Hi everyone!

I'm so sorry for the long lag between chapters. For those that don't follow me on Facebook, I've just got through a big move and it took a while for me to settle down into the new place.

I've been struggling to get back into the groove of updating my stories and I had a major block to get through. This chapter is just a little rough and it's more of a filler as the day of the Fall Fest is the chapter I've been trying to get to. (That's what I have planned for the next chapter) and I really had to fight to get through this chapter. Anyway, here it is and I hope you all enjoy it and leave a nice review for me!

Now, for this chapter, there is a cussing warning along with a trigger warning for minor assult.

I guess that's it for the AN, so I'll just let you get to it!

One Week to the Fall Fest

The Trailer

Saturday

The teens were enjoying the easy Saturday morning. The week ahead of them was going to be full. The Fall fest was one week from today and in preparation for the event, a couple of people, including a reporter from the news station was going to be doing a story on the fashion show on Wednesday and the Garcia brothers had contacted them saying that the wheel chair frame they were pimping out was almost done. All they needed was the mesh harness and they would be ready. Friday would be a dry run for the fashion show.

Mix all that with keeping up with their homework and it would definitely be a busy time for all of hem.

Today however, was meant to be a day of fun and creativity. The doors to the trailer were open wide and on the lawn in front of the trailer was a work area with its foldable tables full of everything needed for tie-dying. There were at least ten different bottles of dye, rubber bands and some plastic shopping bags.

The Miscreants had planned to just do a few shirts for themselves with their names on the back in some iron on letters they'd picked up.

That had been the plan; until the kids found out what they where up to.

So now, in addition to just the 6 plain tshirts, there were now 4 kiddie shirts, three onesies and now, a few extra white T-shirts in adult sizes because the Space Teens were fascinated and offered to help out in exchange for joining in the strange earth activity.

The Miscreants had been the ones to demonstrate the different styles and techniques. And then after their creations were sitting in the plastic bags, the Space Teens whom had picked up the techniques easily, helped the kids with their own designs.

Now, Leif and Sapphire at the table in the trailer with their shared laptop, making, of all things, a Myspace Account for their crew. They were discussing the background and widgets and even a song to put on their profile.

"Ooh, I like the grey smoky one." Sapphire said. "Either that one, or the blue lightening one that flashes."

Katsume sat behind on the couch behind them. "You know, I could probably draw us a logo with enough time to put on the profile pic. We could scan it and put it on that way."

Dude, that would be awesome!" Leif said with a grin. "It would make our page look even more epic!"

Katsume grinned, feeling excited as he went back to his bunk and pulled out his sketch book and pencils.

Sapphire pulled out a CD she'd burned earlier. "I made this last night while Leif and I were discussing the page. It's got some songs on there that I thought would be good for the page."

"Cool! A mix tape!" Kyle said peaking his head into the trailer. "The CD player is in the media cabinet. Let's hear it!"

As the CD played, the Space Teens started asking questions again.

"So, what's the point of this dying shirts thing," meranda asked. "Is it part of some kind of ritual?"

Rook, who sat with her under the awning shook his head. "No, not everything is part of a ritual. This is just a simple project that is usually reserved for kids to do at summer camp. There are some adults who do it and have made it a piece of wearable art. I made one when I went to camp as a kid. But I out grew it and I have no idea what I did with it."

"What's Summer camp?" She asked. Rook smiled at her; she was just soaking up information like a sponge!

"It's one of many kinds of camps that people hold in the summer. "The one I went to was a sleep away camp out at a ranch a few hours away from here. You go there to learn basic survival skills, including basic first aid and how people in the old days lived. We made candles, butter, and went on nature hikes. For me it was cool, because I went there with my school friends and slept in cabins. Camps can last anywhere from a week to a full summer. Mine was for two weeks and it was the most fun I'd ever had."

"Did you make s'more there?" she asked with a grin.

"Yeah, among many things. S'mores are a common treat, but we roasted ours over a camp fire in the pitch black and looked at the stars.

"I would love to try camping! You guys have so much fun here on earth!"

"You don't have that kind of thing on KO-35?"

Miranda shook her head. "No. Dad told us that the war against the alliance devastated the planet and everyone fled. These last twenty years have been focused fixing our colony and rebuilding and…replicating." As she said that, she blushed.

Rook grinned at her. "Making babies, huh?" When she gave him an embarrassed look, he hurried to reassure her. "Hey, it's not something to be ashamed of. I'm guessing you weren't part of that, or you wouldn't be so shy about that subject."

At this she bit her lip. "No, I had a boyfriend, but dad found out that he was only interested at me because I'm his daughter. It was all a ploy for power, and he dumped me in public, and then I punched him. It was really embarrassing; it's not how the daughter of an ambassadors should act."

But it is how the daughter of a ranger would handle herself." Rook answered. "He was a jerk for leading you on; you deserve better."

"Do you say that to all of the girls?" Miranda asked him skeptically. "I'm not what you earthies call 'damsel in distress.'

Rook grinned at her. "To be honest, I haven't been around many girls, that I'd be interested in. Ever sense Kyle got attacked, I've been at a bootcamp dealing with my own issues. Believe me when I say that I'm not a 'player' anymore than you're a damsel in distress."

Miranda grinned at him. "Good to know."

Meanwhile, in the trailer, the CD had transitioned to the next song.

It's all the same, only the names will change
Everyday, it seems we're wastin' away
Another place where the faces are so cold
I drive all night just to get back home

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive

Kyle perked up as the song played. "Hey, what's this one? It sounds epic!"

Sapphire grinned at him. "It's Dead or Alive; Bon Jovi sings it. I know we're goths, but this is stuff I grew up with. I really love the sound of it."

Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days
The people I meet always go their separate ways
Sometimes you tell the day
By the bottle that you drink
And times when you're all alone all you do is think

"That does sound like us." Autumn commented. "Well, except for the drinking part."

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive
Wanted (wanted) dead or alive

"I like it." Katsume added. "I've heard it before on the radio. I'm all for it."

As if summoned, by an unseen signal, the Miscreants stood in the trailer.

"I guess we're putting this to a vote." Kyle said. "All in favor of putting this on our profile page?"

They all agreed and Leif added it to the page. He hit the preview button and showed them all what the new profile would look like. "All we need is a group picture and we're in business."

"Maybe we should wait on that." Katsume blurted out. "We're all covered with dye and we look like a mess."

Leif's gaze shot up and Kyle gave him a long look. "That's easily fixed by taking a shower. It's going to be a while before the shirts are ready to go into the washer."

It was a reasonable answer and the sudden fear that had mounted up inside Katsume was clear to see.

Kyle immediately locked onto it and he confronted his friend. "This is something else, isn't it Paladin." He laid heavily on his codename. It made Katsume's eyes shoot up from where they'd been staring at the floor.

"We're Miscreants now. We don't hide our faces and if you're worried about those assholes finding you, then you should remember that they hold no power here. In fact, I hope they come after us."

"He's right, Paladin." Rook said. "According to the law, both that cop and that teacher attacked a minor and that's against the law. They'd have to be colossal idiots to even speak to you; not to mention the fact that they've both got restraining orders against them. You're completely safe and should either decide to violate that restraining order, it's a one way trip to jail and to be accused of a crime against a minor…well, they don't last long in prison."

Katsume took a deep breath unable to argue against that logic. In the next moment, he found himself being enveloped in a hug from both Autumn and Sapphire. He immediately felt better and he released a long breath. "Okay, let's get cleaned up then.

Autumn gave her boyfriend a thoughtful look. Maybe we can compromise and take a group picture from the back with our leather coats on and put our logo across the back. It would look pretty cool.

Kyle gave everyone a look. "That could work. All in favor?"

Paws and Claws Rescue Center

The day of the interview

"Those came out really well." Bonnie said as the teens sat in the meet-n-greet area waiting for the reporter to show up. They now sported the shirts they'd tie-dyed and had personalized. They'd all chosen Halloween colors, mostly orange, black, green, and purple.

Once the shirts had been taken from the dryer, they'd all been personalized; their code names were spelled across the back with Iron-on letters. The guys hadn't done much to the tank-tops, but the girls had shredded the hems of their v-necks and added beading for a bad ass look. To add to the bad ass look, they all wore the bandannas they'd worn to the ceremony in different fashions and the girls had both gone with braids on the sides and that's where their similarities ended and the guys all wore black jeans with rips in them and the girls had found black shorts with them. To top it all off, they wore whatever shoes they were comfortable with and the girls had done their nails in black.

Bonnie was in her official uniform with her lanyard and name badge. Her hair was simply pushed back from her head with a blue headband and she had simple studs in her ears.

"Thanks, Bonnie. We had a lot of fun making them." Kyle said with a grin.

"Well, we're as ready as we'll ever be. I just got a call from Juniper Davies. She just left with her camera crew and is on the way here. I think now would be a good time to get those furry babies out and do final walks."

"What do we want to do with Mason? Should we have him out here already?"

"I actually prepared a wagon for him. We'll have the wheelchair in time for the show, but for now, that's how we'll roll."

"Who else are we showing?" Paladin asked. "Besides Mason and Anubis?"

"We're going with Mavis and Bella and Fiona. The lady from the station said this will be about a ten-minute spot and those three could use some extra screen time."

Mavis and Bella were two long haired Chihuahuas that had been dropped off at the shelter a year before with a laundry list of medical issues and their fur had been painfully matted. Fiona was an American Pitbull terrier that was about 3 years old. She'd been dropped off by the family of her owner that had passed away. They'd not been willing to take care of her and had just surrendered her on the way out of town.

The five of them were special cases and no one had been willing to adopt any of them. It was the reason the five of them were being showcased, both at the Fall Fest and today on the news program.

"Why not go and get them ready? The last thing we need is to have one of them relieving themselves on camera."

"It didn't take more than 20 minutes for them all to be walked and by the time they got back, the news lady was there with camera and crew. They were just about set up and Juniper was just chatting with Bonnie and going over what kind of questions would be asked during the interview.

"And here are a couple of my volunteers." Bonnie said as she introduced Paladin and Cold Stone. They've just been out walking the dogs and making sure our furry stars are ready for their debut."

While this was going on, trouble was brewing in the kennels. In the back, Sapphire and Autumn were just slipping the festive collars on the two sisters.

"I don't see the leads." Autumn said looking around the kennel.

"That's strange." Sapphire said, standing back up. "I'm so sure I hung them up after putting these girls in the kennel this morning."

"I'll just go check the grooming room again." Autumn said as she walked towards the door to the kennels. "Stranger things have happened." She didn't wait for an answer as she walked away.

Sapphire bent down and slipped the decorated collar over one of the dogs. As she did, she heard the door open and thought nothing of it. As she stood up, she felt arms wrap around her; it didn't take more than a moment to realize that the hand that held her didn't have a ring on it.

"What the fuck!" She gasped as the voice laughed darkly and pulled her against a body that was too big to be Leif's.

"Let go of me!" She yelled as she struggled.

"Hello Sapphire. It's been a while! Didja miss me?"

Sapphire stopped struggling. "Richie, what the fuck do you think you're doing! Let me go!"

"Awe, is that how you talk to your old friend?"

"We're not friends, you jackass! I told you to stay away from me!"

She heard another door open and she cried out for help. Suddenly a hand was grabbing Richie's neck and his hands flew to the fist releasing Sapphire from Richie's grip. In the next moment, the jerk was on the ground and Rook planted his knee on the guy's chest.

Richie was a taller teen with a stylish brown hair. He looked like the stereotypical cocky rich kid with pricey sunglasses and a gold chain around his neck. He just looked like a weasel.

"You must be deaf." Rook said darkly. "Sapphire said 'no', and that means you let go."

Leif ran into the room and held his shaken girlfriend tightly. As he did, he gave Richie a dark look. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you left town."

Rook took his knee away and yanked Richie to a sitting position. "I just got back into town; thought I'd catch up with this sexy lady." His gaze slid to Sapphire who looked pissed off. "I have so missed you."

Leif looked into his girl's eyes and lightly kissed her forehead. Then he walked over to Richie he knelt down to his level; giving the assailant a dark look. "Do you not understand what that ring on her finger means? It means she's chosen me as her mate, and we've made a covenant witnessed by Lady Lilith and her Endymion. It gives me the right to beat the piss out of you for touching what's mine!"

Richie laughed heartily. "You think that pussy club means anything to me? You bunch of Emos can't do shit to me!"

"But I can." Bonnie said in an angry voice. Just behind her was Juniper who looked on in shock at what was happening. "You are neither employee or volunteer; and you are putting your hands on this beautiful young woman who works for me when she clearly doesn't want you touching her."

That shut Richie up, though he did struggle to break away from Rook's grasp, but the Miscreant's military training had kicked in and he held his arms tightly. "You're not going anywhere."

"Richie Hewitt, what are you doing here?" The professionally dressed woman asked in anger. "I told you to stay at the station!" Juniper looked absolutely livid.

"What can I say?" Richie said in a cocky voice. "I heard that you were doing an interview here at the shelter and I just had to see her again."

"He works for you? Leif asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, he's an intern; his dad pulled some strings to get him the position. Too bad he just ruined his chances of advancing his career in the entertainment field."

"It was worth it. I just love to watch this slut freak out."

That was the last straw, and it took both Kyle and Katsume to hold Leif back. "Don't do it, Cold Stone," Rook said earnestly. "That's just what he needs, a reason to sue you for physical assault. He's not worth it."

Sapphire was just as angry. "No, he's not, but he did just physically assault me." She got into Richie's face. "I want you to know that I got everything on camera and now I'll be suing you. You have ten seconds to get out of here before I call the cops."

Riche sneered at her. "This won't be the last time you'll hear from me. You can't do shit to me!"

"And add to that a restraining order." Sapphire added. "I'm not scared of you."

Richie ran out of there like his hair on fire.

When he was gone, Leif gathered Sapphire into his arms and kissed her head.

"He'll be back." Katsume said darkly.

"We'll be ready for him." Leif replied. "I just hope he doesn't choose the fall fest to start trouble again."

Sapphire took a deep breath. "Yeah, we will, but I'm ready to get passed this. Is it too late to film the interview?"

The reporter gave her a long look. "We can postpone this, if you need time."

Sapphire shook her head. "This interview is too important to hold off on if we're going to make the fashion show a success. I'm ready to go."

Kyle gave the goth couple a long look. "Okay, but I want the back story tonight. I'll break out the s'mores. If we're going to deal with that loser, then I need to know what we're up against."

Leif nodded. "Full disclosure. I have nothing to hide."

"Ok, then." Bonnie said. "Let's get those doggies ready for the spotlight!"

Later that night

"So, what's with that idiot today?" Katsume asked over his plate of s'mores.

Leif sighed. "Richie Hewitt. He wanted to be in the coven, but the Endymion had doubts. He was right when that loser started homing in on Saph. We had an altercation when he trapped her under the bleachers after gym class; I fought him and he ran off." He paused and looked at Kyle. "I think I remember all those months ago, when we first met and became friends, that I told you about me being mobbed in the locker room. Nina was behind the attack, but I found out later, that Richie was the one who led the football players to me. Richie betrayed me and after I got out of the ER, he was banned from the Coven. He moved away some time after that and I'd hoped he was gone for good. Apparently, that's not the case and I'll have to take him down all over again."

"I remember when Angel Grove was a happy place." Rook sighed. "Now there's more bullies than we can swing a bat at."

"It's true." Autumn answered. "But for now, how bout we just deal with the one that showed up today."

"Yep, but first, we've got a show to do!"

So, what are your thoughts on this?

Before you guys say anything, remember that this story takes place before Facebook was a huge deal. Sure you guys remember MySpace, right?

Anyway, song credit goes to Bon Jovi for 'Dead or Alive' and I think that's about it.

I'll see you all next chapter which is the one that I've been looking forward to writing!