Before long, everyone was crowded in front of the screen.

The international news channel was on, the signal weak. Images of ruin and death were flicking across the screen.

"Let's recap. After rising claims against them, Japan is starting to build up a military, breaking their peaceful take on life. Meanwhile, following America's panic, Canada, Britain, Germany, Syria, Mexico, and many of the African countries have joined forces. This has lead to Russia pointing nuclear missiles at almost every continent and breaking their nuclear weapons pact." The news anchor was visibly sweating, the papers in his hand trembling with his unstable hands. "Shots have been exchanged just outside of France. Everyone is pointing fingers at each other and no one knows who led the attacks against America."

The most chilling thing about this news report was the title on the bottom.

World War III

The news story ended and Spirit turned the TV off.

Shocked silence filled the small room.

"What the- what the hell?" Fang stuttered, breaking the silence for once.

Atlas didn't even scold him for swearing. She was freaking out internally and hugging Silver.

"Well, there's n-nothing we can do about this." Soul stuttered, trying to push the reality of war out of her head.

A knock sounded at the door and Jade numbly stood to answer it. It was Maddie with a new male.

"Hey guys! I was going to take you to a clothing store for the party!" Maddie grinned, seemingly not noticing the heavy atmosphere.

The male next to her huffed and looked away, as if he'd been told to be here and didn't want to.

"Don't mind Frost, he's a loser." Maddie whispered to Jade, winking.

Jade waved her staring friends over, faking a smile. "C'mon, guys." She said lightly. "Let's start this cliché makeover episode."

—

The clothing stores were an absolute mess, though most of the items remained in the store. This would have been surprising if Maddie hadn't unlocked the door on the way in.

"One of the nicer kids had a key to the store." Maddie explained, walking through the messy aisles. "He locked it as soon as he could get out of his shelter, but some stuff was still missing."

The teens split up to pick through the trashed isles, some choosing dresses and some just a nice shirt.

Fang didn't want any part in this, but Atlas dragged him over to the men's isle.

"You should wear a tux, Fang!" Atlas's grip was surprisingly strong when she wanted her way.

"No." Fang stumbled after her, doing his best to keep his balance.

Ignoring his answer, Atlas grabbed a nice suit jacket and flung it at him with her free hand.

"No." Fang let it hit his chest and slide to the ground. He wasn't letting go of his pride quite yet.

A devious spark flashed across Atlas's eyes. "So you wanna play it that way?"

—

Ryft and Silver stood in the longer dresses section, staring in awe at the multi-colored fabric.

"Can I just grab them all?" Silver spoke softly, reaching out to touch a piece of pink fabric.

"I wish, bro. I wish." Ryft field through the hangars, trying to find her size.

"Try not to match with me! I'll make you change!" Cricket shouted from another aisle, making the two girls giggle.

"Guess not. Bu- ooh!" Ryft gasped, stopping at a dress. "This looks promising."

—

Raven and Jade stood in a section of more cool, stylish clothes.

"I can't stand dresses." Raven mentioned, pulling out a crop top to examine.

"Yeahh, they're not my favorite, either." Jade sighed, trying to find clothing of the color black.

"We'll be the cool kids of the party!" Spirit's voice called, getting closer.

"Yeah, all eyes on us- oh."

Soul and Spirit came face to face with Jade and Raven.

"Hey, guys." Raven waved.

"Dang. We thought we were unique." Soul mumbled.

"At least you won't match me." Something had caught Jade's eye. "None of you are brave enough for this."

—

Cricket sighed. She was alone in the shorter dresses isle. Atlas was supposed to come, but judging by the yelling from the men's clothing section, she wasn't joining anytime soon.

She muttered to herself while she sorted through the sizes. She thought about going naked and invisible and giggled. Of course she wouldn't do that. But it would be pretty funny.

She was searching both hers and Atlas's size since the other girl seemed preoccupied.

"Skips, you're in good hands..." Cricket grinned and pulled out a dress.

—

"Okay guys! Come on out!" Maddie called from the front. "Fashion show time!" She added in a loud whisper to Frost, who couldn't care any less.

Ryft wore a long dark blue dress that nearly reached the floor. It had a seam open to expose one leg and there was glitter slowly gathered at the bottom but faded out by the waistline.

Silver found a light green dress that was wavy and smooth. It had a keyhole in the back as well as an overlap in the fabric, making a nice focal point. Her eyes matched it nicely.

Raven sported a black crop top with only strings criss-crossing the back and an exposed string neckline. She had black high waisted shorts with three silver bottons.

Jade chose a black jumper with a cute shoelace criss-crossing to hold together the neckline. The end of the legs were slightly baggy with elastic ends to hold them to her leg.

Soul displayed a short plaid tied-off top with a denim skirt. Her long blonde hair was braided behind her.

Spirit had chosen a white crop-top with a light pink plaid skirt and seemed very happy about it. She couldn't do a whole lot with her short hair, so she let it be.

Cricket proudly walked out with a tight dress reaching just past her knees. It was a neutral green and caught the light just a little bit. It was stunning on her- it matched her eyes and made them pop out.

Atlas skipped out sporting a short dark purple dress with frilly ends. Since the bottom wasn't skin-tight, she could twirl and make it floof. Which she did, at least four times.

"C'mon, Fang! We're waiting for you!" Ryft called, slowly becoming impatient.

"No." A faint voice emitted from the men's dressing rooms.

"Don't make me come over there, Fang!" Atlas shouted, a threatening edge to her voice.

A long groan was heard, followed with "Fine."

Fang creeped out from behind a clothing rack wearing a nice classic tuxedo with a red tie. It matched his hair almost perfectly. He was much less than happy about all of this- he would have much rather gone in his sweatshirt.

Atlas, however, was thrilled. "Faaang! You look soo cute!" She squealed, very proud of her work.

"I'm never trusting you again." Fang pointed at Atlas, shooting her a glare. "Not a word about any of this." He added to the rest of the group.

Raven, Silver, and Cricket were all standing together, desperately trying to hold in their laughter.

"Well, it's time to go!" Maddie laughed, glancing out the window at the growing darkness. "We'd better be indoors before nightfall."

Frost, as always, remained indifferent.