Hello, everyone! This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing back in! Yes, that's right. To all those who are reading both this story and the first one, you can rest assured knowing that this story won't be as slow with the updates. Well, enough about that. Let's continue this little story with a new chapter!
NOTE:
-I do not own any of the characters or scenarios presented in this story.
Sonic's Trip to Anaheim
Chapter 2: The introductions begin.
Sonic and Tails were making their way out of Captain Comics, the local comic book store.
"It's a good thing there was an empty compartment in the Tornado 2." Sonic gave his little buddy a noogie. "Nice work on that one, Tails!"
Tails had a laugh. "It's nothing, Sonic. I'm sure anyone would have thought of it before I did."
"Well, you sure saved us a flight back to Station Square." Sonic then turned away from him. "OK, little buddy. You have your comic book subscription. I think it's time for us to head to the Pond."
"Yeah, Tanya's waiting for us." Tails turned to his best friend. "You know where it is, right, Sonic?"
"Yep. We just walk on straight from behind the comic book store."
"OK, let's go."
As they walked towards their destination, they briefly continued the conversation.
"You seem really excited about meeting these guys, Sonic."
"Yeah, you know it. I mean, how often do you get to meet a team of hockey players who also double as crimefighters?"
"It's always good to know the weight of the world doesn't rest solely on our shoulders."
And so, Sonic and Tails were in front of the entrance to "the best hockey rink in the world", as some people called it.
"Well, here we are." Tails could only stare at the door. "You think we should go in?"
Before Sonic could reply, a voice was heard from elsewhere.
"You got here faster than I expected, guys."
"Yeah, we got lucky, Tanya." As she walked up to them, Sonic made the expected question. "So, what now?"
"We're going to surprise the others. Follow me."
Inside the locker room…
"I gotta say, this isn't what I expected."
"Just give me a moment, Sonic."
Tanya lifted the cap off of one of the pucks in display, revealing a few buttons. After pressing some of them, she put the cap back in place.
"The elevator should be here right about..." The wall with the team's logo opened up. "...now."
Tails stood in place, impressed, while Sonic began to approach it. "OK, I take it back. This is way past cool!"
After a brief chuckle, Tanya entered the elevator. "Alright, here's the plan. I'm going down to the base to get the guys ready. Once the elevator comes back up here, you just go in. OK?"
"Gotcha." Sonic gave her a thumbs-up.
"OK." Tails also replied, with a smile.
"Alright." After pressing a few buttons, the elevator doors began to close. "See you there."
Let's follow Tanya...
"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces." The female duck had a little laugh to herself.
Straightening herself up, she began to walk out of the elevator after the doors opened. Once she entered the base, she was met with an unsurprising sight: her teammates were in the middle of a situation.
"Guys, calm down!" Wildwing, the team leader, stood in the middle of the scene, trying to get his teammates under control.
His younger brother, Nosedive, stood on one side, cowering in fear behind the eldest duck of the group, Duke. "Don't tell me, bro! Try saying that to her!"
On the other side, the other female, Mallory, was being restrained by Grin, the strongest of the ducks.
"Try to find your inner peace, Mallory. This rage will get you nowhere."
"Let go of me, Grin! I'm going to kill him!"
Tanya simply walked into the scene. "Hey, guys. What happened now?"
"Just another one of the kid's jokes, sweetheart." Duke began to explain the situation to her. "He thought it really funny to put worms on Mallory's shampoo."
As she turned her attention to the cringing Nosedive, he also spoke. "What? At least it wasn't hair dye!"
Once she took another look at Wildwing and Grin trying to get Mallory to calm down, she began to think.
"I better do this before the genre changes from Adventure to Tragedy."
And so, she started.
"Uh, guys? I've got something I want to tell you."
Surprisingly, this managed to get everyone's attention, even snapping Mallory out of her near-psychotic rage.
Relieved, Tanya continued. "I was browsing around LectricLand, and I just so happened to meet up with someone."
The elevator was heard coming down.
"I guess at least one of you will know who they are." The doors opened. "And don't worry; they know us really well."
Needless to say, the other ducks were surprised. Almost as much as the blue hedgehog, in fact.
"No way, man." Nosedive couldn't believe his eyes. "You gotta be kidding me, Tawny!"
"Sonic the Hedgehog?" Wildwing followed that statement.
Mallory was the next one. "And Miles "Tails" Prower."
"In our HQ?" Nosedive turned to Tanya. "Have I ever told you how much I love you, girly-girl?"
As Sonic and Tails approached the team, the hedgehog began to speak.
"The Mighty Ducks, right in front of us. Why didn't I bring a camera?"
After this, Wildwing walked up to Sonic.
"It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Sonic. And you too, Tails."
Sonic shook his hand. "I don't think I could ever miss this kind of chance, Wing."
"Nice to meet you too." Tails also replied.
After he backed away a little, Mallory came up to them.
"Mallory McMallard, Puckworld Special Forces. It's an honor to meet you."
"Right back at you, Mal."
Next was Duke.
"I don't know what to say right now."
"Don't worry, Duke. Same goes for me."
He was followed by Grin.
"Sonic the Hedgehog. Truly an evolved soul."
"Uh... I'm guessing that's an enlightened version of a compliment. If that's the case, then thanks."
And last was Nosedive, about to explode with excitement.
"Nice to meet you, Dive."
"The fastest thing alive and his best friend... this is totally awesome!"
Very suddenly, the elevator doors opened again, which caught everyone's attention.
"Come on, boobies! What are you doing here? You've got a fast food endorsement today!"
Sonic and Tails were both confused.
"Well, so much for that moment of glory." Irritation could be seen on Nosedive's face.
Out of the elevator came a guy who was... well, to put it lightly, huge. But not the kind of huge that Grin is known for. More like the other kind of huge, as in "really wide". Oh, and he's also wearing a suit and an interestingly colored tie.
Tails turned to Duke. "Who is he?"
"Sonic, Tails, that's our manager, Phil Palmfeather. Feel free to ignore him."
After this comment, Phil took a look at the two weird things who were near his team.
"Who are these guys?"
Sonic turned to the ducks. "I guess he doesn't watch the news very often."
"Only when the subject at hand is money." Mallory replied to his comment.
Completely disregarding this short exchange, Phil approached them.
"Come on! You're running late!"
Wildwing decided to stop his manager's whining. "Alright, Phil. We'll do it."
The rest of the ducks sighed in slight frustration, but began to head for the elevator regardless. Once they were in, Nosedive turned to Phil.
"This better not be another Food in a Boot photoshoot, ya hear me?"
Meanwhile, Wildwing turned to Sonic and Tails.
"I'm sorry, guys, but we can't leave you here."
Sonic just grinned. "It's OK, Wildwing. I mean, it's just a trip to a fast food restaurant. How bad can it be?"
Cut to their destination...
"OK, I take it back." Sonic stood in front of a giant hamburger, with Tails next to him and both of them between the ducks. "This really stinks."
Tails decided to speak as well. "Wasn't he completely clueless about who we are?"
"He was, until someone told him about, you know, our fight with Dr. Droid." Tanya was holding a prop burger in her hand. "Someone who just so happened to be a big fan of you guys."
"And when you take Phil and you add something that'll make him money, it always equals a big ol' snoozapalooza." Nosedive took a bite out of a burger, and proceeded to spit it out. "Man, this thing is horrible!"
Mallory made a pose for the camera. "Well, at least it's not Food in a Boot."
"Burgers in a Bucket isn't exactly the greatest place either, sweetheart." Duke began to slice a burger with his sword, and the cameraman took a picture. "Well, there goes my dignity."
Sonic stood on top of the giant burger. "Why do we have to stand for this?"
"You see the top of the page?" Nosedive got on top as well. "Half of the genre is Humor, and our readers really love to see us do stupid things, so here we are."
Sonic could only stare at him. "I... I didn't get any of that."
Once they got off the giant burger, Tails approached Sonic.
"It could be worse, Sonic. At least we're not wearing burger costumes."
This caused all three of them to shudder, horrified by the mental image.
"You're right, Tails. It could be a lot worse."
Shortly after that, a beeping noise was heard. Sonic and Tails didn't know where it came from, but the ducks immediately turned to their wrists.
"What's up, guys?"
Wildwing began to explain. "Drake One is picking up a signal. We've got work to do."
The two friends sighed in relief. "We're saved!"
"Switch to battle gear!" And so they did. "To the Aerowing!"
Let's head straight for the launch sequence...
As Sonic and Tails stood in front of the ice, the ceiling began to open over as an alarm blared. The midsection of the ice began to open up, revealing a huge plane right beneath it.
Tails was impressed by the plane, while Sonic just began to talk. "Oh, yeah. We're gonna take a flight on the Aerowing."
After the top of the plane opened up, Tails began to fly towards it, carrying Sonic. They quickly landed inside the plane, after which the entrance was closed again.
"Full power to thrusters!" Wildwing gave the order.
After Nosedive pressed a button, the Aerowing quickly took off into the air. Immediately, the ceiling began to close again, and the plane began to head into the distance.
I hope you liked this new chapter. I've been working on it ever since I uploaded the first one, and it was the rewrites that forced me to wait until today to upload it. Just so you know, it's entirely possible that the same thing will happen with the next one.
Where are our characters heading to? Why are they heading there? Will Sonic ever figure out what his new friends are talking about? Find out next chapter!
This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing off.