Renee sat in the backseat of the Riding Hoods' van. Earphones were plugged into her ears, music was blasting loudly, and she was looking at her iPhone casually. They were currently driving through Mystflame Woods, and Renee could see the Blood Wolves' van from her window. She took a look at her Google Maps application and muttered to herself,"An hour before we reach Soprano City." Mystflame Woods was long, dense, filled with towering trees, and spooky. The road was extremely bumpy, so sleeping well was not an option. Renee wrapped her right arm around her guitar and stared at the van's ceiling. Before she knew it, she was drifting off to dreamland. BUMP!!! The van's tires made a deflating sound as a loud bump rocked the car. Renee's eyes shot opened and she could hear the driver saying,"I think the van's tires have bursted." Renee looked out her window, and saw that the tires of the other van was deflated too! Renee hugged her guitar tightly and exclaimed,"Are we going to be stuck in this forest overnight?" She was ready to freak out.

Danielle sat in the car and wished it wasn't so bumpy so that she could get some sleep. It was a long ride. She was very tired. Her drumsticks were in her hands and she was tapping her legs with them. Suddenly, there was a loud pop and the van slowed down. She held on to her seat and sw the Blood Wolves van next to them.

"Great, their car is stuck too?" she asked annoyed.

She couldn't stand them. It didn't matter how cute they were, they were still annoying. She sighed and rested her head on the window. The window was cold. She waited to see what the others would do. Renee had already started to freak out.

"Calm down Renee." she said calmly.

She looked back at the rest of them.

"Are you all okay?"

What a long drive, with not much to do and only a terrible concert to look forward to. I mean, he only wanted to give the best concerts and joint concerts with a girly band wasn't the way to do it.

Jade has been minding his own business as they drove along. He hated car rides so he made them as bearable as possible with the help of his iPod. His solitude was rather rudely interrupted by a rather large bump followed by a loud pop. The van came to a stop. Jade looked out the window to see that the Riding Hoods's van was in a rather similar situation.

Jade sighed as he pushed himself out of his slouching position and pulled out his ear buds voicing to no one in particular, "Man, what was that?"

The guitarist was asleep in the passenger seat, his chair eased back without a care about who was behind him. A black skull cap was tilted low over his eyes, veiling them from what had been the sun’s rays, but he had slept through the trip long into the night. His earbuds were tucked into his ears, the whispers of rock playing from them along with a soft, nasally snore. His head was tilted to the side as a clear glob of saliva dripped from the corner of his parted lips onto the upholstery. When the van struck a bump, the Greek’s form rose out of his seat, the seatbelts tightening about his torso to bar him from bashing his forehead on the ceiling of the van. Hardly disturbed from his deep snooze, the guitarist plopped back down into his chair, and the rock resumed its slumber.

The road to Sonata City was a long and difficult one, and in the end, out of all the band members in the Blood Wolves, Rick had drawn the short straw to drive the last stretch. He was known for living by a driving philosophy that could best be defined by the title of Meat Loaf's debut album, "Bat out of Hell", seemingly driving with a lead brick tied to the gas pedal and the brakes stuck in the off position. Even as they rocketed down this ramshackle forest road, which wouldn't have passed muster in the most destitute of cities, Rick never let the speedometer fall below at least eighty.

Which made it a surprise when, suddenly, in the deeps of the forest, Rick's engine gave out and all four tires simultaneously went flat. A stunned second passed as Rick fought the big van over to the side of the road and brought it to a stop a few feet before a grove of nice soft oak trees would have stopped it for him. The bassist immediately began getting out of his van, making his way over to the Riding Hood van (he knew his group would be fine).

Moving up to the driver's side door, the bassist knocked three times and called into the van - "Is everyone alright in there?"

Brendan, of the Blood Wolves band, was in the back of their van checking his drumset. Bredan was awfully worried something may fall over and bust with the bumpy road and all. Just as Brendan had this thought it seems as though the Riding Hoods van has stopped abruptly. Brendan's van then followed suit causing him to fall over and land on his head. A cymbal from his drumset broke loose during the fall causing a loud crashing noise.

"Ouch", Brendan groaned as he got up rubbing the back of his head not really knowing what to do next. Brendan wondered whether they had a spare tire or if any of the girls did. Even if they did have one Brendan would not be surprised if they didn't help the guys and left them here.

Savvy had been calmly resting in the back of the van with her headphones on and her laptop in her lap when the bus had gotten it's flat tire. She had been trying to figure out how to get a new keyboard sound from her little portable machine. She heard mild panic coming from outside, so she naturally pushed herself out the back and began to sigh, looking over the tires once, twice, three times. No way was THAT getting fixed tonight.

"No sense in panicking, it will only make this little situation worse." She calmly stated to herself before looking up at one of the Blood Wolves' members. She couldn't remember why or how the little feud between the bands came to be, but she didn't care to remember much outside of her passwords and some large words for insulting others.

"I'm going to assume everyone's fine and that no one got killed. We're not flowers." She told him before clammering back into the van in a most ungraceful manor, causing her large pants to wrinkle. She fumbled around in the way back of the van, where she had been sitting, and looked for a few spare tires. No such luck. Climbing out the back again, she relayed the situation.

"We have completely busted tires and no spare set. What kind of idiot doesn't put a spare set of tires on a bus?" She muttered the last part to herself before leaning against the large automobile. "Well, doesn't this just suck." She had always called vans 'buses' for some odd reason no one could remember.

Rhiannon sighed as she shifted her weight in the driver's seat. The other girls were either tired, or didn't want to drive, so she offered to take the job. They had about an hour left before they reached their destination. They were supposed to have a joint concert with the Blood Wolves boy-band. She grimaced slightly, thinking about them. They had a...well, sexist view of girl bands. Just as they were heading into the woods, there was a loud popping sound and the van jerked to a stop. She furrowed her eyebrows and glanced back at the girls. Those who were sleeping were now awake and alert. Some were starting to freak out.

"Calm down guys. The van's tires probably just popped." She sighed softly, then glanced out the window as she heard a knock on her door. It was one of the guys, coming over to make sure they were okay. She rolled her eyes and opened her door, sliding out and landing lightly on her feet. It wasn't like they were in an accident or something, their tires just popped. Of course everyone was okay. She glanced over at the boy's van, seeing that they were in the same predicament. That was odd. She crossed her arms, eying the popped tires of their van.

A single leaf detached from a twig to tumble between the boughs of its tree. It rocked upon the air until it lightly scraped along the window shield of the bus, crashing soundlessly against the wipers. Cadmus’s eyes flicked open, his pupils dilating as they focused on the empty driver’s seat next to him. He dragged the side of his cheek across the chair, wiping it dry of drool before he sat up in his seat and brushed the corners of his eyes with his index finger and thumb.

“Ugh,” he moaned softly. “Did we crash?” He didn’t expect to receive an answer as he lowered his hand and gazed out the window to see Rick outside. Here we go he thought to himself, predicting the torrent of vexations that was to assault him for the rest of the evening. He popped open the door and stepped out onto a bed of dead leaves. The air was a bit nippy, and he knew he had packed a jacket somewhere in the back.

Cadmus absentmindedly walked around the back of the van, searching it for damage. His eyes fell on the flat tires and frowned softly. All the tires were flat? Seriously? Rick had to be the worst driver…as he came around the other side where he heard the girls, whining like teeny-boppers, he overheard one complaint in particular that deserved to be graced with a comment:

We have completely busted tires and no spare set. What kind of idiot doesn't put a spare set of tires on a bus? [Savvy]

The Greek replied openly, “A shitty band that’s who.” He wasn’t going to stick around to hear any news about whether they had spares or not. “I’m going to take a piss.” Without any further remarks, the guitarist eluded into to the dark to find a nice, distant and quiet place where he could have a leak in peace. His bladder was full from the long ride.

Somewhat groggy from having just woken up, Jade wasn't really sure what was going on when people started getting out of the vans. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and slid the van's door open just in time to hear the dreadful news that the girls had "completely busted tires and no spare set." He grimaced a little, noting that their van probably wasn't in any better shape and at most they'd have a spare tire, if even that. And as much as Jade didn't want to do that stupid concert with that girly band, he also knew that leaving them stranded wasn't an option--especially if they cared a thing about their reputation.

Jade's feet hit the ground with a light thud. He heard Cadmus's comment about "going to take a piss." He Shrugged and walked over to where Rick and one of those girls, "Savvy," was standing. He stuck his hands in his pockets and blew at some hair that had fallen into his eyes and nonchalantly commented, "So what's the deal? Are we all stranded out here? Because if that's the case, someone should make a phone call or something, right?"

Hanako just sat not really caring much that they're stuck, but more worried about the fact that they were stuck with the blood wolves. She peered out the windows to looks at their bus to bad she didn't bring her book on fixing things in a time of need. she sighed and leaned back "So were stuck here in the woods at night, great." she got up and went to the front and checked her cell "no signal either, thats a big bummer." she sighed and put her cell away. "well do we have anything to use to contact the record company?" she looked around. "well until we have something to contact them were stuck here."

((sorry it's short I had to so something))

Rhiannon walked around the side of the van in time to hear Cadmus's snide remark to Saavy. As he passed her to do his business, she glared. "Then call yourselves a shitty band, because it doesn't look like you have spares for all of your flat's either." She retorted sharply, walking past him. She stopped next to Savvy and glanced at Rick, then Jade. She had already checked her phone, and it didn't look like they had any signal.

"Unless someone has signal, we'll be here all night. Maybe longer than that. We're pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing less than fifty miles from us." She sighed and pushed her hands into her back pockets, her light green eyes scanning the area around them. They were practically in the middle of the woods, and it was already getting a little dark. They only had a few hours before they wouldn't be able to see their hands in front of their faces. She kept in mind that when they didn't show up for their concert or answer their phones, someone would probably be sent to search for them. She had left their agent the directions and map they were taking, so they should be able to find them easily. Being stuck in a forest wasn't much of a big deal...if they were alone. Instead, they were stuck with the boy-band.

"Calm down, Rhiannon. Don't mind Cadmus, he's... Being Cadmus." Rick shrugged over at the Riding Hood, then crossed his arms and leaned against the massive flank of the sleeper van. He closed his eyes and scowled a bit in concentration, mentally taking inventory on what he had packed before leaving. He had all of his amplification equipment, food enough to last maybe a day (plus snacks), and a few days' worth of clothes. The bassist didn't plan to spend any more than three or four hours here, at most, before a tow truck was sent to retrieve them and bring them to Soprano City. In the mean time, he decided to check his van.

He lowered himself onto his back and slipped under the truck, the light snowfall cool against his thick parka. He produced a small pen light from amidst the miscellanea in his pockets and focused it on the van's undercarriage. Aside from the usual machinery, Rick noticed - much to his dismay - an expanding black pool from beneath the engine block. The bassist sighed, filling his lungs with the refreshingly acrid stink of burnt gasoline and car exhaust. The oil-cap had been screwed on crooked and was now leaking. Rick reached over and screwed it on tight, then looked sadly at the oil stain before slipping further back under the van.

Sure enough, he found what he had expected - there beneath the rear bumper, just behind the axle, was the vehicle's spare tire. Apparently nobody but Rick was vehicle-savvy enough to know that most motor vehicles only carried one spare tire, and weren't prepared for a full-on blowout. The bassist slid out from under the van, and went to check the womens' van. Sure enough, none of the women had checked under their van, and a single tire hung beneath it.

Pulling back out, he wiped his grease-stained hands on his jeans. "Two spares, one on each van." He sighed. "But our van has lost a lot of oil. Somebody didn't screw the oil-cap down tight." He looked over at the gathered band members. "In laymen's terms, we're stranded. And before anyone says anything," he said, a sheepish grin spreading across his face, "No, I still haven't bought the cell phone I keep saying I'm gonna buy."

"If I was any calmer, I'd be dead." Rhi muttered under her breath. And she was extremely calm. More so than most of the girls. She was pretty much always calm, especially in situations like this. She had enough sense in her to know that freaking out would be a waste of time. She leaned against the side of their van and watched as Rick checked under both vans. She then closed her deep green eyes, mentally listing off everything she had brought. She was pretty much always prepared, so she had a kit in the back of the van for cases like this one. It was a massive black bag that most of the girls griped about, since it took up much of the room that was meant for their equipment. She walked around to the back of the van and opened the double doors to the back of it. She pushed amps and guitar cases to the side and hauled the big black bag out, dropping it to the forest floor with a thud.

She unzipped and opened it up, eying the container with food, a bunch of blankets sealed in an air-tight bag that made them flat, and five small, rolled up sleeping bags. In the side compartment, there were a few flashlights and three flares. This should last them awhile, and she was suddenly glad she was organized and a tad bit paranoid. She zipped it back up and dragged the large bag over to the side of the van where most of the band members were standing.

She rolled her eyes at Rick's statement about not buying a phone. Who didn't have a phone with them? It wouldn't be any use anyway, since they all lost signal and their phone's batteries wouldn't last a couple days since they couldn't charge them. Unless a few turned their's off to save battery energy.

Hanako grabbed her coat and jumped out of the bus "pretty cold out we should get some wood and start a fire camp out till someone comes looking." she looked around the group. "this means we conserve food. on each bus we should have emergency bags to keep us running just in case something like this happened." she sighed "so we should gather food, and wood and especially look for a source of water too." Hanako was just pitching ideas, when she was younger she was the head of girl scouts she remembered camping with her adoptive parents a lot.

Renee stepped out of the van, with her guitar strapped on her back, and said,"I agree with Hanako. Maybe we should split up into pairs and go find some wood in the forest?" She glanced around at her surroundings. Towering trees, and the sun was setting quite slowly. Mystflame Woods was quite beautiful in the morning, but at night, rumors of werewolves and creatures lurk. "It's getting late. We should act quickly." Renee suggested, "How about one member from the Riding Hoods pairs with another member of the Blood Wolves?" Renee knew it was a rather radical idea, but she honestly wanted to get to know Blood Wolves better. 'Maybe they aren't as bad as we assume...' She thought. Renee prepared herself for negative feedback...and some insults that might come her way.

Zeph had been snoozing lightly, already hearing the screaming crowds in his ears which he anticipated soon standing in front off - when the tires of the van went. And with quite an impressive sound too, thanks to Rick's speeding. It was lucky they managed to get to the side of the road with the van still upright.

He jumped out of the van closely behind Jade, and listened to the exchange between him and Hana from the Riding Hoods about phone signal. Pulling out his own cell phone, he looked and confirmed that there was no signal for him either.

"Holy hell," he grunted in annoyance. "we're screwed. The venue will be letting people in in a couple of hours! They're expecting to see us play! Dammit!"

He turned and kicked one of the flattened tires of the Blood Wolves van in annoyance. He had been particularly looking forward to tonight's show, not only because it was a big one, but because unlike his bandmates he'd actually been pleased that they were going to be playing alongside the Riding Hoods....simply so that they could blow the girls out of the water on-stage and show once for all the real rock was a man's game.

Rhi motioned to the massive black bag sitting in front of her. "Well, this has a bunch of food, blankets, sleeping bags, and flashlights. This should last for quite a while." She shrugged and sighed. "Maybe Renee has a good idea. Does anyone oppose this idea?" She asked, pushing a hand through her hair. Her light green eyes drifted from one face to another, waiting patiently. The only question was, how would they pair up? She glanced over at some of the guys, already a little annoyed that they were stuck with them. But, it was what it was. There wasn't anything they could do, so they might as well embrace it. She folded her arms across her flat stomach as she leaned back against the van.

Cadmus returned from his “business” and popped open the back of the van. He drew out his acoustic guitar case and his travel back pack. He didn’t have a camping trip packed into his bag because they weren’t going camping. His bed was going to be the van when he was finished warming up around camp. Without a word to the other girls, he had been thinking ahead of them before they got the uncanny idea to build a fire. No shit Sherlock. They obviously weren’t getting any younger standing around the vehicles and hoping for a miracle.

The Greek reached his hand up and shut the door before he started on up the road. He had rather drop dead than hang around with some whiny, valley girls. He already ignored them and he wasn’t about to babysit. Cadmus’s hand rested on his strap as he searched for a spot far enough up the road to be away from the Riding Hoods yet close enough that his fire could be spotted if a tow truck was to pass by. He had a Zippo but not because he was a smoker, but it had been a gift from a fan. Who knew it would have actually come in handy?

Rick raised an eyebrow at the prospect of going further into the woods. Why would they go further into the dark and the cold when air-conditioned vans were readily available? He was about to voice this concern when it died in his mouth. Fuel consumption would be the number one problem - running a car with the heater cranking made it eat battery power and gasoline like candies, and the unpleasant prospect of being caught in these woods without warm shelter wasn't a tempting one. Also, there was the temptation to just stay in the vans all the time with the heater on, which directly attached itself back to problem number one.

Eventually, he just passed the idea out of his skull and moved towards the rest of the group. "I don't see many other choices short of walking all of our gear to Sonata City," he said quietly, his tones mellow, "so let's just go with this plan for now. But stay within site of the vans and the road; no need to go wandering off into the woods to never be seen again." The problem was a bit close to home; Rick had once gone for a walk in the woods in his youth, and got lost. He had stayed lost, alone and frightened, for the better part of a week while search parties combed the area looking for him. They found him nestled amongst the tangled roots of a tree, huddled against himself to stay warm.

It was an unpleasant week, but by far not the worst one he'd ever had.

Renee leaned against the van casually and began to lightly strum her guitar. 'At least Rhi agreed with my idea, and I'm glad one of the members of Blood Wolves make some sense...' she thought silently. The Blood Wolves, on the other hand, were being completely negative. Although Renee didn't want to come to this, the attitudes of those boys were grating on her nerves, and she was ready to give up the idea of friendship. Renee sighed and said,"Even if we have all these supplies, we still won't be able to survive like this. I honestly think that if we continue to have such a bad tension, we won't get anywhere." Renee didn't care if those sexist boys insulted her, she just wanted her reason to be heard by everyone. This was really bothering her. Renee continued strumming her guitar and whispered silently to herself,"If you people have actual guts, then suck it up and cooperate. God...seriously." She made her guitar go off-tune and bit her lower lip nervously. Renee was getting tired of this rivalry. If they were going to die in this forest, it will be their fault.

Zeph banged his hand against the side of the van in annoyance.

"So we're really going camping huh?" he growled. "Well what the hell, if that's what we have to do. But if I hear anyone playing even a verse of Kum-ba-jah I swear to God I'll rip their leg off a beat them to death with it."

He zipped up his jacket and turned up his collar. His brow furrowed as he imagined someone walking out onto the stagte tonight, to explain to the crowd of fans that the band simply hadn't turned up. The thought made him cringe. How would it sound when people found out that instead of playing a rocking show, they'd been camping in the woods? Oh that was so rock 'n' roll.

A part of him wanted to faction of with Rick, who was behaving as controlled as ever and seemed almost like he might have an alternative solution. But when even Rick failed to produce a plan B, Zeph knew that they really were out of options.

He turned to Renee and pointed accusatively.

"Don't talk to me about guts. You guys got off light tonight. You think sleeping in the woods is going to be uncomfortable? Wait and see what it's like trying to follow our act when this gig finally goes ahead."

Hanako nodded "so should we split up then? I think one group should stay behind and make sure no animals come and rip the area to shreds. while one group picks up wood, another looks for some veggies and fruits, and another group looks for a source of water, then the last group can keep look out I guess... does that work? now all we need i guess is the groups." she thought for a second we all need teamwork so if we pair up we can find some reasources.

Renee looked down and muttered to Zephenia,"I'm sorry. It's been a long drive and I'm tired...so please excuse my bad attitude." The last thing Renee wanted was to get on the bad side of them, so she might as well sincerely apologize, and move on. Renee looked up and said,"I like Hanako's idea of splitting up into two groups, but like I said, we need to go in pairs to find resources. If each of us goes alone...who knows what will happen." Renee cleared her throat and questioned,"Who will be making the pairings then? Any volunteers? If no one wants to do it, I'll take this job." She had a serious look on her face. Renee was in no mood to argue or to be happy, so she might as well let the serious side of her show.

When Cadmus peered over his shoulder with his music still pulsing in his ears, he saw that they were still standing in a circle trying to put two and two together. Unbelievable. He had set down his bag and case and was sliding his boot along the ground, beginning to clear leaves and twigs. He continued to do so until he had a clear and chilled plot of land at least 15 ft in diameter. He then walked along the borders and began searching the pile of leaves for a good-sized rock. Once he found a flat, pointy one, he walked to where he assumed was the center of his clearing and lowered to his knees to begin digging a decently-deep fire pit.