"Hello, Angel," Buffy said with a smile when the vampire's door opened.
"Oh, Buffy, hi," he answered dumbfounded. They stood there . . .
"Can I come in?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"Ah, yeah, of course," Angel said and gestured for Buffy to entered. Buffy smiled, and walked inside, feeling her heart beat faster. Angel was so sexy. Damn, how was it possible to have such strong feelings for two guys at the same time? She was a slut! A big ol' slutty slut! Angel was the guy for her! Right, keep thinking that. "So, uhm, I have no real information, well, apart that Saturday is St. Vigeous."
"Vigeous?" Buffy asked confused.
"Yeah, a big night for vampires, they like to band to gather and pillage everything in sight, happens about once in a decade," Angel explained nervously. The girl was so beautiful, but he shouldn't, shouldn't.
"I didn't come for business," Buffy told him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She reached up, wanting to kiss him, but Angel put his hands at her waist and pushed her back. "What?"
"It's wrong," Angel told her with a guilty face. "We shouldn't . . . we won't . . ."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Buffy demanded angrily.
Angel made a gesture and then started talking, "You're seventeen, I'm a demon-animated corpse over two hundred and forty years old. You should be with a guy your age, and alive so you can enjoy dawn's, sunsets, and just plain the sun and daytime. Can take you to the beach, and- . . ."
"I don't care about all that!" Buffy exclaimed annoyed. "You sound like Xander and Giles on occasion! I only care about you!" She tried to hug him again, but he backed away.
"You should care about that," Angel said, looking at an angrier Buffy. "How about shopping? I can't take you to the mall."
Buffy halted for a moment, frowning, and then said, "There are malls that are open at night."
"Not in Sunnydale," Angel answered her.
"What are you saying!? Are you breaking up with me!?" Buffy asked, her eyes misting up with tears.
"I- I guess I am," Angel said heartbroken, feeling a brooding session coming on.
Buffy's careful control broke, and a tear slid from both her eyes down. "No, no you can't," Buffy muttered in shock.
"I'm sorry, but I've got to do the right thing here. You and I can't ever happen, it's wrong," Angel told her with pain in his voice. Buffy then turned around and ran out of his apartment, sobbing all the way. She ran all the way to Willow's house, and was moment later crying on her bed in her lap. Willow ran her hands through her friend's hair, comforting her.
-Stupid Angel!- Willow thought, comforting Buffy.
-----
"Faster, lazy ugly ones!" Lotion called in the back, small courtyard of her and her mothers house and restaurant. She casually walked rounds around it, overtaking Buffy and Cordelia with ease over and over. The two girls were exhausted, having run with weights - Buffy a lot more than Cordelia - for the past fifteen minutes, and the fighting-training exercises before that. Cordelia looked hatefully at Lotion, who added, "You want to be strong as Lotion, work harder!" Buffy was just sad.
"One of these days," Cordelia muttered as she found a way to continue running, determined to catch up someday soon with the Amazon.
Deo watched the seen with a grin, shaking her head. "Xander Harris," she muttered. "You /will/ be my son in law."
-----
"Just great, really just great," Buffy said as she came out of the school.
"What?" Lexa asked, in full seductress attire. Willow walked next her, ogled whenever she had the chance.
"Not only does Angel break up with me, now that troll Snyder has me and Sheila prepare the school for the parent-teacher night on Thursday," Buffy complained with a whiny voice. An instant later she got two girl hugs, and she sighed as she perked up. The two girls broke the hug. Buffy sighed again, and said, "Well, I guess Angel breaking up with me has one advantage; I can safely stay home and study for my French test, and not have to worry about Angel getting upset I'm not out on a date with him."
"Always look on the bright side, that's my motto, Buff," Lexa told her with a grin.
Buffy looked at her and said, "Easy for you to say, you've got three girls after you who want you badly; if I had three guys after me, I'd be in good spirits too."
"It's way overrated," Lexa told her, and Buffy looked skeptically.
Willow in the meantime perked up, "Three girls? Who's the third!?" Both of them looked at the redhead pointedly, and she blushed. "Okay, right, yes, I admit it. Lexa, I'm kind of bisexual; I th-think you're at-t-t-tractive. Okay, you're hot! Both yous that is! I w-w-w-want to b-b-b-be your girlfriend."
"I figured that one out already, Will," Lexa said sadly. Boy, Willow deserved better than to chase after a guy / girl / whatever that only saw her as a friend, because she knew what that was like. Perhaps she should set her up on a date or something?
"Willow, about the French studying . . ." Buffy began hopefully.
"Uh," Willow muttered. She knew French already, piece of cake. "I was kind of looking forward to a night at the bronze, Buffy."
"Will, tonight is my date with Lotion, you'll only torture yourself coming to the bronze, have nice girls' night in, okay?" Lexa suggested as tactfully as she could muster.
"Well, okay," Willow said sadly.
Buffy flung herself around Willow, and hugging her said, "Thanks, Willow, I will never forget it."
"Yeah, yeah, you're just taking advantage of my big brain and my gentle nature; we are still going on our shopping trip right?" Willow questioned her girl friends.
"Of course, can't do without the shopping!" Buffy said perking up, she need shopping to get rid of the Angel blues.
"Yep, I need some more outfits that look equally good on guys /and/ girls," Lexa answered them with a smile and then sighed. "I guess the whole trying out this shopping as a girl thing is going to have to wait." She looked down at herself and said, "If I have to change back and forth, I better not be in a skirt when I turn into a guy; I'm telling you, they look good on girls, but unless it's designed for guys - think kilt - it makes guys look ridiculous."
"Really? I think my chocolate milk is still warm, wanna test if there's enough water in it?" Willow suggested innocently.
"Don't you dare, Will," Lexa told her resolutely.
Buffy giggled, and said, "I'm blessed with you two as friends."
The three of them halted when they saw the guy with a big bush of red roses coming toward them. His blonde hair was done impeccably. He was dressed in brand new jeans, and a deep green blouse. He stepped up to them, and said, "Oh, pearl of my heart, beauty of all the oceans, please accept this token of my affection, and grant me - Deke Fisher, Sunnydale High's Red Streak Quarterback - the honor of a date."
The three girls looked shocked at his declaration, and Lexa tentatively asked, "Who exactly are you asking?"
"You of course, my dark goddess, great queen Lexa Horne," Deke intoned with shiny eyes.
Willow and Buffy giggled, while Lexa said with slumped eyes, "I'm gay, you fool."
"One date, fair Lexa, is all I ask, and I shall make you like men as well," Deke declared while a whole throng of students had gathered around to look at the spectacle.
"No," Lexa groaned out, and then turned around and ran, screaming, "AAAAH!!"
Willow looked with hateful eyes at the still kneeling Deke, and Buffy giggled. "Suitor number four," Buffy told Willow, gesturing to a now teary Deke, while more students laughed at him, but he apparently didn't care.
Willow growled, but that too didn't discourage Deke. The blonde guy with blue eyes stood up, grinned widely, almost triumphant, lifted his left arm into the air, and declared, "I shall make her love me!"
Willow walked forward and stepped on his toes. "OW!" he yelled out, and then, when Willow's arm hit his gut, "OOF!" Willow raised her chin high and walked onward as the football player jumped on one foot holding his stomach. Buffy giggled as she walked around him and joined her friend.
-----
"What do you guys think of this?" Xander asked holding up a sweater.
"Could work," Buffy said, appraising it with a critical eyes.
"Ok," Xander said pulling off his shirt without concern. Buffy's and Willow's eyes widened.
"You know, Willow, this half boy, half girl deal, I think I like it better than just boy Xander," Buffy muttered looking at Xander's chest, and looked a bit disappointed once the sweater was on.
"Uhuh," Willow nodded in answer. Willow took Xander in, showing the sweater, and she said, "Nah, too frilly for a guy."
"Yup," Buffy added. Sighing, Xander took the shirt back off, and put his own back on. He looked around, and a sales woman arrived.
"Can I help?" she asked the girls.
Her eyes widened when Xander answered, "Yeah, I'm looking for something a guy /and/ girl can where."
"Androgynous clothing," Willow supplied helpfully.
"Huh?" both Xander and Buffy said. Then Xander added, "Yeah, that."
"Okay," the sales woman said and a little uncertainly led them to another section of the women's clothing store.
-----
Cordelia watched silently, licking her lips as Xander and his two best friends left the women's store; holding a bag with two garments that fit his bill. "I cannot believe you have the hots for that loser Xander. Look at him, and that ridiculous top, he even /buys/ women's clothes," a voice sounded from behind her. Cordelia narrowed her eyes and turned around, looking at Harmony who had her hands superiorly in her sides. The rest of the sheep were behind her. "You know, Cordelia, just a week ago you were still our shining example. What a disappointment."
Cordelia's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Harmony, I can /not/ believe how stupid you are!" Cordelia hissed out hatefully at her faithful follower.
"Hey," Harmony commented but Cordelia continued undisturbed.
"Xander Harris has aside from me at least two girls chasing him for being the hottest guy around one of them came all the way from China, and a third that's just confused about leaving another boyfriend for him," she lectured superiorly. "He's a guy comfortable enough to go into a women's clothing store and pick out something he can wear just like women started doing before women's clothes were allowed to look like men's. He's the future, the true man comfortable with himself, and on top of that he's hot as hell. Don't tell me you fools have only watched what he's wearing; especially since that 'ridiculous' top leaves his arms bare. And what arms, all those masculine muscles, and those powerful legs in that tight jeans, not to mention that hot butt and those kissable lips on that handsome face. Hhhhhhh, he's the hottest guy in the entire US."
Harmony and co were drooling, eyes wide, now that the woman with a slightly bit more substance than 'what is he wearing' pointed out the obvious. "You're our hero, Cordelia," one of the Cordettes said. Cordelia nodded satisfactorily. Then the whole group surged forward, calling things like, "Xander!" "Go on a date with me!" "Xander!" "Date me!"
Cordelia was left behind dumbfounded, and then grabbed her forehead, telling herself, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! You did it again! Stop doing that! Don't tell anyone! Don't bother showing them your superiority, they'll find out sooner or later, damn it! At least I didn't tell them about the multiple orgasms!"
"He gives multiple orgasms too?" Cordelia's eyes widened in shock and then looked aside at a girl she didn't know. "Xander was his name, right? Okay, XANDER!" The girl then burst after the other group of girls, leaving a wide-eyed and slack-jawed Cordelia. The brunette then walked over to a wall and gently banged her head against it, and then again, and again.
-----
Xander was walking along and talking with Buffy and Willow when he felt a strange sensation of a bull's eye painted on his back. He frowned and turned around, his eyes shooting wide open in shock at the small stampede calling his name and more lewd things.
"Xander, run!" Willow suggested, as she and Buffy parted from his to keep from being waltzed right over. Xander nodded and ran, the girls right on his heels.
-----
"NO!" the boy screamed out in Japanese horror at a crossroads in the mall. Then in perfect English he exclaimed, "This is the fourth time in ten minutes I'm here! How do I get out of this place!!!" Apparently although his sense of direction was virtually non-existent, his brain made up for it with a very good grasp of languages, and English was one thing he had learned when he was still in school. His attire - green pants, furred boots tied with yellow and black ties, a grey-green strapped shirt, that left most of his shoulders and all of his arms bare, the yellow with black dots bandanna around his forehead, along with the big backpack on his back and the red folded umbrella in his right hand - gave him the look of a well-worn traveler.
"Ah, young man, let me help," a woman said, and pointed to his left. "Go down that way, take the first right, the second left, then again the first right, then straight on and you'll get to the exit."
"Thank you good woman," the boy said shaking her head in thanks. Then he turned 180 degrees around and walked resolutely to the next crossroads. The woman's eyes widened looking to her right where she had just pointed, and simply straight on where the boy was going. First she shook her head in disbelief, then her face squinted in anger thinking the boy was playing with her.
The boy however did /not/ toy with her, his sense of direction was simply that bad. He reached another crossroads, when he heard a voice, "Out of the way! Look out!"
"Hmm?" he wondered as he casually turned toward the shouting. He saw people parting ways as a guy came running straight for him, a throng of girls behind him. "This sounds and looks familiar," he said grabbing his chin in thought.
"SORRY!" the guy screamed and jumped up at him. The guy's right foot smashed right against his face and the boy keeled backward at the unexpected impact. "Really sorry!" the guy apologized yet again as the boy crashed on his back pack and his hand slammed against the ground. The boy groaned in pain.
"Xander! Date me! Come back to me, Xander!" a throng of voices called.
"AARGH!" the boy yelled in pain as about six girls some in high-heels crashed over him. "The humiliation," the boy slowly muttered, turning himself around to raise himself to his arms and legs.
"Wait up!" And another girl ran right over him, smashing his face back into the floor.
With a groan the boy once again raised himself up, shook his head and then turn his head to his left. The guy that had just ran over him had apparently made a circle and appeared from behind a store and pressed himself against a wall, looking around desperately for a better solution. The boy went fully to his feet and then looked with wide eyes as the guy dipped his hands in a cooled bucket of a window cleaner. The guy splashed the water in his face and turned into a girl. "/Veryfamiliar/," the boy hissed in hatred.
The throng of girls appeared and the now girl pointed, yelling, "He went that away!" The girls immediately went in the direction she pointed and she sighed in relieve.
"I knew I hear that voice before," the boy said, his free left hand in a faced, his eyes closed as he focused all his anger. Then he ran, straight at the girl, bringing up his umbrella with his right hand, screaming, "YOU BASTARD! STAND AND I SHALL KILL YOU!!"
-----
Lexa noticed the charging boy just in time. She jumped back and the umbrella crashed onto the marble floor . . . and straight through it, the marble splintered and flew up leaving an umbrella shaped hole. Whoever thought they should help the helpless girl being attacked, thought better of it after that display.
"What the hell is that for!?" Lexa screamed out loud, looking shocked at the broken floor, and how much power had to have been behind that blow. And realizing she probably shouldn't get hit by that umbrella.
"As if you don't know!" the boy hissed and stabbed the umbrella forward like a sword. Lexa sidestepped to the left and grabbed him tightly by his wrist.
"Hey, whatever I did, I'm sorry, okay? We don't need to hurt each other, right?" Lexa asked him with her most seductive voice.
"Do you think a 'sorry' is good enough for what you did to me!?" the boy yelled. He grabbed his umbrella with left hand, and at the same time moved his right hand forward, pushing Lexa back making her let go. "I am Ryoga Hibiki!" the boy yelled swinging his umbrella from left to right. Lexa ducked and the umbrella crashed straight through the wall of a bookstore, stone flying everywhere. "And I shall /kill/ you for what you did to me!" Ryoga yelled and lashed out again.
Lexa avoided the thrust and quickly turned around and ran, trying to think of a way to get rid of this guy without any bones, hers or Ryoga's, having to be broken. Ryoga meanwhile tripped over the bucket that had been moved by the force of his wall-destroying blow, and dropped to the floor, the water covering him. A moment later his clothes seemed to be empty, apart from a small bulge at the collar of his shirt. With several squeaks and oinks a small dark-brown piglet appeared from the collar. The eyes of the animal twisted in rage as it continued to squeak in indignation, the eyes boring in the retreating girl's back.
After a short while of not hearing Ryoga's threats, Lexa dared to look backward, and then stopped. She looked around, and asked herself, "Where did he go?" Then shrugged and turned back toward where Buffy and Willow would be waiting.
-----
Later that night in the bronze Xander and Lotion were dancing across from each other. Xander took in Lotion's attire in amazement. Her hair was still the same, long and full, with a few ribbons to give it a sense of femininity and naughtiness. The rest though was quite different. She wore one of her regular shirts, but it was cut short, offering a small slip of her luscious belly to the eyes, stopping just before her belly button. The top was cut as well, showing cleavage. Then she wore high heels, stockings or pantyhose, and finally a short leather skirt that reached halfway to her knees. Xander admired the view, and Lotion smiled seductively at him. When the music changed a bit, the Amazon stepped up, pressing her breasts seductively against Xander, her arms around his neck and started a slow dance. With her head on his shoulder, he placed his hands in the small of her back. Damn, this wasn't so bad, not at all. Xander smelled her hair, and it smelled good. If Buffy really was not to be for him . . . well, this girl might not even be considered second choice, she was right up there.
Across the room a bleached blonde guy looked around. There were a lot of girls that fit the annoying one's description. "Hmm."
"Xander," Lotion murmured contently. She could get used to this dating business she realized, smiling.
Next to them a bleached blonde guy arrived and said hastily, "Someone call 911, some guy is trying to bite a girl outside!"
Xander and Lotion parted a bit, looking stricken at each other, then they quickly sped outside. Indeed, once outside they found a screaming girl, and vamp trying to eat her. A moment later Lotion's fist rammed in his face and separated him from the girl, while Xander watched with an admiring grin, keeping anything from attacking her in the back. "Go to him," Lotion told the girl and pushed her toward Xander, who caught the intended victim and put her beside him.
"Slayer," the vampire said, wiping the blood from his mouth with a grin. Lotion looked confused. "You know, I won't wait until St. Vigeous, I'll simply kill you right now."
Lotion blinked, ducked beneath a swing and landed a punch to the vamp's gut, doubling him over. "OOF!" the vampire exclaimed with some shock at the force of the punch. "Spike, I need some help!" he then called out. Before any help arrived though, a knee crashed into his face, and a follow up uppercut sent him flying back until he crashed against the metal wall.
"Stake," Lotion called, and Xander pulled one from the coat he had hastily pulled along and tossed it over. A moment later the stake entered the vampire's heart, and he turned to dust, making his intended victim gasp once again. Xander turned the girl back toward the bronze.
There was a clapping, and then the figure of a bleached-blond, vamped out vampire in a long leather duster came out of the shadows; it was the same guy or rather vampire that had warned them inside earlier. "Well done, Slayer, well done," the guy - most likely 'Spike' - said with a cocky grin. "Not many Slayers can fight like you do. I see you've dyed your hair, wrong color according to me; not all of that matters much come Saturday."
"Huh? What's Saturday?" Lotion asked even more confused.
Spike gave a chuckle and as he walked away said, "Saturday is when I will kill you."
Lotion turned confused to Xander, and asked, "What is 'Slayer'?"
Xander smiled and said, "One girl in all the world chosen and given the power to fight the forces of darkness, yada, yada, yada. Giles can explain it better than I can; Buffy's the Slayer."
"Have not seen much of that power," Lotion commented remembering how easily she squashed aside the blonde with the ugly nose.
Xander shrugged, and said, "Whoever created the slayer so many thousands of years ago, couldn't have been very bright."
"Well, I look forward to Saturday. Shall hack of his limbs, and crush his balls several times before dusting," Lotion stated with conviction.
Xander laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders, much to Lotions delight. Then he told her, "I think I'm starting to like you, Lotion, if not as a girlfriend, most certainly as a friend."
-----
"The vampire called him 'Spike', you say?" Giles asked of Xander, who nodded. At the table Buffy and Willow were sitting, still studying for the French test. Giles stood behind them, Jenny sat across from Buffy and Willow, teaching Willow whenever the redhead left Buffy to her own devices in order to get her to learn something of her own. "Unorthodox name."
"Perhaps he's reformed, anyway, he thought Lotion was Buffy and told her he was going to kill her on Saturday; that was when this St. Vigeous deal started, right?" Xander commented from his lazy position in the chair.
"What!? He thought that cheap knock-off was me!?" Buffy exclaimed indignant. "The bleach must have fried his brain."
"Or the chemicals keeping his duster from going stale, then again perhaps it was going stale," Xander replied trying to remember if he smelled anything reeking.
"Hmm, perhaps he went under a different name in the past," Giles commented and took out another book to try and fight their mysterious new vampire.
Buffy sighed, got up, and said, "I'll go pour the punch. I'm punch girl."
"It looks pretty nice outside, Buffy, I'm sure you won't get expelled," Xander said helpfully and the Slayer gave him a dark look. He smiled and shrugged.
-----
A few minutes later Willow went out to check up on Buffy. "Hey, Buffy, how's it going? What taste did you decide on?"
"Oh, lemon, as in lemonade," Buffy said as she felt beaker after plastic beaker with yellow punch using a soup spoon.
"Cool, how much sugar did you use?" Willow asked as she picked up a beaker.
"Sugar?" Buffy asked as Willow took a sip. She squinted her face, and swallowed the sour liquid away with difficulty. "How does it taste?" Buffy asked.
"Great, delicious!" Willow answered, and put the beaker back down. "I'll go back to see if Jenny . . . right." Willow quickly walked back into the library, closing the doors behind her. "We need sugar, lots of it."
"Huh?" Jenny asked.
"Is there a sugar demon?" Xander asked confused.
"Yes, Buffy, she made lemonade without sugar," Willow answered making a face. "Come on, we need to help her before she gets expelled."
"Ah! There he is!" Giles exclaimed and everyone looked at him.
"The sugar demon?" Xander once again asked confused.
Giles looked at him, and then said, "Ah, no, William the Bloody, earned his nickname by torturing his victims with railroad spikes. This is good news, he's barely two hundred, not even as old as Angel."
"Lotion never seemed worried," Xander commented casually.
"Sugar!?" Willow asked. Jenny and Xander looked over at her.
"I'm sorry, Willow, but I think it's too late to go find sugar," Jenny commented looking at her watch.
"Oh," Giles suddenly said, and everyone looked over. "Spike has fought two slayers in the past century, and killed them both."
Willow and Jenny looked stricken. Xander shrugged and said, "He's going to be dust, I'll make sure I'm around Lotion Saturday, because I want to watch her take this vamp apart."
"Xander, he killed two slayers, and on Saint Vigeous he won't be coming alone," Giles said concerned.
Xander nodded, and added, "That's why I want to be there too; I'll dust his backup, so Lotion can take her time taking Captain Peroxide apart, you guys wanna help?"
"I'm in!" Willow said with a smile.
Xander angled his head back, and said, "Okay, we have to increase your training a bit before then."
-----
Later that evening the parents, some of whom brought their children arrived, among them Cordelia and her parents and Lotion and Deo. Xander's and Willow's parents characteristically didn't bother showing, so they had plenty of time to help out Buffy.
Joyce, Buffy's mother, arrived soon after, and looked with appreciation at Buffy's set up. "You did all this, Buffy?"
Buffy smiled at her mother, and said, "Well, I had help."
"It looks very good," Joyce said with a smile. "The punch looks good."
"Uh, Mrs. Summers," Willow quickly interjected stepping in front of the punch. "You should try the cookies first, that way you can appreciate the punch more later." Buffy looked a bit confused as Willow led her mother away from her delicious punch. When she spotted Snyder coming from a side corridor though, she quickly gave Willow a look. Buffy's mother finished a cookie, and Willow said, "Now let me take you on a tour of the school, you'll love it, let's start with the chemistry room."
"Okay, that sounds nice," Joyce said a little confused, but let herself be led away.
"Phew," Buffy said softly. Snyder arrived and he said, "Was that your mother, Buffy?"
"Yes, that was her, but she wouldn't have been much help, she doesn't understand a word of English," Buffy lied with a smile. Snyder narrowed his eyes and then turned away from her, gesturing she should continue making everyone happy.
"That was a close call," Cordelia commented as she came closer. "If Snyder talks to your mom . . . tenth highschool reunion? You'll still be grounded." Buffy looked at her with wide eyes.
A smiling Lotion had overheard the conversation, as her mother was off talking to some teacher about really nothing since she'd barely went to school here. Lotion than added, "What's different? Stick figure not get guys anyway."
Buffy looked hatefully at them when Xander arrived, smiled at his two suitors, and said, "Have some punch, girls." The two girls shrugged and went over to the table.
"Rewarding them?" Buffy asked Xander with a pout.
Xander grinned and pointed her to the table, and said, "What's a lemon, Buffy?"
"A fruit?" Buffy said with a confused face.
"The taste," Xander said with a little annoyance.
Buffy blinked and thought, then, "Sour?"
Xander grinned and nodded, pointing to the girls bringing the beakers to their mouths. He said, "You didn't used any sugar." Lotion's and Cordelia's faces contorted in disgust at the highly sour punch.
Buffy's eyes widened, and said, "Oh, my god, I'll be expelled."
"No one but them has had any punch yet," Xander grinned conspiratorially at Buffy. "Well, apart from me and Willow. We had to drink a few away after taking it from a few who got to the punch first."
"You guys are the best friends," Buffy told him.
Xander shrugged, and with a sour face said, "Better not ever forget it." Buffy shook her head.
-----
Some time later Joyce and Willow returned. "That was an interesting tour," Joyce commented with a frown. "We got to Chemistry, and it was empty, we got to English and it was empty."
"Well, those pesky classes, never know- . . ." Willow tried to explain.
"Mrs. Summers," Snyder called out an interruption. Joyce turned to him, and said, "We have to talk." Then the two grownups left, and Buffy swallowed nervously.
A short while later they returned. Deo had rejoined her daughter by now. Xander and Willow stood on either side of Buffy, lending her their strength.
"Buffy Summers," Joyce said with careful contained anger. Buffy swallowed, this did not sound good. Just as Joyce was about to cut into her daughter, the large window to Buffy's right shattered, and a bunch of growling vampires arrived.
"Well, hello. I've come to kill everyone," a vamped out Spike commented with his heavy British accent. His gaze ended up at Lotion who had walked forward already. "What can I say, I couldn't wait."
"Blondie, good, I tired of waiting," Lotion commented and went into a battle stance, grinning.
"No, them to safety first," Buffy said, pulling Lotion along as she grabbed her mother and a few more clueless grownups.
"She's right, daughter," Deo said before Lotion could protest.
The whole large group of people ran away from the advancing vampires and in the pandemonium that ensued, some went left, others right. The large double entrance doors were closed and two vamped out vampires, one female, guarded it. On the other side another exit was equally guarded. Buffy pulled her mother, and some more grownups, Snyder included toward the double doors while people screamed in panic. Not knowing how her friends were doing, Buffy couldn't worry, but couldn't /not/ worry either, and pulled the group into a side corridor. She ran quickly, soon finding an open door and a darkened classroom behind it. "Inside, now!" Buffy ordered, drowning out her mother's and Snyder's protests.
Once inside, Buffy closed the door, and started barricading it with whatever she could find. The grownups soon helped, and the door was barricaded just enough before a vampire banged on it from the outside, but not able to budge.
"Did I see that right? Because I didn't have much time, but were their faces miss formed?" Joyce asked fearfully as Buffy was already looking around for what to do next.
"PCP, they were a gang on PCP," Snyder said with a little fear in his voice. Buffy in the meantime looked out the windows, and was pretty certain she saw at least two vampires standing guard outside. She looked around, and then up.
"We have to get out of here," a man said and went for the windows, intending to remove the protective wooden planks and get out that way.
"No!" Buffy ordered without needing to think about it.
"Buffy!" her mother admonished her daughter.
Buffy ignored her and said, "If you go out there, they'll kill you."
Snyder wanted to push past the blonde and said, "This is ridiculous, you're student, I'm the principal, I say what goes on around here."
"You will not go outside, that's what I tell you. Why? Because I'm the girl that knows how to stop them," Buffy told him with a grim non-nonsense tone. She then walked past him to a table.
"I won't stand for this," Snyder said but did as told.
"Buffy? What are you going to do?" Joyce said with concern, fear, and a little anger.
Buffy answered immediately, "I have to go check if all the others are fine, and work on getting you all out of here alive."
"But you can't go out there, you said it yourself," her mother stated in a little irritation.
"I know, that's why I'm going up there," Buffy said and put a chair upon the table and climbed up. "Mom, keep them all inside here, and safe, and I'll come back for you all, okay?"
"Okay," Joyce said a little perturbed as Buffy disappeared into the ceiling.
-----
Inside the library were Jenny, Giles, Lotion, Xander and two more grownups and their children. They too had barricaded the door, and Jenny wondered, "What are we going to do now?"
"Undoubtedly the bastards have people outside to keep us from escaping," Xander immediately said walking over to the far end of the library to a window. "So you'll stay put while I go outside and take care of them so we have an escape route. I'll come back once that's done and we'll get the people out, then we round us up the rest of the bastards."
"Great! I go with!" Lotion said enthusiastically.
"No, Lotion, you have to stay here and protect them, got that?" Xander told his potential girlfriend. Lotion pouted. Why in blazes could all the women in his life do that? "Got that?" he repeated. Lotion nodded, and Xander then quickly crawled out, closing the window behind him.
-----
"This is insane, I'm getting out of here," one men of the four people that were with Snyder and Joyce said. He marched toward the window.
"Right you are, I won't listen to a student," Snyder said and joined him.
"You can't do that, didn't you hear what my daughter said?" Joyce said desperately, joining the two men.
"I can see where your daughter gets it," Snyder told Joyce snidely, as the other man finished opening a big enough hole to crawl through, which he promptly started. Snyder continued, "We're going out there, call the police and other help, and- . . ."
"AAH! AH! AAAH!" the man crawling out screamed as growling was heard and he was dragged outside.
". . . stay safely inside here," Snyder finished swallowing deeply. Joyce grabbed the planks the man had pulled open, and proceeded with quickly closing them again, after which she closed the window.
-----
Spike found a vampire crashing against the door to Joyce's hideout. "It won't budge," the vampire said in explanation.
"Then use your head!" Spike said, grabbing the vampire and slamming his head . . . in a fire hazard case with breakable glass behind which was among other things an axe. He took the axe and handed it with irritation at the vamp. The vamp nodded sheepishly, and started hacking the door.
Spike then continued onward, and smashed open one door. "No one here." Then another, "There's no one here either."
Cordelia and Willow sat inside the janitor's closet, holding each other, trying to stay quiet. "Eeny, meeny . . ." Spike said ready to kick the janitor's closet in.
"Spike, listen!" another vampire called out, and pointed upward.
Spike was silent and looked up, where a little stumbling could be here. "Someone's up there," Spike singsonged along. He pushed the vampire onward. He walked away from him, and quickly found several long metal poles. He called a female vampire to him, and said, "And you help me with this." He then started poking the ceiling hard, and so did the female vampire.
-----
Up in the rafters Buffy saw a pike poke through, and quickly moved onward, she head reached her destination anyhow, and quickly snuck down.
Down below in the library Giles was about ready to go out their, armed with a few stakes and crossbows. Lotion was eager to go along, but Jenny stopped them both. Giles told her, "That's my . . ." Giles looked over at the other people and said, "students out there, I must help them."
Buffy then landed between them from the ceiling, and said, "Giles!" She looked around, seeing the frightened people and a disappointed Lotion. "Situation?" she asked as she took a stake from him.
"Xander went out to clear an escape route, he told us to stay here and keep them safe," Giles said pointing at the frightened people.
Buffy nodded and said, "I don't know where Willow, Cordelia, Deo and the others went, but I'm guessing whoever's with Deo is safe."
"Very safe," Lotion nodded with a proud smile, then frowned. "Unless piss off mother, and /she/ kills them." Buffy, Jenny and Giles looked at Lotion. "Highly unlikely, mother not easy /that/ pissed off," Lotion added to reassure them.
"Ha, ha, that's a joke, correct?" Giles commented, and Lotion just looked at him.
-----
In another closed off room Deo's fist crashed against a butch father's jaw, breaking it, and sending him flying over a few tables. "SHUT UP!" Deo screamed in extreme irritation. "I say what goes here, clear? If you stupid men don't stop bugging me with your stupidity, /I/ will kill you!"
-----
"My mom, Snyder and a few others are inside one of the classrooms, rather close to an exit I think, and one vamp with an fire axe seems to be determined," Buffy said thinking. "Do you think Xander will clear a big enough escape route for more than one exit?"
"Undoubtedly, the boy may be rash, and not too quick in class, but he's not stupid, certainly not with this stuff," Giles told her his honest opinion. "However, he's not yet back, so I don't know how complete he's done."
Buffy nodded, and said, "You're right, Xander will keep them safe, I know. Okay, I go relieve mom and the others, then I'll come back here so we can free them, and find the rest."
"I come?" Lotion half asked, half stated.
"No, keep doing as Xander said, he'll probably return here. Protect them, once I return after I get my mom safe, and these are safe, you can come along," Buffy said with authority preparing to go back up.
Lotion slumped and said, "Too bad. I love killing vampires, dust sound soothing. Hurry back."
They all looked at her, and Giles said hesitantly, "Well, that's a . . . healthy attitude."
As Buffy disappeared, one of the other grownups asked, "Vampires?"
"The ones outside?" Lotion said confused.
-----
The vampire turned to dust as Xander's stake penetrated its heart. Two more vamps jumped at Xander and sent them both flying with a powerful spinning jump kick. Then he quickly dusted them. He had cleaned out about a quarter of a circle around the school by now. Suddenly he twisted around and brought the stake forward, and stopped it just before it hit home. "Dead boy," he growled recognizing the startled vampire, "what are /you/ doing here?"
Angel held his hands up defensively, and said, "I decided to follow a hunch, I guess I was right."
"Well . . . good for you," Xander said and then turned around, going straight for the main entrance. "Get to the windows of the library, and get the parents and their child to safety, so Lotion can join in on the fun."
"Lotion?" Angel asked.
Xander grinned looking over his shoulder and said, "Perhaps it's best not to meet her, her philosophy on vamps is rather like mine. I like that about her."
"And what are you going to do?" Angel asked following Xander.
"I'm going to go in there, and dust every vampire I can find, what else?" Xander told him somewhat irritated.
"You can't do that! You know who's in there?" Angel questioned.
Xander halted, and said, "Yeah, some vamp who's managed to kill two slayers, but not one more."
"He's killed more than two, those are just the ones in the last century and the ones the Watchers know about, and he's got lots and lots of backup," Angel told him exasperated.
"All the more reason for you to get the people out so I get my own backup, like say a slayer and a girl who can defeat a Slayer with one kick and her mother that's even more powerful," Xander said more and more irritated.
"Hold on a moment, I've got a plan that should give us the element of surprise," Angel said, put his hand in a puddle with water, and splashed it on Xander.
"What? Huh!?" Lexa called out, then looked angrily at Angel. "What is this for!?"
"Spike likes girls more," Angel explained and put Lexa's head in a hold under his arm, before she got her bearings to do something about it.
"Damn it, let go!" Lexa complained.
"Will you just trust me this once, Xander!?" Angel complained heavily as he marched Lexa to the main entrance.
Behind them there were two persons, one vampire, and behind him the eternal lost boy. Ryoga had just commented how glad he was he had finally found a way out of that mall, when he recognized 'him'. He growled and walked resolutely after the vampire and the cursed girl. The unnamed vampire heard the growl and turned around. He licked his lips when he saw the specimen of physical perfection, but before he could do much about it, Ryoga's old style Japanese umbrella - containing quite some wood - smashed straight through the demon's chest, despite its outer tip of about ten centimeters. A moment later the vampire turned to dust.
-----
The vampire happily axed away at the door, until Buffy fell on top of him, and then dusted him. "Mom! It's me, open up!" Buffy called, knocking on the door. A few moments later the door opened and Joyce and several frightened grown ups, Snyder included, came out. Buffy pointed at the exit to the right and said, "Get out through there quickly, and put distance between the school and you. It's safe now."
"How do you know?" Snyder exclaimed in irritation.
"I do, just go, okay?" Buffy said and pointed a the exit. Snyder nodded and several more grownups followed him to the exit.
"Buffy, where are you going?" Joyce said as she saw Buffy turning the other way.
Buffy turned to her mom, and said, "There are still more people trapped inside, amongst others my friends, I have to go help them."
"Buffy . . ."
"Mom, I'll be fine, trust me, now get yourself to safety," Buffy said urgently, and her mother then nodded in agreement and left. Buffy turned back further inward into the building. Then turned back when she saw a dark-haired girl coming into the building while the grownups were leaving. "Sheila, you're late, there are some people who want to hurt some of our friends' parents, you should go," Buffy said. Sheila grinned, bent down and picked up the axe.
"Hey, you know me, let's do some quality violence," Sheila said with a wide smile.
Buffy hesitated a moment, and then nodded, "Take out their limbs or the head, spine otherwise, don't bother with the rest of the body. You'll be in for a surprise." The two girls then went into the building.
-----
"Hey, Spike! Didn't I teach you to always guard your perimeter?" a vamped out Angel called when he entered the building with Lexa under his arms.
"Angelus! I did, hard to find good help these days," Spike said with a huge grin. "Fancy meeting you here." He walked toward Angel, and Angel did the same.
"Yeah, well, what can I say, this town is full of snacks," Angel said with a wide grin.
-----
"Be careful, I think I hear some," Buffy warned Sheila behind her and she went a little more careful, as they closed in on the main corridor leading to the lobby and the library.
Sheila smiled, vamping out, and carefully pulled the axe back, ready to hack Buffy to pieces. Buffy looked to her left, and in a window, seeing the reflection of the axe ready to kill her, but no Sheila. Buffy's eyes widened and twisted to the left. The swing missed, overbalancing Sheila and Buffy's stake hit home. When Sheila turned to dust, the axe clanged to the floor. Buffy contemplated for a moment, then stuck her stake behind the waist of her white skirt, and picked up the axe.
-----
Spike continued with a big toothy smile, still holding the pike he had been using to poke the ceiling, "I guess so, say, you wouldn't have met up with this annoyingly illusive Slayer, would you?"
"Ah, yes, well, she's a looker, I gave her the whole tortured act, fell for it hook, line and sinker. Now she leaves me alone so I can feed," Angel said with a huge grin.
"I knew it!" Lexa hissed, and a moment later, before either vampire knew what happened, Lexa's right fist crashed into Angel's gut, doubling him over a little. With a quick twist she was free, and then uppercutted Angel with her left with his back still to the dark vampire. Angel was launched of his feet and slid across the slippery floor. "Once I'm done with Bleach Boy over here, you're next Dead Boy!" Lexa hissed and took in Spike and his entourage of six vamps.
Angel groaned from the floor, "Damn it, that was just a lie."
"Bloody hell, Angelus. You were by bloody sire, my Yoda! What's wrong with you!?" Spike raged at the down Angelus. "Oh, for piss sake, you guys take care of the wannabe and the traitor, I'll go take care of the Slayer." Spike said and turned around, walking away with annoyance. A moment later the first vampire turned to dust.
-----
Lotion paced back and forth like a cage animal. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and hefted the sword she had taken from the armory a little better. Grimacing she walked up to the double doors leading in, and said, "I'm tired of waiting! Xander and Buffy hogging all the fun!" She reached the doors and kicked them open with one might kick, leaving Giles and Jenny carrying crossbows to protect the people.
-----
Spike looked astonished as the library doors burst open, launching two vampires that were trying to get in across the hall and against the wall. Lotion came out and smoothly staked both, putting her stake back again and bringing up her sword. "Slayer!" Spike called with some happiness, hands in the air, displaying the pike.
Lotion noticed him, and rapidly ran toward him, until she was standing in the lobby, and Spike in front of the side corridor. "As a favor to you, Slayer, I'm going to make this painless," Spike said with a huge grin, and then looked startled at the girl's response.
Lotion grinned predatory and said, "Promised future husband I hack of your limbs, and crush your balls several times before I dust. I always keep promises."
"Well, that's a new one," Spike said. He shrugged and attacked his pike slamming against Lotion's sword. Buffy's axe swished right through air, missing Spike just as he went to attack Lotion. She looked astonished for a moment, and then turned to watched Lotion easily deflecting Spike's blows. The vampire seemed to be having fun.
"Hey, Spike, what about me?" Buffy called as she entered the lobby. Spike looked around, and watched Buffy.
"Not another wannabe," Spike muttered and started to notice he was distinctly outnumbered.
"Who are you calling wannabe, Captain Bleach!?" Buffy told him angrily and swung her axe. Spike blocked it with his pike, and kicked the axe from her hands, it clanged to the floor and slit back to the side corridor.
He switched his pike quickly to block Lotion's thrust and twisted around his axis, putting Buffy and Lotion at the side of the lobby and he at the side of the corridor. With another twist Lotion's axe went flying, making her angry.
-----
Angel watched Xander dust a second vampire, but the five of them in such close quarters were starting to overwhelm him. He got up, preparing to help him out, when a very strong hand grabbed him. "Out of my way!" Ryoga hissed, and casually tossed Angel backward from him. To Angel's shock he was launched into the air in a wide arc out the exit. "You!" Ryoga roared in anger.
Lexa looked over and rolled his eyes. "Oh, no, not you again. Well, if you're here, you might as well help out. Have fun with him, boys," Lexa said, then pushed one vamp toward Ryoga and jumped over the rest, saying, "I've got my self a big bad to fry."
Lexa ran over to Spike and watched with satisfaction as Lotion grabbed Spike's pike and then kicked him so hard he was launched backward until he crashed into the wall, the pike now in Lotion's hands, and Spike looking astonished. Lexa grinned, and slid to a stop, overtaking Spike a bit, annoying her.
"What the bloody . . .?" Spike muttered seeing Lexa's arrival and counted three against one now. This wasn't in the planning. Spike turned to Lotion, and said, "What's the matter, Slayer? Can't handle one little vamp on your own?"
Lotion's face darkened, and ask, "Why you keep call me Slayer!? I not Slayer, stupid blonde with ugly nose is Slayer!!"
"What!?" Spike said in shock, and took a few steps forward.
Buffy exploded, hands balled into fists, "I'M NOT STUPID! AND MY NOSE IS NOT UGLY!!!"
"It's square like pig's," Lotion calmly pointed out. Spike now stood in front of Lexa, both of whom were taking in the spectacle.
"One of these days, bitch, one of these days Xander will have trained me enough, and then I will kick your ass all the way back to China!" Buffy growled at the Amazon.
"You not even know where China is," Lotion returned snideful.
Before Buffy would boil over and attack Lotion despite what she knew the outcome would be, Ryoga's voice called out, "Out of the way, demon spawn! I have business with that bastard!!" Behind him one vampire lay groaning with several ribs sticking out of its body. The dust on the floor was testament to what happened to the rest of them.
A little less far behind Ryoga stood Buffy's mother, holding the axe, and said, "Demon spawn!? Buffy, what does he mean by that!?"
"Oh, no," Buffy muttered, while Spike looked around him, counting the numbers, and seeing his chances of victory hitting rock bottom, and survival following soon after, as well as trying to figure out where the 'bastard' was that the guy with the big umbrella was talking about. "Mom, not now, please."
Spike was fed up, and vamped out, hoping intimidation, and family squabbles would give him an opening for escape, "Alright, 'mom', you want an answer? I'm a vampire, a demon animated corpse, a blood-sucking fiend from beyond the pissing dead, I'm the big bad, and I'm going to drain your lovely daughter who happens to be the sodding chosen one, the bloody Slayer, from all her blood. Getting it yet!?" Joyce's jaw dropped, Buffy groaned, Lotion looked confused. "And that means you, you wanking boy, you don't belong here! Now, can we get on with the mayhem of me killing you or not!"
Ryoga growled, and roared, "I said, 'OUT OF THE WAY!'" He attacked, swiping his umbrella with rapid speed from right to left, completely surprising Spike. As the umbrella hit him in the right side, the vampire felt multiple bones break in multiple places, and yelled out in pain. He was simply launched off his feet, past Lotion and Buffy, crashing into a few tables and skidding to a halt.
"Bloody hell!" he groaned out in pain, holding his painful side, and then looked in shock at the unassuming boy that took a step toward Lexa, and swirled the umbrella around one finger - that Spike realized had to be seriously heavy - like it was a simply light little stick. Realizing his chance, he staggered to his feet, and groaning with every step he ran out the broken window.
"You let him get away," Lexa said shocked at Spike fleeing the scene.
"I don't care, I shall kill you now!" Ryoga roared and attacked. Lexa jumped back and the umbrella hit the floor, cracking it open with ease. Lotion's, Buffy's, and Joyce's eyes went wide in shock at the power behind it, and watched how the boy casually swivelled the umbrella back in place for another attack.
This time Lexa stepped into the attack, and blocked it at the wrist, making sure the umbrella didn't hit him. Ryoga had his teeth clenched shut and growled. "I already told you I was sorry, can't we just get along? What in blazes did I do that was so bad anyhow?" Xander asked, genuinely puzzled.
"You dare say you don't know!?" Ryoga roared, and took a jump back ready to attack again.
"Well, we don't know for sure," Lotion interrupted the boy.
"Yeah, we don't even know who you are," Buffy added looking at the boy, and rather a bit afraid. The boy was probably as strong if not stronger that Xander was.
"/I/ am Ryoga Hibiki!" Ryoga declared like that explained everything, and then explained.
O
"I'm . . . finally here," Ryoga muttered, leaning on a wooden stick. He just left the forest and was now standing on an edge of a small, low ravine, with ponds of water below. "Now to find . . ."
Several sounds drew his attention, and he turned around. A panda came running out the forest and Ryoga's eyes widened. A moment later the panda jumped, and used Ryoga for a spring board, clearing the ravine easily. Ryoga staggered back, and flinging his hands about he managed to stay standing. "POPS!" a female voice yelled, and Ryoga looked startled, seeing a redhead girl close in on him, and jump up, equally stepping on his face and jumping across the expanse.
"AAH!" Ryoga screamed losing balance, threatening to fall down the short cliff. He managed to twist himself, and grab a hold of the cliff edge, but he was slipping.
"Ranma! Genma! Wait up!" another female voice screamed, and Ryoga managed to see a raven-haired girl running toward him.
"Help, girl, pull me up!" Ryoga called desperately.
"Sorry, no time!" the girl said and jumped at the edge, which crumbled because of it immediately, "Don't worry, just a short drop, you won't even feel a thing, and there's water to break the fall too." The girl landed and ran onward, while Ryoga fell.
O
"Well, there you go, you're fine, I was right, and I apologized right there," Lexa told him with a friendly smile. "If the fall had been deadly, I would have pulled you up, no doubt about it."
"Fine!? FINE!?" Ryoga yelled holding up his left fist with extreme anger. "I'll tell you fine!!"
O
Ryoga fell, and then splashed into the water. A moment later a small dark-brown piglet spluttered to the surface, oinking and squeaking, then sank back down. Ryoga did not really know how to swim as a piglet yet. Once again he surfaced, and once again he sank. Finally he managed to just barely reach the edge and climbed up. On dry land, he heaved breath into his lungs deeply, being exhausted.
A shadow made him look up, and he saw the panda once again. The panda made a sound and then grabbed the piglet before he could run, and happily took him along.
-----
"Oh, what a nice piglet!" the Jusenkyo guide called with a big grin. "He'll make a fantastic dinner!" The panda nodded proudly, while Ryoga squealed and screeched trying to get away.
Several moments later Genma in human form sat at the table, knife and fork in hand. The guide had put water in a big frying pan, and had filled it with ingredients. "What good luck that you found such a tasty piglet, sir!" the guide said with a big grin. "Absolutely great, he'll make a great diner. And he'll never know what'll happen to him, well, unless of course he's unfortunate soul who fell into the pond of the drowned piglet. Tragic story about piglet drowning there seven hundred years ago." Ryoga squealed and screamed more in his little cage. The guide pulled the pig out by his neck, and said, "But that couldn't possibly be, what would be the odds?" The guide held Ryoga over the pain, the pick kicked and cycled his short legs, squealing, and squeaking over and over. "Here goes," the guide said and dropped the pig in the pan.
"Youch!!" Ryoga screamed turning back into a boy and jumping out of the pan.
The guide and Genma looked shocked as Ryoga ran out the door of the guide's house.
O
"ALL YOU!! ALL RANMA AND YOU, YOU, YOU!!" Ryoga screamed enraged.
"Xander Harris, pleased to meet you," Lexa supplied.
"AAAH!!" Ryoga screamed and attacked once again with a flurry of blows, umbrella twisting and swivelling. All Lexa could do was jump back, and avoid.
Wait! If he was a Jusenkyo victim! She came past the chemistry room, and the cleaning shower for accidents. She grabbed for the opening handle, and once the water came, she let it enter her hands. "RAAH!" Ryoga screamed bringing the umbrella down for the final time . . . just in time Lexa had enough water and threw it, splashing Ryoga in the face. The umbrella went wide and crashed into and lodged into the wall. Ryoga's clothes and backpack were on the floor, and Lexa turned the shower closed. Squeaking with indignation Ryoga wormed himself free from his clothes. He looked up with hateful eyes at Lexa, and then jumped oinking dangerously. Lexa caught Ryoga by his neck, and started walking back.
Lotion and Buffy had walked forward to be able to see, and looked with shock at the piglet jumping at Lexa and she bringing it with her. Something clanged. "Mom!" Buffy yelled as she watched her mother drop into unconsciousness. She sped over and was just in time to catch her, or she would have crashed to the floor.
Lexa reached the girls, and one unconscious mother, still holding the squealing piglet out in front of her. Buffy looked up, waving cool air into her mother's face, and said, "I think she took that rather well, don't you think?" Lexa shrugged.
"Well!?" was called out, and the library doors opened. Giles, Jenny and the parents and student came out. Lotion could just see them, as Giles asked again, "Did I hear you say everything his well!?"
"Okay!" Lotion called out and beckoned them over. Ryoga in the meantime calmed down, giving up his futile sputtering about.
In the distance a janitor's closet opened, and Willow and Cordelia peeked out. "Okay!? Everything's okay!?" Cordelia called out.
"Yes!" Lexa called, and so the two girls walked over as well. Once both groups arrived, Willow, Cordelia and Jenny noticed Ryoga. The parents though quickly walked onward, taking their students with them.
"Oh, such a cute piglet!" Jenny called out and took the pig from Xander, hugging it to her chest, making Ryoga squeal in protest again.
"Where did you find it?" Willow said demanding it from Jenny, and squishing the piglet to her own chest. Jenny and Cordelia went to stroke it, Ryoga squeaked more, and then glared at Lexa dangerously.
Lexa just looked with dropped jaw. "Hello, that's a guy! Just like I fell into the pond of the drowned girl, he fell into the pond of the drowned piglet," Lexa told them annoyed.
Ryoga screeched more. The girls looked up, and then down a the pig. Willow shrugged, and said, "Doesn't matter, he's /so/ cute!" The other girls agreed.
Giles then reset his glasses and said, "I'll go find Deo."
A few minutes later Giles found Deo rubbing some dust off of her clothes, and muttering, "Those stupid, macho, utter halfwits, I warned them, didn't I?!" At first Giles thought she meant the vampire she had obviously dusted, but then remembered Lotion's earlier words. He quickly ran past the woman and looked into the only opened classroom. There about four men lay strewn about, wherever they had landed. A few women looked shocked, a few male students had fearfully crept underneath tables. After a quick check, Giles was relieved that there was no blood anywhere, the men had simply been knocked unconscious, the different hued bruises a testament to that.
Back in the lobby, Joyce had come too, and after some heavy calming down she had finally accepted that all she had gone through was real, and she had said she and Buffy would have a long talk when they got home. In order to get away from the seeming ready to explode mother, Buffy had decided to wander away a little and came across Ryoga's umbrella, which had fallen to the floor, taking some wall with it. She looked at it, and shrugged. She reached down with her right hand and picked it up, or rather tried. Buffy's eyes widened in shock and then put more effort into, slowly, bit by bit pulling it off the floor. She used her second hand and soon had it pointing to the ceiling, but she was straining to keep it straight up. She gasped, jaw dropping, and looked back at the piglet being cuddled and hugged. The guy had swivelled and twisted it around with one arm as if the thing had weighed nothing. She couldn't believe it, and looked back at the massive umbrella.
-----
In the anointed one's factory hideout, Spike was in his Drusilla's arms, wincing still at the pain in his side. It would take some time before the bones were healed. It was the next day already, and a beam of light was filtering through a high window. Next to Spike and Drusilla - a dark, and rather insane dark-haired vampiress - a metal cage hung on chains.
"A Slayer with family and friends, each - girls included - just as strong as she is, and a boy wielding a thousand pound umbrella like a match stick. That was most assuredly bloody well not in the brochure, pet," Spike muttered, still amazed at last night's events.
"I know, Spaike," Drusilla said stroking his hair.
"How's the Annoying One?" Spike muttered looking at the child looking on his makeshift throne, a flunky vampire next to him.
"A little upset," Drusilla practically rolled out of her mouth.
"Well, I'll go make nice now," Spike commented, and slowly walked over to the boy vampire, wincing with every step. Reaching the boy, Spike kneeled down.
"You failed," the boy stated.
"I know, I apologize and I offer penance," Spike drawled out.
The flunky vampire yelled angrily, "Penance!? You were impatient, our numbers are depleted! You should give up your life!"
"Yes, well, there were some unforseen circumstances, and if I had to do it again . . ." Spike looked up, a smile suddenly on his face, and practically laughing out loud he said, "Who am I kidding!? I would do it the exact same way, except . . ." Spike suddenly got up, pushed the flunky aside and grabbed the boy putting him over his shoulder, saying, "I would do /this/ first!" He walked over to the cage, the boy screaming. Another flunky vampire tried to attack the bleached blonde, but with one single kick backward the vampire was dropped to the floor unconscious. Spike dumped the Anointed One in the cage, wincing a bit at his broken bones. He slammed the cage shut, and went over to some more chains. He started pulling and the cage went up and up, toward the beam of light, stopping just before. "Now!" Spike called out loud, several vampires hidden away watching in morbid fascination. "We're going to have some less ritual around here, and some more fun!" He then pulled one last time and the Anointed one was pulled into the light. He screamed as he burned to death.
Drusilla smiled at the now empty cage, deliciously enjoying the death of the boy, and then swayed over to Spike, who returned to the middle of the room. Spike embraced Drusilla, and said, "Now pet, let's see what's on the telly."
"Spike," Drusilla commented in approval and the two walked away, finding a tv.