A/N: Woohoo, first fic! Fair warning: I've already been told by two independent parties that Tails is wildly OOC in this story. And no doubt he is, but only for this one. And seriously, even Tails has to lighten up sometimes!
Anyway. I don't own Sonic and Co, nor any of the entities referenced...more info on that at the end of the chapter!
Mobius could be a madly crazy place at times, when it came under attack by Dr. Eggman or angry travelers of time and space or random mobs of aliens. That's what Sonic and his friends were always ready for. But in between those times, when Dr. Eggman was cooking up his next scheme, and the various other threats were licking their proverbial wounds (provided they were still around to have wounds, proverbial or not), life on Mobius was pretty peaceful. Sonic would go for long runs that spanned continents at times, then return for a stretch of napping and lazing and annoying anyone he could—Shadow and Knuckles in particular. Rouge and Shadow would sigh and savor a few weeks with only a few G.U.N. missions (and Sonic) bothering them. Knuckles would guard his Master Emerald and fight with Rouge, Amy would chase Sonic and try to tempt him with pastries, Blaze and Silver would train together, trying again and again to combine their powers to create the legendary Fire Blitz... In short, a rather humdrum, happy, routine-based existence. It could get maddening if it went on too long, but whenever a big ruckus had just ended, it was pure sweet heaven.
Now, what did the little ones on Mobius do when things were this calm? Of course, they all had their own routines and duties, just like the older ones. Tails was frequently busy with his contraptions and devices, and often went dashing around with Sonic too. Charmy hung around the Chaotix headquarters, as bored as his teammates, and helped out with the cases they got once every other blue moon. Marine sometimes helped her teammates Silver and Blaze with their training, plus she always had some hairbrained scheme involving a boat going on. And Cream helped her mother out around the house and garden like the little sweetie she was.
But very often the youngsters, still being just...well...youngsters, would be struck by the urge to go out and play. Naturally, it was much more fun to play with a friend, and sometimes even all four of them would get together and have a rousing game of whatever they pleased. Soon they started to arrange special playdates where all of them would meet and have fun. They kept these appointments with great solemnity.
"Hey big guy, want to go on a quick dash with me?" asked Sonic one morning, popping into Tails' room without knocking, as usual. Tails had given up asking.
"Sure!" piped Tails. Then his face fell slightly. "Oh...wait. I already agreed to meet with the others today. They're coming to pick me up in a few minutes!" He studied Sonic's face with a tad of anxiety. "You don't mind, do you?"
"Psh, why would I mind?" laughed Sonic. "As long as you get out of that oily old workshop of yours, I'm happy! You need to play with kids your own age more often."
"We don't play," snorted Tails, feeling that at eight years old the term was rather belittling. "We...hang out."
"Rrrright. Got it. 'Hang out'," grinned Sonic, making air quotes with his fingers.
Before Tails could retort, there came a knocking at the door. The little fox dashed to answer it at a speed that made Sonic raise his figurative eyebrows.
"Hi guys!" hollered Tails, throwing open the door and leaping outside. "What're we gonna do today?"
"PIRATES!" bellowed Marine, attempting to draw and quarter Tails with a wooden sword.
"Again?" Tails groaned, not at all disturbed about being drawn and quartered. "Marine, we always—"
"Not always, mate, we played cowboys last time," said Marine, hands on hips. "Besides, it's SPACE pirates! Battling ninjas! With giant monsters ev'rywhere!"
"And with lasers and huge robots?" asked Tails excitedly. "I'm in!"
Sonic chuckled as he watched the children dashing in circles through the grass, waving improvised weapons and making up ridiculous sounds to indicate lasers and clashing metal. Still, something inside him hurt a little as he watched. The kids might be having fun pretending to fire lasers at robots and monsters, but tomorrow they might be firing real lasers at real robots and monsters. Sometimes he felt guilty about him and his friends dragging these little children into a life of danger and stress and even grief. Sometimes he realized Tails was growing up much too fast, and it was mostly Sonic's own fault. Sometimes he stayed up at night comforting Tails after a bout of nightmares about the past—cursing himself for creating that past.
But the clouds didn't last long in Sonic's mind—they never could. At least Tails was happy right now. He could still lighten up and have fun now and then, just like a normal kid. Good for him. Maybe he'd gotten that from Sonic too.
As Sonic stretched and got ready to bolt out on his run, Tails stopped mid-laser-fire and hollered "Bye, Sonic!" Sonic grinned.
"Bye, Kid Brigade!" he hollered back, and took off.
"Kid Brigade?" said Cream curiously, also stopping mid-monster-punching. "What's a brigade?"
"It's a special kind of unit in the army—or just a group of people who have the same goal or attitude," explained Tails. "Like a fire brigade! That's just a gang of firefighters who work together."
"So...he means we're kids who fight? Like the army fights, and firefighters fight?" asked Charmy.
"I think he just means we're a gang," smiled Tails.
"We should go by that moniker!" said Marine, her eyes lighting up. "It's smashin'!"
"You mean, make it the official name for the four of us? Like we're a club?"
"Yeah!"
"You know, that does kinda sound like fun," said Tails. "Maybe we should even be a club! We like hanging out together, and everything's always more fun when we're all together doing it. Let's make it official!"
They all snatched up their play weapons, gathered in a ring, and crossed the various blunt instruments in the center.
"Now we are, officially—the Kid Brigade!" cheered Tails.
The Kid Brigade soon became a full-blown serious affair. Well, as serious as you'd expect when it consisted of four rambunctious youngsters, anyhow. They had a "secret" clubhouse in Cream's basement, although they had to tell Vanilla about it. Soon their combined busy little brains had devised a club song, a club motto ("Charge of the Kid Brigade!"), a special secret knock, and even a secret handshake, which most of them would be much too embarrassed to ever perform in public.
At first they just kept on doing their usual thing, meeting up to play—er, "hang out" together, and everyone thought their little club was very cute. But soon enough, being for the most part a mischievous bunch, they realized they were wasting their potential. Alone they couldn't do much, but together they could be a mischief-making force of nature.
They managed to keep a low profile for a long time. They would set buckets of water over doors, switch the salt and sugar, scrawl childish insults on fences with chalk, stuff cupboards full of packing peanuts—all things they wouldn't be caught doing. A lot of their friends began to wonder what had set off Sonic's sudden pranking streak, while Sonic wondered who was trying to get even with him! Aside from what Charmy called "stealth missions," they did try a few more daring stunts. Their favorite by far was the "Serenade" mission.
It had been executed flawlessly, starting one lovely, sunny, drowsy sort of morning. Sonic was lying lazily on a low-hanging branch, eyes half-closed. Suddenly a distant clash and tingle of metal reached his ears, accompanied by a strange wailing sound.
He bolted upright and dashed off in the direction of the sound, wondering if it was a new invention of Eggman's. When he reached the source of the commotion, however, he burst out laughing. The Kid Brigade had somehow managed to procure a set of musical instruments, and they were marching in a line and playing them loudly. Tails, in front, had a little plastic trumpet, the kind you could win at fairs. Basically, it was a glorified kazoo. Charmy had a snare drum (oh, poor Team Chaotix!), Marine had a pair of cymbals, and Cream had a harmonica which she clearly didn't know how to play. Charmy and Marine were loudly singing the club song as they marched and played.
It took Sonic a while to get a hold of himself.
"Where are you off to, O musical marvels?" he asked at last, saluting.
"We are going to spread our beauteous music to those in need of good cheer!" announced Tails, rather proud of himself for pronouncing "beauteous" without a hitch.
"Well, ya sure cheered me up," laughed Sonic. "Go forth and spread the beauteous music, then! Have fun you guys!"
Still chuckling, he trotted back to his perch in the tree. Little did he know that the Kid Brigade had a very specific idea of who needed "good cheer." They marched around a while for effect, then Tails and Charmy airlifted the girls onto Angel Island...Knuckles was not amused. His nap, nay, his whole day, was shot. However, he wasn't about to hurt little kids, and he was too reluctant to leave the Master Emerald to go complain to anyone—which was just what the Kid Brigade had planned on. They were still savoring that deliciously successful mission weeks later.
Still, there was bound to be a catastrophe sooner or later. Strangely, it all started with one of the Kid Brigade's more innocent endeavors.
They were all wrapped up in one of their little fantasy adventures when they saw Shadow approaching. He stopped for a moment to watch them from a distance, somewhat bemused at their bizarre behavior. The youngsters, daring as you please, decided to try lighten Shadow up a bit. They swooped over.
"C'mon and join us, Shadow!" called Tails cheerfully, waving a leek they had gotten from Vanilla's garden. "You can be in our story! It'll be fun!"
"No thanks," said Shadow, turning to leave. "I have better things to do than—whatever it is you're doing."
"But you can't leave!" protested Tails, tugging at Shadow's arm. When Shadow turned to make a cutting remark, he found that Tails was already pressing the leek into his hand.
"I don't want your onion," he scowled, handing it back.
"It's not an onion, it's a leek! And you have to keep it!" said Cream, her eyes sparkling with the excitement of the story. Shadow steeled himself; resisting Cream's sweetness was often tough even for him.
"And why," he asked, carefully placing just enough impatience into his voice, "do I have to keep this leek?"
"Because it is the source of all the world's happiness! And I must HAVE it!" cackled Marine. She and Charmy were being the villains of the story.
"And you're the king!" explained Tails. "You're the good king who must protect the mighty leek, the source of all happiness!"
Shadow surveyed the long green stalk that Tails had again forced into his hand, then looked around at the gaggle of bouncing youngsters. The situation was vaguely amusing, but he was in no mood to be amused.
"Look here, kiddos," he warned, trying and failing to return the leek to Tails. "I don't want to participate in your stupid game, all right? You play what you like, but just keep me out of it, okay?"
"Aww, pleeeease? You can't just leave! You're the mighty king, protector of the great leek! We're doomed without you!" wailed Tails, struggling not to giggle.
Again Shadow looked around at the kids wearily. A way out of there presented itself, one suitable to his rising temper. Heaven forbid someone should catch him like this, he'd never hear the end of it.
"Okay. So I'll play in your story," he said. "But if I do, that means I get to have a say in what happens, right? Help make up the story?"
"Sure! We're just making it up as we go along anyway!" smiled Cream, surprised and delighted at Shadow's sudden compliance.
"Right. So I am the great leek protector king," said Shadow, struggling not to roll his eyes...too much. "At least...that's what you think. Because really, all this time, I have been a traitor working with the forces of evil! And do you know why?"
The kids stared at him, stunned at this turn of events. They hadn't expected a twist quite so dramatic.
"So I may possess the leek ALL to myself!" roared Shadow, brandishing the leek. Then he was gone, in a flash of black fur. The briefest moment of shocked silence...
"He's stolen our leek!" howled Marine. "We need that!"
"Hurry! He went to that grove of trees there!" called Charmy.
The youngsters set out pell-mell, but it was no use. By the time they reached the shady little stand of trees, nothing was left of the leek but some satisified crunchings. A raw leek may not be very delectable to the average Joe, but Shadow had a stomach like steel. An entire raw leek was nothing to him, and it actually tasted pretty nice.
The Kid Brigade stood frozen in only partially simulated horror.
"How—how could you?!" gasped Charmy at last. "That leek was the source of all happiness! How could you just...just...just EAT it? How?"
"I'm a heel," shrugged Shadow, smirking. "Go get yourselves a new leek, and next time don't bother me."
He took off again.
That could easily have been the end of it. The Kid Brigade could have laughed ruefully and gone to get another leek, or made a random pinecone their new Source of All Happiness, or whatever. But no, they had gotten too cocky for that.
At least, some of them had.
"All right, fellow-brigadiers," said Tails grimly, as the crew sat disconsolately under a hedge. "We must avenge our poor leek!"
"Right!" chorused Charmy and Marine.
"It's only a leek," volunteered Cream softly. "He was welcome to eat it—Mommy always shares her vegetables anyway. We can get a new one!"
"No, no, Cream!" protested Charmy. "That's not the point! It was our leek, and he tricked us so he could get away and ruin our game and eat it! He was being a bully!"
"He did ask politely for us to stop, but we didn't," Cream persisted. As you might expect, she was the calmest head in the whole gang, often uneasy or even unwilling in the face of the others' mischief-making. She'd always gone along with it before, though.
"Oy mate, don't try to make excuses for the drongo," scolded Marine. "You know very well he 'ad no right to do that! We have to teach him a lesson!"
Cream fell silent, still uncertain. She decided to wait and see how this plan proceeded.
A/N: Regarding the reference to...references...in the first A/N: Whenever I write, I usually find myself making veiled references to random songs, movies, books, all kinds of things, whether it's intentional or not. So hey, might as well make the best of it! This can be a kind of game. There's one reference to a song/internet phenomenon hidden in this chapter, fairly easy to find, I think. Review or PM me if you think you've found the reference (Which, again, I don't own), and you can get a virtual cookie! Good luck!