Training
Episode 10
Buffy's House:
The house was bustling with activity. The girls were all excited that they could finally leave the house now that the Ubervamp was dead. The house was filled with enthusiasm.
It was pretty crowded living with that many people in the house. And now that Spike was there, it was even worse. It wasn't like he took up much room though. He and Buffy agreed that it would be best if he stayed in the basement. They also agreed to have him chained up in the basement whenever she wasn't with him. That way if the First tried to manipulate him again, he wouldn't harm anyone.
Buffy was sitting down the basement with Spike. He was chained up.
"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, "Those bloody girls are just too much!"
"I know," Buffy replied, "I haven't had a bathroom to myself in a long time."
"How can you put up with all of them?" he questioned, "I mean I sleep down here and it's pretty bad."
"I don't know," she said, "I just do."
They sat in silence for a few moments, thinking. Then Buffy spoke up.
"What happened to you after they took you away?" she asked.
"I don't remember really," he replied, "I just remember being down here and then getting knocked out. When I came to, I was hanging from this circle thing above a seal. The bloody blokes cut me open and this nasty creature crawled out."
"The Ubervamp," Buffy muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Nothing," she replied, "Go on."
"Everyday, the First would torture me with this creature. I don't know what it was but it was a hell of a lot stronger than me. At night it would disappear and then return in the morning and resume my beatings. Right before you and that girl showed up, it had gone off," he continued.
"I killed it," she spoke.
"Huh?"
"I dusted it inside the caves. Kennedy and I fell in there and it attacked us. I had been trying to kill it for weeks now. Every time that I went up against it, I ended up getting knocked out. It never seemed to kill me though."
"It's not after you. It had strict orders not to kill you."
"What?"
"The First would tell it to go out and have some fun, just not to kill the slayer. It only wants the girls dead for now. It wants to save you for later."
Downtown Sunnydale:
Willow and Kennedy had gone out for food. It was getting pretty late out. They were heading out of the restaurant. Willow didn't know what Kennedy was trying to do, but she was being a little flirty. Willow just went along with her.
They were walking out of the restaurant, when Willow bumped smack into a man. Both of them fell to the ground.
"Oh my god," Willow said, "I am so sorry."
Kennedy reached down and pulled Willow up by her arms. They glanced down to see if the man was okay. Willow gasped when she saw who it was.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned.
Andrew stood up and brushed himself off. He jumped at the strict voice.
"Don't hurt me!" he pleaded, "I'm good now. Honest!"
"Yeah, sure," she replied.
"Willow, who is this guy?" Kennedy asked.
"Long story, I'll explain later," she answered.
"You're not going to kill me too, are you?" Andrew asked.
"I don't know. Should I?" she asked, giving Kennedy a wink.
She grabbed him by the shirt and pinned him against the wall of the building. He flinched when she put her fist up.
"Are you gonna tell me what you're doing here?" she asked, angrily, "Why would you even show your face here again, after what you did?"
"I've changed!" he exclaimed, "Really, I have!"
That's when she noticed a knife lying on the ground where he had fallen.
"What that?" she questioned.
"I dunno," he lied.
Willow bent down and picked it up. Then she grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him after her and Kennedy.
Buffy's House:
"Giles, we have to figure out someway to stop the First from coming after him," Buffy told him.
"I know, Buffy," he replied, "But I just don't know how."
Giles and Buffy were standing in the living room. They had finally gotten the girls to go train in the basement with Jake and Xander. They were a handful, but the guys could handle them.
"Isn't there some kind of spell or ritual or something?" she asked.
"Like I said, I just don't know," he replied.
Just then, the door flew up. Buffy stood in a fighting pose, ready for a threat. A man was shoved in, rather roughly.
"Andrew?" Buffy questioned.
Willow and Kennedy came walking in after him.
"We found him walking around downtown," she began, "Well actually, he ran into me. I found a knife after he stood up."
"It has weird carvings on the blade," Kennedy said, handing it to Buffy.
She took the knife from her hand. She and Giles began examining it thoroughly.
"I'm brought him back here so he could answer a few questions," Willow told her.
"I'm not telling anything!" he shouted.
"Oh I think you will," Buffy smirked, pushing him on the couch.
Andrew sat on the couch, scared. Buffy glared at him
"Where'd you get this knife?" she asked.
"Uh…Mexico," he answered.
"So that's where you and Jonathan went off to," she said, "So where's Jonathan?"
"I don't know," he replied.
"What is this knife for?" she questioned.
"Cutting steak?" he said, unsure.
"What the hell are you using this knife for?" she demanded.
Everyone that was in the room was taken aback by Buffy's sudden outburst of anger. Of course, none of them said anything. Giles continued looking over the carvings on the knife.
"Alright!" Andrew shouted, "I killed him! I killed Jonathan!"
Everyone stood there in shock as Andrew began spilling his guts. He was telling them everything that he had done.
"Warren told me to do it. He appeared to me in Mexico and told me to stab Jonathan," Andrew went on, "I bought the knife like he told me to. We came back here to uncover a seal and show you guys. While we were unburying it, Warren appeared again and told me to stab him and it would open the seal. And I did!"
"The seal?" Giles questioned.
"The one in the basement of the high school," Buffy replied.
"It opened?" Giles asked.
"Yes," Buffy told him, "And the Ubervamp was the thing that came out of it. Wait a second!"
"What is it?" Willow asked.
"You said that Jonathan's blood was spilled onto the seal?" Buffy asked Andrew.
"Yes," he replied.
"Well why didn't it open then?" she asked.
"Warren said that it wasn't enough," he said.
"That means that Spike's blood was the final key to opening it," she concluded.
"Spike's blood was used to open a seal?" Giles asked.
"When Spike was captured, they hung him over the seal and cut him. They used his blood to open this seal and the Ubervamp came out," she informed.
"Buffy, if what you say of this seal is true," Giles began, "Then it must be hidden or better yet, destroyed!"
"Could this seal be the door of the hellmouth?" Willow questioned.
"That is a good question that could use research to answer," Giles replied.
"I'll get on it," Willow responded, "Come on, Kennedy."
Willow and Kennedy disappeared from the family room, leaving Giles and Buffy to talk. Andrew had followed Willow and Kennedy, since Buffy had gotten all the info out of him.
"Buffy, that sorcerer from last year came out of that seal," Giles reminded, "That has to be how the First brings his agents into our world."
"We need to figure out how to destroy it," she said, "Or at least how to stop it from bringing more creatures to Sunnydale."
"I will go help Willow research this seal and find out about what else could come out of it," Giles told her, "Why don't you take some of the girls out training?"
"Sounds good," she said.
The Cemetery:
Buffy and Spike had taken five of the potential slayers out to train. They had taken Kennedy, Julia, Rona, Vi, and Danielle to the cemetery. None of them had ever seen a vampire before and it was about time that they had. They needed to get their first lesson in how to slay on.
"Since none of you have ever even seen a vampire before, this is gonna be an interesting lesson," Buffy told them, "One thing is you will definitely see at least one vampire tonight."
The seven of them continued their walk through the dark cemetery. All the girls looked scared, except for Kennedy, who seemed confident. Buffy smirked when she saw this. She knew that not many of them would last long against a vampire.
"Oh look!" Buffy exclaimed.
All the girls turned their heads to where she was looking. She was pointing to a headstone, where an arm had just popped up.
"This shouldn't be too hard," she whispered to Spike.
The girls didn't move or say anything. They all seemed frozen with fear.
"It's a newly-sired vampire," Buffy told them, "Who wants to slay it?"
None of them jumped with excitement and she didn't expect them to. Kennedy gripped her crossbow tight and ran towards the new vampire. It smirked when it saw her.
"Let's see if Kennedy has what it takes to slay a vampire," Buffy said to the girls.
Kennedy ran at the vampire. When she was about ten feet away, she fired a bolt, hitting the vampire in the shoulder. That seemed to piss it off. It charged Kennedy, knocking her to the ground. The crossbow bounced into the grass a few feet away. The vampire jumped on top of Kennedy, but she kicked it off to the side and managed to stand up.
Buffy, who was standing just close enough to interfere if Kennedy needed help, smiled as she saw how well the young girl was handling herself against the vampire. Kennedy tripped the vampire and made a run for the crossbow. The vampire grabbed her leg, trying to twist it. She gave it a sharp front kick to the face, shattering its nose. She turned and ran over to the crossbow and picked it up.
The vampire stood up and attempted to go after her. It was stopped dead in its tracks when a crossbow bolt punctured its heart. It yelled out in pain and horror as it exploded into dust. Kennedy turned to Buffy, who smiled happily at her successful first slaying.
Buffy's House:
Buffy, Spike, and the girls returned home. Each of them managed to slay a vampire on their own, without any help. Buffy was pleased with each of them. She had thought she'd be protecting defenseless girls from the oncoming apocalypse. Boy was she wrong.
"You all did great," she congratulated as they entered the house, "I'm proud of all of you."
"Thank you," Kennedy replied.
Giles and Willow entered the family room as the girls were filing out.
"How was training?" Giles asked.
"Good," Buffy replied, "All the girls staked a vampire on their own."
"That's good," Willow said, smiling.
"What have you two found out?" she asked.
"Well, the seal is known as the Seal of Danthalzar. It can only be activated by the blood of something. The result of it opening is a Turok Han. The knife that Andrew had is the only thing that can be used to spill the first drops of blood," Willow explained.
"How is it closed?" Spike questioned.
"Well it said that it must be closed by the person who opened it," she went on.
"Which means Andrew," Buffy put in.
"It's quite a simple process for closing it," Willow continued, "The person that first spilled blood, Andrew, must express sorrow for whatever he killed and his tears must be spilled on the seal. That will close the seal."
"That shouldn't be too hard," Buffy said, "I have an idea of how I can get him to cry. We just have to wait a little until we let him get comfortable and then I'll get him."
"You're gonna let him stay here?" Spike questioned.
"He's a murderer!" Buffy exclaimed, "And I can't just let him go back on the streets because the First may manipulate him again and get him to kill."
"But you can't," Willow argued.
"I have to," Buffy said.
"She has a point Willow," Giles added, "He may kill again if we let him back on the streets."
"Hey everyone!" Andrew exclaimed, coming into the room, "I've baked cookies!"
"Who said you could go in the kitchen and mess with the food?" Buffy demanded.
Andrew dropped the cookie sheet and ran away. The cookies went everywhere.
"Oh boy," she said, "He's gonna drive us crazy!"
The Next Day:
Buffy had the girls in position in the backyard. She wanted to give them training exercises. It was like Tae Bo. The girls were arranged in four columns, three girls in each row.
"Alright, one…two…three…four…five" Buffy shouted, leading them in a punching exercise,"…six…seven…eight."
The twelve of them all followed very well. Their punches were pretty good. Then Buffy noticed Kennedy. Her punches were perfect and she followed instructions very well. She was a natural at this stuff. She had a feeling that Kennedy would be the next slayer after her.
Giles came outside to watch the training. He smiled when he saw how well Buffy was commanding the troops. She made a great leader. The potential that stood out the most to him was Kennedy. Her moves were pretty much flawless. He motioned for Buffy to come over to him.
"Kennedy is doing great," he quietly said to her.
"I know," Buffy replied, "She is a natural at martial arts. I think she is gonna be the next one after me."
"You've forgotten the slayer line does not run through you anymore. If you die, another one will not be summoned," he reminded.
"Giles, do you think Kennedy is the slayer now?" Buffy asked silently.
"I'm not sure, Buffy," he replied, "We have no way of knowing as of now. But we will find out soon enough."
Wales, Europe:
Cindy had failed in locating Giles in the town. The man that owned the hotel that they had stayed out had no clue where Giles had gone. All that she knew was that he had left a few days earlier. Now it was several weeks later and she was stuck in Wales with not enough money to buy a plane ticket home.
She was wondering down the streets of Wales at night, when she was pulled into an alley. She was very scared, afraid that she would have to face the Ubervamp once again.
"So you're the girl that has supposedly replaced me," someone spoke.
Cindy's fears disappeared when she realized that it was a woman. She couldn't see who it was because of the shadows.
"Replaced you? What are you talking about?" Cindy questioned.
"Talk has been going around of a girl around here with super strength and speed and you are that girl," the woman spoke.
"How would you know that?" Cindy asked.
Ignoring the question, the woman said, "Well let me tell you something, you're not who you think you are. The magik was passed to you from a previous girl, Sarah."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're powers are only temporary. You are not really the slayer. The girl before you was not really the slayer."
"What? How can you know that?"
"Buffy died and was resurrected. Because of that, the slayer line was altered. The line was passed to me. Because I never died, another slayer wasn't called. The council was curious about why a slayer wasn't called after Buffy disappeared and was presumed dead. They used magik to give the slayer powers to a girl, Dani. The powers were then passed on to Sarah, and then to you. These powers were temporary and are supposed to wear off after they have passed to the third girl. The council knew this and kept it a secret. Only top council members knew."
"How would you know this?"
"I've been researching since I arrived here in Europe more than a year ago. I got separated from my Watcher during a battle and couldn't find him. I guess he is dead now."
"You're a slayer?"
"That's right!" the woman exclaimed, "The one and only, Faith!"
"Oh my god!" Cindy exclaimed, "You're Faith, the rogue slayer?"
"That's me!"
"So everything that you just told me is true?"
"Yes, all of it."
"How'd you find this out?"
"Well a while back, I snuck into the Council of Watchers and stole some documents. I was a little confused at how there could be three slayers at once. And when I find out that info, I realized that it was impossible according to the slayer lore."
"So I'm not really a slayer?"
"Nope sorry, you're power will be gone soon. The papers I read said that the powers would be gone shortly after they were pasted along to the third girl."
"Does Giles know this?"
"Oh so you know Giles? That's interesting. No he doesn't. They kept it from him. By the way, what are you doing here?"
Just then, a young girl came running towards them. She was out of breath and looked terrified.
"What's wrong?" Faith asked.
"They're after me!" she exclaimed, "You have to help me!"
"Who is after you?" Faith questioned.
"I think I know," Cindy said.
"How?" Faith questioned.
"Look, there's a lot that I haven't told you yet," she told Faith.
