Disclaimer: All characters property of Hasbro/ Sony Wonder.

Jerrica

I felt better as soon as I caught a glimpse of the beautiful shining glass skyscraper that was Starlight Music. Soon, I thought blissfully to myself as I pulled up to the adjacent parking garage, soon all my troubles would be buried under mountains of paperwork. My face broke into a wide smile at the comforting thought.

"Good morning, Miss Benton." The attendant greeted me, and I happily returned the sentiment as I swiped my ID card through the automated computer. It beeped accordingly, and the striped blockade rose to let me inside. "Have a nice day!" I chirped as I drove on, and the attendant raised her hand in reply. Seconds later, I parked the Roadster in the same executive space that had once been reserved for my father.

The tension nesting in my bones lifted like fog as I entered the familiar bustling lobby, shaking the wetness from my hair. It felt so good to see my secretary Joanie hard at work at her desk, bathed in neon light from the sign proclaiming our company's name. She gave me a warm smile as I crossed her path on my way to my office.

"Morning, Joanie!" I said, smiling still. "And what a dismal one it is, too, Jerrica." She replied kindly, watching the rain cascading down the skylight. "Oh, but I've just gotten the most wonderful news straight from VTV Networks. Jem and the Holograms are nominated in all of their biggest categories in the VTV Music Awards!" I gasped and rushed to her side to have a look at the fax she held in her hand.

As my eyes scanned the paper, Joanie impatiently read over my shoulder. "See, right there!" She said excitedly, directing my attention with jabs of her pink fingernail. I laughed at her enthusiasm and shook my head in amazement. My eyes practically bugged out of my head as I read the categories we were nominated for; Best Pop Performance, Best Video, Best Rock Performance, and Album Of the Year! On top of all that, we had been asked to perform as well. "Oh, this is just unreal!" I exclaimed, laughing and hugging Joanie.

"What's unreal?" Kimber asked as she and the other Holograms entered the room. "This!" I said, shaking the paper at them. Kimber snatched the fax out of my hand, and shrieks of delight filled the room as the news was spread. "Outrageous!" Kimber cried. "And look at who we'll be playing with!" Shana added, listing them all aloud. "5th Avenue Boys, The Stingers, Lena Lerner, Luna Dark, The Limp Lizards..." She laughed and shook her head. "And the Misfits."

"That should be interesting now that we're not having catfights anymore," I mused. Joanie gave me a funny look at that, and I blushed, remembering who I was at the moment. "Well, you mess with my top artists, you mess with me." I nervously replied, shrugging. She smiled as the others giggled and exchanged looks.

Thankfully, the phone on her desk rang angrily, and Joanie rolled her eyes at it. "Duty calls, girls. Would you excuse me?"

"Of course, Joanie." I replied. "Oh, and I'll be sure to get back to VTV and let them know that Jem and the Holograms accept the offer to perform." She added with a grin, and then exited. I was grateful that she didn't hear my sigh of relief on her way out.

"Girl, you gotta be a little more careful about who you're talking to." Shana admonished, and I blushed. "I know," I said reproachfully, sitting back in my desk chair. "I really have been bad about this lately, haven't I?"

The others nodded in unison and settled themselves about the office. "It isn't like you to be so forgetful," Raya added, "Especially with something so important."

"I know!" I repeated, my voice rising slightly with frustration. "But you guys have to remember that I've been under tremendous stress lately. What with BaNee leaving, problems with myself and Rio, and then Riot pursuing me on top of it all..."

"And there you go again!" Aja pointed out. "Riot has been after Jem, not you, Jerrica."

I sighed wearily, knowing she was right. Why does it have to be like this, I wondered to myself. Silence hung in the room until I cursed aloud, turning in my chair to gaze at the familiar cityscape. Grey and immersed in rainwater, it gazed back intently. "I know what I have to do." I said finally. "But I have absolutely no idea how to actually do it."

Kimber came up from behind me and laid a hand on my shoulder. "Well, whenever I've had problems in my life, I've always written about it. It helps put things in perspective, you know? Maybe you should give it a try." I looked up into her big green eyes. "Kimber, you're the songwriter, I'm, I mean Jem's the singer" - I sighed aloud at this - "you girls are the backbone, and that's just the way things are. I just don't have the talent to write a song by myself.especially about something so personal."

Kimber smiled sympathetically, and suddenly her face brightened. "I just got a flash of inspiration!" She dashed to the other side of the desk to my personal phone and started dialing madly.

"Kimber, what on earth are you doing" I asked, smiling in spite of myself. She grinned at me and waited for the other party to pick up. "You wait, Jerrica! With mine and Stormer's help, Jem and the Holograms will have a new song to debut at the VMA's in no time!"

I felt color drain from my face at the mention of bringing in an outsider. "Are you sure that will work, Kim?" I asked nervously. She patted my arm and smiled at me. "You have to learn to trust me more, Jerrica. Don't worry about a thing." Her attention flickered back to the phone. "Stormer? Hey, it's me. Listen, I have a special favor to ask you."

Pizzazz

I lie contentedly in the lounge chair besides the pool, palm trees shading my svelte form from the sizzling rays of the sun. Deciding I was in need of refreshment, I clap my hands briskly, summoning my loyal manservant. He instantly appears from inside the cabana, gorgeous and glistening from tanning oil I had personally applied. His long blond hair shines brilliantly as he cocks his head at me. I grace him with a cool smile.

"Bring me a margarita, Riot." I command him. He nods, a dazzling teen- idol smile decorating his face. "As you wish, Mistress." He turns to go to the bar, leaving me with a clear view of his tantalizing ass as he walks. "A strawberry one, with lots of salt like I like it!" I call after him. He looks up from his work and grins again. He starts to say something else, but a phone begins to ring in the distance. It exasperates me, and I growl in irritation. "Riot!" I yelp out. "The phone!"

But he does nothing. He simply gazes dumbly at me, that grin now looking quite stupid now that he's refusing to obey me, and continues to shake the red mixture. My irritated growl rises to a trademark shriek as I jump from my seat. The ringing won't stop; it just keeps cutting through the air as if it is the only thing I should be concerned about.

It is so cutting, in fact, that it cut right through my deep sleep and ended the lovely dream. I groaned and rolled over in bed, looking through bleary eyes at the bastard appliance shrieking at me from my nightstand. Sighing, I reach for the receiver and put it to my ear.

"Gabor mansion, what the hell d'you want?" I groused hoarsely. I was in no mood to be pleasant, but then, I rarely was. The sleazy male voice on the other end laughed, and I recognized it instantly. Christ, what a way to start the day.

"My dear Pizzazz, you never were much of a morning person." Eric Raymond chortled, and I rolled my eyes in disgust. "I thought I told you not to call me today, Eric. I've been working my ass off laying down that track with Riot for my solo album, and I wanted to sleep in, today, dammit!"

"I promise, it's worth hearing. I just received an important fax from VTV network, about the upcoming VTV Music Awards." I sat up in my bed and adjusted the handle. "Keep talkin'."

"The Misfits are nominated for some of the biggest awards there are." As he listed them all, my day suddenly became brighter with each one. "And," Eric added, "you've been invited to perform as well."

A wicked smile spread across my face. "Are you serious?" I asked him coolly. "Would I lie to you about something so important, Pizzazz?" He purred. I stood up on my bed and shrieked, jumping up and down with the phone cord wrapping around my legs. "Eric, that is so awesome! This is the greatest thing ever!" I shrieked, laughing at the top of my voice.

"The only thing is," Eric continued over my celebrating, "is that Jem and the Holograms are competing against you for every award you're nominated for. How does that suit you?" He asked, clearly hoping for an outraged response. I stopped jumping and collapsed to the bed, but I didn't give him what he was looking for. Only a few days earlier, something like that would have pissed me off to no end, but it didn't now. In fact, I didn't feel any animosity at all. It felt good, not caring anymore, and I said so.

I could almost hear him frowning over the phone. "What do you mean, you don't care?" Eric asked, his voice rising. I shrugged. "We called a truce at Jerrica's party for that Starlight Girl. What was her name...Bonnie, I think it was." I said nonchalantly, enjoying his reaction.

"A truce? A truce! Pizzazz, do you know what this means for the band! For you? What the hell were you thinking!"

I humored the dumb bastard and pretended to give it some thought. "Well, for the band, it means more opportunities, more fans, more sales. For me, it means no more pointless bullshit in my life, except maybe for you." He sputtered and fumed on the other end, and I could just see his little piglike face turning beet red with rage.

"Pointless bullsh...now, listen to me, you self centered little Daddy's girl, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten within spitting distance of the success you craved and now you have! You'd be still playing rat- infested clubs downtown to drunken scumbags yelling for you to show your tits! You're nothing without me, and you know it!" He railed, and I frowned, becoming angry now.

"How dare you even imply that the Misfits owe all our success to little ol' you?" I hissed. "We've got the talent, the charisma and the brains to pull it off all on our own, but we made you our manager because we pitied you. If it weren't for us, you'd still be dancing under Emmett Benton's puppet strings and staring down Jerrica Benton's blouse, and you know it." I added smugly, his silence telling me I had won, for now.

"Have it your way, Phyllis." Eric seethed, still burned from my remarks. "There's no time for petty squabbles anyway. We've got work to do. I want all the Misfits in my office in exactly one hour so we can discuss things. Do I make myself clear?"

I paused. His comments had really made me mad, and for a split, raging second, I considered firing his ass right then and there. But he was right; now was not the time for this. I'll get him back later, I resolved to myself.

"We'll be there." I sneered into the receiver and hung up coldly. I rose and dressed with ice cold precision, filled with determination. I was tired of being someone's puppet myself, and frankly, I was even tired of the way our music had started to sound. That's why I had gone with a more raw sound on the tracks I laid down with Riot. If I had to sing along with one more synthesized beat...

An idea came to me, clear as day. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. I got excited again and hurried downstairs to tell the others. I found Roxy and Jetta sitting around the living room, watching VTV intently. Roxy looked up as I entered the room.

"Hey, Pizzazz, you'll never guess what happened!" She exclaimed, and I grinned. "Yeah, I would. Eric just called and told me." Jetta glanced away from the glowing screen and made a sound of amazement. "Five awards we're up for! I feel like we've won the bloomin' lottery." I laughed at her British slang and started to say something else, but I noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Stormer?" I asked. "She's talking to someone on her personal phone in the kitchen." Roxy replied, twirling a strand of white hair between her fingers. "She'll be along. Why?" She asked.

"Well, girls, the problem is this." I said coolly. "The Misfits need a new sound. And not only that, I think we need to seriously consider changing management."

That got their attention. Roxy stopped twirling her hair long enough to exchanged shocked looks with Jetta, who directed her wide grey eyes back to me. "Why the hell would we do that? And right before the awards, no less" Roxy exclaimed. "Yeah, Raymond's a sod, we all know that, but he does right by us for the most part." Jetta added.

"Oh, does he?" I retorted. "All he ever did was use us to get back at Jem, which I admit was a good idea at the time but not anymore, and now all he does is pimp the Stingers. Hell, he changed the name of our company in their honor. That rat doesn't give a damn about anything but money. He thinks he made us and he sure does act like he owns us. And you should've heard the stuff he was spewing about us just now." I looked them both dead in the eye. "Now sit there and tell me that that's doing right by us."

"What kind of 'stuff'?" Jetta asked me warily.

"Oh, you know... Blah blah, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have gotten within spitting distance of the success we craved , yak yak, we'd still playing rat - infested clubs downtown.." I ticked the phrases off on my fingers as I talked. "...singing to drunken scumbags yelling for us to show our tits, yada yada. The usual." I smiled at the scowl on Roxy's face. Jetta looked sour.

"I can't fuckin' believe it." Roxy said, marveling. "I mean, I can, obviously, this is Eric we're talking about, but God! What do we do, do we dump him?"

"I say we dump 'im." Jetta sneered.

"Yeah," I purred, a slow grin spreading over my face. "And I say we don't bother finding another loser to screw up our careers. I say we prove 'em all wrong and manage ourselves."

Stormer wandered in then, looking sheepish. "Sorry, you guys. Did I miss anything?"

"Only everything," I said, rolling my eyes. "Come on, I'll explain in the car."

So in a whirl of action and excited shouts, the four of us left the mansion and piled into the black van that had become our main set of wheels. As the house faded into the distance and the city drew closer, I caught Stormer's gaze in the rearview mirror. She immediately looked away.