The Lounge, Sunnydale Highschool, Thursday 27th November 1997

Xander Harris, First Human Psionic and 'Scooby'

Contrary to the training montages and fantasies of movies and heroic tales, one did not become an all powerful superhero overnight, Xander thought to himself somewhat ironically as he lounged on one of the numerous 'comfy' chairs in the lounge area of Sunnydale High's main building.

If near continuous training and fighting was all you needed, then Xander would have been Buffy's level already. Between 'training' (Acting as a punching dummy) for Buffy and Harmony; sleep fighting with Zeratul and the various opponents the Protoss had 'prepared' for him; and the quasi-training/creep sessions with the vampire Russian Commissar wannabe? Xander was pretty certain there were members of the school's athletics team who had trained less this year than he had in the last month.

And given the extra patrolling he was doing to help Buffy, not to mention his actual 'responsibilities' related to school work, Xander was more than ready to have a bit of 'me day'.

"And then we have green beans and Schmaltz fried shallots!" But today was not going to be that day, he thought with tired amusement as he watched Willow recite the Rosenberg Thanksgiving Festive Feast menu to Buffy.

He'd heard it before, every year for the last three in fact. As much as he loved Mrs Rosenberg, the woman was not much for changing a plan if she didn't have to. Not that he was complaining, it was a damn sight better than Thanksgiving would have been at his house.

But given there were going to be three Scoobies in one house at the same time, there was going to be some kind of Hellmouth trouble, of that Xander had no doubt.

"That sounds… Delightful Willow." It wasn't that Buffy didn't sound appreciative, the Slayer being somewhat down about her mother being out of town the very reason for this conversation after all.

But the bombardment of information and enthusiasm was one of Willow's best unintentional Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Buffy didn't have the decade of conditioning he did to endure it without consequence.

"I know right! And we can then play some board games and watch a movie…" Xander's psionic senses suddenly sparked, highlighting to him something flying through the air towards them, his body already moving to intercept it before he had a chance to turn and see what it was.

If it was a spitball, or even a paper airplane, Xander wouldn't have made a big deal out of the 'attack' on his best friend. But as he caught the American football about a foot from Willow's face, he took one look at the shock and flinching surprise that was just starting to invade her expression, and he decided that a little anger would be good therapy after all.

Turning in the direction of the 'assault', Xander found himself glaring at four members of the football team, lead by Blayne Moll who was still stood in an obvious stance that highlighted him as the culprit.

"Oi Nerd! Give us back our ball!" To Blayne's credit, not that Xander was feeling particularly generous right now, the football player acted immediately like he had done nothing wrong and that Xander had stolen his ball.

Given that his 'back-up' was currently still looking at Xander in shock though, he had caught the ball one handed whilst facing the wrong way after all, Xander allowed some of his anger to surface as he tossed the ball in the air for a moment before falling back into his grip.

"Oh, you mean this? All yours." Even as he threw the ball back, Xander knew on a purely intellectual level that adding some of his psionic strength was a bad idea.

But watching as the ball impacted into Blayne's nose with a crunch was satisfying, the boy barely having time to flinch as the ball shot through his fingers with remarkable ease.

"What the… You broke my nose you bastard!" Due to the psionics currently humming in the back of his mind, Xander could 'hear' Blayne's shocked outburst a moment later a lot better than everyone else, and managed to keep the unimpressed and angry look on his face even as Blayne stormed towards him.

Despite what was clearly meant to be an intimidation tactic, the fact that Blayne was barely bigger than Xander made it feel… almost sad for Blayne, especially as he had one hand still trying to stop the blood that was running down his face.

The first punch was so telegraphed that Xander thought he would have been able to dodge it even without his psionics. And despite the rush of emotions causing his body to tense and prepare for a fight, Xander at least had the mindset to not floor the football player and instead make it look like he dodged more by luck than skill.

He did the same for each of the following three punches, taking a step or two back every time, though he allowed the fifth punch to hit him in the chest rather than stepping back further. Given he had run out of room, with Willow stood right behind him and clearly still shocked, Xander had nowhere else to go.

"What do you think you are doing!" Even as he allowed his body to rock back, absorbing some of the force of the blow, Xander smiled as the furious voice of Principal Snyder echoed around the Lounge room.

It wasn't his preferred choice of teacher to be on 'watch', but if there was one thing Principal Snyder was good at, it was his job as a disciplinarian.

Icing on the cake, physically speaking, was that Blayne didn't seem to hear the Principal's shout. Xander allowed the sixth punch to connect with his cheek, which to be honest was a love tap compared to his training partners, before pulling off what he thought was quite the convincing 'collapse' to the floor.

Who knew all those times he had done pratfalls to amuse Willow when they were younger would be useful?

"Xander!" As Willow appeared over him, her face full of concern, Xander realised he may have been a little too convincing.

"Mr Moll! While I think that Harris could use some toughening up, especially if he's knocked to the floor in a single punch like that, you do not get to use the student's lounge as a boxing ring!" Looking over to where Blayne was now being physically held back by two of his team mates whilst Snyder tore into him, Xander did his best to seem slightly confused and off-focus as he looked around.

"Hey Wills, sorry for lying down on the job…" He gave her a small smile as she propped his head up, but she didn't seem to get the hint and continued to fuss over him.

"But sir, Harris broke my nose with the…" Blayne paused in his rant as Snyder gave a dismissive snort.

"And if it gets out that you can't even catch a ball thrown by Harris without it hitting you in the face? You're already in detention for a week for attacking another student unprovoked… Do you want to be off the football team as well?" Xander got the feeling that Snyder wasn't really defending him right now, the not so subtle insults really helped with that, and after a few more seconds it seemed that Blayne understood that as well.

"O-of course sir, my mistake… Sorry, Harris…" Blayne didn't sound at all sorry, and Snyder seemed to spend a moment working out whether there was a way he could land Xander in detention as well, before he looked round with his usual glare back in place.

"What are you all gawking at? This isn't a movie theatre people!" And with that the crowd began to disperse, knowing that Snyder could and would give them detentions for 'malingering', he'd done it before after all.

"Get yourself to the nurse Harris, and I don't want to hear any complaints from your parents, otherwise you will be in detention for breaking his nose." And having done 'the right thing', Snyder tore away from the scene in what he no doubt thought was an intimidating fashion.

"Get off me!" Blayne threw off his team mates, glaring down at Xander for a second before bringing his hands up to his nose once more and storming off out of the lounge area entirely, the others following behind him

"And… now that the crowd have gone, perhaps you can stop playing Xander?" Despite the unimpressed tone in her voice, Buffy was giving a small smile as she offered him a hand up.

"What, you mean?" It took a few moments of babbling before Willow seemed to realise exactly what was going on, her concern turning to anger remarkably quickly as she hit him in the upper arm several times in quick succession.

"Xander! Don't do that to me, I really thought you were hurt!" Which was probably what sold it to Snyder, not that Xander would be stupid enough to say that out loud.

"Sorry Wills, but if I had treated him like a Vamp then I would probably have been suspended, if not expelled for 'deviant behaviour'." Snyder's double standards regarding members of the various sports teams, as well as insults and other behaviour that were so at odds with what President Flutie had been like, had been a sore point for the Scoobies for quite some time.

Willow seemed to consider his words for a few seconds, before she gave him her patented Rosenberg smile and a hug, reaching up on her tip-toes so she could whisper a 'thank you' in his ear. The fact she didn't pull back immediately afterwards surprised Xander, Willow wasn't big on PDAs at the best of times, especially now that Snyder could reappear at any moment and scream vitriol.

Before he could question it further though, the bell signalling the end of the period rang, causing Willow to jump away like he was on fire.

"I need to go to class! See you later Buffy!" Xander was a little upset that she didn't say goodbye to him before she almost sprinted out of the room.

But as he had been given the opportunity to get a pass for Math class, the free time he had been looking for beckoned…

Maybe he could even catch up on some sleep whilst he was at it…

Sunnydale Cemetery, Western Sunnydale, Thursday 27th November 1997

Buffy Summers, Slayer

"Can't I have just one night?" Buffy's attempt at a heartfelt gripe was interrupted by the flailing attack of one of Vamps that was currently attacking her.

These weren't the usual freshly raised fodder that she normally encountered on patrol, the youngish looking woman/corpse that followed up the attack of the trucker Vamp clearly had some martial arts training, dressed in what looked like an old fashioned pirate costume of all things and with a shock of red hair that reminded her a little too much of Willow.. Buffy still managed to stake the Trucker before she had to jump back to avoid the clawing swipes of her newest opponent, but the impromptu dodge caused her to stumble as she grazed a headstone with her hip.

"One night when homework is done, a nice guy talks to me without being out for my blood or warning me of ARGH!" Buffy's rant was cut off by another Vamp grabbing her from behind, hoisting her in the air and trying to squeeze the life out of her.

"You talk too much Slayer! This is a fight, not therapy!" The female Vamp seemed to be the leader of this little group, though her bloodlust was clouding her judgement as she charged forwards, allowing Buffy to lift both feet and kick her in the face.

"And you will need some dental!" The Vamp grappling Buffy suddenly turned to dust, something that Buffy would have preferred a little warning about as she fell to the ground with a small shout.

"No offence Buffs, but she is right… I'm done with mine already and you're usually the one snapping at me to hurry up…" Glaring up and behind her, mostly for the literal pain in her backside from her landing rather than Xander agreeing with the enemy, she was surprised he ignored her glare entirely and stepped past her.

The reason became clear as he blocked a pair of punches from the female Vampire, the pair of them exchanging half a dozen blows in the time it took Buffy to get to her feet, though it was clear that Xander was on the back foot and struggling to keep up. Even as she palmed her back up stake, the other one she had dropped when the Vamp grabbed her from behind, Buffy noted that Xander was right.

The female Vamp was the only one left of the half a dozen Vamps that had jumped them as she and Xander walked back from Willow's house, having detoured into Sunnydale's main Cemetery so that she could tell Giles she had gone on a patrol. Though Buffy had noticed there were others deeper in the Cemetery, in the area that contained the much more ornate Mausoleums from decades if not centuries past.

The other Vamps weren't moving to help though, which was rare given the almost instinctual hatred that the undead Bloodsuckers seemed to have for Slayers. Instead, as a smaller balding Vampire burst out of tomb that the remaining Vamps seemed to be congregated around, they all started to back off. It was almost as if they were guarding the Vamp, which was strange as Buffy didn't recognise him or get the feeling he was that dangerous.

The Golden Cross he had in his hand seemed important, but even as Buffy assessed the distance she decided it wasn't going to be possible to catch up with them, even if she and Xander managed to stake the remaining Vamp in her way quickly. To her credit, the female Vamp seemed to shake off the bloodlust that had been affecting her moments before and realise her position, her posture becoming far more defensive as she took a couple of steps back and spoke with a light Irish accent.

"It looks like you win this time Slayer, I should have known those cowards would run. I don't suppose that I can convince you to leave without trying to stake me?" The no on Buffy's lips never quite managed to fully articulate itself, as to her surprise Xander stepped up and spoke before she had a chance.

"Unless you want to tell us what Spike is up to, and what that Cross was you were all so keen to give your lives for was, not really no…" The Vamp seemed as confused as Buffy was for a moment, though probably for different reasons.

Whilst it certainly wasn't anything remotely considered normal for a Slayer to even consider sparing a Vamp, Buffy definitely didn't consider herself 'normal' by any standard. But given Xander's dislike of Angel and the fact he took that dislike out on the Vamps they fought, even if he had become much less obvious about it over the last few weeks, meant that Buffy was surprised that he was being the reasonable one.

"Seriously? And here I thought the Slayer would be the one calling the shots…" The Vamp seemed to consider things for a moment, before stepping back and dragging a white handkerchief from one of the pockets in her jacket, waving it in a clearly sarcastic manner as she 'De-Vamped'.

"In which case, Parley? As William only paid me for the job until his pet researcher was away, I don't feel like trying to fight both the Slayer and the one that William warned me of at the same time if I don't have to." If the dress code and the accent hadn't been a decent indication, the use of the word Parley made it clear of two separate things.

Firstly this Vampire had been around for quite some time, especially if she was working as a Otherworldly Mercenary, which from Giles' lessons Buffy knew was not a job that younger Vampires survived, let alone prospered.

"Why Parley? You could just have told us what the Cross was and then run off, I'm not going to try wasting a stake on you if I don't have to. Parley means you want to negotiate, which means you probably want something from us as well…" The Vamp actually smiled at this point, before nodding her head and returning the handkerchief to her pocket.

"I am glad that you understand the Code so well boy, perhaps William is right to think that you are more of a threat than you seem. But you are correct, I will require a simple boon from you and yours Slayer, and then I will uphold my end of the bargain." Code? Parley? Buffy vaguely recognised the words from somewhere, but she wasn't quite sure where from.

Xander seemed mostly satisfied as he turned to her and gave one of his big goofy grins, almost vibrating in place as he pointed back at the Vamp.

"Come on Buffster, you get your dark and broody Fanger, let's take this one in and see what she has too say!" Buffy couldn't help but smirk at his term for Angel, something she might use to annoy said Vamp if tomorrow's date went poorly, but her confusion still took precedence at this point.

"Xander, why are you so eager… She's a Vamp! And you know damn well we can't trust a single word she says…" To her surprise though, her comment didn't seem to calm Xander down at all, instead he gestured even more excitedly back at the Vamp.

"But Buffy! It's a Vampire Pirate! Wait till I tell Willow!" And even as the Vamp gave a cocky smirk and nodded her head, Buffy could feel the new headache this was going to bring on already brewing in the back of her mind.

She could already feel Giles' disapproving look burning a hole in the back of her mind.

Perhaps it wasn't too late to let herself get grounded for the rest of the year?

A/N: It's another chapter with small steps forwards in the plot and showing the results and effects of Xander's training. Soon these ripples will start causing ripples of their own, and that will be when the fun really starts.

Another Vampire OC, apologies about that, but it felt like a fun way to show Xander's still somewhat prevalent childishness and start expanding into the world of Slayerverse a bit more. Unfortunately you don't get any prizes for guessing who the Vampire is, but people are still welcome to guess.

Now, have a good New Year Everyone, and I will try and post some more going into the new year.

Please post a review and let me know what you think.

Defias Out!