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Hiya, 9fires here. Just stumbled on to this site after banging around on FanFiction.net, searching for Archie fan fiction. Surprisingly, there wasn't any. A quick search revealed that Archie Comics smashed them for posting FF... Then I found this place and well, at least its not entirely dead. I've been an Archie fan my entire life and this is my first fanfic.

Here is the first chapter. Enjoy.

9fires ® Micheal McBride.
This story is written in the vein of Tales from Riverdale.
All characters, events and what have you, are fictitious and property of Archie Comics.
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The Choco'lit Shoppe, Saturday.

Pop Tates, a large balding man of dark hair and congenial manner, looked up from his refilling of the salt and pepper shakers to see a narrow shouldered, mop headed youth of narrow features and capped with a crown made from a baseball cap meander almost aimlessly into his soda shop.

“Good morning, Jughead,” Pop said raising an eyebrow in concern, as if sensed the dark clouds permeating around the boy.

The boy, Jughead Jones, looked longer in the face than usual as he plopped himself at one of the bar stools in front of Pop and gave a deep and troubling sigh. He didn't answer right away, he just stared unseeing at the menu board which had been written out lovingly, above the blenders and cappuccino machine. “A shake, Pop... vanilla. No wait, I want chocolate.” then he sighed again, resigned and slumped down on his stool. “I dunno..”

“Jughead Jones, I have never seen you so glum. What in the world has you so upset?”

Jughead looked to Pop with tepid dark eyes that seemed to shimmer with tears. “My...”

Suddenly the door to the shop banged open and another boy, a ginger haired youth by the name of Archie Andrew scampered in, all in a tizzy. He gripped a rolled up poster in his hand and waved it around as if it were a magical talisman. His voice carrying the excitement that was as plain as the freckles on his face.

“Jughead, there you are! Your mom  said you'd be here! Wow have I ever got the best news!” Archie announced as he bounded to the bar where Jughead slumped forlornly. Even Archie's infectious effervescence did not seem to stir Jughead from his depression. Archie however did not seem to notice.

“I've been trying to get a hold of you all day! Do you have your cell off or something?” Archie clapped his friend on his narrow shoulder and took a seat beside him. Archie rolled out the poster, smoothing it flat on the counter top.

Jughead hardly seemed to notice. Pop on the other hand read the poster with a glance.

“Angelic Entertainment is sponsoring a battle of the bands, here in Riverdale, with the grand prize being a spot on the Late Night Show with Carson Davidson? Wow! Thats great, Archie!” Pop said. “You're going to enter of course?”

“You bet it Pop!” Archie exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. “May I have a vanilla coke to celebrate?”

“Of course, of course!” Pop beamed happily. “Was it the same for you Jughead?”

“Yeh, sure. Vanilla coke.” Jughead said, he had not even looked to the poster or at Archie and his distraction seemed to finally penetrate Archie's preoccupation with the opportunities that the angelic Battle of the Bands represented.

The smile faded from Archie's freckly face. “What's wrong Jughead? Aren't you excited? I mean, this is great news, is it?”

Jughead did not answer right away, instead he sighed for a third time and seemed to mentally spit in his hands as if the words her were about to speak were heavy and quite difficult to dislodge. He broke apart then, his dark eyes shimmering with the tears he fought hard to keep from falling.

“Its... My - my dad...” Jughead started, but he couldn't go on. He covered his face with his long hands and sobbed loudly.

“Oh no,” Archie said, quite unsure of what to do, he looked hopelessly to Pop, who was apparently as alarmed as he was.

“Has there been an accident, Juggie?” Pop asked, laying a pudgy warm hand on Jughead's skinny forearm.

“N-no,” Jughead wiped his spindly nose with the back of his hand and seemed to recover some of his composure. “He has been transfered! We're moving out of Riverdale!”

“WHAT!?” Pop exclaimed as Archie bolted to his feet in shock.

Jughead looked to Pop and then to Archie with sorrowful eyes and sniffed plaintively. “Lodge Industries is down-sizing the plant and to keep his job, my dad has to go to Detroit...”

Archie dropped himself down on to the stool beside his friend with a grumbly sigh. “This is terrible Juggie.”

“Like the worse thing ever!” Jughead infused, wiping a tear from the tip of his long, narrow nose.

Pop frowned obviously crestfallen and went about making the boys their sodas and never had he made two sadder vanilla. The fact Jughead had wanted a  chocolate shake did not seem to matter now.

“W-When?” Archie asked as he sat back down his hands worrying the poster, which not fifteen minutes ago had seemed so exciting.

“End of the month... My dad has already left to find us a new house... Its just me and my mom and Hotdog for now... Oh Archie what am I gonna do? I don't want to leave!”

“I just saw your mom, she didn't say anything...” Archie offered, as if Mrs. Jones failure to give Archie that bit of ground shaking, earth breaking news, meant that indeed, Jughead's fears were entirely unfounded. However, Archie recalled, he had not seen Mr. Jones and then, thinking about it a little harder, Mrs. Jones had looked a bit more harassed than usual. “I don't want you to leave either... There has got to be something... Maybe Ronnie can talk to her dad and...”

“No way, Archie! I am so not asking Ronnie for help! I'd never hear the end of it!”

“C'mon Juggie, she can be a little mean sometimes but she is your friend too.”

Jughead made a little noise and threw up his hands. “She has never liked me,” he shot out the words like bullets.

Before Archie could retort, a third boy sauntered into the Choco'lite Shoppe. “Needle Nose and Freckle Face! What a surprise to find you guys here.” The sneer in Reggie Mantle's voice was echoed in his cocksure grin and the glint in his flinty eyes. “Good morning, Pop.” Reggie added with a wave to the keeper of sodas, hamburgers and pies.

“Is it?” Pop replied.

“Whats that supposed to mean?” Reggie reacted as if insulted, then sat down beside Archie.

Archie looked over at Reggie for only an instant before looking back to Jughead who hung his head, gloomily gazing into his soda, snuffling on the tears that still threatened to overwhelm him.

“Jughead's dad was transfered.” Archie said, clapping his best friend on the shoulder. “Jughead is leaving Riverdale.”

Reggie seemed shocked for an instant, then his eyes narrowed and his grin returned. “You're kidding right?”

Archie looked to Reggie with a miserable, heartbroken expression. “No joke, Reg.”

A hard look at Jughead and then at Archie told Reggie that indeed this development was for real and he had to laugh. Reggie Mantle laughed long, loudly and cruelly. He had to. It was his way.

Archie wanted to hit him, but Reggie was watching him expectantly, anticipating the redhead's temper. Archie could never beat Reggie in a fight; and in the sixteen years of their relationship, there had been some epic ones between them.

“You don't mean that, Reggie.” Pop finally said. “You three have been friends since... well for as long back as I care to remember. You'll be sorry when he is gone.”

Reggie scoffed at the idea and then he saw the poster.

Jughead just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his vanilla coke, defeated and silent.

“Angelic Entertainment...” Reggie read aloud. “Late Night Show? With Carson Davidson?! Oh hey...” He looked to Archie with an expectant grin; Archie who seemed to have forgotten all about the battle of the bands gazed at the middle-space between himself and Jughead.

“Hey,” Reggie gave Archie a shot in the arm impatiently. “What is this?” Reggie snatched the poster from under Archie's hand and waved it about like a flag.

“A contest.” Archie said. “I was gonna enter the Archies... but now...”

Reggie looked over the poster one more time and then back at Archie. “Well why not?”

“Jughead is moving. Remember?” Archie said, his voice cracking with grief and anger. Could Reggie be so thick? “There are no Archies without Jughead; he's our drummer! No drummer. No Archies. No contest. No Late Show...”

Reggie made a little sound and he re-read the poster. “When are you leaving Juggie?”

“End of the month, maybe sooner.” Jughead muttered and gave his vanilla coke a stir with the bendy straw.

“Look,” Reggie pointed out the date. “The contest is next Friday. We could still enter the contest.”

Jughead gave a groan. “I am way too depressed to even think about music, Reg.”

“Me too,” Archie added, as he discovered he too had a vanilla coke within which he intended to drown his miseries.

Reggie frowned. “What? Will you two snap out of it?! You want to spend your last days together mopping around as if someone has died or do you want to go win this most awesome contest ever? We could be insta-stars!”

Archie and Jughead exchanged a glance, both were utterly gob smacked at Reggie's uncommon wisdom.

“Yeh,” Jughead slowly nodded. “I can't believe I'm gonna say this, and I really don't want to... In fact it causes my tongue to burn... but Reggie, you're right!” A smile touched Jughead's mouth

Archie acquiescence as he tried to put his mind back into a happy vein. “That would give us a week to practice... And we're all still fresh from the Autumn Dance...”

“Its settled then?” Reggie sat up straight on his stool and nodded. He clapped a hand down on the polished bar and with laughter still in his voice, he declared - “We'll be famous and YOU – “ Reggie pointed a triumphant finger at Jughead, “Forscythe Jones- will be far too busy touring the world and playing to millions of adoring fans to move anywhere!”

“Don't call me that, Reg,” Jughead groaned, but there was some fledgling laughter there, then he added “We'll be famous, huh?”

“We need to talk to the girls.” Archie interjected, his earlier excitement at the prospect of insta-fame returning.

Reggie nodded. “Ronnie and Bets are at the mall. Its 'Spa Day', as I've been lead to believe.”

It rubbed Archie raw that Reggie knew where Veronica was, but for Jughead's sake and for Carson Davidson's sake, he did not let that old jealous grudge play out.

“C'mon, lets go!” he said, and when he said it, Archie was smiling.


Reviews are welcome.
Stay tuned for the next Chapter, where the plot will certainly thicken

Very enjoyable. Hope u update this soon!