At Vandom's Animal Kingdom, Peggy and Rayne were volunteering to feed the dogs. "Where's Addy?" asked Peggy. "She told me that she has to do something about music."

"She's at band practice today," Rayne answered.

"She's in a band?" Peggy asked.

"Yeah," Rayne answered. "Rockin Bonanza. They're having their auditions for a new guitarist. Their previous one, Nero, just moved over the summer. You know the house you live in? That was his."

"You learn something new every day, Lass," Peggy replied as she gave a dog a chewie stick.

Meanwhile, at a garage, Rockin Bonanza was having lead guitarist auditions. A country boy was wrapping up "Oh, Susanna" when Addison and Isadora gave him a no. They were also accompanied by the lead members were sibling duo Dagger, who was Isadora's boyfriend, and Merula. Both Dagger and Melura were both gothic. "Why can't Rockin Bonanza be a quartet?" Addison asked.

"When Rockin Bonanza is a five-part harmony," Isadora replied, "it's five times the charm as they always say. Not like charm bracelets. I used to collect those as a kid, remember? Like the one you gave me for my 8th birthday with the flags of Guatemala and Vietnam."

A perky woman came into their room. "Eugene, Marlow," she asked, "Have you found your guitarist yet?"

"Mom!" shouted Dagger. "Call us by our stage names, Melura and Dagger."

"Sorry," their mom replied. "No one else seems to have auditioned for Rockin Bonanza. Two years and it got you gigs at Covington Ice Cream Shop, Hartfeld High events, and town festivals."

"I don't think we're going anywhere with this," Melura replied, "Dad works at Majesty Records as an accompanist for musicians, and we all know that if he lets his gothic musician children into the business, he'll die of embarrassment."

"Don't say that," their mom replied. "I know your father gets embarrassed when you do your goth thing, but it's for your good. Just don't be ferocious."

That's when Melura remembered something. "Tell me about this friend of yours," she informed, "the bad girl in the ballet club."

"Her name is Mahi Chakavarti," Isadora replied. "She used to be a member of that Indian street gang Tte Ferociars until she confessed she gave her stupid brother, Vinod, the idea to vandalize the school. Now we're using the Hartfeld University auditorium until further notice. That way the high schoolers can have adventure."

"Enough," snapped Melura. "Could you call her and please stop all of your talking?"

"Okay," Isadora as she texted her.

Mahi, Mahi, our band Rockin Bonanza are in need of a new guitarist and are wondering if you would be up.

After 30 seconds, Mahi texted back.

I'm busy rearranging things, but I will do it ASAP.

Mahi was cleaning out her old hideout where she and the other Ferociars lived until they got arrested last week. Mahi went through and found a picture of her and her teammates. She thought about tossing it to throw away the bad memories but remembered that if she tossed it, she could forget her brother.

After a final touch to the skate ramp, she texted the other members of PRIMA.

Meet me by Waffle World, now.

30 minutes later, Peggy, Rayne, Isadora, and Addison were outside Waffle World, which was next door to an abandoned arcade. "Himesh's Hallway?" asked Peggy. "What is Himesh's Hallway?"

"It was an arcade in the 1980s," explained Mahi coming out of the arcade. "But during the 2020s, it shut down because Himesh had to go move to Canada to expand his business. This was a perfect hideout for the Ferociars, and it can be one for PRIMA."

"This is our new hideout?" asked Rayne.

Mahi nodded her head. "And don't worry," she replied. "Will and I returned all the stolen goods the Ferociars stole over the years."

"That's a relief," Addison smiled. "I don't want to get arrested for assisting burglary. My grandfather would kill me if he found out I was joined by an ex-criminal."

Isadora wanted to blab out something, but her mouth was full from the waffleburger she was eating. "Forgive me," she replied. "My Tia is serving her disgusting radish gazpacho tonight, and I could never get the flavor of radishes. There's that Hulu cartoon called 'Rosaline' where a lesbian peasant visits her sweetheart who has a purple daisy in her hair. Heck, the fan name I call her is Daisy because of it."

"Come on," Mahi said. "Let's go before the cops show up."

"Right," whispered the girls as they snuck into the window.

"Why can't we use the door, girl?" asked Rayne.

"If I've ever learned anything about being a criminal," answered Mahi, "it's that criminals don't use the front door. The law would catch on."

Meanwhile, in the Jeivan Empire, King Jeiva was listening to his royal minstrel, Asinorth. She had green scaly skin, wore gothic clothing, and played a powerful lute. "So, Your Jeivaness," she said, "are you going to introduce to me, Zemunth, and Madrid our new recruits?"

"That's right," King Jeiva said. "Madrid, Zemunth, get in here this instant."

Madrid came in. He wore an elaborate musketeer uniform and stroke a dashing pose. "It's awful to be here, Your Jeivaness."

"Yes, yes," replied King Jeiva. "Now where's that stupid Zemunth?"

A bang on the wall came. "Hey," Zemunth said. "They ain't no door here."

"That's a wall, stupid," growled Asinorth.

"Sowwy," Zemunth said as he tripped and fell.

"I can't believe I have a giant idiot as my muscle," growled King Jeiva. "Now then, I'd like you to meet our new mercenary and his cohorts."

From the windows, a dark brooding masked warrior came around. He was accompanied by 4 other masked warriors who did a lion pose. "Easy, kitties," stated the leader. "We're in the presence of His Jeivaness."

"Yes, sir," replied his cohorts.

"Your Jeivaness," said the leader, "I am Bipon. I am glad you and your army discovered us. Now tell me what you want us to do."

"Simple," Jeiva answered. "I want you to put everyone in Hartfeld into their fear, retrieve the Hearts of Kandrakar, and weaken those human girls, PRIMA."

"It will be done," Bipon said as he and his henchmen took off.

Meanwhile in the human world, PRIMA was practicing their new powers. Isadora was wrapping hers up and flew down next to Rayne, "Did you see me do those gusts of wind?" she asked. "Did ya, did ya, did ya? People say that this is cold and flu season, this is also pumpkin, apple cider and windy season. I know the spring as pollen, flower, and rainy season, summer is considered watermelon, vacation, and picnic season, and finally winter is snow, peppermint, and Christmas season. Christmas is not usually in January nor February, but I can have Christmas-themed birthdays and Valentine's presents to give the spirit."

"That's true, man," Rayne replied. "My family celebrates my Papa's birthday on January 7th. We use leftover Christmas wrapping for the occasion."

"That's a good way to use Christmas present wrapping, Lass," Peggy replied, "to use it for birthday presents for birthdays close to Christmas."

Outside, they heard a thud from the park. Bipon and his gang were wreaking havoc, the way that a gangster did. "Throw up your fears!" shouted Bipon.

"Rude," snarled Addison. "Looks like someone has to teach those crooks a lesson."

Guardians Unite

"So," Bipon smiled, "this must be the PRIMA Jeiva warned us of. You look prettier in person."

"Will take that as a compliment," Peggy replied.

"I don't fight women," said one of them.

"Wuitet!" shouted Bipon. "Anyway, any of you scared of bats?"

"Bats are a sign of death in Aztec culture," Addison replied. "And in 'Macbeth', the Weird Sisters used batfur for their brew."

"Exactly," replied Bipon, "since we find Shakespeare gross."

He summoned an army of evil bats to protect them. Mahi knew a way on how they could defeat them - with music. She remembered reading from a stolen book about Indian animals that bats have very powerful hearing. She found a guitar in a trash can, still in good use, figuring that she couldn't let something this good go to waste. With a wave of the guitar, she played Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World."

The Jeivan bats were so attuned to the music, they started to dance. "STOP!" Bipon shouted. "Don't listen to that runt's little song!"

But the bats wouldn't listen, so they kept flying around Mahi's performance. "Let's get out of this lame symphony!" shouted Bipon as he and his cohorts wandered off.

The words of Bipon's mouth insulted Addison, so she drizzled acorns on them. "That's for insulting the power of symphony."

Peggy, Rayne, Isadora, and Addison were amazed by Mahi's guitar-playing skills. During a major guitar solo, the Jeivan bats bumped into each other and turned into dust. After the last one turned into dust, everyone cheered. "Where did you learn to play that?" Rayne asked.

"Taught myself through music books I bought during my days," Mahi replied. "Needed an honest living on the streets."

"Busking is illegal, but at least your being honest with yourself," Addison smiled.

The next day at Melura and Dagger's garage, Mahi came for her guitar audition. "You're in the band," smiled Dagger. "We've been through a lot of violinists, country singers, and polka performers, and none of them had the right tune."

"Awesomem" smiled Mahi. "When is our first gig?"

"Tonight at Covington Ice Cream," answered Melura. "And you get paid $300. Our mom works as a dentist."

"I'm going to move into the foster home afterward," Mahi replied. "I need a new place to crash. I've been surviving on the streets since I was a child."

Later that night, Rockin Bonanza performed "Rockin' in the Free World" with Mahi on vocals. Everyone cheered in the end, and Mr. and Mrs. Covington were both thrilled to have Mahi live in their foster home. They've hadn't taken in a teenager before in their lives. Rayne knew that people grow up, but Mahi had a new family now.

The End

Note: Himesh's Hallway is named after actor Himesh Patel.