It's what you've all been waiting for. Buffy mets the godesses!
Enjoy.
“It’s times like this when I wish I’d become a grocer,” sighed Giles as
he wiped the sweat from his forehead. The Englishmen stretched and
collapsed unceremoniously into a chair.
When he’d learned the school would be getting a new shipment of books
(some school related but most from the Watcher’s Counsel) he’d been very
excited. But when ten very heavy boxes showed up at the school loading
dock his excitement had considerably dimmed. Single-handedly moving the
boxes had taken all morning and a nasty toll on Giles’ back. Right now a
rest was most definitely in order.
“Either that new stuff arrived or a bookmobile exploded in here,” joked
a youthful voice.
Giles looked up to see Buffy glancing around the library with mild
interest. “Ah, Buffy. Come to help an old man with his books, have you?”
“Sorry, Giles, no time. I just came to let you know that Xander and
Willow will be coming by to help out this evening. Oz has some stuff
going on at the Bronze tonight, but said he’d try and duck out early.
I’ll be by after I do a quick patrol.”
“Very good,” nodded the Watcher. “Do tell the others I appreciate this.
Under normal circumstances I’d handle this myself. But Principle Snyder
has had it rather clear than he wants all these books on the shelves by
Monday and there are so many books…”
“It’s cool,” shrugged Buffy. “So what did the Oprah’s Book Club send us
this month? I take it we’re not talking about Nancy Drew and the Hardy
Boys stuff here.”
“Quite. The Watcher’s Consul has been surprisingly generous this time.
They’ve sent us some very rare tomes including The Tragedies of
Jusenkyo.”
“Didn’t they make us read that in English Lit. last year?”
“Doubtful,” sighed Giles. “There are only seven know copies in the
whole world. You see, in the more mountainous regions of China there is
a place called Jusenkyo. My Mandarin is rather rusty but I believe it
means ‘land of the cursed springs.’
“There are hundreds of springs at Jusenkyo and there is a tragic story
of someone or something drowning in them associated with each pool.
‘Tragedies’ contains the story of what happened at each spring.
Including the most famous story, the one involving the Spring of the
Drowned Maiden.”
“Cursed springs? Very Steven King,” mused Buffy.
Giles ignored her. He was in his element now. “We’ve also gotten
Legends of the Yoroiden which is about nine magical suits of armor.
Great Magicks of Other Worlds is a guide to some the astonishingly
powers spells used in realms outside our own. It contains a rather
lengthy section on the mythological ‘Dragon Slave.’ That is a spell so
powerful that it’s said to be able to level whole cities with just one
casting. It’s also said that the spell’s most famous caster, Lina
Inver--”
“As fascinating as all this is, I’ve got to go,” interrupted Buffy.
“It’s pizza day in the cafeteria and if I don’t get back soon Xander
will declare my slice abandoned and eat it.”
“Sorry,” muttered Giles as he cleared his throat. “I’ll see you tonight
then.”
“Check.” Buffy then turned to go.
That was when the ground began to shake.
~*~*~*~*~
Not far away, in Sunnydale’s Weatherly Park, three goddess were on the
hunt. To help them blend in the goddesses had traded in the clothes
they’d wore in Japan for something more in tune the local culture. Urd
now sported a white tanktop and denim cut-offs. Belldandy had chosen a
red shirt and a pair of clam diggers. Skuld had opted for a T-shirt that
read “Planet Hollywood Tokyo” and some cargo shorts.
“Boy, look at this place,” said Urd as she looked around. “Your typical
All-American suburb. SUVs, yuppies, kids, coffee houses, mail men and
strip malls. Kinda hard to believe people who’re living at the gates of
Hell could go around acting so normal.”
“Things may seem normal on the surface, but Sunnydale is more than it
seems,” answered Belldandy. “I can feel the current of evil that flows
though this town. Perhaps the people that live here know that something
is amiss but don’t want to admit it.”
“Yeah, I feel it too,” nodded Urd. “Sunnydale is quite the little
Village of the Damned, nes pa?”
“So now that we’re here how do we find Mara?” inquired Skuld. “I don’t
like this place. It makes my skin feel all crawly.”
“That’s the Hellmouth, kiddo. If it makes you feel any better it’s
doing the same thing to me,” informed Urd. “As for how we find Mara, all
we can really do is poke around and look for anything unusual.”
“That’s it!?!” howled Skuld. “That’s your plan?! Just walk around until
we stumble across Mara!?”
“It’s not like that, you brat!” snapped Urd. “I know Mara. Trust me, if
she’s in this town it won’t be long before she does something that says
‘Mara is here!’ in great big letters.”
“Stop it, the both of you,” interrupted Belldandy. “While it’s not want
I’d want, Urd’s right. If she is in Sunnydale it won’t be long before
Mara does something to make herself known to us. Until then we must keep
our eyes open and be patient.”
“She’d never pass up a chance to do something rotten to us,” added Urd.
“But isn’t there some way we could track were she is?” asked Skuld.
Belldandy shook her head. “Under normal circumstances if I was within a
certain range I’d be able to sense Mara’s energy waves. But now we’re
practically on top of the Hellmouth. All the demonic energy around here
is interfering with my senses. Now I’d have to be almost on top of her
for me to sense Mara.”
“This sucks,” pouted Skuld.
“Buck up, small fry,” said Urd. “I’m sure Mara will do something we can
trace to her before long.”
Then the ground began to shake.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunnydale High
Cordelia smiled as she looked into the mirror of the girl’s bathroom.
Eyeshadow-perfect. Hair-perfect. Lipstick-hhhmmm. That could use a
touchup. Cordelia retrieved the appropriate tube from her purse and
began to apply it with expert precision.
Then the ground began to shake.
Startled, Cordelia’s hand slipped leaving a clown-like streak of
lipstick running along the right side of her face. The fashion maven saw
this and gave a brief squawk of outrage before taking shelter under the
sink.
“This is all Buffy’s fault,” groused Cordelia. “I don’t know how, but
I’m sure somehow this is all Buffy’s fault.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I’m telling you Yogi would win,” insisted Xander. “He is smarter than
the average bear after all.”
Oz shook his head. “I’m still going to stick with Magilla Gorilla.
Gorilla’s are really strong. Just look at what King Kong did to New
York. Plus, he fought Godzilla. No bear ever fought Godzilla.”
Xander gave an exasperated sigh. “Will, you’re IQ girl. Settle this for
us. Who would win in a fight between Magilla Gorilla and Yogi Bear?”
Willow, caught with a mouthful of pizza, looked startled. She chewed,
swallowed and then scratched head. “Uh, well, I was always partial to
Huckleberry Hound myself. But--”
Then the ground began to shake.
With speed found only in native Californians the trio ducked under the
cafeteria table. “What did I tell you? Underground mole people and their
earthquake machines,” said Xander.
Oz and Willow ignored him. They were to busy holding hands.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In the dark of the mansion Angel sat trying to read. He was having
little success. The vampire had woken up with a deep sense of foreboding
that he’d yet to shake. Pushing those dark thoughts to the back of his
mind Angel again began to read.
“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of
innocence is drowned.”
The vampire sighed and tossed the book aside. “You’re not helping,
Yeats. Maybe I should switch to Dave Barry.”
Then the ground began to shake.
Angel was surprised, but with inhuman speed he dashed to the safety of
a nearby doorway. In general he rarely worried about natural disasters.
But the mansion was old and he didn’t relish the idea of an instant
suntan if the roof where to cave in.
Then, as quickly as it came, the quake was over.
A quick glance at the ceiling satisfied Angel that the roof was still
intact. He then returned to his chair. “A bad feeling. Definitely a bad
feeling…” the vampire muttered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“That was fun,” muttered Urd once the ground had stopped shaking.
“You got a weird idea of fun, lady,” said a new voice. The goddess
turned to see a Hispanic man in a jogging suit standing behind them.
“That’s the second quake to hit Sunnydale in the last few days,”
continued the man. “I don’t know about you, but I hate the damn things.
It’s crap like this that makes me wish I’d never left New Jersey.”
A worried look danced across Belldandy’s face. “You mean there’ve been
other earthquakes around here recently?”
The man gave her an odd look and then nodded. “You must be new in town.
Yeah, another shaker hit around 2:00 a.m. the other night. But it was so
small it didn’t even wake my wife and I up.”
The jogger then glanced at his watch and made an annoyed sound. “It’s
been nice chatting, but I’ve really got to be going. You ladies have a
nice day. But watch yourselves after dark. There are a lot or weirdoes
in this town and they all seem to come out at night.”
The man then gave a friendly nod and jogged off.
“I bet that guy doesn’t have any idea just how weird some of
Sunnydale’s ‘weirdoes’ are,” snickered Urd.
“True,” nodded Belldandy. “But the fact that there’ve been more quakes
like the one that just happened worries me. Something about that quake
felt…unnatural.”
“Yeah, I felt it too,” concurred Urd. “Something is rotten in Denmark.
Or Sunnydale as the case may be.”
“Do you think Mara caused the quake?” inquired Skuld.
“I don’t believe so,” answered Belldandy. “Causing earthquakes would
push even a first class, unlimited demon to their limits. Even a spell
to make a small quake like this would be extremely difficult to cast and
cost Mara massive amounts of energy. Then she’d have to rest for a very
long time to her strength back. This just doesn’t seem like something
Mara would do.”
“She could do it if she was granting a mortal a wish,” informed Urd.
“Then she’d have the power of Hell behind her. But I can’t see anyone
using a wish for a little tremble like that. Plus, Mara’s never been big
in the wish granting department.”
“So if the earthquake wasn’t natural, and Mara didn’t cause it, who
did?” asked Skuld.
Urd shrugged. “Just toss that on the pile of mysteries we have to
solve.”
“Perhaps if we split up we could scour the city more quickly,”
suggested Belldandy.
“The ‘ol Scooby Doo ‘Let’s spilt up, gang!’ deal?” grinned Urd. “Sounds
good to me. Heck, once this is all over we’ll probably find out that the
bad guy is the mean old man who runs the amusement park.”
“I don’t believe Sunnydale has an amusement park.”
“You really need to watch more TV, sis. Anyway, I’ll take the east part
of town and you two take the west. We can all met back here around
8:00.”
Belldandy nodded. “Eight then. Be careful, Urd.”
The eldest Norn grinned and flashed the V sign. “Relax, little sister.
It takes more than a measly Hellmouth to beat Urd, goddess of the Past.”
With that, Urd vanished.
“Come, Skuld,” said Belldandy. “We have much to do.”
“The game is afoot!” proclaimed the little goddess as the two set off.”
~*~*~*~*~
“It’s moments like that that make me oh so glad in live in California,”
grumbled Giles once things had settled down. The Watcher then cast his
gaze around the library to inspect the damage. The shelves had
miraculously not fallen over, but many books now littered the floor.
Giles was also fairly sure he’d heard his favorite teacup crash to the
ground.
“Well, it seems I have even more work to done now,” sighed the Watcher
as he turned to look at Buffy. To his great surprise she was standing
absolutely still and her face seemed slightly pale. “Buffy, are you
alright?”
The Englishman’s words brought the Slayer back to reality. “Oh, uh,
yeah. I’m fine.”
Giles felt the worry in his stomach raising. “Buffy, please, I’ve been
your Watcher and your friend to long not to know when something is
distressing you. You’re old enough to know that hiding whatever is wrong
will only make it worse. Please, tell me what’s bothering you.”
For a moment Buffy considered continuing to assure Giles that nothing
was wrong. But she realized the true of the older man’s words. Hiding it
really would only make things worse.
“It’s just that these earthquakes are freaking me out a bit,” began the
Slayer. “Yeah, I’m a born David Lee Roth California girl, but quakes in
Sunnydale aren’t the same as the ones in LA.”
Giles brow knitted in confusion. “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
Buffy gave her Watcher an inscrutable look. “The last time a earthquake
hit Sunnydale, before the other night I mean, I…died.”
Giles mentally kicked himself. “Of course, when the Master rose.” Buffy
nodded. “So this would explain that case of the ‘creepies’ you mentioned
the other night?” Buffy again nodded.
Giles adopted his most fatherly voice and placed a comforting hand on
the Slayer’s shoulder. In some back part of his mind the Watcher
reprimanded himself for not picking up on his charges’ feelings sooner.
All her strength, courage and training sometimes made it far to easy to
forget that, at heart, Buffy was still a seventeen year old girl.
“Brave heart, Buffy,” said Giles. “I can certainly understand why these
quakes would unsettle you, but you’re the strongest person I’ve ever
met. I know you won’t let whatever fear you may have control you.”
Buffy managed a weak smile. “I’m really the strongest person you’ve ever
met? I don’t feel all that strong right now.”
“Yes, you are,” assured Giles. “You’ve shown enough heart and courage
for two Slayers. It is because of you that the forces of Darkness have
not claimed our world. Since becoming the Slayer you’ve faced more
challenges than anyone could have ever guessed and you’ve always come
out stronger for it. I’m very proud of you, Buffy.”
Buffy’s smile grew stronger. “Thanks, Giles. With pep talks like
that you should be coaching the Lakers.”
“And give up the glamorous lifestyle of a librarian? Never.”
It was then that the school PA blared to life. “Attention students and
faculty, this is Principle Snyder. As should be glaringly obvious we’ve
just been though a small earthquake. Don’t think for one second this is
going to get any of you out of class. Anyone caught trying to skip out
with be suspended. That is all, maggots.”
“Aw, he called us maggots,” sighed Buffy. “He really does care.”
Giles made his favorite puzzled expression. “Unless there’s been a major
change in the English language that I have not been made aware of,
‘maggots’ is usually considered an insult.”
The blonde girl gave a small laugh. “I guess you must have missed the
last student assembly. Principle Snyder referred to us as ‘Generation
Feces.’ For him ‘maggots’ is almost a term of endearment.”
The Watcher choose not to say anything.
“Well, I think my hour is up,” said Buffy as she turned to leave. “See
you tonight.”
“Till tonight then,” replied Giles.
He watched Buffy until she had vanished out the doors. In spite of
himself Giles felt a bit of fatherly pride rise his chest. He then
sighed and turned his attention to cleaning up the library.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Several hours later the world had turned and night now cast its shadow
over Sunnydale. In Weatherly Park Belldandy sat on a bench waiting
patiently. A few feet away Skuld was pacing angrily.
“It’s ten past eight already,” groused the young goddess. “Where the
heck is Urd?!”
“I’m sure she’ll be here any moment,” Belldandy said.
Skuld made a rude noise. “Yeah, right. She probably found a bar and
is--”
“Oh yea of little faith,” called a voice. The two sisters looked up to
see Urd strolling toward them. “Show a little trust in your big sister,
will ya, Skuld. I may not be a good little solider like Belldandy, but I
do have a sense of responsibility.”
Skuld rolled her eyes. “Really? Since when?”
“Listen, brat! I’ll have you know--”
“Don’t you two start again,” ordered Belldandy firmly. The other
goddesses, sufficiently chastised, stopped. “We don’t have time for this
sort of foolishness. Urd, did you find anything?”
Urd shook her head. “I thought I was onto something when I found an
abandoned factory on the outskirts of town that was giving off some bad
vibes. I checked in out but the place was deserted. I’d say some of the
local vamps must have used it as a base for a while. Other than that I
got nothing.”
“We didn’t come up with anything either,” reported Skuld. “Now what?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” began Urd. She then pulled a pocket TV
from behind her back and tossed it to Skuld.
“What’s this for? Now isn’t the time to be watching TV!”
Urd gave an exasperated sigh. “It’s not for watching TV. It’s so that I
can find my way back to wherever you are.”
“You’re leaving us? To go where?” asked Belldandy.
“It seems to me Mara’s keeping a lower profile than normal,” said Urd.
“So just sitting around waiting for her to show herself isn’t going to
work. While I was poking around town I remembered an old acquaintance of
mine. He’s pretty in tune with the netherworld’s grapevine. If anyone
would know what Mara’s up to it’s him.”
Belldandy looked unhappy but nodded. “If you’re speaking of who I’m
thinking about then you may be right. I may not care for him personally,
but he does keep himself very well informed.”
“Who? Who? Who are you talking about!?” squealed Skuld. “Will one of
you tell me who you’re talking about?”
“No,” informed Urd sharply. She then reached over and turned on the TV
in her sister’s hand. “You two watch yourselves. It’s night now and that
means that every thing that goes bump in Sunnydale will be out looking
for trouble.”
“We’ll be alright,” assured Belldandy. “Just watch yourself.”
Urd gave the middle Norn a salute and then dived into the TV. Once she
was gone Skuld snapped the device off and stuffed it into her pocket.
“Who’s Urd going to see? What does he know about Mara? Why don’t you
like him?” inquired the goddess of the Future.
Skuld wasn’t sure but she thought for a moment see saw Belldandy
bristle. “I would really rather not speak of it. Let’s just say that the
last time the…man Urd is going to see and I met things
became…unpleasant.”
It took all of Skuld’s self-control not to boggle. She’d always thought
that Belldandy got along with everyone. Everyone but Mara that is.
Though still burning with curiosity Skuld decided not to push the
matter.
“So now what?”
“Now I believe we fight,” replied the older goddess as she cast her
gaze behind Skuld. The little goddess whipped around to see a gang of
seven vampires emerge from behind some trees and surround them.
“Looks like someone forget to tell these girls that it’s not safe in
the park at night,” joked a vamp in a camouflage jacket who seemed to be
in charge. The others laughed at their leader’s joke.
A hard look made it’s to Belldandy’s face. “Obscene creatures,” she
muttered. “Leave us or be destroyed.”
This brought aother round of laughter from the vampires. “What are you
going to do, little lady?” snickered the leader. “I don’t think you’ve
got any wood stakes stashed in that outfit of yours.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I brought plenty for all of you,”
called a new voice.
Everyone looked to see a short blonde girl, a stake in each hand,
standing atop a bench a few feet behind them.
“Who the hell are you?” snarled one of the creatures.
The girl rolled her eyes. “You mean you creeps haven’t heard of me by
now? I must fire my publicist. Anyway, I’m Buffy, your friendly
neighborhood vampire Slayer.”
At those Belldandy’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Slayer?”
The head vampire was clearly not impressed. “You two, get the bimbo
with the toothpicks,” he ordered. “The rest of you can have the
brunette. I want the little one.”
At their leader’s behest two of the vamps charged Buffy and were
quickly engaged in combat. Four others moved to separate Belldandy from
Skuld and began to move in. The leader made a lunge for Skuld but she
ducked out of his grasp.
Only feet away Buffy drove and elbow into the nose of one of her
attackers. He stumbled back cursing while the other one charged her. The
Slayer pivoted and with lighting speed slammed a stake into the vampires
heart turning him to dust.
“She is the one,” murmured Belldandy.
“Hey, sister, pay attention while we’re killing you!” snapped one of
the vamps.
The goddess gave a small sigh. She then held her hands a few inches
apart and began to chant.
O, Light of Heaven
Power from Above
Gather in my Hand
to Destroy this Evil!
A ball of light quickly formed between Belldandy’s hands.
“How the hell--” began one of the vamps assigned to attack her.
The goddess then launched the ball of light at the creatures, impacting
one of them in the chest. Instantly blazing white energy raced though
the monster’s body and for a moment his skeleton could be seen. The vamp
didn’t even have time for a scream before he was destroyed. Then the
energy jumped into the bodies of the other members of the undead wiping
them out in the same fashion.
Seconds before Buffy had managed to dust the other vampire who had
attacked her. This left her free to witness Belldandy’s magic. “Wow, a
vampire zapper. Cool,” mused the Slayer.
Meanwhile, the lead vampire had stopped trying to grab Skuld and was now
contemplating the fact that he was all alone. He hastily reached the
conclusion that he was in a lot of trouble.
“Hey, ugly, did you forget about me?”
The vamp turned to see Skuld leaping at him, her lucky croquet mallet
now in hand. Before the creature could respond the little goddess
brought the mallet down on his head with satisfying “CRACK!”
The vampire’s eyes bugged out so far Buffy thought for a moment they
were going to pop out of his head. “Ouch,” squeaked the creature before
he turned to dust.
Buffy boggled.
“Very good, Skuld,” applauded Belldandy. “You handled that vampire just
like it was a Yggdrasil bug.”
Skuld beamed with pride.
“Uh, excuse me,” interrupted Buffy. “But would you mind if I asked who
you are and how you wasted those vamps. With a croquet mallet no less.”
“It’s a magic croquet mallet!” huffed Skuld.
“Be nice, Skuld,” reprimanded Belldandy. The goddess then turned to face
the Slayer. “I know this may be a bit hard to accept, but my sister and
I are goddesses.”
Buffy gave the other woman a quizzical look. “Goddesses, right.”
“We are so goddesses!” insisted Skuld. “I’m Skuld, goddess second class,
limited.”
“And I am Belldandy, goddess first class, unlimited.”
Buffy hesitated, unsure of what to do. The women’s story about being
goddesses seemed totally outlandish. But she’d Belldandy work what was
clearly some very powerful magic and the girl had destroyed a vampire
using only a mallet. Whoever these women were, they were powerful.
“You’re right, this whole ‘goddess’ thing is pretty hard to buy,” said
Buffy. “I don’t supposed you’ve got some ID or something do you?”
“We do have licenses, but they’re not the sort you carry around,”
informed Belldandy. The goddess then slowly lifted off the ground and
didn’t stop until she was floating ten feet above the Slayer. “Is this
proof enough?”
Buffy started at the woman in the sky above her tried very hard not to
boggle. Since becoming the Slayer she’d seen many strange things but
this had to be on of the strangest. “Well, it’s a good start. Would you
mind coming down and telling me what your doing in Sunnydale.”
“Of course,” answered Belldandy. She then gently floated to the ground
and landed gently beside the blonde girl.
“Isn’t my big sister just the coolest?” grinned Skuld.
Buffy gave the girl a polite smile.
“As I said, my Skuld and I are goddesses,” began Belldandy. “We came to
Sunnydale with our other sister, Urd, looking for Mara, a demon we’ve
had trouble with in the past. We have reason to believe that Mara is in
Sunnydale coming up with some plan to get revenge on us. Since this town
lies atop the Hellmouth, we’re worried that she might accidentally
unleash some evil force she may not be able to control. Thus putting
this city and possibly the world at risk.”
Belldandy’s eyes focused squarely on Buffy. “But you know about things
like this, don’t you? About demons and the Hellmouth. You’re the Slayer,
aren’t you?”
Buffy was taken aback. Stories about the Hellmouth and Slayers weren’t
common knowledge among people who didn’t move in supernatural circles.
The Slayer gazed intently into the eyes of the woman before her who
claimed to be a goddess. Over the years Buffy had stared into the eyes
of more vampires and demons than should could count. In the eyes of each
one she had seen evil. She saw none of that in the eye’s of Belldandy.
In those eyes she saw only goodness and ancient power.
Some instinct deep inside told Buffy to trust the self-proclaimed
goddess.
“Yes, I’m the Slayer. But you can just call me Buffy.”
“Pleased to met you, Buffy. As I said, I’m Belldandy and this is my
sister, Skuld.”
“A pleasure to met you,” greeted Skuld as she performed a passable
curtsy.
“So you said this demon you looking for is named Mara?” inquired Buffy.
In the back of her mind she recalled the conversation she’d had with
Angel the night before. He’d mentioned the name Mara then. Now two women
claiming to be goddesses had turned up also mentioning the name Mara.
This was starting to look bad.
“Yes, Mara’s her name,” answered Belldandy. “We’ve been looking for any
sign that she may be in town, but have had no luck. Urd left us just a
few minutes ago to talk to a…contact of hers who may be able to help.”
“I’ve got a contact or two of my own. He’s no Deep Throat, but Giles is
the king of looking stuff up. If anyone can help you figure out what
Mara’s up to it’s him.”
“This Giles, is he your Watcher?”
“Yeah, but how did you kn--” Buffy trailed off as realization hit her.
“Oh, right. If you know about Slayers then you’d know about the Watchers
too.”
Belldandy simply nodded.
“Slayers and now Watchers. Will someone tell me what’s going on?”
demanded Skuld.
“We will later, I promise” assured Belldandy. “Right now I think it
would be best if we were to speak with this Giles person as soon as
possible.”
“Good thing for you I was just on my way to see him,” said Buffy. “Just
follow the yellow brick Slayer.”
As the trio headed over a though crossed Skuld’s mind. “I’m sure Mara
was hinting at coming to Sunnydale. But where is she?”
Author's Note: Yes, I know it was the Beach Boys who wrote "California
Girls." But Buffy was born in the 80's so I figure she'd only know the
David Lee Roth version.