The knight sat alone at a campfire far from any civilization. He watched as the flames danced violently and the sticks burned with the heat. The light reflected off the partly rusted armor and the freshly clean blade beside him. He slowly looked to the night sky as he heard a howl. The knight readyed his blade as he waited for what was to come.

"POMPADOUR!"

Pip burst through the door with a bullhorn and jumped up on Ted's bed bouncing up and down. Ted was bounced up along with him and fell from his mattress, bumping his head on the floor. Pip tossed his uniform on top of him and bolted out the room. Ted simply groaned in pain, he hated Mondays.

---------

Ted pulled himself into homeroom and plopped into his seat with a groan. His day was already off to a bad start. On top of Pip's enthusiastic wake-up call, he was forced to eat his father's leftover burnt pancakes. Then on the way to school he stepped in some gum and a cat hissed at him. Not to mention Steph was still refusing to talk to him. He would catch her glaring at him from the corner of her eyes, but when he would turn to talk to her, she would turn her nose up and pout, refusing to acknowledge him. When he asked Lilith what was wrong with her sister, she simply shrugged.

After attendance was called, students began shuffling around the room. Ted quickly became aware of a new presence in the seat beside him. He could also feel that, once again, the room's attention was suddenly on him. He glanced to his side, and sure enough, Olivia Scaleless was sitting next to him, red-faced and doing a very poor job at pretending to read her book. This had been going on for a few days now. The shy girl obviously had something to say to him, and he wished she'd just come out with it already, it was starting to get a little creepy. He was pretty sure she had started following him to some of his classes. He glanced back over, catching her in the act of staring at him. She blushed harder and fumbled with her book, shielding her face with it. He had to admit, she was pretty cute, if a little odd. The bell finally rang, he got up from his seat, and prepared to face his first class. However, before he left, he turned back to Olivia.

"By the way, your book is upside down." He tried not to think about how cute she looked when she got flustered.

---------

In between periods, a large form made its way around the side of the school to a small patch of bushes. It pushed the branches of one aside, checking to see if what it stored there before was still present. Its slimy lips pulled back into a repugnant smile.

That little punk was going to pay.

---------

Ted and Eve walked out of the chemistry lab together.

"Ted."

"Yes, Eve."

"After much deliberation and several days' worth of controlled experimentation, I have come to one irrefutable conclusion."

"Which is?"

"Science can go screw itself."

Ted gave her a high five in agreement. Science was hard, and he was pretty sure Prof. Scaleless wasn't very fond of him, for some reason. Ted figured it had something to do with Olivia. How had he come to that conclusion? Maybe it was the fact that every day before class, under his seat, he found a note made from magazine clippings spelling the words "Stay away from my daughter!" Also there was today's lecture.

"Okay class, let's talk about elements binding. You see, elements are pure, like the world's most perfect and pure daughter, but sometimes nasty little parasites will latch onto her and try to tie her down to them. These other elements will try to steer her down the wrong path, ruining her life and stealing her away from her poor father." As he was saying this, he wrote the words "Stay away from my daughter!" repeatedly on the whiteboard.

Eve gave Ted a reassuring pat on the shoulder before heading off. Ted sighed before walking to his next class, trying not to notice Olivia following him a few feet back. Hopefully lunch would provide a reprieve.

----------

The large form heaved itself back to its hiding place and retrieved its stashed treasure. It could only imagine the look on that punk's face when his face got smashed in front of the whole cafeteria. That's what he would get for pissing off a member of the Demons gang. After that the boss was sure to take notice. It could only imagine the reward it would receive.

"Hmm, what have we got here? That looks like something interesting you got there, friend."

Fantasies of rewards and promotions were interrupted by an intrusive voice. Its vision was directed onto a low hanging tree branch, where a very pesky upperclassman was perched with a Cheshire-esque grin stretched across his face.

"Now, what were you going to do with that, I wonder?

-----------

Lunch did not provide reprieve, much to his dismay. He could once again feel all eyes on him as he sat down at his usual table, and Olivia took her place at the far end. Ted munched on his sandwich and tried to ignore her. He looked over at another table and saw both Lioheart and William looking at him, the former with a smug smirk and the latter with a bitter scowl. He had enough. He wrapped his food up, stuffed it in his bag, and got up to leave the cafeteria. He made his way to his locker, then stopped and without turning around, spoke to the girl behind him.

"You know, if you keep following me around like this, the rumors will start getting raunchier."

Olivia froze in panic and her face turned bright red. She began muttering in an incoherent word salad. Ted turned to face her and she turned even redder.

"I-I'm sorry...I-I didn't mean to...I was just...I just...r-really wanted to...to...say thank you."

He raised his eyebrow in confusion. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he had heard her speak.

"Okay." He said, stretching the word out, "For what exactly?"

"For the first day of school, in the lunchroom, when you gave me your food."

He laughed. "Oh, that? Don't worry about that, it was nothing to have to thank me for."

He turned to go, but she suddenly grabbed his hand. Both of them looked surprised by her sudden boldness.

"B-But it was!" she exclaimed, before quietly adding, "Nobody has ever been that nice to me before."

He suddenly felt very awkward, and more than a tad guilty. He had really only given her that sandwich to piss off William and make himself look good. He didn't think that it would mean so much to this girl. Then again, nobody has been that nice? What did that mean?

"I'm sorry if I seemed creepy or clingy or something, but I was just trying to find a way to properly thank you. I'm sorry to have bothered you. I'll...I'll leave you alone now."

"Wait!" Ted called out before she could scurry off. Olivia stopped dead in her tracks and cautiously turned back to him. Ted suddenly realized that he had no idea what he wanted to say.

"Uhh, I mean, it wasn't annoying or anything. To be honest, I sort of liked having you around."

Olivia's eyes widened, "Really? You really liked me being around you?" Ted blinked in confusion "Umm...Yes? I mean I'm used to all my other friends-" Olivia gasped and Ted was suddenly nervous, had he offended her somehow. "Friends?" she questioned him in a small voice. He also noticed she seemed to be shaking. "Are we really friends?" Ted blinked then offered her a smile. "Of course, why wouldn't we be?" Olivia straightened up, "I see." She smiled back at him, "Thank you very much." She then turned and took off at full speed down the hallway, leaving a very confused Ted behind. The hell was that about? Was she about to cry?

Ted stood in the hallway for a few minutes, wondering what the hell just happened. He was snapped out of his stupor by the sound of someone running towards him. He turned around to witness Steph screech to a halt in front of him, out of breath. "Theo..." she gasped out, "Come quick, hurry!" Ted stepped up to her worriedly, "What is it? What's wrong?" he questioned. Steph took a few more gulps of air, "Oscar is...Oscar...is in real big trouble!" Ted's eyes widened, and he immediately took off in the direction Steph had just come from.

---------

Olvia pressed her back up against a wall. She didn't even know where in the school she was, not that she cared. In her mind, she repeated the same word over and over again in her mind. It was such a foreign, alien word to her.

'Friends...Friends...he called us friends...and he meant it...I've...I've never had a...'

She gulped and the tears that she had worked hard to keep back suddenly started spilling down her face. She was glad she ran when she did. She was an ugly crier, even though this was the first time that she was crying in pure joy. She couldn't let her first ever friend see her cry.

Unbeknownst to her, just around the corner, Ms. Vel was leaning against the adjacent wall. He lips dared to curl up into the smallest of smiles. She had heard the entire thing of course. Seth would not be happy about this, but he was only trying to protect the one last precious thing he had. The principle on the other hand...

Vel stopped herself there. She would worry about that shrew some other time. All that mattered right now was two things. The first, Olivia was happy, probably for the first time in almost ten years. The second thing...her smile turned into a scowl.

Some idiots were fighting in the courtyard.

-----------

When Ted arrived, he was greeted with the sight of a badly battered Oscar barely managing to stand. A gaggle of students had surrounded the brawl, speaking in either worried whispers or encouraging cheers. Off to the side, Jose was struggling against Jim, who was holding her back from rushing into the fray. Ted pushed his way through in order to see his brother's attacker. It was a short, fat, squishy looking punk with a spiked mohawk didn't look all that tough, except for the sledgehammer he was swinging around. Ted quickly dashed in front of his brother.

"Oscar! What are you thinking, fighting this guy? You're too weak for someone like him!"

Oscar looked slightly annoyed by that last part. The thug just laughed with a piggish like squeal.

"Zehehehaha! So you finally decided to show up punk! Good, as fun as pounding on your weakass brother is, your head's the one I've been waiting to smash!"

Ted glared at the punk, "Hey don't call my brother weak, you piece of shit! He's way too cool for you!"

Oscar glowed with pride at the praise. The punk, and most everyone else looked confused. "H-huh? B-but you were the first to..."

"Oh yeah, Bro, I have a question." Ted promptly turned to face Oscar, completely ignoring the punk, causing him to splutter at the audacity. "Who is this guy anyway?"

At the realization that his target had forgotten about him, the punk's face twisted from confusion to rage. Oh, he was going to let this kid have it. He charged at Ted's exposed back and readied his hammer to strike. Before Ted could react, he felt himself being pushed out of the way. The world seemed to move slowly after that. All he could process was Oscar being flung backwards and landing against a flower bed wall. Small rays of light trickled down from the treetops, bathing his battered form. In an instant Ted, Steph, and Jim were by his side. Oscar shot them a painful smile, before coughing violently.

"Guess this is it, huh?" He coughed again, "This is the end of the road for me. I wish...I wish..." he shuddered in pain. Jose buried he head into Ted's shoulder, not being able to bear the pain her dearest older brother was in. "I wish I could have...seen...what kind of...kind of...panties Amy Johnson wore today." Oscar gurgled one last time before going limp.

Wait...

There was a beat of silence before the gears began turning in everyone's heads. Ted and Jose glared in disgust at Oscar's "corpse", which was doing a very poor attempt at acting like a corpse. As realization dawned on everyone, the crowd spat out a unified "WHAT!?"

Oscar's "corpse" opened one eye and winked at the aforementioned Amy Johnson, who was standing in the crowd, but the girl only looked sick. Ted muttered in exasperation.

"Freaking perv, take something seriously for once. You're lucky you only got hit by the handle instead of the hammer. " However, he also let himself flash a small smile of relief. Oscar opened his eyes fully and propped himself further up.

"Hehe, sorry bro, just having fun. Anyway, this guy is kinda strong so be careful. Looks like he has some beef with you. Luckily, I've got you covered." Oscar slipped Ted something, it felt cold and metallic, but also smooth and round. Ted grinned again, "Bastard, you still owe me four more of these." Ted held the object up to the light. It was a can with the words "Motley Drink" labeled on it. He stood up, popped the top, and downed it all in one go. It tasted like an asskicking. Ted turned his head back to face the punk, a wide grin on his face and murder in his eyes. The punk faltered a bit but lifted his hammer back up.

"So you got so kind of beef with me, hmm? Well I can't seem to remember anything about you, not even your name, so I'll just call you...Hammer Fatty." The punk growled in rage, "W-Why you...I'LL KILL YOU!" Hammer Fatty charged forward and raised the sledge above his head and charged at dark, intending to bring it down on his head, but moments before his strike could connect Ted dodged out of the way and the hammer smashed on the ground. The Fatty swung several more times, showing surprising skill with the hammer, but every time Ted dodged out of the way. "You might be strong with a lot of power behind your blows, but you're slow! Your bite doesn't mean anything if you can't connect!" Dodging a few more blows, Ted circled around Fatty and delivered a swift knee into his side. Fatty grimaced, but surprisingly hopped back and tried to crush Ted with his body. "Zehehahaha, you're in the same boat! You may move fast, but you can't hurt me!" Ted realized this was a battle of attrition, and if he couldn't find a way to turn the tables, he'd be toast.

Suddenly a pouch was slid over to him, he glanced to the side and saw Lilith smirking at him. "Take it Yelawolf, it's a Chaos Sisters Special." He opened the pouch a found large, patchwork leather balls. "Those are Black Boom Booms; more powerful than regular Boom Booms. Put those baseball skills to the test, kid." Ted grinned wickedly, and pulled one of the bombs out. He aimed it at the Fatty and hurled it full force at him. As soon as it connected, it exploded, causing Fatty to stumble back. Ted pulled out two more and tossed them at Fatty's feet and arms. When the burst, Fatty tripped and dropped his hammer. Ted closed the gap between them, gripping one last bomb. "Bet you didn't expect that, huh fatass! Well you pissed me off, now you better accept the consequences!" He used all his strength to punch the bomb right into Fatty's gut. The bomb exploded and Fatty was hurled back and dropped to the ground, unconscious. Ted looked at his hand to see it slightly burnt from the mini explosion and black from the smoke.

Cheers echoed through the crowd as Ted stood victorious. "Nice hammer; Think I'm gonna keep it." Ted hefted the large sledgehammer over his shoulder, but he frowned at the weight. "Nah, not my type, but it'll make a good trophy." The Fatty could only groan in pain as Ted stepped over him and over to where his siblings and friends stood. At some point, Steph had finally caught up to him and was currently keeling over, out of breath. Pip had also arrived and was helping Jim support Oscar, who was a little worse for wear, but didn't seem to be too badly hurt. Jose put on a mask of boredom, but Ted could tell she was relieved. Lilith stood next to her sister, smiling smugly. "Nice work Yelawolf, you just took out a member of the Demons. Quite an accomplishment! Not that you would have stood a chance without me!" she cackled hysterically. Ted opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off.

"Look out! Vel and the Student Disciplinary Committee are coming! EVERYONE SCATTER!" As soon as it was said, all the other students took off in various directions. Steph pulled Ted by the arm as the group dashed off. Lilith gave an exasperated expression before following along.

--------

"Worthless scum! Have they any dignity?!"

Vel sighed as William vented his anger. She had wished the SDC had stayed out of this, but Gwyn had insisted he join her as soon as he found out about the incident. He was only a freshman, yet acted as if he had her job. She supposed he was better than Harley, who only seemed to only have a passing interest in his job, but she still would have preferred not to work with someone from that family.

"Don't worry Mr. William, Sir! I promise we'll find those who participated in this shameful display! I swear my very soul on it!" Vel barely spared a passing glance at Luna, a sophomore member of the SDC who seemed to have some weird fetish for the effeminate boy. From what Vel knew of her she was fairly devoted to the committee. Meeting William, who was even more passionate about order and justice than she was probably set off something weird in her.

Vel turned her attention back to the beaten student in front of her. He was a freshmen student she already had some minor discipline issues with. Acts of aggression and claims he was part of a gang. She decided to go out on a limb and say that he was the instigator of the... whatever happened here. She was going to call it a street fight, but the powder marks on the ground told her it was a little more intense than that. She wished she had arrived slightly sooner. If William hadn't slowed her down, she might have caught a witness or two. As it stood now, she could punish no one. She pulled out her cell phone and called for an ambulance. Given the boy's current condition and supposed gang affiliation, there was no doubt that the police would be involved with this. She supposed it was out of her hands now, but in the deepest part of her mind she had a feeling that this was only the beginning of something worse.

-----------

In a darkened room, two menacing figures conversed.

"So I heard one of our own members, the new guy, was defeated today." Said the slim figure lying reclined across a dingy old sofa. The large figure standing behind the sofa tensed in rage. "What?! That punk, bringing down our reputation; we never shoulda let him in!" The reclined figure clicked his tongue in contemplation. "Yes, he didn't even put up much of a fight. Some no name freshmen beat him down. I hear it was rather pathetic." The standing figure growled lowly; the reclined figured hummed again. "Whatever. He was the weakest among us anyway. However, a slight like this mustn't be left...unpunished." The standing figure grinned in the darkness, "Then allow me to do the honors." The reclined figure simply rolled his head back. "Do what you will. The kid who beat our boy, they call him Ted. Ted Yelawolf. Real name is Theodore but everyone seems to keep the nickname. Stupid name if you ask me, but he obviously has some form of skill. Shouldn't be a problem for The Thundering Bull, though." The standing figure drew himself to full height proudly.

"Hehehe. No worries. I'll skin the little shit alive and hang it up on our wall here. I won't fail you...Boss Drake."

----------

Ted instinctively glanced behind him, to the direction of the setting sun. He had felt some sort of menacing intent, but his eyes found nothing, and the feeling of tension soon disappeared. He heard Steph shout behind him and turned to rejoin his friends, minus Jim and Oscar, who had gone to get the latter patched up. Lilith had warned him during their escape that beating the Hammer Fatty would come with many negative consequences. If the SDC didn't come after him first, the rest of the Demons would surely be looking to avenge their comrade, along with any two-bit punk that decided to bring him down was a good way to get street cred. Ted was annoyed by the thought of having to fend off multiple threats, but he supposed he could take them all out, if he was prepared. Plus with the help of his friends, he could beat any opponent; Lilith proved that today. With his friends, he could do anything. His mind briefly flashed to Olivia, and he blushed involuntarily. The girl seemed excited at the concept of becoming his friend, but he hoped he didn't drag her into any of this.

His thoughts were interrupted when Pip suddenly pounced on him, trapping him in a playful headlock. The two boys wrestled each other while the two Izalith sisters laughed at their antics. Jose scowled as usual, but there was a hint of amusement in her eyes. Elsewhere, Oscar laid in a bed, bandaged up. He told a sly joke to Jim who laughed hard and clapped the other boy on the shoulder, causing Oscar to wince in pain. Jim kept laughing. Meanwhile Olivia happily cleaned dishes in her kitchen with a bizarrely content smile, humming a small tune. Her father gave her a curious look, but shrugged it off and wheeled of to his study. On the other end of town, William and his sister sat in the back of her car as it drove back to the family estate. Despite their proximity however, they rarely conversed. As the sun finally faded, Eve kneeled down and said her prayers, making sure to ask for blessings for all of her friends, especially Theodore Yelawolf. When the sun had disappeared and the moon dominated the sky, an underpaid salaryman yawned as he finally exited the prison of his corporate office job, he then trudged to his car so he could begin the long drive home back to his three (adopted) children.

None of them realized how soon their peaceful, quiet, mundane town would soon change.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

NAME: Liam "Hammer Fatty" Lucas

STATUS: DEFEATED

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