Keep It Crescendo

Chapter 2: The Deal

Ages:

Sonic: 24

Sonia: 21

Manic: 17

Tails: 23

Cream: 23

Let's begin!

"No."

"But dad!"

"I said no!"

Sonic followed his father Jules the Hedgehog around the office of The Hedgehog Industries in hopes of convincing him to let him go to New York.

"Dad, I'm a grown man now. I honestly don't see what's the problem."

"Alright then, if you're such a grown man, why don't you move out and buy your own apartment?"

Sonic cursed under his breath.

"Sonic, choreography seems pointless, you should be focusing on more important things like taking charge of your position here in the office."

"And how many times do I have to tell you, old man, that this whole owning a business thing isn't for me?"

"Sonic the Hedgehog, we The Hedgehogs have been running this business through decades! My great, great grandfather handed it to my great grandfather, my great grandfather handed it to my grandfather, my grandfather handed it to my father, my father passed it on to me, and..."

"You're going to pass it on to me, I know dad you've told me that story a trillion times already."

"And despite that fact it still hasn't entered your thick skull, you continue being an irresponsible, and rather petulant, child."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Just say it dad."

"Say what?"

"That I'm the biggest disappointment you've ever encountered in your life."

"No Sonic—" Jules stopped walking and turned to look at Sonic. "At least not yet, I still have hope that you'll change one day..."

"Well you better keep hoping because I refuse to intern myself in an office for the rest of my life!"

A few workers turned to look at the pair, and Sonic tried his best to ignore the glare his father was sending him. He and Sonic walked into his office. Jules shut the door and took a seat on his chair. "Sonic, do tell me. When are you going to finally understand?"

"No, when are you going to understand me, Dad? ! I live for freedom, for dancing! I don't want to be locked up in an office, I'll go crazy! My dream is to be a choreographer!"

"I don't know where I went wrong for you to want to waste your time in such a stupid hobby, you should be more like your friend Tails. He seems to have morals and responsibilities that he takes care of very well."

"There you go again, comparing me to Tails, why don't you just disown me and adopt him? It's not like Tails has parents anyway."

"Sonic, that's enough! You asked me if you could go to New York and the answer's no unless you can pay for it yourself!"

Sonic was about to argue but was interrupted as Chuck walked into the room.

"Brother, we have a pro... oh... was I interrupting anything?"

"Hello Chuck, and no you weren't, please sit down. Sonic is capable of hearing our problems since he will be taking charge of the company soon."

Sonic groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Hello nephew."

"Hi Uncle Chuck," Sonic said in a monotone voice.

"What seems to be the problem?" Jules asked.

"Greenhill Dance Studio refuses to be managed by us anymore..."

"What? But how could that be!? We'll lose a lot of money without them! We could become officially bankrupt!"

"What do we do?" Chuck asked as Sonic yawned and began playing with the pencils on his father's desk.

"We'll have to find another dance studio to manage..."

"But that could take years, it's very hard to find a dance studio that isn't being managed! Where are we going to obtain the money to maintain the dance studio department stable?"

"We'll have to take another loan..."

"No, I'm tired of taking out loans from him..."

"What choice do we have?"

"Just take out the loan old man."

Jules and Chuck turned to look at Sonic who was clearly becoming bored with the topic.

"What?" Jules asked.

"Make life easier for yourself. Take out the loan, use it to stabilize the dance studio department, and meanwhile use that time to find a new studio to manage. And when you do have the company back in order, you can pay them back no problem," Sonic said as he put the pencils back into the pencil holder.

Jules smirked and nodded his head, "See, I knew you had the blood of a business man within do realize you've just given us a solution?"

"Nah, Nah, Nah, this has nothing to do with business, just common sense," Sonic said as he leaned his head back. "By the way, who are you taking loans from anyway?"

"The owner of Eggman Studios"

Sonic looked up at his father in shock, "No way!"

"Is there a problem?" Chuck asked.

"No, it's just that he's the guy that asked me to move to New York and work at his studio as one of his choreographers. He said he'd pay for the plane ticket and everything."

Jules narrowed his eyes and rubbed his quills who were aging into a white color.

"That gives me more of a reason to not let you go."

"Why?" Sonic asked indignantly.

"I don't want you getting involved with him, especially since you're my son."

"If you're doing this because you feel indebted to him in some way, and you think it's going to mess with the image of the business, then I don't want to hear it!"

"Sonic—"

"I'm tired of this stupid family business getting in the way of my happiness!" Sonic exclaimed as he walked out the door and slammed it behind him.

Jules sighed and covered his eyes.

"He'll mature one day Jules."

"I don't think so Chuck, this is becoming a hopeless cause..."

The Hedgehog Home

Sonic walked in through the door and slammed it behind him.

"One more slam like that and you'll break the door," Sonia told him as she carried a plate of nachos and some drinks toward the living room.

"I hate being the oldest!" Sonic exclaimed as he followed her to the living room.

"Try being the middle child," Sonia mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

"Where's Manic?"

"Completing his college applications."

"Dang, already?"

"Yup, the door to submitting applications for Cal States is in October and the door for UC's is in November."

"But why so early, it's barely September!"

"The college program he's in is making him complete them earlier so that he can have them ready when it's time to submit."

"AVID?"

"Yes, AVID."

"I'm going to go see how he's doing."

Sonia shrugged as she turned on Netflix and ate her snacks. Sonic walked up to Manic's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Sonic opened the door, noticing Manic sitting in the middle of an abyss of documents, looking like he hadn't slept in days. His quills were all over the place, he had bags under his eyes, and the room smelled like coffee.

"Hey bro, nice to see you around here," Manic said as he smiled.

"How are the college apps going?" Sonic asked as he left the door partly open and walked up to Manic.

"It's tough! You know universities aren't as easy to get into as they used to be when you put in your college applications," Manic said as he stapled a stack of papers.

"Trust me I know, but back when I was in high school we had no AVID guiding us into the right path, we had to do that all by ourselves."

"I know, that's why I'm thankful for AVID. I really want to get into Cal."

"Berkeley?"

"Yup, that's my dream school, and I'm sure mom and dad will be real proud if I managed to get into the business program at Cal."

"You actually like all that business crap?"

"Of course! I'm kinda jealous you know... since I know you're the one inheriting The Hedgehog Industries in the future."

"Trust me Manic, if I could, I'd give it all to you. But you know how dad is..."

"Yeah... well, nevertheless you'll give me a guaranteed job when I graduate out of college right?"

"You bet little bro," Sonic chuckled as he ruffled Manic's quills.

"Speaking of work, can you revise my personal statement?" Manic asked as he handed Sonic his paper.

"Wow, you finished it already?"

"Kinda, my AVID teacher Mr. Vector told us to get it revised by as many people as we could so that it could be perfect. Sonia read it and said it was good so I just need your opinion."

"Alright then, let's see," Sonic said as he looked it over and pointed out small mistakes that Manic took note of with a red pen.

They were so concentrated that they were unaware of Aleena watching them from the creak of Manic's door. With a smile, she took the clean laundry to her room.

"Hey honey."

Aleena turned and smiled as Jules walked in and gave her a kiss.

"How was work today?"

Jules sighed, "We were recently notified that Greenhill Studio won't be working with us anymore."

"Oh dear, and what will you do?"

"Well, believe it or not, your son gave me a solution."

"Sonic? What did he say?"

"He said that we should take another loan from Eggman and work our way towards finding another studio to stabilize the company."

"See, I told you that he'd become interested one day."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Why not?"

"Eggman saw him dancing at who knows where and is interested in Sonic moving to New York so that he can become one of his choreographers."

"And let me guess, Sonic wants to do it?"

Jules sent her a pointed look, and she let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"Well, why don't you let him? This is a dream Sonic has been passionate about for years."

"Why? So that Sonic can run into economic problems and end up crashing into a wall after his 'dream' falls apart? Cause I don't plan on giving him a single cent for that trip."

"Jules—"

"What Sonic needs is a good responsibility slap across the face, he lives life as a dream. He needs a good reality check so that he can learn to be more passionate about things that are worthwhile like business. Even Manic knows what he's doing."

"If you want your son to receive a reality check, don't you think this trip is perfect for him to receive just that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let Sonic go to that trip, let him make his mistakes and learn from them, in the end he'll come back and take his position in the administration office after realizing dancing wasn't what he thought it was. If you want Sonic to be responsible, you have to trust him."

Jules quietly stood in front of his wife and thought about what she had just said. Suddenly, the phone rang and he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello Jules, it's been a while."

"Eggman, what a pleasure to hear from you."

"Chuck called me regarding another loan."

"Yes, I promise that once we have the company stabilized again, we'll pay you back immediately."

"I don't want money for this loan... I'll give you the money on one condition."

"And what's that?"

"Let your son come work for me at Eggman Studios. I'll pay for his flight, I'll only give you the money on that condition."

Jules looked at his wife hesitantly.

"Can I talk about it with him and my wife first and get back to you on that?"

"Of course. And another thing, if your son defies me in any way, shape, or form, it's bye-bye money. Therefore he must be punctual and loyal to me, and he can't quit until I believe your debt with me has been paid."

Jules rubbed his quills.

I knew Sonic getting entangled with this man would be a bad idea.

"I'll talk to him."

"Perfect, I'll await your response."

Jules hung up and threw the phone onto the bed.

"Who was it?" Aleena asked.

"Eggman."

2 Hours Later

The whole family sat and ate as the house aides filled their cups with fresh lemonade.

"How are college applications going Manic?" Aleena asked.

"Great! Sonic spent the whole afternoon helping me with my personal statement."

"I'm proud of you Manic," Jules complimented. "You're going to do great in college."

"Yup, I'm really excited."

"How about you Sonia? How are your college courses going?" Aleena asked.

"Straight A's. Can't wait to get my bachelor's degree in public relations this year."

Sonic picked at his food and smiled at the achievements his siblings were making, he remembered when his parents were proud of him when he was their age, oh how times have changed...

"Sonic, your mother and I need to talk to you."

Sonic looked up from his plate and looked at his father.

"About?"

"The trip."

"You made it crystal clear pops, you don't want me to go, so can we drop it?"

"Actually, your father and I have another thing in mind."

Sonic eyed them inquisitively.

"Eggman made a bargain with me. He said that he'll give us the loan in exchange for letting you work for him in New York."

"So you mean—"

"Wait, I'm not finished."

Sonic quietly looked at them as he waited for his father to finish.

"I am aware that Tails and Cream are going to New York for their honeymoon, so I have installed you to live in an apartment in the same building as them. I talked to Tails and he agreed to keep an eye on you. Eggman put some limits though, he specifically told me you had to be loyal to him and you can't quit the job until he believes the debt within the loan has been paid."

Sonic nodded as his father continued.

"I want to make a deal with you Sonic."

"Which is?"

"I'll pay for your first month of rent in your apartment, but once you start receiving your paycheck from your so-called choreography job, I want you to start handling yourself like a responsible adult. If things don't go as planned and I find out that you can't handle it, I'll return you to Los Angeles and you'll have no choice but to work in the business administration office."

Chills ran down Sonic's back at the thought of working in an office, but considered the proposition.

"And if I could handle it?"

"Then I'll admit you were right. And, well, I'll see what we'll do about the position in the office. I'm trusting you Sonic, please don't make me regret it."

"You won't, I promise. Thanks Dad, knowing that you trust me really encourages me to put a lot of effort into this. You won't be disappointed, I promise."

"I hope so Sonic because bear in mind that this is also a way to repay Eggman for all that he's done for us and I don't want to be on bad terms with him."

Sonic stood up and walked up to his dad, "Thanks Dad, I will make you proud, I promise."

"So it's set?" Jules asked as he extended his hand.

"It's set," Sonic said as he shook his dad's hand, closing the deal.

Sorry for the late update, I was pretty busy this weekend.

Woo! The next chapter is the trip to New York!

Well don't forget to review and thanks to all that have reviewed!