It was a crisp, golden morning in August, the sun shining and wind blowing gently. A certain white and brown cocker spaniel was walking along the street on his way to the store, just needing to pick a few things up. As he was walking down the street, taking in the wonderfully warm summer breeze and the cityscape, he started reminiscing about the past. His friends, his family, his dreams. He's a different person now, but one thing has always stayed the same; the dream to start a band and become successful in music. In high school, he loved all things big. Performance big; he was in theater, and all of the music courses, playing all of the percussion instruments he could get his hands on. Being a drummer in a band was what he wanted to do, and it may not be as far off of a dream as he thinks. As he makes it to the store, he sees a flier in the window; getting closer to get a better look he sees that it reads “BATTLE OF THE BANDS!!! August 25 6 PM Pan Paw's restaurant" His eyes widen, his heart skipping a beat as he pulls his phone out and snaps to his messages.

“MARILYN MARILYN"

“ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE NOW!!!"

“what is it sammi?"

“CAN YOU MEET ME AT THE STARBARKS CAFE IN 15 MINUTES???"

“I guess, but can you tell me what this is about?"

“JUST MEET ME THERE, I'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING WHEN I GET THERE"

Sammi then rips the flier off of the window and sprints as fast as he can to the local Starbarks café to meet his good friend Marilyn.

Fifteen minutes later, both friends are sat at a table with the poster between them. 

Sammi spoke first. “So…? What do you think?"

“I don't know Sammi, isn't this a little… Uhm… Out there?" Marilyn said, shyly.

“We've been talking about the dream for so long, starting a band, making it big? It sounds incredible, doesn't it!? This is where we can get our start!" Sammi exclaims, clearly full of excitement.

Thinking to herself for a moment, she realizes that Sammi has a point; they've been talking about this as a potential path since they were in high school. Two best friends on a warpath to take over the music world. It was then that Marilyn made up her mind. “Alright, let's do it!"

“Yes! This is going to be so much fun!! We're finally going to be rock stars!" Said Sammi. 

“The only issue is that we're two people and neither of us can even play guitar. You play drums and I can sing. We need to find someone who can at least play guitar." 

“We'll put up flyers and advertise online if we need to. We'll find someone and we will win this. We got this Marilyn!" Sammi said. 

“I hope you're right…" Marilyn said, nervously. 

Even though Marilyn was nervous, she was just as excited as Sammi; she couldn't help but think of the possibilities of what could come after this Battle of the Bands competition next Saturday. Sammi on the other hand, was overly excited, but he wouldn't admit just how scared he was. His mind running wild with all that could possibly go wrong: What if we can't find a guitarist? What if we get sick? What if we can't decide on songs? No matter what he was thinking that would spike his anxiety, he couldn't hide the obvious fact of how excited he was to begin practices and ultimately perform at this venue; his big goofy smile, his tail slicing through the air, he couldn't contain his excitement. 

The next couple of days were spent with attempts of Sammi and Marilyn trying to find a lead guitar player. They had put up posts, flyers, and information letting people know that they were looking for a lead player. With little luck and poor auditions, they were running out of time and nerves were getting to them. However, fate would have other plans when a short raccoon dog would call out from the outside of Sammi's garage. 

“Hello? Is anyone there? I'm here for a guitar audition…" That's strange, that voice sounds almost… robotic? 

“Yes! Over here!" Sammi called back. 

It wasn't just a raccoon dog, but a raccoon dog protogen! A rare species around this city and a species that is highly looked down upon around here. Sammi and Marilyn were not expecting a protogen to arrive at the audition, but they were not going to complain, in fact, they were ecstatic. 

“Hello! I'm Sammi and this is my partner in crime, Marilyn! And your name is…?" 

“Tilly!" said the Raccoon Protogen, nervously. 

“Well, let's see what you've got Tilly!" Sammi said with excitement.

It was then that Tilly did something that Sammi and Marilyn had never seen before; she had taken her lead guitar, with no AMP or speakers in sight, and plugged the end into her own head! This, obviously, had caught the pair off guard, but they were excited to see where this would go.

*Insert lead guitar solos from different metal songs like Master of Puppets, Hail to the King, and Ride The Lightning.* 

After Tilly was done, the short protogen stood there in silence, awaiting the response. She thought that she had done bad, there was silence. Why were they silent? 

“I… uh… I'm sorry. I'll just go-" 

“What, no! That was incredible Tilly! We don't need to see anything else, we want you in!" Marilyn said, mouth still agape. 

“Really!? Awesome! So when do we start??" Tilly asked. 

“Our first rehearsal starts tomorrow night, but we like to meet in the local bagel place every morning, 10 am, table 8. See you there." Sammi said.

“I'll be there," Tilly said, this time with no anxiety in her voice, but with determination and a goal to not only make her new friends proud but to make herself proud.