Decided to give this chapter to you right away. I'm going at my own pace for this and I hope you guys will understand.

Any of the OC's in this fic are my own creation...yes, even the bad guys. Anyway, consider this fic an origin story of our crew of heroes. I meant to say this in the prologue, but I'd like to dedicate this fic to all the unsung heroes who perform ordinary acts of bravery, even without recognition.

This fic goes out to you!

I guess that's all to be said for this chapter! Enjoy!

Angel Grove Mall

One week before school…

They were once again at the mecca of all Angel Grove mall rats. With one week left to go before school started, they kids were here, purchasing whatever was left on their lists, before they were back in the classroom. After they were done, it was on to the local Walmart to get their supplies.

For now, the teens had split up and gone their separate ways for the next hour so that the girls could get their unmentionables without the guys drooling over them. Trent had taken off as soon as they arrived, heading for the internet café so he could take care of adult business. In the next few days, he'd be moving in to the new townhouse he'd just leased and there were a few last-minute things to be bought and set up for delivery.

The kids were meshing well together, so he didn't worry too much about them running into trouble. So, with a relaxed mentality, he pulled the high tech laptop from his messenger bag, sat down at the booth and logged onto the web.

"So, what are we shopping for first?" Sapphire asked as she and Autumn walked down the promenade. "What kind of look are you going for?"

Autumn looked at her best friend. "I want a change, something with leather and dragons. I want to be more badass."

Sapphire narrowed her eyes, though she didn't look at her friend. "You do realize that you're already badass without the biker threads, right?"

Autumn nodded. "Yeah, how could I not be considering who my parents are? I guess that I just feel the need to change things up."

The gothic teenager nodded and added. "Leif told me that Kyle said the same thing during their guy's day out."

This time Autumn did stop and look at her companion. "It makes sense to me since my mate and I are fused together. I hope you're not going to try and talk me out of this."

Sapphire quickly shook her head. "No, not at all. If it's badass you want, I know just the shop to start out with. Unless you want to head up the Victoria's secret first."

Autumn shook her head. "No, we can skip that shop for now. Besides, I might find another lingerie shop I like better."

"Alright then, let's head for Nyxian Wings."

Never in her wildest dreams, did Autumn ever think she'd go to a place like this. Yet here she was, being led by her goth friend to the dark side of the mall. While the other shops were bright and cheery, this place was softly lit with sconces along the wall and a giant dragon sculpture stood guard in the middle of the shop. It's eyes lit up green and one of the giant claws rested on a sign with the store logo on its polished surface.

Instantly, Autumn was drawn to it and she took a moment to admire it before Sapphire nudged her. "So, let's get started, right?"

Autumn smiled at her friend and allowed herself to be led to the first rack of clothing.

It wasn't long before Autumn was set up in a dressing room. Several pieces of clothing were hung up on the hook and she set about trying them on. She already had all the camis she needed at home, so she only shopped for cute tops and pants.

The first top she tried on was a black shirt with a dragon design and lacy caps sleeves. There was also light purple lacy stuff on the side. She'd fallen in love with it the moment she'd seen it. The next shirt she'd tried on was a black cardigan. The fabric felt amazing against her skin and on the back, a stylized skull was cut out in a very pretty and stylish design. She'd be wearing a tank top underneath, but it would be a nice addition to her wardrobe.

"So, are you getting makeup to go with this new look?" Sapphire asked her as she stood next to the door.

Autumn paused as he looked at her reflection. "I never really thought about makeup. I probably could, but I don't want to overdo it. I never really wore makeup except at the wedding and my birthday. What do you suggest?"

"We can go light with the colors and eyeliner. If you want, I can even come over before school to help you apply it. We could also do your hair too!"

Autumn looked at herself in the mirror closely.

"Well, if I'm going to go more edgy, why stop at half way?"

"That's the spirit! This is going to be fun!"

By the time they were finished, she'd also found a pair of mid-thigh boots to go with her new wardrobe. She couldn't wait to show her mom!

Trent clicked on the final link and sat back in his chair. Everything would be delivered in time for the move-in and he'd finally have his first ever bachelor's pad.

He took a sip of his drink and got the sudden feeling that he was being watched. He slowly turned in his chair and saw a very beautiful woman sitting at a table behind him with a young kid wearing oversized headphones.

He turned back to his drink and took another sip.

"Are you Trent Fernandez?"

Trent turned back around in his chair to see the pretty lady again. "Yes." He drew out. "How do you know me?"

"I'm Gabriella Anderson. You're Katsume's guardian, right? I have your picture in his casefile."

Trent nodded. "You're from the school, right? We have a meeting tomorrow, I think."

"Yep, we do. I just didn't expect to see you here" she paused and looked at the boy. "This is my son Quin,"

Gabriella was heartbreakingly beautiful. She had dark black hair that was pulled back into a simple pony tail. She had startling blue eyes and shapely eyebrows. She smiled at him in greeting and she had on a v-neck shirt with the name of a gym on the front of it.

Trent glanced at the little boy who was looking him over. He looked at his mother and signed at her. She replied to him and then looked at Trent again. "He's asking about your shirt."

Trent looked down at his shirt and remembered that it was from Rocky's studio. He smiled at the boy and then at his mother. "I'm sorry, I don't know sign language."

"Oh sorry, Quin is nonverbal and has autism. He can hear you but can't respond audibly." She paused and motioned for the boy to remove his headphones. When he did, she spoke to him.

"Sweetie, this is Trent, he's the guardian of someone who is starting school next week.

She signed at him and then pointed at his shirt.

"Oh, this is a t-shirt from my teacher's karate studio. I'm going to be helping with his classes soon."

He got a big grin on his face and clapped his hands and then pointed at Trent's shirt again.

Trent grinned at his enthusiasm and then looked at the mother.

"We've been looking for a dojo that teaches karate and self-defense. I know there are a lot out there, but none of them are willing to take things slow with him. He would need one on one classes because he's a little slow to pick up moves and Katas. He tries hard but has yet to earn his yellow belt."

Trent nodded. "Why don't you bring him by the studio. I was trained by awesome teachers, I bet they'd be willing to work with him." He paused and handed over a card. "Rocky De Santos runs the place."

"Thank you so much." She said as she put the card in her wallet. "Hey, how is Katsume?"

He's with his friends, they're doing their Back-to-School shopping as a group."

"So quickly? That's amazing!"

"They're a great group of kids, he's fitting right in with them."

The guys were walking around the sporting goods store. They'd already completed their clothes shopping as far as school was concerned. But now, they were in the MMA department looking at the gloves.

Kyle examined the gloves he'd picked up and handed a pair to Katsume. "Here, try these on. These are the same brand I use."

The Asian teenager tried them on and flexed his hand. "Perfect fit." He paused and grinned as they put them in the cart. "I can't wait to start training with you guys!"

After seeing Ethan spar against his former teammates, Katsume had been fascinated and asked if he could train like that. Rocky had agreed and the next morning, Trent and Katusme had joined Kyle and Autumn in their workout. When Trent showed up, he had started working with his charge to prepare him for the intense training he would be put through.

"Dad is going to work you hard, but it will help with endurance. And when your muscles are conditioned like ours, the real sparing will begin. And we'll really teach you how to fight."

"I can't wait."

Moving on from the MMA section, they walked towards the more extreme sporting section.

Autumn and Sapphire walked out of the department store with a bag each. The next store they went to was called, Abigail's Closet.

It was as if Victoria's Secret had gone to the dark side. On the walls, instead of photos of scantily clad women with white wings, there were pictures of beautiful curvy women reclining on couches in risqué underthings. Some photos where two-toned and some were black and white, but they were all very breathtaking and had an old-world charm to them.

The lingerie store wasn't as big as the other department stores, but the space was used in such a way that there were no narrow aisles to worry about and the store catered to every size.

"Welcome to my closet!" Said a pretty lady as she walked up to them. "My name is Abigail and I'm the owner and operator of this shop." The woman stopped as she saw Sapphire there with a fist over her heart.

"Merry meet, Sapphire. It's nice to see you again!"

"Merry meet, My Lady. This is my friend, Autumn Park. She's joined me on the dark side."

The woman gave Autumn a scrutinizing look. "Merry Meet Miss Park. I heard about you from my friends over at the Gilded rose. Welcome to the dark side."

Abigail looked to be about her parent's age. She had dark curly hair that that cascaded down her back and she wore a feminine business suit, high heels and she had a tape measure draped around her neck. She had bright green eyes and a friendly smile.

"Merry Meet, my lady." she said with a little bow.

The woman gave her a welcoming grin. "I'm flattered, Miss Park, but you don't need to bow to me. Only those from my coven greet me like that. In fact, you are a VIP today. Come in and I'll assist you in picking out your underthings."

With the help of the proprietress, the perfect set of lacy yet modest things were purchased and wrapped in tissue paper. Autumn couldn't keep the grin from her face as they walked out of the shop. Sure, it was going to be a while before her boyfriend saw any of them, but she felt like a new creature and more like herself.

On the way to meet the boys, Autumn asked the question that had been on her mind while they shopped at the lingerie shop.

"Why did you address her like that? Is she royalty?"

Sapphire nodded. "She's royalty to us Goths. She was the one to start our coven way back in the 90's. Right after your aunt's attack, they realized that something needed to be done because no one else was going to do anything. Not even with Ms. Appleby speaking up.

One of the side effects of being goth is that the popular kids ignore us, and we realized that they could overhear conversations and maybe even intervene when possible. They became awesome spies and even Mr. Caplan found them useful in keeping the peace at the school."

"Anyway, Lady Abigail was the one to organize and set up the court. All the queens that came after her use a similar system to keep the violence to a minimum. Lady Lilith was pretty upset that we couldn't prevent the attack on Kyle. The only solace was that they caught the Nazi."

"That explains a lot." Autumn answered. "We kept getting a feeling that someone was watching us."

Sapphire stopped. "Yeah, that was part of it, but that's not the whole reason that you guys were watched. We were only in the coven a year when we were told you guys were to be shadowed."

Autumn cocked her head to the side. "For what reason? The trouble didn't even start till last Christmas.

Sapphire shook her head. "I had no idea, since I was a new member. All the queen told us was that you were VIPs and to keep our ears to the ground for trouble. We never did find out the exact reason. I was just happy to be in the coven with my boyfriend."

Autumn grinned at her. "I see."

Just then, as they started walking, they heard pleading.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to run into you!" Autumn looked up ahead to see a few well-dressed girls surrounding someone on the ground.

"Instantly, Autumn hurried towards them and intervened. "What's going on here?"

The ringleader shoved Autumn hard and she landed on the ground, but her training kicked in and she was on her feet instantly. She rushed back in and shoved the same girl away. She took a moment to find out who the victim was and she saw it was a small teenager on the ground with crutches. She turned back to the perfectly dressed blonde.

"So, this is how you get your kicks these days? By going after handicapped people?"

"Mind your business, Whore. This little freak needs to learn her place!"

Autumn wasn't having it. "No! You need to learn to treat people with respect. I've had enough of you bullies throwing your weight around. Leave her alone and there won't be any trouble."

The bully looked down her nose at Autumn, but the warrior stood her ground. "Beat it, Barbie!"

The bully looked at her closely. "Huh, A nosey little upstart with a high opinion of yourself. You must be Autumn Park, Nick's old slut. I had a feeling you would show up where you don't belong."

"And you must be his new whore. Either way, I couldn't care less who you are. I just know that you need to leave the girl alone. Now I'm sure you have lots of cash to blow, so be on your way."

"You're going to learn your place; and I'm going to teach it to you."

Autumn could feel the dragon within stirring and she got into the girl's face. "Then what are you waiting for? Bring it!"

The blonde sneered at her. "Believe me, when you least expect it, you'll be in the hospital just like your pathetic boyfriend."

"Give it your best shot." Autumn snarled.

With a roll of her eyes, the bully walked away with her sheep following her. The moment they were gone, she turned back to the girl who was being helped up by Sapphire. Autumn knelt to pick up the crutches and held them still so that the girl could put her hands through the braces.

"Hey, are you okay? Do you need any first aid?"

"No, you guys got to me just in time. Thanks for the assist."

The girl had blonde hair styled in a pixie cut and tented with blue strands. She wore a white peasant blouse with blue jean capris. Around her neck was a strange poly sided dice on a metal chain.

"No problem. I'm-"

"Autumn Park. Yeah, I know. You're the Xena: Warrior Princess of Angel Grove High!"

Autumn cracked a grin. "Not quite, I'm more like Mulan, but thank you for the compliment."

The girl smiled. "You're welcome. My name is Elisa by the way."

"Are you a junior this year too?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I am and so is Jezebel. That's the bully you just scared off. She's all over MySpace and she's proclaiming herself to be the new queen bee. Nina is ancient history and she's with Nick now."

Autumn grimaced at the mention of the former bully. She hadn't heard from her in a while, but she pushed the thought aside and smiled again. "Hey, I'm so not worried about that girl. I have a crew of my own backing me up and I'm formidable. If she somehow gets the drop on me, then I don't deserve to be a ninja."

Elisa grinned at her. "You're really a ninja?"

"You bet. I'm a ninja and so is my father. That's why I'm not going to lose any sleep over that tramp. I can take her easily." She paused and looked Elisa over. But enough about me, are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good now. My big brother should be here any second to pick me up."

"Well okay then. I'll see you at school!"

When the girl had hobbled away, Autumn looked up to see her boyfriend and the other guys watching them.

Kyle walked up to her, giving her a concerned look. "Corazon, I felt all that; are you okay?"

Autumn nodded. "Yeah, I just had a run in with the new Queen bee, Jezebel and I'm pretty sure I just made her my enemy. She'll be gunning for me now."

Kyle looked her over again smirked at her. "I'm not worried. You're more than a match for her. Anyway, we're all good as far as clothes shopping goes. Are you ladies ready?"

Autumn looked down at her bags and then up at her mate. She opened her mouth to speak but then saw the mannequin behind his head. It had on a nice looking leather jacket. "Just about. I have got to take a look at that jacket!"

Kyle looked at it and grinned. "Lead the way."

That was where Trent found them. They were all looking through the racks and Autumn was trying on a jacket that seemed to fit her perfectly. It was a second hand biker shop, but these leather jackets looked pretty cool.

"So, are you T-birds now?"

Kyle lookedup at him. "What does that mean? Are you talking about the car?"

Trent sighed and shook his head. "Man, am I getting old."

Katsume grinned at them. "I get the reference. Don't worry guys I'll explain it to you,"

Trent sighed heavily. "Let me rephrase that question. I'm guessing you're all getting leather jackets?"

Kyle hook his head. "Nah, I already have one, I'm good."

Leif and Sapphire shook their heads. "Nah, we're goths, we don't generally wear biker jackets."

Katsume however was trying on a jacket of his own. Trent walked over to him. "Did you want to get one too?"

The Asian teen nodded. "Yeah, this one fits really good!"

"Then it's yours, come on, let's go pay."

When Autumn opened her wallet to get her card out, Trent stopped her. "Hey, I've got this, besides. I do owe you a birthday present!"

Autumn grinned at him and nodded.

When they walked back out of the shop, he turned to the crew. "Are we all happy with our purchases?"

When they gave him answers, he pulled out the car keys. "Ok then. Let's go get your school supplies.

Well, I think they're off to a great start! What did you guys think? Let me know in your reviews!