Author's Note: Although this fic is slightly AU, it runs basically on current events (post-"Chosen", post-"Angel") but I've changed a few things here and there. For example, I've chosen to ignore the spell that Willow performed in "Chosen" – Buffy is still the one and only Slayer, although the Potentials are around.

Other than that, Spike, Anya and Cordelia are gone (I never found out exactly what happened to Cordy, by the way), but might be coming back and Sunnydale has had time to be rebuilt (I mean, come on – play out a fic in an incinerated town?). Everybody else is around, including Faith and most of the Potentials (Eve, Vi, Amanda, Chloe, Kennedy, Molly and Rona.)

And relationships are pending, but it could be either Connor/Dawn, Connor/One of the Potentials or Connor/Original character. Actually, I would love to have a vote on that one – just leave a review and tell me which kind of relationship you would rather see Connor have.

Chapter III: A Reason To Party

Night had already fallen when the van passed a crooked green sign reading "Welcome to Sunnydale". To Connor, it looked as though the sign had been knocked over and re-erected one too many times; but what he didn't know was that practically every raid on Sunnydale began with the Sunnydale road sign being knocked over - by now, it was almost a tradition.

"Great, we made it. Now let's see if this place lives up to its reputation," Bryce said, noticing the sign.

"Last I heard, they had some kind of Doomsday thing down here. Word has it the Slayer destroyed some bad-ass demon guy with a witch, a vamp, an ex-demon and a band of junior Slayers as backup." Tyrone shrugged. "Can't always trust word on the street, though - most of it's prob'ly just rumors."

"Junior Slayers?" Bryce repeated, arching an eyebrow. "Definitely just a rumor. "

The Potentials were on a roll that night.

At the far end of the Shady Hill Cemetery, Slayer Potential Rona had a vampire in a tight grip with his arms forced behind his back. "All right – bring it home, Evie!"

Eve effortlessly drove a stake vertically upwards through the vampire's ribcage, targeting the heart from beneath, and stepped back as he exploded in a cloud of dust.

"Nice staking," Rona said appreciatively, wiping off her hands from the dust. "You came up with that now?" 

"No," Eve admitted, "I've been wanting to try it for a while. Actually, I think it's a little more messy than the usual method."

In another area of Shady Hill Cemetery – also known as Sunnydale's most frequented vampire uprising central - Dawn Summers dusted off her jacket, pleased with the second kill she had made that night.

Although she wasn't exactly a Slayer Potential, the skills she had were enough to keep her alive on the nightly patrols she took with the girls.  Vampires seemed to have become so scarce in Sunnydale nowadays that even having a few extra around were 'a reason to party', in the Slayer definition of the phrase.   

"Dawn, heads up!" Dawn barely had time to react as Amanda crouched and sprung upwards in an awesome flying somersault that took her clean over Dawn's head and landed her on top of the vampire who had been preparing to spring on them. Keeping him down with her foot placed on his chest, Amanda finished him off before he even had time to flinch.

"Thanks," Dawn said, realizing that the vampire would have sprung on her before she even had time to notice him coming up behind her. Sometimes, not being part of the Slayer Squad can be a drag. Dawn stared at the spot where that vampire had stood and inwardly shivered. Or, okay, lethal.

"Don't mention it," Amanda responded, straightening up and looking around. "I can't see any of the others from here – and where did Chloe go?" When seven of them were on patrol duty (which usually meant someone couldn't make it; in this case, Kennedy), the girls always formed two pairs and a trio, since it was easier than having one of them patrol on her own.

"Hello! Needing some help over here!" Amanda and Dawn took off in the direction of Chloe's voice, only to find her backed up against a tombstone with a… thing looming over her.

Both girls actually had to do a double take before they realized what they were looking at. The demon – if it even was a demon – had a body shaped like a pile of dough, and some kind of thick, sticky ooze dripped from layers of transparent blue flab attached to the thing's body, jiggling whenever the creature moved.

"Oh, my god. Gross," Dawn said, stepping back in extreme disgust.

"Tell me about it," Amanda agreed. "That is so not your standard sickening Hellmouth apparition."

"Hey – remember me? The girl who's about to be eaten?" Chloe called, shuddering as the creature seemed to draw back to survey the newcomers. While its attention was momentarily diverted, she darted out of its reach, but the thing got smart with her just in time to whip around – spraying ooze everywhere – and make a grab for her with one of its tentacles.

Amanda hurled a stake at the creature as hard as she could, and it flipped through the air before puncturing the thing's outer flab with acute precision and continued on through the inner layers. While the girls watched, the stake was absorbed into the ooze and was left floating around in what they assumed to be the creature's transparent stomach.

"Okay, so stakes aren't doing us any good." Amanda shrugged, taking a classic fighter's stance. "Then we'll just have to go hand-to-hand." She sprung into action with another one of her spinning kicks while Chloe tried punching the creature through its midsection; when she pulled her hand back out, it was covered in ooze, but the creature remained completely unharmed and standing.

Dawn had no idea what to do, but she knew just standing around wasn't helping, so she grabbed the nearest object – a spade, probably left there by the Shady Hill undertaker – and brought it down on the thing with as much force as she could muster.

It worked. Part of the flab flew off and a huge chunk of the creature's body was gone. Dawn took several other swings at the creature while it flailed its tentacles at her, but it was finally able to knock her down – Chloe got hold of the spade, though, and after a few moments of violent battering the creature exploded, hurling bits of flab and ooze everywhere.

After they helped Dawn up, the girls took a few moments to catch their breath. "You know what I've noticed?" Chloe said, in between a few deep breaths.

"No. What?" Amanda asked tiredly.

"We take vampires for granted. We should be glad we don't have to fight any of those every day."

"Tell me about it," Dawn groaned. She had just realized how hard she had hit the ground when she fell – after touching the back of her head gingerly, she found blood smeared on her fingers.

"Ouch," Chloe said, surveying the wound. "You're going to need that cleaned."

Dawn shook her head. Ow! Note to self: don't do that again. "Not until we find the others."

"They'll be heading back to the house soon anyway," Amanda assured her.

"And afterwards, we might be able to persuade the Jail Warden -" by that, Chloe meant Giles "- to let us go out for a while; shopping, maybe?"

Dawn considered the idea and smiled. "I don't think this is the way I want to attract guys at the mall, but… well, we have earned it."

"Damn straight we have," Amanda grumbled. "That giant tapioca pudding almost ruined my favorite boots."

TBC