AN: :stab:stab:stab: . Ebil chapter. Forgive yours truly. Next chapter be better. :gya:

Maiko Shindou- (13) Maggie Shoeman
Shuichi Shindou - (16) Shane Shoeman
Ryuichi Sakuma - (17) Ryan Satterfield
Hiroshi Nakano- (17) Hilary (Hi) Nathan
Tatsuha Uesugi- (? looks 16) Thaddeus (Tad) Understold
Eiri Uesugi - (? looks 22) Eric Hueman
Tohma Seguchi - (?) Tohma Seguchi
Mika Seguchi- (--) Mira Sears
Suguru Fujisaki - (15) Sullivan Fulk
Taki Aizawa - (18) Taylor Ainsworth
Ma-kun - (--) Mark Kurt
Ken-chan - (--) Ken Chandler
Noriko Ukai - (18) Nova Upton
Claude K Winchester - (?) Claude K Winchester
Sakano - (28) Mr. Sakner
Ayaka Usami - Ayaka Usami

Interlude - Paladin

Energy radiated throughout the entire household as one very convivial singer celebrated his victory with every jovial pore in his being. "WE'RE PLAYING!" Shane cheered ecstatically as he danced his way into his widespread dining-room.

Sullivan rolled his eyes from his slumped position on Shane's dining room table, yet he was not as irritated as he pretended. "Yes, yes. You've been chanting that for the past hour." He confirmed dryly, then quickly turned his head to hide his amused smile.

The pink-haired bundle of joy pulled his knees to his chest and released a high-pitched squeal. Hilary, who sat next to Shane laughed with just as much mirth as his enthusiastic friend possessed. "We barely did it, but it happened."

"'Barely' does not even begin to describe it." Sullivan frowned, "We have to practice our butts off if we want to even -compare- to Nittle Grasper." His opinion toward their performance was extremely negative, for good reason.

Shane's victory dance ceased for a brief moment, before he ignored the fact-filled statement and continued wiggling in his chair. "C'mon Shane! It's your birthday!" He sang happily.

Hilary sighed, and allowed the private celebration. "We'll pull it off." He stated encouragingly, "At least ASK came in tenth ..."

"As compared to our ninth ..." Sullivan mumbled disapprovingly."We could have done better."

The long-haired boy nodded sagely. "Sure we could have." He agreed, "But if you're comparing us to Nittle Grasper: they had a lot more time to practice," Hilary glanced at the one blissfully ignoring the entire conversation, "with a song they already knew." He added ruefully.

"Yes." Sullivan said loudly. "A song they already knew." He growled, and glared spitefully in Shane's direction.

That weekend the anticipated qualification rounds had befallen the small town at the Key Theo Theatre. Coming in second had been none other than Nittle Grasper themselves, consisting of Ryan, Nova and an unknown girl who possessed a name that no one could remember. They had dazzled the audience with their musical aptitude, and undoubtably left their mark upon each person who happened to listen. Nittle Grasper earned their place in the light. However, they were being criticized by those that were familiar with them, due to the fact they had rendered a song that had originally been created with Shane: performed with his permission of course. His own band mates had not been pleased when they discovered Nittle Grasper's masterstroke of a song was not entirely of their doing. Bad Luck's three week efforts had suddenly felt as though they had been futile.

Somewhat ironically, there was comfort in knowing that their -other- rivals had not faired much greater than themselves. Taylor had managed to find two who were tolerant of him within his own three-week limit, and had thrown together two songs for their amateurish performance. While the quickly formed ASK had not been the worst spectacle to be heard, their composition was obviously hurried, and had not been overly pleasant to listen to.

Shane exposed his tongue in Sullivan's direction, and shrugged off the expressed insinuation. "We passed didn't we?" He said in a dismissive tone, "We'll do better next time."

"What kind of attitude is that!" The youngest boy cried incredulously, "We'll never do better if you keep thinking like that!"

"Calm down Sullivan." Hilary chided calmly. "He's just as worried as we are." He quirked a reprimanding eyebrow at Shane, who was pretending not to see the daggers coming from Sullivan. "Aren't you Shane?"

Shane shook his pink head with vigor, "Of course not!" He declared, "Because we're going to show those posers whose boss next month!"

Whether he meant ASK or Nittle Grasper, neither of his band mates were certain; they merely sighed as their insane singer proceeded to strike triumphant positions atop his chair.

----

They had remained awake until after 1:00 A.M., strenuously attempting to improve upon their sound. Taylor, and his two new associates Mark and Ken, were all equally determined to show that they had more than mediocre talent at their fingertips.

'What kind of name is ASK?' Taylor wondered to himself as he slid under his inviting bed covers. 'First bloody thing we thought of, that's what ...'

He glanced down to the large blond and even larger brunet sleeping on his floor and sighed wearily. 'Sleep ...' The boy was just traveling toward the Sand Man's home, when he heard the obnoxious ring tone of his cell phone beckoning for him. Taylor grunted irritably, before groping around in the dark for the annoying piece of plastic that was somewhere on his bedside table.

"What?" The half-awake boy mumbled.

There was a moment of silence on the other side, just long enough for Taylor to begin to shut the phone off. However minutely, unexpectedly, a quiet voice found its nerve and spoke calmly.

"Do you want to beat Bad Luck?"

"Huh?" Taylor grunted dumbly. At first it hadn't registered that the sentence was probably in reference to his rivals, but as soon as his half awake mind had realized this strange voice possessed something interesting to say, Taylor's alertness peaked.

"What's it to you, and who the hell are you?" He responded gruffly, not quite believing that someone was daring to call him in the middle of the night in order to help him. How had the voice found his phone number anyway?

The voice chuckled musingly, "I can assist you, that's all you need to know. As for why it's personal."

'What a thoughtful answer ...' Taylor sarcastically considered, and rolled his eyes as he debated humoring this presumably arrogant person. His tolerance for such games was next to non, especially when one in question calls at unruly hours. He sighed, "Say what you want to, but as soon as you lose my interest I'm hanging up."

"Fair enough." The voice chuckled. "Well, here's an idea ..." It began, and Taylor listened.

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