FIC: Chaotic Circumstances: "To Boldly Go Where No One Thing has Gone Before"

["jab21kill" <the.evil.guy@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Title:	Chaotic Circumstances

Author:	Joshua

Disclaimer:	Yet another post-Halloween costume AU BtVS crossover.

Summary:	The gang, on a whim, dressed up as various X-men, and Ethan's
was the only shop in town to boot so EVERYBODY changed.  Buffy, as a
joke, went as Cyclops, Willow as Jean Grey i.e. Phoenix, Xander went
as Iceman, and Cordelia went as Rogue.  And rather than demons,
everybody else dressed up in hundreds of *OTHER* costumes ranging from
books, movies, stereotypes ("Pirates", "Nurses", "Army", "Strippers",
"Cops", etc, etc, etc) to animes, comics, and historical figures.

AN:	I blame ziziggy123 author of "Sunnydale Berserker" and Anime Ronin
author of "Of Scoobies and X-Men" for the inspiration, if you want to
call it that, for this little piece of fanfiction.  Mostly it came
from Berserker in seeing how Buffy and the brand new Xander aka
Wolverine were getting along and it struck me as peculiar that
"Wolverine" just NEVER gets along with a person named "Summers".  Then
I started brainstorming 'What if' Buffy did dress up as Cyclops, and
it became permanent the same way Xander dressing up as Wolverine did?
Then I went further, and further, and further still and came up with
all that follows.  If you like, GREAT!  If you don't, <shrug> eh,
that's ok too.

AN2:	I am always open to input, that is not pure uneducated dribble
that is often referred to as "Flames" and usually involve cursing. 
Sometimes in numerous languages as well.  But if you have constructive
criticism, I always listen and try to reply to such, and if you have
suggestions about where to go from here, those I *REALLY* listen too
and enjoy and always reply back to.

Thank yous to everyone that helped me out with the emergency of coming
up with Jonathan's costume.  See what happens when you help?  You get
an update on New Years Day!

E-mail/Reviews:	the.evil.guy@xxxxxxxxxx and jab21kill@xxxxxxxxx 

Story:


To Boldly Go Where No One Thing has Gone Before

(Last Time . . . )

	With a sigh, and sagging her shoulders in defeat, Joyce answered, "I
dressed up as Samantha's mother from the old TV show Bewitched.  I
dressed as Endora."  As she said this, she made a rather dramatic wave
of her hands, and instantly, just like that, she was suddenly dressed
much differently.  Her hair, which was much redder than it normally
was, like henna had been added to it, done up in curls that made her
look more like she was wearing a crown, and wearing a beautiful green
silk dress, which actually looked more like a set of robes than just
any ordinary dress.  What was more, she seemed to have gone to town
with her mascara, the dark lines around the woman's eyes giving her an
almost evil-look.

	Buffy stood there, stiff as a board for several long seconds, and
then, with no other warning, her eyes rolled up in her head and she
fainted.


	"Yeah," Cordy grunted self-depreciatingly, "We were a bunch of
stuck-up snot-nosed snobs, weren't we?"

	Unexpectedly, she received several agreeing sounds from all of them,
except Harmony, who growled out a warning, silencing the others.

	"Shut up!" she shouted at Cordelia, "And defend yourself, if you can!"

	The next thing she knew, she had a screaming Harmony racing at her,
sword upraised in a killing blow.


(And now Continued . . . )

Willow awoke from her light sleep, wide-awake in the face of what her
dreams had just shown her.  She'd gone straight to bed after Buffy had
dropped her off, and she'd been seeing vision of each of her friends
in trouble, of varying degrees, from the moment her head had touched
the pillow.  First, Buffy, finding out that her mom had been just as
changed, if not more, as the rest of them had, and on top of it Mrs.
Summers now knew Buffy was the Slayer.  That was not good.

	Then there had been Xander, and she /knew/ that hadn't been a dream.
It would be just like him to do something like that.  Go figure how
"Iceman" can be so hotheaded.

	But the last one was the one that worried her the most.  Cordelia,
dreading and reliving the worst of the past two weeks, and suddenly
confronted with armed and enhanced versions of her "friends", the
Cordettes they'd been nicknamed.  And at the head, Harmony, clouded
with the rage, hate, and blinded need for vengeance of Callisto,
attacking the Rogue mutant even at this very moment.

	Willow didn't think, she just reacted.  She'd only ever tried her
telekinesis on something she could see, and affecting something such a
large distance away was more like psychokinesis, technically speaking,
but at the same time she felt that she /could/ do it.  A hidden
instinct, possibly even the leftover trace of Jean Grey, but Willow,
sitting alone in her bed, with no technological or otherwise
enhancements, reached out with her mind . . . and acted.

Chase Mansion

Harmony was screaming with rage even as she rushed the invincible
mutant, sword raised for a killing stroke.  Cordelia, startled, just
took a step back and raised her arms, not daring or thinking to do
more to defend herself at the moment.  When all of a sudden, Harmony
stopped, though obviously against her will as her enraged screaming
told the surrounding girls.

	At first they thought she'd somehow hurt herself and couldn't move
her body because of it.  The true answer came moments later when
Harmony was surrounded by an ethereal hot pink glow.  Surprised and
more than a little impressed, Cordelia could only whisper in shock,
"Willow."

	"Rosenberg did this?!" Brittany exclaimed in awe.

	"And she kept saying she wasn't good at her powers," Cordy added to
the exclamation with her own awe.

	/'Let me put it like this Cordy,'/ Willow's voice suddenly sounded in
all of their heads, cutting Harmony's screams short, /'Jean Grey, even
without the Phoenix, was pretty damn powerful.  I just don't have the
Phoenix anymore.  And I'm going to pass out the moment I let Harmony
go, so if you don't mind, could you come pick me up on your way to
school?  I don't want to be late.'/

	"Uh, yeah, sure," Cordy, a little overwhelmed at this casual display
of power, agreed.

	/'Oh good.  Thanks.  Now.  As for you Harmony, stop letting the
inner-Callisto do all your thinking.  She's clouded your mind, even I
can see that and I'm the weakest telepath in Sunnydale I guarantee
you.  Now, as for the rest of you . . .  Since you seem to agree that
you don't have to be snobby bitches anymore, how about you join the
rest of us in the Library in the morning.  There's a great deal to
discuss, and given that me, Buffy, and Xander will each back Cordy no
matter what, I think this little demonstration provides you with the
conclusion to your little 'battle of leadership' idea.  Any questions?'/

	The Cordettes all looked at each other, communicating silently in
body language before all nodding, Erin speaking up for all of them,
"No questions.  We'll agree to meet tomorrow morning in the Library. 
And no more attacks on Cordelia.  By any of us.  But we aren't X-men
and we don't take orders from . . ." Erin stopped herself, glancing at
the still frozen Harmony, "We aren't your lackies and we won't take
orders from anyone.  If Cordy, or even you Rosenberg, can convince us
that it's in our best interests to join up with you . . ." another
glance " . . . X-men, then we'll renegotiate.  Until then . . ."

	/'Until then, all of you get some sleep, just like we'll be doing,'/
Willow interrupted before turning her attention fully towards Harmony.
/'As for you . . .'/ Suddenly the possessed blonde found herself
flying through the air . . . towards Cordelia's pool!  /'Cool off!'/

	The splash was high and loud, and all of the Cordettes, even
Cordelia, all laughed easily as Harmony swam to the side.

	"RRAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she got out.  "Do you have
/ANY/ idea what water does to black leather?!"  She shot one last
scathing look in Cordelia's direction, and then growled as she stalked
off into the night, hopefully to her home and bed.

	"Well, night," Cordy said to her remaining friends.

	They all smiled gently back at her and waved as they each turned and
left, saying their own goodbyes.  Once they were gone, and Cordy was
safely inside her own home, she whispered to herself and in her mind,
"Thanks Willow."

	She smiled brighter when she heard a faint, /'No prob Cordy.  That's
what friends do.'/

Sunnydale High Library
The Next Morning

Willow was walking along, alone, towards the Library, her books held
in front of her and her backpack slung over her right shoulder.  For
some reason however, this tended to draw in quite a bit of attention
from a percentage of the student body in the hall with her.  Well, the
male percentage at any rate.

	She smiled shyly at one boy and then had to stifle her giggles when
he walked straight into an open locker and nearly knocked himself out.
She probably should have chosen better in her outfit, she mused to
herself, but she couldn't help but enjoy the very attention that she'd
feared for so many years.  She hid another smile as she once again
appreciated the fact that dressing up as Jean Grey and being turned
into her by a chaos spell was the best thing that had ever happened to
her.  While Xander had been saying the same thing for himself, she'd
been a bit more discreet, and tried to follow Buffy's example of
turning the whole situation into another problem of living on the
Hellmouth and something to worry and work over.

	Secretly though . . . she was ecstatic over the whole thing.

	Of course Jean's superior fashion sense and life-long experiences at
being the popular 'cool' girl certainly didn't hurt when it came to
getting ready for school.

	Today, beyond a light application of feature enhancing make-up,
Willow wore a red tank top and jeans that she bought the other day
with Cordelia.  Although the tank top had thin half-inch straps and
was cut off less than an inch from the bottom of her bust with a
plunging neckline that showed off said bust and was tight enough that
it conformed to her breasts and curves that she might as well have
been wearing a bikini top.

	The jeans weren't actually "jeans" either.  Hip-hugger, a size
too-small, four inches below the navel /tight/ jeans might be a better
label.  And while the redhead was still "breaking them in", she got an
even bigger thrill at how they made her butt and legs look.  She was
also trying out her new heeled boots, only a couple inches there, to
further enhance her walk and the arch of her legs.  All in all, if
anyone actually recognized the redhead as Willow Rosenberg they would
probably . . .

	Willow turned around and looked as more than half of the males in the
hall were picking themselves up off the floor or rubbing banged body
parts after running into multiple and various objects.  She smiled
shyly again and this time didn't bother restraining the giggle.  A
giggle that became a full laugh as she turned back around, the sounds
of banging and cries of pain echoing after her.

	They would probably do exactly what they were doing.

	Willow, without actually intending to, entered the Library with a
flair, both doors swinging wide with her entrance, drawing the
attention of everyone inside.  Which, much to Willow's embarrassment,
was considerably more people than usual.

	Besides the Cordettes, minus Harmony, that Kevin kid from the other
night, and the rest of the gang with Giles and Miss Calendar, Willow
counted no less than at least a dozen extra people.  Stunned shock
overcoming her initial embarrassment, Willow just stared and blinked
for a while at the surprisingly filled room, until a sound warned that
another person was coming through the swing doors of the Library right
behind her.

	Moving out of the way and turning quickly, Willow identified it as
the boy that had dressed up as a vampire for Halloween.  She couldn't
recall his name immediately, and it was rude and against her ethics to
go 'snooping' for it in the minds of himself or the others.  He only
glanced at her as he passed and without even pausing went to take a
seat around the Library like most of the other people had done. 
Willow went back to her stunned staring.

	Thankfully, Buffy, Xander and Cordelia came to her rescue, walking up
to her so the could confer privately, or as privately as possible
given the crowded condition of the Library.

	"What . . . what . . . what is this?  What's going on?" Willow whined
the moment her friends were around her and blocking her from seeing
everybody else.

	"Remember that we promised Kevin to talk to him today?" Xander
reminded her.

	"We promised to talk to him /soon/, not first thing in the morning!"
Willow hissed, cognizant that things weren't as private as they
normally enjoyed in the Library.

	"Yeah, well, he seemed to think otherwise, and he knew a bunch of
other kids in the elementary school that still had a few of their own
powers and such, and he invited them along," Xander pointed over his
shoulders at the tightly-knit group around Kevin.

	"And then there's my Mom," Buffy interjected, "And Cordy tells us
that you know the reason why the Cordettes are here.  As for Amy and .
. . Scott Hope was it?" she asked Xander, who nodded, "As for those
two, Xander ran into them last night on his way home and they agreed
to talk as well, and after Kevin and friends showed up, we called in
Amy and Scott, who brought in a couple other people.  Including the
guy that came in right behind you."

	"This is insane," Willow muttered, rubbing her temples lightly.

	"Tell me about it," Cordelia muttered.  "And I'm still dealing with
knowing the intimate details and sordid past of my maid's life,
especially since I'm resorting to 'old' clothes to keep up with my new
. . . outfit crisis."

	"You mean clothes that you spent a fortune on and then only ever wore
once?" Buffy deadpanned.

	"Yeah!" Cordy replied, making it sound like the greatest tragedy
since the Vietnam War.

	"Focus here people!" Willow snapped.  "What the hell are they all
doing here anyway?  What are they expecting from us?  What are we
supposed to do?"

	Each of the other X-Slayerettes, as Xander had dubbed them, just
shrugged, apparently having expected Willow to have all the answers. 
The telepath sighed and rubbed her temples again.  Wasn't Cyclops
supposed to be team leader?  And wasn't Buffy the one that made all
the decisions for them anyway?

	"Don't look at me!" the mutant Slayer suddenly snapped.  "I know as
much about this comic book and TV stuff as Giles does and I know as
much about the magic and shit that went down as you guys do!"

	"She's got a point," Cordy agreed.

	"Thank you."

	"She's a blonde, we can't expect her to be of much help unless we
need something beat up," the white-striped brunette continued.  Buffy
glared at the mutant Rogue, silently grinding her teeth, her eyes
beginning to spark crimson under her red sunglasses.

	"Insults aside Wills," Xander picked up, "You're pretty much the only
one of us that can relate to everybody here and knows enough about the
entire situation to be the spokesperson.  Believe me, I tried earlier,
and I got threats and warnings from everybody, and a few in various
alien languages, to shut up.  So it's either you, or Giles, and given
that option . . ." he left the statement hanging.

	Willow scrunched her face up in thought, then finally sighed with
frustration.  "Fine.  I'll do it.  Just don't expect much.  I don't
even know what the hell I'm going to say to them all."

	Decision made, the X-Slayerettes backed up and turned as one to face
the crowd of Halloween-altered people.  Just as Willow was about to
open her mouth however, the Library doors swung open one last time and
another couple stumbled in.

	"Hi," the male, a tall dark haired youth, greeted.  On his arm was a
cute blonde girl, only a few inches shorter than him and dressed in an
oddly colorful costume.  The boy himself was dressed rather plainly,
and . . . oddly all in beige and white.

	"Is this the meeting about Halloween?" he asked.

	"Strangely enough, yeah, it is," Xander replied with a flat tone,
then asked accusing, "And you are?"

	"Oh, my name is Pete and this is my girlfriend Debbie.  Hey Scott,"
he waved over at the boy standing beside Amy Madison.

	"And you're here because . . ." Buffy asked.

	"Oh right, Scott mentioned that," Pete stuttered, then he looked at
his girlfriend, Debbie, who nodded back at him and patted his arm
comfortingly before stepping back.  "Now . . . uh, give me a minute
here, this might take a bit."

	That said, Pete closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side
and began to breathe heavier.  Everybody else exchanged looks, not
sure what was going on, but thankfully, they had their answer shortly.

	Pete's eyes snapped open as an almost animalistic growl began to come
from his.  What was wrong with this was that his irises were glowing a
neon green, and all his veins and arteries began to pop out and even
as everyone watched the lanky teenage boy began to grow, as in get
bigger right before their eyes.  The moment it got to this stage
however, Debbie stepped forward and put her hand back on Pete's arm
and her other hand on his forehead.

	"There, there, it's OK now, it's OK," she began to whisper to him. 
And strangely enough this immediately served to calm the boy down and
just as quickly reversed the transformation.

	"Was that what I think it just was?" Buffy whispered to Willow.

	"Yeah, so lets not make that kid mad, huh?" the redhead nervously
replied.

	"Alright, alright, get over there," Buffy quickly waved the two new
additions over, then turned back to Willow with an expectant look.

	The telepath sighed, then organized her thoughts as much as she could.

	Before she said anything though, she . . . felt something.  It was
almost like a soft, fluttery silk veil passing over her.  Only the
difference was that it was more likely passing over her mind, as well
as the minds of her friends!  Without hesitation, she brought the full
force of her psychic shields to bear, and felt the 'veil' be repulsed,
although not violently enough to cause a reaction in whoever was
trying to probe her and her friends, she could feel the 'direction'
that it had retreated to.  Willow squinted her eyes in suspicion at
the young black girl standing with Kevin's group, but let the incident
go without comment or question.  She couldn't even be 100% sure that
what she had just felt was a telepathic probe.

	"OK, uh, OK everybody.  I think, since it is a school day and
everything, I think we should start off with telling everybody our
names and what we dressed as on Halloween a couple weeks ago.  Then
we'll go to classes and meet back here or, or somewhere after school.
We'll start.  My name is Willow Rosenberg and I dressed as Jean Grey,
aka the Phoenix of the X-men."

	"My name is Xander Harris, I dressed as Iceman," Xander embellished a
little.

	"I'm Buffy Summers.  I dressed up, as part of a dare, as Scott
Summers, aka Cyclops of the X-men."

	"I'm Cordelia Chase, as most of you know, or should at any rate.  I
dressed up as Rogue, also from the X-men, and it was the only outfit
left in my size for any of you losers that might have questions about
that!"

	"OK, now how about you two, since you came in last, continue us
along," Willow spoke up after no one said anything for quite a bit.

	"Uh, well, as I said earlier, My name is Pete.  Pete Krenzler, and I
uh, I dressed as the Hulk for Halloween.  My girlfriend Debbie . . ."

	"I dressed as a shapeshifter.  From a book that I'd read once.  I
don't remember the title.  Might've had something to do with elves or
something," she interrupted Pete.  "And my name is Deborah Clemons Mansy."

	Pete looked at his girlfriend with an expression akin to shock, but
he quickly masked it and just nodded along with his girlfriend.

	"Oooooookay," Xander drawled.  "Next!"

	"Well, I'll go," Kevin stepped forward.  "I met these guys," he
indicated the X-Slayerettes, "last night, but my name is Kevin
Ozborne, and I dressed up as Prime, from the Ultra Force comics.  And
now I can turn into Prime whenever I want to.  Well . . . for the most
part.  I can only stay as Prime for about 12 hours and then its
another 12 before I can even try to change back again.  I'm still
trying to figure it out."

	"Guys," he gestured to the group that had come in with him.  One of
them a few inches taller than Kevin, and with wavy brown hair and
brown eyes, nodded and stiffly stepped forward.

	"My name is Jake Berenson," he introduced.  "This is my cousin Rachel
Berenson," he gestured to an even taller and model-perfect beautiful
natural blonde girl with blue eyes.  Her clothing also seemed to match
perfectly and if it weren't for the fact that she as a couple years
shy of the older teenagers, you'd believe she was going to be stiff
competition for Cordelia.

	"The others are Tobias Fangor, Cassie Applegate, Marco Richards, and
Maximilian Esquire Churchill.  We call him Ax."

	Everybody lingered on Ax for several long moments, and not just
because he was a six foot block of muscle.  He also had blue skin and
a couple of antennae coming out of the top of his head.  A head that
was covered with pure white scruffy looking hair.

	"He didn't always look like that," Cassie explained.

	"We, but especially Tobias and Ax," Jake continued, "would be
considered Trekkies.  We each came up with a role of a Star Fleet
Officer, and then bought the costumes and costume communicators at the
only costume shop in town.  A place known as Ethan's.  When Halloween
started, we became the characters we had created for ourselves; a
fully trained, and veteran team of Star Fleet Officers."

	"Jake is our Commanding Officer," Rachel spoke up, "holding the rank
of Captain . . . uh, according to the roles we came up with, he'd been
on the command track since he was 13 years old . . . which Jake
happens to be now actually."

	"There's more," Tobias intervened.

	"A lot more," Ax put in, his voice surprisingly normal for a human,
given his intimidating and alien appearance.

	"Rachel is . . . er, was my Second in Command, with the Rank of
Lieutenant Commander.  She also happens to be a Security and Weapons
expert, and a temper to make a raging Klingon back down and whimper in
fear," Jake laughed.

	"Shut up!" Rachel snapped, fighting back her own laughter.  "I was
never that bad!"

	"Uh, yeah Rachel, you were," Marco quickly agreed with a sly smirk on
his face.

	No longer laughing, Jake gestured at Tobias, "Everyone else had the
rank of Lieutenant, but Tobias was the best damn pilot I'd . . . well,
he was one of the best pilots in Star Fleet, and that was with
anything, from shuttle to Star ship to Runabout to alien craft, he
could fly it.  And not only that, he was Chief of Operations 8 of his
10 years in Star Fleet and could practically build a star ship from
scratch."

	"But that's getting ahead of things," Tobias quietly interrupted. 
"My character was also half-Vulcan," he told everyone, then brushed
back his messy blond hair to reveal slightly pointy ears.  "And now so
am I.  Same thing happened with Ax.  His character was an Andorian."

	"Ax was our resident Engineer, and computer expert," Jake continued
the introductions.  "We talked him out of making him better than
Geordi La Forge and Data, but between him and Tobias, they could come
pretty close."

	"Next is Cassie, team Medic and while not quite a /Chief/ Medical
Officer, certainly knew her way around a Sickbay.  Her character also
happened to be a Full blooded Betazed," Jake stopped talking after that.

	Xander and Willow both jumped in surprise at the information, among a
few others around the room.  "So it /was/ you," Willow blurted,
pointing at Cassie.

	Cassie blinked, surprised herself, before nodding.  "You have . . .
very powerful shields," she complimented the redhead telepath.  "And I
truly wasn't trying to pry.  I was only hoping to get a minor empathic
glance off of you and your friends, to see if you were trying to hold
anything back."

	"She asked my permission before even trying anything like that," Jake
stepped forward, "So if you have a problem with it, blame me!  I'll
take responsibility . . ."

	"Nobody is blaming anyone over anything right now!" Buffy shouted,
stepping into the middle and holding her hands up to keep anyone from
leaving or trying anything.

	She turned to Willow and asked, "Did she do any harm?"

	Willow shook her head no, "It was an extremely light probe, and like
she said, probably more empathic than anything else.  But I reacted in
time so she didn't violate anyone's, /anyone's/ privacy," she said
this to the rest of the room, including a few that apparently had a
few secrets of their own they wanted to keep.

	"Jake, I believe you have one more person in your group to
introduce," Buffy offered.

	Jake nodded back and jerked his thumb at the last, Hispanic boy. 
"This is my best friend since kindergarten, Marco Sanchez.  His
character was probably the most outrageous of all of ours.  Computer
Science expert, majoring in Positronic, Nanotech, Bio-Mechanical, and
Quantum Physical Technologies, as well as a fully trained Agent for
Section 31, not to mention a rank and commission within Star Fleet
Intelligence."

	"Don't forget my three wives waiting for me back on Rysa," Marco
added with his own lopsided grin.

	Xander immediately liked the boy, sensing a kindred spirit.  Willow
nervously glanced between the two, indeed sensing very similar
personalities between the new boy and her longest time bestest friend.
In fact, a little /too/ similar.

	"So you guys keep hinting that there's something bad about this, and
aside from Ax here, and maybe Cassie and Tobias now having telepathy
and slightly different human biologies," Buffy spoke, "I'm not seeing
a terrible side to this.  Besides, and I know she can do this because
she showed me that she could, Willow can just make everybody see the
'old' Ax in place of this one.  It might take a while to get everybody
in town . . ."

	"No, that's not it, and in fact we've kind of already devised a way
of . . . hiding Ax," Jake explained.  "The . . . problem is . . ."

	He took a deep breath and then turned to exchange looks with each of
his friends, even Kevin.  Then he took another breath and nodded, they
all nodded back.

	"The problem is that the way it happened, we didn't get replaced by
our characters.  One second we were in our Halloween costumes, the
next we were 400 years in the future, or on an alien planet.  We were
still 'us' but to us it was like we'd been transported to the Star
Trek universe.  For some it only took a week, others almost an entire
year, but eventually we all kind of . . . accepted what had happened
to us and went on with out lives.  And we did.  We lived out our
characters' lives."

	"Then," Marco picked up the story, "next thing we know, almost thirty
years later, batta bing batta boom, we meet each other again, get
together for a mission, go into the Holodeck to train, next thing we
know, we're back where we started, only to the new us's, aka our
characters, we've somehow stepped into a malfunctioning holodeck
that's set for our old home town 400 years in the past.  When it's
over, the only thing that's changed . . ."

	Cassie finished for him, "Is that we remember that we really were
born in this time and this town, instead of 400 years in the future. 
To us, it's like we went to the future, lived out our entire lives,
and then came back to the past as kids."

	"Whoa," Xander muttered after a heavy silence.

	"Dear God," Giles muttered, strenuously rubbing his glasses.

	"So, what do you want to do now?" Buffy asked.

	Jake shrugged.  "Obviously, what we're thinking of as 'the future'
has no way of really happening.  It's fiction.  But nevertheless, we
remember it, so we're not going to do something like introduce
advanced technology just to get rich quick or anything like that."

	"Speak for yourself," Marco boasted, "I plan on buying my own island
full of nothing but gorgeous naked super models!"

	Rachel, Cassie, and Amy (being the only other nearest female) slapped
the Hispanic boy across the back of his head.  After all three had had
their shot, Willow, a spark of neon pink energy highlighting the
action, telekinetically added her own punishment.  After it was over
Marco whimpered, "Ow," before starting to tenderly rub his bruised
cranium.

	Jake glared at his friend, but was unsympathetic as he ordered,
"We're /not/ introducing future technology.  We may not be Star Fleet
officers anymore, but we're still going to follow the Prime Directive
to the letter."

	The X-Slayerettes and Giles all winced at that statement, but it was
Buffy who replied to it.

	"You may want to change your minds after this meeting.  In fact you
guys might very well be a godsend for us," she said.  "But in the
meantime uh, how about you guys go next.  /We/ know who you are, but
the kids might not."  She indicated the Cordettes.

	"Well, first thing," Cindy stepped forward as spokesperson, "how many
of you kids are familiar with anime?"

	Kevin and the other 'kids' gave her an incredulous look, while Scott
Hope spoke up, saying what was on everyone's minds, "Yeah, as a matter
of fact, most everyone here /is/ familiar with anime.  And the series
/Noir/, which you and Aura seemed to have dressed as for Halloween. 
We're just all kind of shocked that /you all/ know about anime!"

	Cindy glared at the boy for a moment and then finally shrugged. 
"Actually, we didn't know what we were dressing as, neither did the
rest of us.  Hell, we only went with Cordy so we wouldn't have
clashing costumes, and our reasons for picking was the same as hers. 
The costumes looked good on us.  We've done some research since then
though."

	"Anyway," Brittany said, "our real names, just in case you didn't
know, are Brittany Murphy," pointing at herself, "Cindy Carlyle," the
blond half of Noir, "Aura Kuriko," the Asian chick, "Charlotte Webb,"
the now silver-maned DD-cup, "and Erin Richards," bright red hair and
D-cup on petite body.  "None of us are as rich as the Chase's, but we
were still the snobby kids growing up."

	"And you're not now?" vampire-boy snapped.

	"How do you think we'd react to having war veterans, assassins, and
2000 year old empath renegade Codas put directly in our brains?"
Brittany snapped right back.

	"Yeah, by the way, who are you?" Buffy challenged the boy.

	"Name's Mark Kendall," he said with a slow grin, taking off his
sunglasses with finesse.

	"Kendall?" Cordelia, the Cordettes, and Willow all repeated.

	"That's right," he said with a "toothy" grin, "I'm Harmony Kendall's
baby brother."

	"You're a vampire," Buffy snarled, tearing off her own sunglasses.

	"Half, actually," Mark corrected, "Still got my soul and all that
jazz.  So that means you can't do anything!"  He laughed out loud. 
Which was cut short when Buffy's eyes began to spark with crimson energy.

	"Always wondered if anything /other/ than a wooden stake through the
chest would kill a vampire," she threatened.

	"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mark backed up, no longer even trying to pretend
to be the 'cool vampire guy' anymore.  "I didn't mean it like that,
really!"

	"I wish everyone would just calm down!" Scott shouted over everyone else.

	Before anyone could say or do anything else, Amy's arms crossed
before her like she couldn't even control them, and then she blinked
with a heavy nod of her head.  The next thing anyone knew, they were
all, /all/ sitting at the Library table, which was no longer the
Library table but rather some kind of Round Table straight from a King
Arthur play.

	"Not exactly what I had in mind Amy," Scott belatedly replied.

	"Sorry, it's kind of automatic," she answered with a shrug.

	"Now, shall we try again?" Scott stood up to address the whole table,
which amazingly enough still fit comfortably inside the Library.  He
received several grumbling replies, but he'd made his point.

	"My Library," Giles whimpered.

	"Why don't you two go next?" Buffy grated as she put her sunglasses
back on.

	"Yeah, you dressed up as Major Nelson, right?" Xander asked.

	"No," Scott shook his head, "I didn't dress up for Halloween.  Snyder
didn't get me into the Volunteer program, I didn't get invited to any
of the Halloween parties that were going on, and I haven't done the
Trick or Treating thing since I was 14.  The reason I'm Amy's master
is because I found her bottle the next day, and I was the first one to
open it."

	Everyone startled.

	"Amy's /bottle/!!" half the room shouted.

	"Yeah," Amy, who was dressed normally, just all in pink, muttered,
hanging her head.  "It's actually a very long and complicated story. 
Well, not really.  I bought the 'I Dream of Jeanie' costume.  I
thought of buying some random bottle, or even using a perfume bottle
of my . . . my mother's from home to add it, but I didn't really want
to bother.  Then, while I'm leading my kids through the downtown
shops, I suddenly turn into pink smoke, and like magic, the bottle's
just /there/ and I'm getting sucked into it.  For the next couple of
hours, I'm Jeanie screaming for 'my Master' to come and save me, but
all I get is the bottle kicked into an alley somewhere.  When the
spell ended . . . and I became . . . /me/ again, I was still dressed
as Jeanie, and above all else I was still in the bottle.  And when I
say I was dressed as Jeanie, I don't mean I was wearing the costume. 
The costume looked, at best, like a cheap imitation of cotton and fake
silk.  Now I was wearing the real thing."

	"It must have been horrible, being trapped in that bottle for . . ."
Willow sympathized.

	"It was only one night," Scott hastily explained, "I found her the
next day and uncorked the bottle and out she popped, just like from
the show.  Only she was Amy, not Jeanie.  Didn't find out until she
tried to go home that the rules still applied.  She is a real genie,
bound to this bottle, and I'm her master, with the same number of
wishes that Major Nelson got, which is to say . . ."

	"Infinite," Joyce Summers answered.  "Sounds something like what I
went through, only I dressed as Endora from the old TV show
'Bewitched'.  I'm just grateful that I don't have to deal with that .
. . /witch's/ temper and personality anymore.  Honey I swear, if I am
ever that bad, you have my full permission to blast me into the upper
atmosphere."

	"Mom!" Buffy whined.

	Suddenly the two Summers women realized that everyone else was
looking at them.  "Did I mention I'm Buffy's mother?" Joyce added as
an afterthought.

	"So, is that everybody?" Willow tried to take the lead again.

	"Uh, just us," a quiet voice spoke.  Everyone turned to see the two
shortest people in the High School, and next to them something even
shorter, which couldn't be properly judged since everyone was sitting
down.

	"Uh, I'm Jonathan Levinson," the boy spoke.

	"And I'm Sydney Pierson," the cute little brunette Freshman girl
introduced herself.  "And this is my partner, Iczel."

	"Hello everyone," the little white robot waved, speaking with a
mature version of Sydney's own voice.

	"I'm not going to ask," Buffy groaned, hitting her head on the table.

	"This is a lot bigger than we first thought," Willow decided,
speaking aloud.

	"Maybe you . . . X-Slayerettes or whatever you're calling
yourselves," Scott Hope spoke up, "Maybe you should start explaining
what it is that we're doing here!"

	The mutant teens all shared a look of dread, only the adults and the
Cordettes, because they'd encountered vampires on Halloween night, and
been explained about the supernatural by Cordy, knew what it was
about.  Everyone else shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the others
dread.

	Finally, Buffy just blurted it out, "We know what really happened,
and why it happened, on Halloween night.  An evil . . . well, he
called himself a Chaos Mage, but basically an evil man named Ethan
Rayne, set up shop, sold us all our costumes, and then cast a spell,
that turned us all into our costumes.  Problem is, or so I've been
told, instead of having a Chaos /god/ power the spell, Ethan somehow
tapped into the Natural Force of Chaos itself, making things . . .
well, permanent."

	Jonathan's face was an etch of shock and horror, Joyce's wasn't far
from it, while just about everybody else, except Giles and Miss
Calendar, (and Iczel) bore looks of extreme confusion.

	"What Buffy meant to say," Willow picked it up, "was that instead of
getting some entity, a god like from TV shows and cartoons, had
powered the spell, things would have been temporary.  Maybe a few
exceptions here and there, but once the spell, ie Halloween ended, we
would have all gone back to normal, after a really freaky and
dangerous night, but normal."

	"Instead, we all remember everything that our costumes did and were,
and in some cases, physical transformations occurred," Jake pointed out.

	Willow nodded.  "There are . . . a lot of things out there that no
one knows about.  'No one' being the bulk of society, even
governments.  Magic, demons, vampires, werewolves, and gods being only
a fraction of it.  There are also the Forces of Nature, to use the
generic term.  These Forces aren't what the media and so forth would
have you believe."

	"Different aspects of an ecosystem?" Ax offered.

	Willow, quite solemnly, shook her head no.

	"When we talk about a Force, capital F, we mean something that not
only helped create and sustain the universe itself, but something that
existed even /before/ the universe did.  Chaos is one of those Forces.
And Ethan, unknowingly or not, tapped into the Force of Chaos to
power his spell.  And these are the consequences.  What could have
been just a mild prank has changed all our lives, forever."

	A heavy silence followed, but the curiosity could not be denied.

	"OK, so why go into all of that?  There's nothing we can do about it
now, is there?" Pete asked.  "Why tell us all of this if all you told
us is what we already know?  We're freaks!"

	"I was a freak before all of this, doesn't change the facts," Buffy
snapped back, forgetting for a moment she was speaking to the
Incredible Hulk.  "We're not done yet."

	"Sunnydale is not a normal town," Xander interrupted.  "How many
schools across America have an Obituary page in their school newspaper!?"

	"Giles, I believe this is your part," Buffy looked to her Watcher.

	Nodding his head, Giles got to his feet and began to walk around the
round table.  "This world is older than any of you know.  This world
is older than any of you know. Contrary to popular
mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons
walked the Earth. They made it their home, their... their Hell. But in
time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for
mortal animals, for, for man. All that remains of the old ones are
vestiges, certain magics, certain creatures, and vampires."

	"So vampires are demons?" Mark asked.

	"The books tell the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human,
mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the
demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the Earth,
feeding... killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more
of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to
return," Giles answered.

	"This town, this area was once known to the Spanish as /Boca del
Inferno/, loosely translated, the Mouth of Hell.  Glibly referred to
of late as simply the Hellmouth.  Digging a bit into the history of
this place, you'll find a, a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences.
Mostly in unexplained deaths I'm afraid.  Suffice to say, the
Hellmouth is a mystical convergence, where not only vampires and all
sorts of demons congregate, but other entities of both mystical and
magical forces convene, sometimes without meaning to.  I'm afraid that
Halloween, and the consequences of what happened to all of you, and
many others throughout the town, are just a few victims in the long,
long history of the Hellmouth."

	"I don't believe you," Debbie stated with finality.

	"The center point of the Hellmouth just happens to be approximately
three miles directly beneath your feet, and as its name refers, the
Hellmouth, on top of being a mystical convergence, is also a portal
that leads straight to a dimension filled with demons and is so
inhospitable that it is oft confused with, or perhaps inspired the
belief in, Hell itself," Giles countered without so much as missing a
step.  "Therefore, in order to prove what I am saying is false, you
are more than welcome to go straight down and find out for yourself."

	"Did Giles just tell her to go to Hell?" Xander whispered to Buffy.

	"Sounds like it," Buffy whispered back.  "I'm not sure I want to know
exactly what Miss Calendar has been doing to him or not, but it's
certainly brought out Giles' dark side."

	Debbie, flushed, did not respond, instead, shifting in her seat
slightly and remaining silent.

	"Uh, any other questions?" Willow asked in the suddenly tense atmosphere.

	"I think we should all meet again, and remember what has been
discussed here," Jonathan answered for her.  "Perhaps things are not
as bad as they first seem.  I mean, if what Mr. Giles is saying is
true, then we may have a chance at protecting our world as the very
heroes we were for a single night.  Or, we can just try to live our
lives as normally as possible, and be miserable because of a single
action that made us all very special."

	He stood up, and suddenly everyone noticed that the sides of
Jonathan's black hair were stark white.  "I leave you with this; a
single blade of grass is trampled and torn, a thistle of reeds can
bend but never be broken, and a field of wheat can spread and feed the
whole world."  Then he disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light.

	After a moment of silence, Buffy asked, "How many have seen the
Dungeon Master there do his little spiel and only show up when you
finally get to the answer to his riddle?"

	Everyone except Giles, Jenny, Mark Kendall, and Debbie all raised
their hands in agreement.

	"Well, he did help us, I mean the X-men, figure out how to end the
spell," Willow pointed out.

	"Don't remind me," Buffy grunted.  But it was too late.

TBC...







Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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