Snyder looked at the groups of young people and snarled - how in the hell had he ever gotten picked for this job? He hated kids, "Alright, line up - Halloween is coming up and you have all been volunteered to lead some snot-nosed brats around on Halloween night; each group will pair with another and each group will have a theme costume. I don't care what, as long as it is decent and the kids leave me alone." He started naming off groups of people until he got to two other groups and grinned, "Summers, you and your delinquent group get to pair off with Chase's group of socialites - try to not get the kids or their group killed."
"But what about us, sir? Don't you care about us?" Harris, the bane of his existence, snarked off from the side in his habitual bad shirt, but there was something about the kid that was off, something that he knew wasn't right.
"I don't care if you get slaughtered by gang members on PCP, Harris, in fact, I hope you do." Some of the rabble chuckled at that, but Harris, he saw, only smiled … and it wasn't a nice smile.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
"No way - I will NOT work with those dweebs!" Xander looked over at Harmony, who was ranting away already, and chuckled calmly as he reached into his pocket and turned off the tape recorder he'd brought, then took the microphone from off of his belt and wound it up, thanking somebody that Snyder had used a bullhorn to make his voice known.
"What's that for, Xander?" He looked over at Buffy, his one-time love interest, and smiled slightly as she and Willow walked forwards, though her companion was more skeptical.
"Oh, just a little surprise I'm setting up for our 'dear' principal Snyder." He made air quote marks around the 'dear' to make sure that the sarcasm was on the right word, "So, what are we going as?"
Buffy smiled, "I was thinking we could go as noble people, you know? 18th century and all that."
He winced, as did his Willow, knowing exactly what she was going for - roping in Angel. She beat him to the punch, though, "Ah, no, Buffy, sorry - if you want to get Angel and all, that's your thing, but Xander and I are not going to embarrass ourselves just to help you out."
"But Willow!"
"Sorry, Buff, but Wills' right - if you want to snag Captain Forehead, go for it on your own time." He opened the tape recorder and removed the tape before sealing into a stamped and addressed envelope with a smile on his face, "Though, if you want, I could offer some other costume ideas."
"Summers," Cordelia Chase growled as she came over, her sheep in tow, "we need to talk."
"About?"
"Look, it's really simple - we don't like you, you don't like us and Snyder hates us all, so how about we put everything aside for one night and let's get this out of the way."
Buffy looked shocked, as he was sure he and Willow looked too, and then she nodded, "Okay, we're willing to let it go for a few days, but what are we going to go as? Do we choose the other's costumes or what?"
Cordelia, he noticed, shuddered, "Oh, NO! We choose our own costumes at the same store, that new place, Ethan's."
Willow watched Xander as he dropped the protected envelope into the mailbox with a smile on his face and a whistled tune on his lips - she knew he was up to no good, but it was a question of what he had planed for Principal Snyder; he refused to tell her anything, which was odd, as he often told her more than she wanted to know, so she knew that something was up.
"So, Wills, what's churning in that head of yours for a costume?" She turned and looked at their Slayer friend, Buffy, and wondered just why she had the hots for a vampire that she was supposed to slay - was it the bleach finally getting to her brain?
"I don't know, but for groups, we'd probably be better off asking Xander - he has all kinds of things in his old comics for groups."
Buffy snorted, "Probably has us all in spandex or something."
"And that's a problem how?" Willow squeaked as Xander's voice came right over her left ear and jumped a little, which made him chuckle, "Did I scare you, Wills?"
She swatted him on the arm good, but he merely laughed it off, "Don't do that."
He smiled even more, "Okay, how about I do this?" He made a frog sound in his throat and she froze - she hated frogs, almost as much as she hated spiders, and he was doing the frog thing; he got closer and she backed up, only to feel Buffy grab her into a hug that held her in place.
"Stop it! Ihatefrogsandyouknowit!" He was now nose to nose with her and croaked on last time before kissing her on the nose, making her blush, "Xander!"
"Sorry, Wills, but in answer to the unasked question, yes, I do have a good idea for our group costume, and no, it's not a ghost." She wilted slightly, not being able to get the hat trick for her ghost costume this year. "No, I have a better idea for you." He led them into the costume shop and went immediately to the most visible, skin-tight costume he could find and then picked up a white wig before handing it over, "For you, my Weather Goddess."
"Dawn! Are you ready?" Joyce wasn't sure how her youngest had talked her way into going with her oldest daughter, but she had and much to Buffy's dismay.
"Ready, mom!" She came downstairs in a black bodysuit with a blue central torso, a belt around her waist, light gloves and boots, with her hair up in a high ponytail, twirled and smiled, "So, what do you think?"
"You look lovely, dear, but who are you?"
"Like, I'm Kitty Pride! You know, like, Shadowcat?" Dawn, using Buffy's old mode of speak, was just plain scary, Joyce figured even as the doorbell rung and Dawn went to go get it.
"Ohmygod! Xander?"
"Oui, ma petit, but please, call me Gambit." Joyce's eyes widened at the sight before her - Buffy's friend Xander was in a black armored bodysuit that had dark red parts on the torso, boots, a long brown leather coat, a belt and his eyes had red-on-black contacts in them, not to mention his hands had gloves that had the middle and ring fingers missing from them while he twirled a long bo-staff in his fingers, looking her up and down, "Mm, mm, mm, petit - dis Cajun t'ought dat you only had one sid'er? Who dis be?" Joyce blushed at the praise and even more at the dead-on Cajun accent he used.
"Stop flirting with my mom, Xander." Dawn sounded more than a little put out but Joyce was still enamored with how well Xander filled out his costume.
"Yeah, Xand, stop flirting with my mom." Joyce turned around and instantly wished she had not - Buffy was wearing a red pleather bodysuit with a darker red belt, boots and a day-glo yellow jacket, not to mention had her hair tucked up under a dark wig and had on gloves. She then pulled out a pair of sunglasses that had been in style back in the early eighties, big blocky things that covered her eyes, "Hey, Xand … I mean, Swamp Rat."
"How you been, Mall Rat?"
Joyce smiled as Buffy winced, "Do you have to call me that?"
'Gambit' shrugged, "Ya call me 'Swamp Rat' when ya know dat only Rogue is s'posed to call me dat."
"That is true, Jubilee." Down from above walked Willow, dressed in a silver bodysuit with a cape and wearing a white wig, "Of course, if you are trying to be as annoying as Gambit, you do have a good ways to go."
"Great, even the Weather Goddess is against me." Buffy groused as Dawn howled in laughter, "Come on, squirt, we've got kids to wrangle and you're one of them."
"You two be good, Buffy." Joyce pulled on her own trenchcoat and adjusted the French rapier inside of it, "I have my own costume party to go to."
"And you're supposed to be?"
"Someone called Amanda Deveroux."
"Oh. My. God." Willow couldn't believe her eyes - she, Buffy and Xander were the Scooby Gang, yet before them sat … the Scooby Gang, though only Cordelia/Daphne was the only one who looked pleased with herself. Aura was dressed as Velma, there was a collar-wearing bloodhound that she guessed was supposed to be Scooby, Harmony, of all people, was dressed as Shaggy (and being very vocal about it, too) and by Cordy there was Mike McManus, wearing blue pants, a white shirt, an orange cravat and had his hair dyed blonde as Fred.
"Seconded."
"Motion carries," Xander said dully as Dawn giggled at his side.
Cordelia looked up and nodded slightly, "Well, not total losses, though what ARE you wearing, Summers? Gah, can you BE anymore 80's?" Willow watched as Cordelia's eyes, not to mention most of the Cordetts, went over Xander's costume, "Not bad, Harris - keep this up and we might just upgrade you from 'loser' to 'potential hottie'."
"Oh, I shall wait upon that moment with baited breath, Queen C. Nice costume, though - better than Harmony's that much is for sure." Cordelia preened slightly while Harmony made an affronted sound, which Aura giggled at.
"Alright, you delinquents, listen up!" Willow flinched at the harsh sound of Snyder's bullhorn as the children walked up with their parents, and he then went on to list what they could and could not do.
"Hey, Xand, what did you put in the mail the other day?"
He gave her a mysterious grin, "You'll see in a day or two, Willow - trust me." Snyder shut up and a group of kids were sent their way, "Alright, kids, now listen to dis Cajun on how ta make out like bandits wid de candy, non?" All of the kids perked up at this and even the Cordetts shut up, "Go f'r de chocolate if ya want t' try de classic 'ya missed me' line, double baggin de candy is good, but make sure t' switch it up, or de parents get su'picious, oui? Good, an 'member de tears if ya try any of dese - dey get ya da loot." The kids nodded at the sage-like advice given in the Cajun tounge before they all went of on their way.
Gambit shook his head to get the fuzzy feeling out of it - the last time he had felt like this was when he'd challenged Logan to a drinking contest when he first got to the mansion; he felt out of sorts all over as he climbed to his feet, then realized that something was very wrong - his body wasn't right. Granted, he was about the right height, but his build was all wrong, as was his balance, and madre, did his head hurt.
"Yo, Cajun, is that you?" He looked up ad saw … Jubilee? "What's going on, man? One second I'm in the shower at Frost Bite's and now I'm back in So Cal."
"We in sou'tern Calif'rnia? How de hell we get here?" He absently reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cards before reaching down and grabbing his staff, looking around to see … demons, "Santa Maria."
Jubilee looked around as well and squeaked, "What? Is this a movie or something?"
"No, child, I am afraid it is not." They both looked up to see a petite, white-skinned Storm floating down towards them, "It appears that we are not who we once were in this world."
"Ya got dat right, Stormy - ya 'brows 're red, fa one ting." He wiggled his own eyebrows as Storm sighed and Jubilee peered closer.
"Do not call me 'Stormy', my friend." She raised her hand and let out a light lightning bolt at the feet of a charging demon, which scurried away, "We must figure out what is causing this."
Daphne held her head, "Ow, that smarts. Fred? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Daphne, I think I am. Velma? Shaggy? Are you two okay?" Daphne didn't hear a response and looked around, only to see Velma laying on top of a person who wasn't Shaggy, "I thought they were going out together?"
"Apparently they aren't Fred." She crawled over to Velma and pulled her off, only to see that A) it wasn't Velma, and B) thought she looked the part, the person Velma had been on wasn't Shaggy, "What the…"
"Oh, jinkies that hurts." 'Velma' shook her head even as 'Shaggy' shook his head.
"Zoinks, that smarts. Hey Scoob, you okay? Scoob? Scooby Doo, where are you?"
"Like, are you okay, Gambit?" He looked up at the girl, Kitty Pride, a.k.a. Shadowcat, who was looking both very young and very scared at that point in time after beaming him in the head with a rock the size of her fist.
"I be okay, petit, but no more t'rowing tings at me, oui." They had been set upon by over a dozen or so 'demons' and had been forced to defend themselves when Kitty had, quite literally, come out of the walls, which had gotten him hit, "Stormy, you an' de kid okay?"
"We are well, Gambit, but please do not call me 'Stormy' - you know it irritates me."
"Den why do ya tink dat I call ya dat, Stormy?" He used his staff as leverage to get up and grabbed the last pack of his cards - he needed to restock soon and after a quick look around, he smiled at what he saw … a gaming shop, "I be back in a second, Stormy." Without waiting for a reply, he jogged over - he didn't have his tools on him, so he made due with blowing the lock after applying just a touch of kinetic energy, et voila, an opened door. Inside were numerous card games and comic books, some of them he even recognized, but made a mental note to come back later on more legitimate business as he grabbed pack after pack of poker cards and something called 'Yu-Gi-Oh' starter and booster decks.
Once back outside, he looked around and saw that the demons had left, "So, what do we do now, Stormy?"
She sighed, "I am not sure, Gambit, but I do feel an odd feeling coming from down the street. Should we go to it?"
"Yeah! We need some more action around here - I'm BORED!" Jubilee had, in the past hour or so, become the single most annoying person Gambit had ever known and it would take some great effort not to throw an entire charged pack at her head as he had seen Storm, more than once, consider using a lightning bolt on the kid.
Before they could go anywhere, though, a voice stopped them, "You can't take those cards, you know? It's against the law." The group turned and saw another group of teens and Gambit wasn't surprised to see the All-American male glaring at him, "Put them back."
"Mon ami, Gambit tink dat we got ot'er problems dan de petic'lars o' de law, non?" He reached into his pocket and grabbed a few cards, "Duck!" With a charge and a throw, two more of the 'vampires' that had attacked them that night went up into dust.
"Jinkies! What was that and what were those things?" He looked at a cute brunette with a bobbed hair, thick-rimmed classes in a rather unflattering brown skirt, knee-high socks and wearing an orange sweater."
"What are you?" The speaker was the All-American who pissed him off for some reason, "Are you even human?"
"We are more human than most, child - we are mutants, Home Superior, the next step in the human evolution, and we are strangers here, as we all are. I am Storm, he is Gambit, this is Jubilee and she is Kitty Pride. Who are you?"
"Daphne," spoke the red-haired, purple, clothed bombshell.
"Fred," spoke the pain-in-the-ass.
"Velma," spoke the cute brunette in brown and orange, who he noticed studiously scrutinizing him.
"Shaggy, but, like, before tonight I was kind of a guy!" Spoke the green-shirted, brown-slacked stoner. "Um, does anyone know where a good sandwich shop is, 'cause, like, I'm STARVING."
"So you're a genetic aberration and you got cool powers to go with it? Cool!" Velma, who sat next to Gambit, gushed even as Kitty held a smile - girl as crushing on the Cajun seriously hard and he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but where he was.
"That's going to RUIN your figure, Shaggy," she heard Jubilee say to the goof as he/she piled on layer after layer of sandwich stuff as they raided a local deli that had closed for the night.
"Nah, I'll be fine." Heshe slapped the top slice of bread and, in one gulp, put the nearly 14 inch creation down hisher throat in one gulp before smacking his/her lips, "Ah, now that's the stuff. Peanut butter, pickles, onion, cold cuts, peppers, mayo and lettuce sandwich always picks me up."
"So, Storm, what are you powers?"
"Weather manipulation," Storm answered the guy, Fred, who had been tossing her looks all night, but he gave Kitty some creepy feelings and she kept her distance.
"Well, ducks, that's all well and good, but I got me a Slayer to bag," came a voice from the door of the deli that Gambit had opened for them. He looked, truth be told, like Billy Idol, all skinny and bleached haired, and, well, yuck.
"Mon Ami, Gambit don tink dat your opinion is welcome here, oui? It be best for all dat you just leave." He rose and pulled out five cards that, Kitty saw, were a Royal Flush in spades, "Dis be ya only warning."
'Billy Idol' only snorted, "Sodding French - only thing you blokes're good for is surrendering and your wine, mate."
"Gambit's not French, he be a Cajun." The cards began to glow a lurid pink color even as Storm began to collect power in her hands, the 'Scooby Gang', as they called themselves bailed, and Jubilee came forwards, her hands at the ready.
"Same difference." Those were the last words that Kitty heard as a massive rush of power slammed into her and the world then went black.
He got nailed, hard, by the power wave that came from nowhere, but held on long enough to throw his charged cards at the punk who had called him a 'Frenchman' instead of a Cajun, before taking a header into the lap of Velma. The last thing he heard before smelling something like flowers was an explosion and a 'poofing' sound.
Xander walked into the library, having just passed Aura and Harmony, the former of the two blushing as she made eye contact with him as the latter was stuffing her face with a huge sandwich, and wondered exactly why he felt so charged up - he remembered taking the kids out the previous night and then hearing screaming, but then there was a large blank spot that ended with him waking up with his head in Aura's lap and her stroking his hair.
"Hey, Xander!" Willow was hopping up and down at the table, her eyes bright and … her hair a pale red and silver color, "Guess what? We turned into our costumes last night and look!" She pointed a finger at an apple on the table, and from said finger came forth a bolt of lightning that blew the apple apart, "Did you keep anything from Gambit?"
"Uh, does blowing up my alarm clock and picking the lock on a fifty year old trunk with a paper clip count?" He walked over to the table and saw Buffy with colorful fireworks coming from her splayed fingers, "So, what happened?"
"It was a Chaos spell, Xander," Giles said as he entered the room, a book in his hand. "I was at a party with Joyce when it hit - we became out costumes, or rather they became their costumes while I stayed the same due to the fact that I went as…"
"A stuffy Briton librarian?"
Giles glared at Buffy who grinned, "As myself, Buffy - I figured out what was going on and stopped the spell. If you kept your powers, then that means that it is possible that your mother is now an Immortal thief named Amanda."
Xander perked up at this and made a mental note to speak to Joyce about this, but then picked up a pencil, feeling the energy flow into it as it began to glow, "Well, if nothing else, I can blow up vampires this way." He spun and threw the pencil at the near-by bust of Ludwig Von Beethoven, detonating it even as Snyder came storming into the Library, "Dead Man Charging!"
"HARRIS WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU DO?" The troll charged at him even as the doors parted again, admitting several running members of the SDPD, even as Xander dodged the troll and slammed him into the table.
"Tsk, tsk, M'sure Principal - don' do tings like dat, 'cause dey get ya in trouble." He'd been slipping into the Cajun accent off and on all morning, but that was nothing compared to the fact that, when he looked in the mirror that morning, he had made his eyes turn red-on-black, "I got you fired, yes?"
"YES! I'M GOING TO JAIL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"Wrong - you're going to jail because you said something you shouldn't have when someone else, me in this case, was waiting for you to do something stupid like that." He pushed the toll back into the arms of the PD, where they snapped cuffs on his wrists; "I merely provided them with all the proof the needed to arrest your sorry ass." He grinned rather cheekily, "That's the way the boudin boils, Snyder."
Once Snyder was hauled off, Buffy looked at him, "What the hell was that, Xander?"
"Come on - with as much shit that goes down in Sunnydale, we didn't need a possible plant in here, the one place people KNOW you are, and with him gone, we're free and clear. Besides, I never liked my father all that much anyway."
Their collective jaws dropped as some of the pieces were put together - Snyder was always balling him out, snapping at his friends and … it just fit. Xander had hated the troll since his mother had married him ten years before, and now he was completely out of the picture. Life was indeed truly sweet.