Author's Note: This story is dedicated to BluCrayons who asked for it. Hope you like it, sweetie! :D As always, please read and review!

Chapter 1: Contest

Micky lay in the hammock inside their Pad, stomach gurgling with hungry. He hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday afternoon when the group of struggling musicians had finished off the last of their bread and jelly. Davy was idly playing with his tambourine, Peter was watching TV and Mike was thumbing through the newspaper with the hope he'd find a job for them. Until then, their pantries would remain bare.

"I'm starving," Davy muttered.

"We're all starving, Davy," Mike answered idly. "But there's no food left and we're out of money, so we don't have much of an option."

"Is there anything in the paper for us?" Micky asked.

"Not really," Mike said. "There's a gig posting, but it's for a female group."

"I'm not doing that again," Davy said quickly.

"No one said you'd have to," Peter smiled. "It's for a group. That would mean we'd all have to dress up as girls. And you and Micky can pull it off, but not me and Mike."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not," Micky laughed. "But I'll agree that you don't look half bad. Mike's sideburns would give him away. He'd have to shave them."

"Not a chance in hell," Mike said turning the page.

"So we're screwed," Davy said.

"Well, we could get regular jobs," Mike said. "Go talk to Pops again down at the restaurant. See if he needs any waiters or anything."

"Great, so let's go down there now," Micky said remembering how he'd made them spaghetti last time.

"Hey, hold up," Peter said waving them around the TV. Micky, Davy and Mike walked over and watched the ad appearing on the screen. A very excited young man was on the television talking about a music competition to be held in a month. The winner would receive a $150,000. The second and third place winners would receive $75,000 and $50,000 respectively. The winner would also get the chance to sign a lucrative recording contract.

"That's a lot of money," Davy breathed. "Imagine how much food we can buy with that?"

"He said we need a company to sponsor us," Mike pointed out killing both Micky's and Davy's spirit a little.

"We know plenty of companies!" Peter exclaimed. "How hard could it be to get one of them to sponsor us?"

"We can't just go ask them," Mike said.

"Why not?" Peter asked. "That's a lot of money, Mike."

"Think of what we would do with that kind of money," Micky agreed. "We could get a better house and a new car and feed ourselves for a year or more! That's more money than most people earn in 20 years!"

"And forget working for a buck fifty an hour, we wouldn't have to work again for a long time!" Davy added.

"Cause they'd have to pay our entry fee," Mike said. "That's what's sponsoring means. And we can't just ask someone to do that. It just isn't right. If we don't win, they'll lose that money."

"Come on, Mike," Micky said. "Lots of people are doing it. That's why there are so many entries. Please, Mike?"

"I'm starving and we need food," Davy said. "And I think we're good enough to take top prize. Please, Mike?"

"If not the second or third," Peter said. "Come on, Mike, what's the harm in asking? They're our friends." Mike appeared to think it over, but three pleading eyes finally broke him. He sighed and rolled his eyes in defeat.

"Alright, who did you guys have in mind exactly?" Mike asked.

"Why don't we as Pop?" Micky asked. "While we ask him for jobs."

"Yes, let's ask a man to not only support us in a band contest, but give us money, too," Mike said dryly.

"Not give us money," Peter said innocently. "We'll work for it."

"What about the circus?" Davy asked.

"They're still struggling to pay their employees," Mike answered. "No."

"We messed up with that answering service, so I doubt they'd help us," Micky said sinking into a chair in despair as he realized they might not be able to do this.

"We could ask Mr. Crumpets," Davy suggested.

"Didn't he go back to England?" Mike asked.

"Right, but we could still ask," Davy said.

"What about Pop Harper and Mr. Guggins?" Peter suggested.

"That could be a good idea," Mike agreed. "Alright, we'll head over there in the morning. For now let's head out and try and get some food money." Mike and the others drove down to Pop's Italian Restaurant and found it very busy. Pop was happy to see the boys and asked them to help out. He'd told them that a few of his employees had quit after word got out that the mob had taken over the place a few years back. Even though Pop had assured them that the men were either in jail or all dead, thanks to the Monkees, they were still spooked and quit last minute. The boys said they were more than happy to help out since they needed money anyway.

Peter worked in the back as dishwasher, Davy and Micky worked as waiters, and Mike worked as a busboy. At the end of the day, Pop made them a huge plate of spaghetti, which they devoured within only a few moments. Pop laughed and gave them advance checks for their night on top of their split tips. He told them to come back and he'd hire them again. They weren't the worlds best waiters, bussers and dishwashers, but Pop knew they worked well enough in a pinch. So he'd hire them until he found someone better. A deal that worked out for all of them. If they were going to win that competition, they'd need to devote as much time as possible to practicing.

The next day, Micky and the others were waiting outside Mr. Guggins office. They'd requested to have a few words with him and were told he was in an important meeting but they could wait. Mike had stopped and picked up a pamphlet of more information on the contest and was now flipping through it.

"This is a national competition," Mike said.

"What?" Davy asked. "I thought it was just California."

"I can see it with that much prize money at stake," Micky said. "Do we have to travel for it?"

"No," Mike said. "Finals will be held in L.A. Luckily for us. But the other contestants compete in their states and the finalists travel here."

"That's a lot more people to compete with," Peter said worriedly.

"I don't care," Davy said smugly. "I think we're good enough."

"I don't know, Davy," Mike said cautiously. "That's a lot of bands. One from each state and that's just from the finals alone. We still have to make it to the finals."

"Mr. Guggins will see you now," a blonde lady said before anyone could say anything else.

"No turning back now, Mike," Micky said. "We're here. We might as well ask."

"Alright," Mike sighed and followed the boys into Mr. Guggins office.

"So lovely to see you again boys!" Mr. Guggins greeted him with a large smile. The first time Mike had met him, he had been such a meek and depressed man. Now he was confident and exuberant.

"Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Guggins," Mike said.

"Any time, boys," Mr. Guggins said slapping Mike on the back with a hearty handshake. "You boys saved my toy factory. So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, you see, Mr. Guggins, there's this band competition," Mike started. "It's a national competition and the winner gets a lot of money and a chance at a recording contract. But we need a business to sponsor us in order to enter."

"I see," Mr. Guggins said. "Well, I don't think I've ever heard you boys play. It would love to help invest in you boys, but I would like to know if you're any good first."

"We're amazing," Davy said.

"Calm down, Tiny," Mike said. "If you don't want to, we understand. Thank you for your time."

"Well, hold on there, Mr. Nesmith," Mr. Guggins said. "I didn't say no. I just said I wanted to hear you first. Can you play something for me?"

"Now?" Micky asked. "We don't have our instruments."

"Ok, then come back tonight," Mr. Guggins said. "I have a party I'm hosting for a few of the children. Launching a brand new toy. You can play at the celebration. How's that?"

"That's kind of short notice," Mike mumbled.

"But we can do it," Micky said quickly before Mike shot the chance down.

"Great," Mr. Guggins smiled. "Be back here at 8!"

Later that night, the boys had brought their instruments back to the toy factory and waited to be told where they'd be performing. Micky was buzzing with excitement. He really was looking forward to this contest. If they won, not only would they win a ton of money, but this could really be their big break. Even though a lot was riding on their performance tonight, he wasn't nervous. He had no doubt they were good enough.

"Boys!" Mr. Guggins said exuberantly coming out to greet them. "I'm so happy to see you! Come, come. I'll show you to the stage I set up." Micky and the others followed Mr. Guggins through the factory to an outside staging area. Micky set up his drums as the kids were led outside by Pop Harper, who smiled and waved at them. Once they were ready, Mr. Guggins introduced them and they launched into a set of some of their normal songs. The kids loved the music and even some of the parents started dancing around with their kids. Off in the wings Mr. Guggins and Pop Harper danced along to "Let's Dance On" with smiles on their faces. Micky knew they had it in the bag.

"That was fantastic!" Mr. Guggins said bouncing over to them at the end of their set. Pop Harper led the children and their parents toward the exit. "Just tell me what I have to do, and you boys have my full sponsorship! I don't care the cost!"

"Really?" Mike asked startled.

"Of course, my boy," Mr. Guggins laughed and slapped Mike on the back again. "I've never heard anything so great! And I owe you for saving my factory."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Guggins," Mike said with a smile.

"We better get practicing," Peter said. "Refine everything. The contest starts in a few months. In between our shifts anyway."

"Are you boys working?" Mr. Guggins asked.

"We have to pay for food somehow," Micky said.

"Well how about we make this a weekly thing," Mr. Guggins said. "I hold weekly toy tests like the one you boys sabotaged. I think it might be nice to have a party like this afterwards for the kids. I'll pay you a weekly stipend. That way you can devote the rest of your time to practicing."

"That sounds great, Mr. Guggins," Mike said. "But we're helping out an old friend at his restaurant. It should only be temporary, though. But we'll be happy to take you up on your offer once he doesn't need us anymore."

"Just give me a call," Mr. Guggins smiled.

"Sure thing," Mike said. It only took a week for Pop to find replacements at the restaurant. Pop felt bad about letting the boys go, but Mike told him they had a promise of a short standing gig at the toy factory. They finally had a good supply of food in the house thanks to Mr. Guggins giving them an advance on the pay he promised them to perform at the toy factory.

They practiced daily, refining their songs and picking songs they'd be playing at the competition. The first round allowed for a 3 song set; the competition called for at least one dance tune and one ballad. Mr. Guggins paid their admission fee into the contest and made sure they had extra strings for their guitars and anything else they needed. It felt good to know Mr. Guggins had such faith in them.

When it finally came time to perform at the first round of the competition a few months later, Micky and the others found themselves waiting in a large auditorium with dozens of other bands. They listened to each band perform and Micky finally felt nervous. All the other bands sounded amazing. They were up against some pretty good competition. Pop Harper and Mr. Guggins were both there supporting the boys as it came time for them to perform. They were introduced and launched into their chosen set list; they started with "Goin Down" to show Micky's energy, followed by "Shades of Gray" for their ballad piece and ending with "Sweet Young Thing".

Micky thought their set was performed flawlessly, but couldn't help but feeling nervous as the rest of the groups auditioned. It took several hours for all the bands to play and another hour for the judges to announce they had their top five winners. Those top five would go on to round two, where they would compete against the top five for the other major cities in California. Round two would weed the competitors down to a total of a top ten. Round three would pick the winner that would go to the finals representing California. The finals had two stages as well; round one would narrow it to 10 finalists and round two would pick the final winner.

So as the judges got on stage to announce the five winners, Micky's nerves were firing on full blast. They had a lot of stages to go through to win and there was a lot riding on it. If they were eliminated in round one after Mr. Guggins had put so much money and faith into them, he'd be humiliated. The judge thanked all the bands for their performances and hard work before reading the list of the selected bands. He announced the top four bands and with each name that wasn't theirs, Micky's stomach dropped a little more. Finally, the last name was called: the Monkees.

Davy, Peter, and Micky jumped up and shouted happily and hugged each other and Mr. Guggins and Pop Harper. Mike sat and smiled, partly because he rarely showing that much excitement and partly because he knew what Micky was still thinking. They had made it past round one, but they still had a very long road ahead of them to win.