We continue on with the Halloween Mini-series. In this chapter, we see what is happening back in Lawrence's world. In Buffy's world, we meet Joyce and Buffy's friends. James Bond does come up a couple times (plus some mentions of Batman.) and we see Lawrence doing a one-person motto. So sit back, relax and don't forget to review.
Chapter 15
Friends ... (Part 2)
Previously on Lawrence's Journey, our adventurer takes a trip to Sunnydale and meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of course, he doesn't know that when he meets here but after several short discussions, he learns about her life and she knows about his. Lawrence agrees to accompany with her to a Halloween Party so she won't be alone and now we continue on with our story.
Zephyr had just arrived at Lawrence's house. It was a good thing that he had given all of his friend's directions before he left for home. Lawrence had told about his friend that every Halloween at his house a great party is thrown. He wanted to invite his friends to spread the fun around. Zephyr had been to many parties before but he hadn't been to a Venema party. Zephyr wondered what it would be like. He knocked on the door and it opened. What was standing in the door was the most beautiful woman on earth. Who was she and where did she come from?
"Ah, you must be Zephyr. My name is Sanfra. Won't you come in?" She asked.
"Yes, I shall." Zephyr replied.
Zephyr stepped inside the house. It wasn't something that he expected. First of all, he expected Lawrence to be living in a mansion not some plain of the ordinary house. I mean the Venemas were paid well by Giovanni. Shouldn't they be Billionaires? Maybe there was more to the Venemas than he knew about. He read up on the files about them but maybe experiencing the real thing was better than reading up on them. Anyways, it would be rude of Zephyr to ask.
"Now we will wait for the rest of Lawrence's friends to come." Sanfra replied.
"So where is Lawrence?" Zephyr asked.
"He is on a mission for Gesper. Normally, Lawrence wouldn't miss a party like this but this was urgent." Sanfra replied back.
"Well, that's Lawrence for you. He is more mysterious than me. Well, I bet he will call if he needs help." Zephyr said.
Zephyr sat down and waited for the rest of the guest to come. Zephyr didn't know who was coming but hopefully Lance Venemosa wasn't coming. He really didn't want to make a bad impression in front of Aquaria. It was a few minutes later and the guest strolled in. Lance and Aquaria were the first people to arrive. Zephyr hoped that Lance wouldn't come but I guessed that Aquaria needed to keep an eye on her troublesome brother. Then Brian came in and then Thomas came in. That was it and Zephyr was confused. Where was Vipera? I guess she wasn't here even Lawrence and Vipera seemed liked a couple.
"So where is Lawrence?" Aquaria asked.
"Yeah, where is the stupidly insane know-it all Venema?" Lance said.
There was a smack and Zephyr snickered. Aquaria had hit her brother in the back of the head. Zephyr though he deserved it. It was good that none of Lawrence's siblings heard Lance's backstab Lawrence or he would receive more than a slap to the head. We sat on the couch and then we all started talking. Zephyr explained that Lawrence was on a mission but he would be back. Well, the party would soon begin but Zephyr was really worried. How much trouble was this mission that it would drag his best friend away from him? Little did Zephyr know, that this mission was anything that Lawrence had faced before?
Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, Buffy and Lawrence had arrived at her mother's house. Buffy had told me almost complete life story. She told me what her life was before Sunnydale. Apparently, she was a slayer before she came to Sunnydale. She told me of all the adventures she and her friends (which I was hoping to meet soon) had experienced. I hoped that my journey was just as great without the vampires, werewolves and demons, of course. We smiled and looked at the houses around her house. If I was bit older and she was younger, we could be boyfriend and girlfriend but her job as the slayer would get in the way. Plus I didn't want to be on the rebound and nothing could replace the way Vipera looks at me. Vipera and I are really strong bonded couple.
"This is my house." Buffy said.
It looked like a standard house, I thought. I didn't expect Buffy's family to be rich either. I wanted to see what Buffy's mother looked like. Buffy didn't even talk about her mother. I figured that there was a problem between the two but I didn't want to stick my nose into their problem. I just stood there for a minute not noticing Buffy heading towards the door. Then reality hit me and I just ran up when she was opening the door. I stepped through the threshold of the Summers' household. It was a typical modern home.
"Mom, I am home and I brought a friend." Buffy shouted.
"Really? Not Willow or Xander or Oz? This is great, we should celebrate." A voice came from the kitchen.
I wondered who Willow, Xander and Oz were because Buffy didn't mention much about friends. Maybe she wanted to keep it a surprise. A figure stepped out and memories came through. Buffy's mom was just as beautiful as my mom but I wondered if she was talented as my mom. I wanted to ask where Buffy's father was but that would be considered noisy. I just couldn't stop looking at her but sooner or later I would have to introduce myself.
"Hello Mrs. or Ms. Summers, my name is Lawrence Draco Venema. Nice to meet you." I said while holding out my hand.
"Another Venema? Just like that nice Gesper fellow that helped you defeat that demon on graduation. By the way, my name is Joyce." Buffy's mom said.
"Joyce, huh? That is a pretty name. So Gesper helped defeat a demon. Not surprised there since my bro is full of surprises." I responded.
"So what is going on, Buffy? Any new dangers that Giles is sending you to face?" Joyce asked.
"Well, nope unless surviving a Halloween party counts as danger. I need a costume." Buffy replied.
"That's great. Finally, you can live like a normal college student. Lawrence, do you need a costume?" Joyce asked.
"Nope, got one. I kind of kept it from a spy mission that a friend of mine dragged me into." I responded back.
"You went on a spy mission? You're not the kind of type that I would think that would do that but people wouldn't consider me the type to go brave into danger." Buffy smirked.
We went into the living room and talked. Meanwhile at the haunted house where the big Halloween party was, Oz and his groupies, along with Xander, were setting up the sound equipment for the party. A strange symbol was already painted on the floor. Meanwhile, Xander tried to act like one of the guys but Oz said he was a civilian. While setting up some equipment, Oz cut himself and some blood fell on the floor. Oz said it was no deal and he ignored it. The floor glowed a bit which caused a fake spider that was on the floor suddenly turned into a real spider and skittered away. Back at the Summers' house, Joyce was fixing Buffy's costume, which was a Little Red Riding Hood Costume.
"That is looks really good, Joyce. You must have been really talented back in your day." I said while taking out the costume bag.
"Yeah, I was. But Buffy's more talented. Sure she is the Slayer but not many girls can pull that off. Although I do worry about her when she is patrolling or in the heat of a battle." Joyce said while finishing up the costume.
"Don't all mothers worry about their children whether they are going to college, or a pokemon journey or facing a horde of vampires? Okay, maybe that one wasn't a good example, but you get my point," I said while finally changing into my costume, "so how do I look?"
I had changed into the costume or disguise that I used on the mission with Zephyr. With the outfit, the shades and the hair. It was like I became a whole new person. I had the urge to say Venema, Lawrence Venema in a James Bondish way but I didn't want to sound stupid. I really didn't want to put this back on, but with Team Rocket a dimension away, it was safe for now. Of course people would question my outfit but that was okay. I waited for the comments.
"That costume makes you look awesome. You look like a secret agent. You make James Bond look like Mr. Bean." Buffy commented.
"You are comparing James Bond to Mr. Bean? You do realize that you are comparing a suave secret agent to a bumbling fool." I sneered.
"Just checking. I was wondering if this was a trick of Giles. You don't sound British at all." Buffy glared as she spoke.
"Why would this be a ... never mind, let's just get going." I said while rubbing my head while trying to ignore the confusion.
"Be careful Buffy! You might not be on a mission but things go bump in the night here in Sunnydale." Joyce said.
We both exited wearing our costumes. Buffy was wearing her Little Red Riding Hood Costume with Basket (which I guess it had weapons to defeat evil here in Sunnydale) and me in my Rocket outfit (which I had my pokeballs concealed within my costume.) We walked around while she showed me the place. We were supposed to meet in front of the house for her friends. Little did Buffy and I know that the house was going crazy. Apparently, Oz's blood had activated a demon-summoning spell (and the symbol to activated the spell was the one painted on the floor) to summon the fiercest demon on earth. Back to our heroes, Buffy and I stood at the pathway to house. I heard footsteps and hid behind a bush. Buffy didn't understand and tried to question me when Xander came up to her.
"Well hello missy, will you share what you have in that basket with me?" Xander snickered.
"Not unless you want to staked, knifed or crossbowed," Buffy said while snickering back, "what's with the costume? Did Alfred leave his costume to you?"
"I happen to be dressed as James Bond. Remember Halloween last year? I wanted to be prepared for anything thrown at us." Xander commented.
"By the way, where is Anya?" Buffy asked.
"She wanted to come with us and she is looking for a costume but I am afraid what she will find since she was a vengeance demon." Xander said.
I saw two people walking towards her. Those two must be Willow and Oz. Willow was dressed up like Joan of Arc and Oz was ... well he didn't look dressed up at all. Willow greeted Buffy and Xander. Willow started to explain her costume including the part where she compared her life to Joan of Arc including the burned at the stake part. Oz explained that he was God. I snickered because it was funny. Unfortunately, my snickering was too loud and caught the attention of Xander.
"Is some one hiding in the bushes?" Xander said not realizing what was there until I popped out.
"Prepare for trouble and make that double."
"To save the world from devastation and unite all evils within all nation."
"To denounce all evil and bring forth the love; to also extend the power to the stars above."
"Lawrence Venema"
"Team Rocket comes to Sunnydale at the speed of dimensional flight so surrender now because this is a totally new fight."
"Arbokkkk!!! Houndoommm!!" My pokemon said while they popped out the pokeballs.
"Buffy, don't you think it is time to go in slaying mode?" Xander asked shivering.
"Wait, Venema? Like as in Gesper? Are you related to Gesper Venema?" Willow asked.
"Yes, I am. I am the youngest brother of the Venema family." I responded back.
"Well Mr. Rocket, we have stakes and knives and ... Buffy, why are you laughing?" Xander asked.
"I am laughing because you feel for his ploy. Lawrence is not part of Team Rocket although that motto did make it authentic." Buffy smirked.
"Yeah, though it is strange to hear a one-sided motto," Oz commented, "but I give that motto 10 stars."
"Yeah, I know. I try not to use the motto but it is fun. I used that motto to save a newspaper that our Venema subscribes to from two evil Newspaper CEOs." I laughed.
"Well, might I ask a question? If you are trying not to join Team Rocket, then why are you wearing a Team Rocket costume?" Xander asked.
"Well, since I am a dimension away from my world, I didn't see any harm since Giovanni doesn't know where I am." I replied back.
"He does make a good point so why are we just standing here? There is a party in progress and we aren't making any hoopla." Oz exclaimed.
"Hoopla?" Buffy and I asked.
"Sorry! Bad choice of words but let's get this show on the road!!!!" Oz said.
"Agreed!" I responded back.
As we walked down the path to the house holding the Halloween Party, I felt something was wrong. I mean everything was perfect but there was a sense of doubt in the air. Halloween was known as All Hallows Eve. Maybe Giles was wrong. Maybe I was wrong to think that this night would be dangerous. Maybe I was just confusing myself too much. I decided to take the barrier down and just enjoy myself. Besides on a night like this, nothing could go wrong. Oh, how wrong did I realize I was when I was going to face the greatest threat since Team Rocket?