The school year ended with discovering the swim coach was insane. When kids on the team started disappearing and a strange creature was seen, Xander joined the team to try to figure what was going on. He found he couldn't go in the steam room. Something in there stank in a weird way. Giles had the steam analyzed and they found the team had been dosed with something. Then the coach tried to feed Buffy to the team members, who it was discovered, had transformed. All the transformed students made a break for the ocean after killing the coach. There wasn't anything else they could do but let them go, how could they catch them? Hopefully, since they were all male and human sized, they weren't something that would become a bigger problem.
Summer came and went, the group patrolling together, Cordelia's edict that Xander wasn't allowed to patrol by himself finally gave everyone else a chance to see how he dealt with vampires. It was a fairly simple method of poking them in the stomach with a bat and staking them in the back when they bent over. The most interesting thing, though, was that he would mark the location of nests at night and in the day time come back and dust the inhabitants of the nests. Usually by lobbing a homemade baseball size gas bomb into the nest, then going in with protective head gear on, so he could see and hear while they couldn't. It was simple, but effective.
Their senior also started fairly quietly. Things changed the third week, though. That was the week they met Faith, the Vampire Slayer. It was soon discovered that Faith's Watcher was dead, murdered by a vampire named Kakistos, who'd chased Faith all the way from Boston.
"Okay so, we need to figure out a way to deal with big and ugly." Xander said. "I have an idea. But it's kinda risky."
"What might this idea be, Xander?" Giles asked, slightly warily.
"You know how I use a homemade gas bomb on nests I take out? I can amp it up. Make a bigger one. Then while the vamps are distracted, we go in with protective head gear on and slice and dice his ugliness and minions. Since they can't see us and will be confused, it'll cut down on the risk factor. Still somewhat dangerous, but a lot less so then a direct assault would be."
"Where do we get the protective head gear?" Giles asked.
"The Army surplus store, where I get most of my supplies. We know where he's holed up, we need to move before he goes after Faith."
After some discussion, it was decided that they would try Xander's plan. They'd seen him deal with nests with his homemade gas bomb and that worked, they were hopeful this would too. It did. Faith and Buffy used swords on Kakistos, while the rest of them dealt with the minions and one flashy dresser Faith said, was called Trick. Afterward they met in the library for a post battle discussion and to bring Faith up to date on the particulars of the group.
"So, we haven't actually had a chance to tell you anything about ourselves. Something's of note are that Oz is a werewolf. So's his aunt and cousin. They're all very responsible about it and take care not to hurt anyone. As for myself, well I accidentally got caught in a ritual some idiot at the zoo was doing. He wanted to deliberately get himself possessed by animals. Four kids got possessed instead. After dispossessing them, they tried to kill themselves, one succeeded, because while possessed, they ate a person. As for me, I was affected differently. I've been altered on a genetic level. I'm now half human, half hyena. All natural, I'm not a demon or anything. You don't have to worry that either Oz or I will hurt you."
"Good to know. Anything else I should know about?"
"Yes. We all see a counselor to help us deal with everything we've encountered in our work. You'll be expected to as well. The Council has agreed to allow you to remain in Sunnydale with me as your Watcher. I'll introduce you to Connie, our counselor later." Giles said.
"Faith, where are you staying right now?" Xander asked.
"Place called the Sunnydale Motor Lodge."
"That's not a fit place for roaches, let alone a person! Giles, you better make sure she's got a place of her own." Xander said.
"Especially since places of temporary lodging, like hotels, have extremely week thresholds. Vampires can get into them." Jenny said.
"I will see to it right away."
The group called it a night and everyone headed home, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
What it brought was Giles thinking Oz had escaped while wolfed out and killed someone. Xander nixed that idea right off the bat.
"Giles, stop freaking out. Oz hasn't escaped or killed anyone."
"And how can you be sure, Xander?" Giles said, glaring at him.
"Well, let's start with logic, shall we? Wolf-Oz can't unlock the book cage. He can't even grip a key, which he didn't even have. The door was still locked this morning and clearly hasn't been broken. The only way out is a high window he couldn't jump to and wouldn't fit though anyway. Ipso facto, always wanted to say that, Oz was a good boy last night. Something else killed the kid in the woods. We need to go to the woods and see if there are any recognizable tracks, then we check out the body at the morgue. Everybody agreed?" Xander asked.
It didn't take long to figure out, students could be insane too. One had used weird science to turn himself into a Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde deal. They managed to catch him when he attacked Oz, thinking Oz was making time with his girlfriend. After turning him over to the cops, they talked his girlfriend into seeing Connie for awhile. Hopefully, it would help her recover from what was clearly an abusive relationship.