exchange, the authors and driver went ahead of Jim and Ranma, entering the motor home first then leaving the pair of males to go in last.

Gathered in what would be considered the main area were the Player's Panel, four authors, Nabiki, and Takato.

The new arrivals then noticed how the space around them diminished as soon as they were inside; they were surprised at how crowded the RV was beginning to get...

Takato pointed down a short and narrow hallway.  He smiled.  "The bathroom's over there.  Just thought you should know where it is.  Careful; it's a tight squeeze!"

Then they realized with horror how much longer the trip suddenly seemed.

End of Side Story 2

Additional Author's Notes: Scene stealers- er, contributors for this issue were Arp himself (the romantic tension meter) and D Marco (Jim and Quad-R).  With a few new people coming along with us, that's bound to make the RV a little bit crowded, don't you think?  This is going to make a very interesting road trip...