Author's Note: Well, this is cool. I finally found a way to change the words' style. You see, You can make the words bold like this. (I have a feeling that there's lots of bold words in the early chapter.) Or you can make the words italicized like this. (Lots of emphasis there. It also means that I'm having thoughts.) Or it could be underlined like this. (I don't see how that can be used in the story, but I'll find a way.) Pretty cool, huh?

Knuckles: HURRY UP, SONIC!

...Ow, my ears. Well, I hope you guys enjoy his chapter. I'm gonna go see if I'm deaf now. See you guys at the second Author's Note!

Chapter 8: Preparation Conundrum

One day, I'm just walking down the sidewalk, looking at all the sights in my hometown. The sights are very beautiful, to say the least. After looking at nature, I looked at some of the store signs. (The shoe store sign always has the cool artwork, making the other store signs look like garbage.) When I looked at the last store sign on the block, everything stops to a halt and there's a record scratching noise. Or at least that's what it felt like. Why? Well, it's because I'm looking at the back-to-school sale sign. I can't believe that the first day of school is coming so soon. I mean, where did the time go?

Once I got over the shock, I ran all the way back to my house, (It's pretty amazing how fast I can run sometimes.) and once I ran through the open door, (I should have taught Tails to leave the door closed whenever he enters or leaves the house.) I shouted, "TAILS!" Tails must have been startled because I heard a scream, and a sound of an explosion. (One has to wonder what Tails is even making this time.) Then Tails walked down the stairs and I see that he is covered in smoke.

"Dude, I was practicing chemistry in my room and you messed up my concentration!" Tails shouted. I cringed from Tails' shouting and said, "Bro, the first day of school is already coming!" "I already knew that. The reason I was practicing chemistry in the first place is because I'm going to have chemistry class this year." Tails answered. Oh wow, Tails knew this already? Maybe he checked the school's website. I thought. Then I said, "Well, aren't you concerned that time could be messed up or something?" "No, it's that you never bothered to check your calendar." Tails replied. I face-palmed. Tails was right. I was too focused on reading and playing video games to check what the day is.

I sighed and said, "Well, you know what time it is." "Is it back-to-school shopping time?" Tails guessed. "You guessed it. Before we do that, though..." I said.

A FEW MINUTES LATER...

I set up the high diving board and I climbed up the ladder leading to it. Tails and I made the high diving board board (some assembly required) and I dragged the kiddie pool under the diving board. Once I climbed up the ladder, I looked down at Tails and said, "You're recording this, right?" Tails nodded as he held the camera up. Then I jumped on the diving board two times until I jumped out into the kiddie pool. I made a semi-big splash and Tails is amazed at this. Then we started laughing for a few seconds until boredom rears its ugly head. "This isn't as quite fun as we thought." I said. "Yeah...let's start the dreaded shopping now." Tails said.

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER...

After drying off, I walked out of the house along with Tails, ready to do some boring shopping. We walked back to the same place where I saw the back-to-school sale store sign. "Ok, so they're selling cool shoes here." I said as we walked into the shoe store. I looked at the cyan shoes that are on the bargain box. "Ooh, these shoes are so cool!" I gushed. "Of course you'll say that. Those shoes has your favorite color." Tails groaned, but he saw orange shoes on the same bargain box. "Wow! These shoes are awesome!" Tails exclaimed. Tails is being really hypocritical here.

After that, I looked at the price tag that has been attached to the cyan shoes. "100 dollars?! I thought this was called a 'bargain box', not a 'rip-off box'!" I said disdainfully. Tails got the similar reaction to the price of the orange shoes. "200 dollars?! I guess orange is more popular than cyan..." Tails said. I glared at Tails and said, "NO, IT'S NOT! Blue is the most popular color in the world, which means cyan is more popular than orange! Besides, men and women alike increasingly dislike orange as they age!" "Oh, whatever!" Tails said as he rolled his eyes. Then I looked at the male cashier and said, "Sir, why are there some expensive shoes in the bargain box?!" "Because some trouble making teenagers love to throw expensive shows around." The cashier nonchalantly explained.

These teenagers would throw expensive shoes around rather than wear them? Geez, it seems that we live in a crazy world. I thought. "Ok, sir. What else is in the bargain box?" I asked. "There are only brown shoes that cost 10 dollars." The cashier answered. "...You can't be serious." I said in a deadpan way. "Would you rather waste all your money on something you barely use and therefore, you'll end up in a financial ruin?" The cashier inquired. I looked at the cashier as if he just did a back-flip from a cliff into a river. (In other words, I couldn't believe what the cashier just said.) "...Fine. Brown shoes it is." I said as I took out 10 dollars to buy the blandest pair of shoes in the universe. Tails did the same since he has no choice. He wants to save his money too. After this, we walked out of the shoe store while holding a shoe box that contains the brown shoes. "One has to wonder on how the employees could say that. Did the boss told them to say that?" I questioned. "Probably. Honestly, it's not a good business strategy. These guys should stick to shooting commercials." Tails answered. "Yeah... they should have thought harder." I said.

3 MINUTES LATER...

We arrived at the mall, which is the mother-lode of back-to-school items. Once we entered the mall, we saw sale signs in front of practically every store in the mall. Whoa...talk about advertisement overload. I thought. Then we literally ran into Amy. (Figures...of course Amy is shopping at the mall.) We both fell down while Amy drops some shopping bags. Once, we got up from the floor, (and after we got over the dizziness from falling) I said, "Are you all right, Amy?" Amy looked at me and said, "Yeah, I'm alright. Just make sure you watch where you are going next time, ok?"

Tails and I nodded and Amy picked up the shopping bags and ran off. (Wait, why is she still running after she just bumped into someone? I guess she just forgot.) After that, Tails and I wanted to go to the school supplies store, so we can get, well, school supplies so we can be done with back-to-school shopping and be ready for school. The problem is, we have to walk with through the food court in order to get to the school supplies store. You may be wondering: How is that a problem?

Well, first of all, the food here is really great so therefore, we could end up forgetting about the real reason we came to this mall, thanks to the great food at the food court. Second of all, they have a sale at the food court too, so we could end up being stuck here for hours, thanks to the sales.

So Tails and I made up a simple plan, which is just walking through the food court as fast as we can.

Once we entered the food court, we walked fast, trying to find an exit. The thing is, food court is like a modern labyrinth. We have to walk through a maze of people (who apparently loves food so much that they stood around the food court as if they want to be our obstacles in a labyrinth) and we have to ignore the distracting food offers.

During the walk, we saw one guy throw up after he ate one too many tacos. Thanks to that, ignoring food offers is easier than I thought. Unfortunately, the food police arrived. "Oh no...not the food police." I groaned. "How is that a bad thing? The food police only arrives when someone threw up and they always bring delicious food with them...oh." Tails said. "Yep. The delicious food is gonna distract us from the back-to-school mission." I said.

The food police walked to the person who threw up and said, "Let me see your Lunch ID." The sick person handed them the Lunch ID and the food police inspected the ID and looked back at the sick person. Then they took out the handcuffs (The food police's handcuffs are made out of every food imaginable. I can't tell you exactly what they're made out of or otherwise it'll be the longest paragraph you have ever read.) and they strapped it to the sick guy's hands. "You're under arrest for throwing up in the food court, Troy. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or throw up can and will be used against you in a food court of mall law." The first food police officer said. I have a feeling that I have heard this phrase somewhere...

"Guys, I'm just innocent!" Troy said. "If you were innocent, then how come you threw up? Food should stay in your stomach and digest, not being thrown out of the mouth! We're going to interrogate you at the broom closet!" The second food police officer said as the rest of the food police officers dragged Troy to the aforementioned broom closet, which happens to be near the taco booth. The third food police officer accidentally dropped the cherry pie while they're dragging Troy to the food closet.

Tails and I couldn't believe our eyes after seeing that nonsensical commotion. "Sonic, is it just me or are we in the middle of the Cops episode?" Tails questioned. "Nah, I think we just witnessed the cosplayers being the police wannabe team. And apparently, the cosplayers are also obsessed with food." I answered. Then we noticed the cherry pie on the floor. It obviously looked very scrumptious. "Hmm...I suddenly feel like eating this pie." I said. "Sonic, remember that we're trying to get back-to-school stuff. Do not let the pie distract you. Besides, the five second rule has passed." Tails warned. "Aww, just one bite? Also, the janitor at the mall cleans the floors really good." I begged. Tails sighed and said, "Fine. We only have to eat one bite of the pie even though it looks so appetizing..."

Needless to say, we each took one bite of the cherry pie. The taste of the cherry pie is so sweet that I felt as if no other food can taste better than this. (Well, except for pizza and macaroni and cheese.) I'm pretty sure Tails felt the same way. After that, we DEVOURED the whole pie. We couldn't get enough of delicious food, so we ran around the food court, ordering every food from every food booth. (Every food in the food court is free thanks to the back-to-school sale.) Every food booth owner looked at us strangely, but we're too greedy to care. Knuckles watched the whole thing. "Gee, and I thought I love food too much!" Knuckles said to himself. We gobbled almost every food until the food booth owner bans us from their booth. Then Tails and I just sat down at the table and talked about every strange thought we had in our entire lives. (For example: Do monkeys suck on their thumbs?) This goes on for some time until we conked out on the table.

6 HOURS LATER...

Tails and I talked for 1 hour and we slept for 5 hours. After we woke up, we couldn't believe that it's already night. We also couldn't believe that some mall cop didn't wake us up to escort us out of the mall. "Well, I guess now is the good time to get school supplies, huh?" I said. Tails nodded in agreement and we walked to the exit of the food court.

After we finally got out of the food court, we walked straight to the school supplies store. The bad news is that the mall cop is patrolling around the entrance. Oh, so now the mall cop is doing his job. I thought. "How are we gonna get through this guy?" Tails wondered. The mall cop suddenly collapsed. Tails and I gasped in surprise because we don't even know what caused the mall cop to collapse. Shadow was behind the mall cop and he had karate chopped the mall cop's back.

"Shadow, you have watched one too many karate movies, you know that?" I said after I got over the initial shock. "Heh, I just can't wait for our academic competition, Sonic. And I need to get prepared in order to win in that competition. Besides, I fell for the same food court trap." Shadow explained. Then he ran to the inside of the school supplies store. Tails and I did the same.

Once we're inside, we went to the notebook aisle. Shadow can't decide whether he should choose the red notebook or the black notebook. Tails and I simply chose the orange and blue notebooks, respectively. "Shadow, just hurry up and choose the notebook already!" I said in frustration. "Be quiet, Sonic! I need to decide which notebook is the lucky one." Shadow said. I face-palmed while Tails groaned in boredom. I have never thought shopping could be this boring until now.

After Shadow finally picks the notebook, (It's the black notebook in case you guys are wondering.) we walked to the pencil and pens aisle. We just chose some pencils and pens. It's as simple as that. What's not so simple however, is that the mall cop regained consciousness and he spotted us once we walked out of the pencil and pens aisle.

"HEY YOU! STOP STEALING SUPPLIES OR ELSE I'LL USE BRUTE FORCE!" The mall cop yelled. "Yeah, right. The only 'brute force' you have is the flashlight." Shadow said sarcastically. "Besides, we're not stealing. We're going to pay for our supplies." I said. "Umm, guys? The mall cop is about to run after us. We should run away." Tails said. We looked to see that the mall cop has gotten closer. Thankfully, the mall cop has apparently ate one too many donuts because he has slow running speed. (The mall cop is definitely not helping with the 'cops love donuts' stereotype.)

Shadow, Tails, and I ran to the next aisle where the mall cop couldn't see us. (Somehow.) The mall cop grunted in frustration and he said, "Backup! I need backup! I'm too slow!"

Meanwhile, Shadow, Tails, and I looked around. It turns out that we're in a folder aisle. We looked around for a perfect folder. I obviously chose the blue one, and Shadow got the black one. Surprisingly, Tails chose the green folder. Tails looked at my shocked face and he said, "What? My school supplies just need a little variety." "Oh ok." I said after hearing Tails' reason.

Unfortunately, two big mall cops blocked both aisle's exits. "Geez, when did the mall cops get smart all of a sudden?" Shadow asked incredulously. Before we knew it, we got cornered. Well then. Looks like my permanent record is gonna take a big hit after this. I thought.

Before the mall cops can catch us though, the food police officers ran through the aisle's entrance and they tackled the two mall cops. "This is the food police and you're under arrest for spitting out those jelly-filled donuts!" The first food police officer said. "How am I under arrest? I should arrest you for staying in the mall after it closes." The first mall cop said. "Oh no you don't!" The second police officer said. Shortly after that, a huge fight ensued between the food police officers and the mall cops.

"Let's get out of here while we still can." Tails said. Shadow and I silently agreed. We walked out of the folder aisle and we walked out of the school supplies store, but not before we left some money on the front store counter. After we got out of the mall, Shadow said, "Well, it has been a fun adventure and all, but I gotta get home now. See you at school, rival." Shadow said before he ran off to his home. After that, I looked at Tails and said, "So, you're ready for school, bro?" "I'm 100% ready, Sonic." Tails said. "That's good to hear." I said while smiling.

Then we walked to our home. During the walk, Tails said, "So, do you think the school year will be great this year?" "Well, as long as we're ready for anything, this year will be great." I answered. Tails smiled after hearing this advice and the rest of the walk is peaceful and quiet. This preparation adventure may have been hectic, but at least it prepared us for the impending school year. And this time, we're ready for it.

Author's Note: Sounds like we got this year in the bag! In order to be more prepared though, let's see those two fun facts!

FUN FACT #1: In Finland, Cinderella is known as Tuna. Let's hope the whales won't confuse this princess as a fish.

FUN FACT #2: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is written by Mozart. A classical musician has wrote a nursery song. Let that sink in.

Well, guys, I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter. By the way, school starts in few days for me, so I might be a little busy, but regardless, I'll still write stories. (After I finish my homework.) I'll see you guys later in the next chapter when school is in session!