Eldon, Tiffany, West, Ava and James began to dance to the up beat, hiphop music playing from the brunette's speaker.
"Right now, we're just hanging out in the park working on our routine, you know, just having fun."
"It just beats being at the studio, day in and day out," Tiff explained.
"Yo, West!" Eldon called out, as the music began to slow. "Show us some flips."
The boy grinned, walking to the front of the group to have some space. "I've got this one," he smiled, running up to a nearby tree and pushing himself off it into a backflip then a series of tumbles.
Ava cheered for her friend along with the rest of the group, however West then entered some sort of sort fight or flight mode. He turned around, nearly pushing the four other dancers to the floor as he did and just bolted.
"He just ran away randomly."
"Like, hello? West? We're dancing!"
"What just happened?" Eldon scratched his head, looking around the park for the boy. The group all copied his actions, glancing at trees or bushes, when four random people start to circle the group.
"I'm hiding behind a tree because I don't want Tiffany, Ava, Eldon and James to know that I was part of this crew, the crew that's talking to them right now."
"Those were some punky moves," the tallest member, presumably their leader, said. Ava could've sworn she'd seen this guy before but couldn't pinpoint when.
"Um... What does punky mean?" James scrunched his nose up in confusion.
"Dry. Like if you were a cup of water, you'd be empty."
"This street crew thinks they're a little better than they actually are and I think they need to bring it."
"And who are you?" Tiffany folded her arms.
"Seeds."
"Seeds?" Ava failed to stifle her laughter. "Which toddler came up with that name?"
"You all need to grow up!" James laughed along with The Next Step dancers. "Look at the little one, she hasn't even sprouted yet!" James pointed to the short girl standing to the right of the leader, when one of the boys stepped forward and began to dance. "Oh, and... speaking of dry..."
"Speaking of punky..." Eldon added.
"Okay, okay, okay, enough jokes, let's have a battle," the leader stepped forward.
"When Seeds wants a dance battle, I'm like, 'Bring it on, guys'," Tiffany smirked.
"I haven't done a dance battle in a while and I want to get in there and kind of come out on top."
"Well, then, you're on."
"We're not intimidated by Seeds, at all. They came to us 'cos they know we're the best."
"I cannot believe The Next Step is going to battle with Seeds. This is not good," West shook his head.
~ ~ ~
"So, we're at the park today. Guess who comes up from the bushes?" Tiffany looked around at the dancers sat around Studio A. "Seeds. The Seeds. They're there saying that out moves weren't good, saying how, like, they're better than us. So we're like, 'What? Let's battle, then, and then we'll show you who's the better crew.'"
"Bottom line, we're battling Seeds," James added.
"James, I think that is the worst idea you've ever came up with," West suddenly stood up shaking his head and Ava gave the boy a strange look, West was usually jumping at the chance to do something like this.
"Worse than the time I ate a double cold-cut sub with extra mayo?"
"If we do the dance battle, I'm going to get found out and then A-troupe is going to know I'm still a part of this dance crew," West admitted.
"I don't mean to step on anyone's toes, but Regionals is coming up pretty soon," Emily agreed.
"This is rehearsal for Regionals, guys, come on!"
"That should be our first priority, not battling some Seeds, plants thing."
"It's obvious that not all of us want to do a dance battle," Michelle interjected, James quietly mocking her words. "That's why I'm saying we should take a vote." The blonde's words send a few different looks her way. Emily looked confused as this probably wasn't something she would've done as a dance captain. James and Tiffany looked annoyed as they knew not everyone would be up for it and Eldon nodded with a smile.
"What's going on?" Kate asked as she and Chris entered Studio A and approached the group of dancers.
"She got us into a dance battle," Eldon answered, pointing a finger over Tiff's head, who just dragged his arm back down and gave him a smile.
"I'm a huge fan of dance battles. I think it's just going to motivate them."
A smile entered the head choreographer's face whereas a polar opposite expression made it's way onto Kate's. "That's a great idea," he smirked, giving Tiffany an approving nod.
"That's a terrible idea," Kate placed her hand's on her hip as she tried to shoot down the many voices of teens either agreeing with Chris or herself. "We are way too close to regionals. What if somebody else gets injured?"
"West is going to try to outdo himself completely. What if he lands on his ankle wrong? You know? Then we've got another Daniel."
"Then, we'll use that as practise so we don't get injured," Chris reasoned.
"Oh, well... Hey! You practise in the dance studio, you do not practise out on the streets."
"It's a battle," the taller man shrugged. "What's the worst that can happen?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "A lot," she nodded her head seriously. The blonde could probably come up with a list longer than the great wall of China of possible out comes. Most likely, none of them good.
"Excuse me, Miss Kate," Michelle stepped forward to stand beside the studio head. "I suggested that we take a vote."
"Okay. Fine then, we'll take vote," Kate agreed.
"Who is against doing the dance battle?" the blonde asked. Emily, Miss Kate, West, Ava and Eldon stepped forward. Eldon causing much disruption, since he was at the park. Ava was mainly going to support the rather distressed look on West's face but also she wasn't bothered about some street crew. "And who's in favour?" Chloe, Giselle, James, Tiffany, Chris, Riley and Stephanie stepped forward. "It's seven against six."
Kate sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. We'll do a dance battle."
"I'm really nervous now that A-troupe is definitely battling Seeds. I mean, my secret is now going to come out."
~ ~ ~
"Yo, guys. Seeds, they're on their way," James announced, walking over to the dances sat around the back of the studio.
"Now?"
"Yeah. Marcel from Seeds just text me saying they're on their way to set the terms of the dance battle." Just as the boy explained what happened, the crew walked through the door. The cogs in Ava's mind suddenly began to turn and then she realised who this guy was. He was the weird guy that West hid from in Squeezed. As she came to that conclusion, she also realised West wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Good to see you didn't back down," Tiffany folded her arms, standing at the front of A-troupe.
"Why would we, when we could beat you so easily?" Marcel fired back.
"Okay, we'll see about that one, right?"
"Let's get to business. Where do you want to do this?" the leader asked.
"Here," Tiff pointed a finger to the floor.
"We sent the challenge - our turf, on the streets." Marcel argued, mirroring the girl's folded arms and confident smirk.
"All right, well, then I get to pick the music."
"Fair enough," Seeds agreed and before they could say anything else James cut in.
"Listen, we don't want you whining when we win, all right?" he quipped, which made Marcel laugh.
"We get to choose the music and they get to choose the place. I think that's fair."
As the hiphop crew turned to leave, they were greeted by West, walking out of Miss Kate's office. "Compass! Nice of you to join us," Marcel welcomingly threw his arms out at the sight of the boy.
"I feel like a deer in the headlights. I mean, a part of me wants to just run away."
"How are you?" the man asked, as the pair did their handshake.
"Wait," Ava stopped the exchange. "What's the relationship here?"
Marcel gave the girl a strange and confused look. "He dances with Seeds," the man stated. West immediately let out a nervous laugh, rather intimidated by the sight of Ava's raised eyebrows and shocked expression.
"West being in Seeds is crazy."
"That is disrespectful, that is wrong, that is against all regulations of dance troupes. So, clearly this is something we have to figure out," Emily explained.
"I feel a little betrayed, honestly. I mean, he definitely should have let the team know before he even joined A-troupe."
"Well, I... It's kind of complicated," West stuttered under the disapproving looks of his team.
"What's going on?" Kate asked hurriedly, rushing over to the two dance troupes.
"Why don't you ask Compass over here?"
"After I got into B-troupe I was still in Seeds and I was basically dancing with both troupes," the boy elucidated.
"West," Chris cut in. "Did you understand that A-troupe requires a full commitment?" he asked, with a strong serious tone.
"So does Seeds."
"Yeah, and I totally understand that."
"Pick," Marcel demanded, angry that one of his strongest dancers has betrayed him. "Now. What troupe?"
West stiffened and stood still for a moment but he knew what he was going to do. "I'm going to have to go with A-troupe. I'm sorry, man," West turned to Marcel, a sincere look on his face.
"When he chooses A-troupe, I mean, I'm not surprised. It's... it's A-troupe."
"No, it's cool. Don't worry about," the leader of Seeds fumed. "It's going to make our victory that much more sweet."
"Oh, boy. Now Marcel is mad and I know that they're going to come even harder at that dance battle."
~ ~ ~
"Okay, guys, let's gather in and start rehearsing," Michelle called the dancers up from there sitting positions.
"Rehearse what?" Riley asked. "The dance battle or the Regionals routine?"
"I think we should just freestyle the dance battle," James stepped in, stopping the dance captain from giving an answer.
"I think we should just call this entire thing off. This is a horrible idea," West rushed, but pretty much everyone else agreed that The Next Step couldn't back out now that they had already accepted.
"Everyone arguing right now is just very overwhelming and frustrating. I want to include everyone's ideas and inputs, but, like, it's just way too much to handle," Michelle admitted.
"She's not handling the situation well. I mean, she's letting people get caught up in the argument and really carried away. If she had just stopped it and been authoritative, this could have all been settled by now."
Emily suddenly raised her hand, beginning to do Chris's dolphin tail, which immediately caught the attention of the other dancers. The ten of them giving her rather strange expressions. "I do think Tiffany brings a good point, West," she began. "We're not going to call off the dance battle. You really need to accept that and start being with the troupe. Riley does bring up a good point, we're still going to Regionals and it is our main priority. I figure we do the dance battle for two hours, then the Regionals for one, just so we have it in our bodies still, that'll get us out of here early and we can all get home. Right, Michelle?"
The dance captain was taken aback by the girl's sudden, but pretty much perfect, outburst. "Uh, yeah. I totally agree. I think that's a great idea. Thanks, Emily."
"Could I talk to you for a second, Michelle," the girl asked then lead the other blonde over to the corner of Studio A.
"That's so weird," Ava said to James, as the pair looked towards Emily and Michelle getting along fine with each other. "Like alternative universe weird." James had the same bewildered look on his face and just gave a hum in response.
~ ~ ~
The day of the battle had arrived. Ava had asked West to help her prepare the night before so she was pretty confident.
"Seeds is right there, they're lined up in front of us."
"I've never done anything like this before," Michelle admitted, although she was masking her nervous expression. "I never did this in Wisconsin."
"Going into this dance battle, I'm extremely nervous," West said, not knowing completely what to say. "It's going to be interesting."
The music began to blast from Seeds' speaker and a small crowd had gathered around the two dance troupes to watch the battle. West set it off with a killer flip. Then, each team took turns in taking the floor.
"I'm watching Seeds battle right now and they are bringing all their top moves. I just know we have to come back harder."
Ava pulled off the new flip she had been working on the night before immaculately, also throwing in some new moves she hadn't shown off yet.
"We're all giving it our all, we're all dancing really hard and I think we're doing pretty good."
"We're keeping up with them, you know, move for a move. They throw a move, we throw a move. I mean, that's how a battle really should be."
"Seeds is doing pretty good," Ava nodded. "For beginners."
The Next Step's ego started to falter when Tiffany, Stephanie and Michelle failed to execute a trick.
"When Michelle falls, it's not good for my team."
"I'm not sure how this is going to play out anymore," Giselle worried.
It was pretty much a wordless defeat when A-troupe ran out of moves to do and Seeds took the whole space of the mat. The Next Step just stood back. They gave everything but Seeds gave more.
~ ~ ~
"We lost pretty badly to Seeds yesterday. I don't know what happened but we need to figure it out."
"I mean, what was that? What was that? I still can't believe that we lost to Seeds," West said in disbelief. The dancers were slumped around Studio A, all with looks of defeat and humiliation. Losing to a street crew? It was embarrassing.
"We we're all so pumped and so ready to just beat them."
"I honestly, like, I was so shocked that we lost. How could we lose to Seeds?"
The dance captain wasn't helping in lifting the team's spirits as she probably should have been. It's the dance captain's job to raise the team up in times of need and Michelle just doesn't know how to step in.
"Look, guys, we lost," Emily suddenly stood up. "And we lost pretty badly but the thing is, I'm glad we lost." Ava turned her head to look at the former dance captain in confusion. Glad? "Did you all hear me? I said I'm glad I lost to Seeds yesterday!"
"Why are you glad we lost?" West asked.
"Because now I know exactly what I need to do at Regionals. So we lost. We lost big time! But we lost as a team and we lost together. There is absolutely nothing in this world I want more than to go to Regionals, win Regionals and go to Nationals, and win Nationals just because I lost to Seeds yesterday. So, thank you, Seeds. I'm going to send them flowers! I'm fact we're all going to send Seeds flowers! Let's hear it for Seeds!" the girl finished, and the team all cheering with her and for her.
~ ~ ~