I do not own any of this. Paranorman belongs to Laika and Sonic The Hedgehog belongs to Sega.
Needing to stop for gas after driving for miles all day. Mitch pulled his van into a nice gas station located in a nice motorway service area where several fast food and sit-down restaurants, along with several retail stores, were built for the comfort of passing drivers. Several of the pumps were already occupied, leaving only just one for the van to park next to.
The pump was right in the middle, providing a perfect path towards the door of the station. By now, Courtney had taken a break from chatting to Mitch and instead she took this time to secretly take pictures of him on her phone before posting them on her Facebook account with the hashtag "possible future boyfriend." Speaking of which, she might as well check up on her friends' profiles for any important updates; besides, they must be worried sick over her since she hasn't called any of them in hours - a personal record for her.
Stepping out of his van, Mitch gently closed the door before looking in on them. "Alright, so I'm going to go fill up on gas. After that, we should try to find a place to eat."
"Sounds like a great plan. Has anybody ever told you that your totally great with planning?" Courtney sweetly remarked.
"Coach Bob did once." Mitch replied before turning away to face the pump. Meanwhile, Norman was still looking out the window, silently watching the slowly setting sun. It's hard for him to comprehend all of this; here he is on some road trip to New York City with a blue alien hedgehog to get back his rings that are apparently portals to travel through. All the while, a government scientist with a Civil War-type mustache is coming after them. It's very safe to say that when Norman woke up this morning, he certainly wasn't expecting this.
Norman also couldn't help, but think about Sonic's story of how he got to Earth. It's both crazy and sad that, due to Sonic's power, he was not only chased out of his home by an entire tribe, but he also lost his loving guardian who had raised him since birth. It's even worse when you consider that the only reason they did it was because they wanted to harness his power for their own deeds; now, what exactly are those deeds? Norman didn't know, but most likely, they weren't for anything good.
Norman may not have super speed, but as he turned his gaze to the two ghostly figures of a gas station worker and a construction worker casually talking to each other near the left corner of the station. It made him think that perhaps they weren't so different; sure no one was chasing him out of town because of his gift, but it to gave him unwanted attention.
Speaking of Sonic, he slightly listened as he happily took in all the sights around the gas station. "Look at all these restaurants. This must be a very popular spot."
"Oh no. This is just a rest area for people to either stop for gas, do some shopping, or have a quick bite to eat." Neil kindly explained to him.
"Sweet. I wonder if they have any hot wings? Let's go see." Lifting himself off his seat, Sonic is stopped immediately by Courtney who turned around from her seat and pushed him back down with one hand firmly on his chest.
"Hold the phone buster. We are trying to lay low in case you forgotten, and you just casually walking into one of those restaurants isn't going to be helping us one bit." She snarked in a very serious tone.
"But, I want some hot wings." Sonic protested.
"Will get you some later. With you in the van. Way out of sight from anyone." Asserting a firm glare just to make sure he got the message. Courtney turn back around and promptly went right back to her phone, leaving Sonic to look down a bit disappointed.
"Aw man. This bites."
"Courtney's right Sonic. We don't need to draw in any attention to ourselves." Norman stated in a much more lighter tone.
"Besides. Your still going to get some hot wings." Neil happily reassured him.
Crossing his arms, Sonic's gaze draws down further. "Sure," he says. A movement from the right corner of his eyes then makes him look up in sudden interest.
Right outside the window, past the gas pumps, is a bar and grill with a packed parking lot filled with many people either leaving or entering the building shaped like a cabin with a moose head above the entrance. "Whoa! Check that place out."
Norman and Neil looked over at the restaurant and noticed the crowds of people enjoying themselves through the large windows. They could also hear the faint sound of country music coming from inside the building.
"That place looks like a lot of fun." Neil gleefully exclaimed. He wondered if they had a karaoke machine? He would just love to sing a song or two.
"It looks pretty crowded though. I bet it takes thirty minutes or maybe an hour to get inside." Norman said, pointing out the large crowd standing in line at the entrance. He could also see some people sitting down on the benches attached to the front of the building.
"Hey Sonic. You think they have one of those basketball games?" Not getting any answer, Neil cocked his eyebrows in question. "Sonic?"
Turning around he sees that Sonic isn't there. "Hey. Where did he go?"
They both looked to the very back of the van, but he wasn't there or anywhere else in the van. Norman simply couldn't believe it; he was staring out in Sonic's general direction, and he would have surely noticed him moving from the corner of his eye. The mere fact that he didn't see him is utterly amazing because it shows just how fast Sonic really is.
Just then, the driver's door opened as Mitch began to step into the vehicle. "Alright guys. The van is all fueled up and we can now hit the road." Looking over to the back, Mitch took quick notice of one missing passenger. "Hey, where's the little blue dude?"
Alerted by the comment, Courtney swiftly turned around and let out a groan. Unbelievable! She told him no and he sneaks out of the van. Glancing over to the nearby restaurant, she has a pretty good idea as on where exactly he went off to.
Releasing another groan, Courtney storms out of the van and began to march her way towards the bar and grill. "Ugh! Come on!"
"Hold on, I need to park the van in a better spot." Mitch didn't want to be a jerk by holding up the pump, so after shutting both the driver's and passenger side doors, he drove towards a nice parking spot in the lot of the bar and grill while Courtney tapped her foot impatiently for him.
As they stepped into the busy restaurant, they were all met with the loud sounds of people talking, music playing, and a few cheers from sports fans who watched their favorite teams score points on one of the many TVs.
Their ears quickly adjusted to the loud sounds as they all scanned around for their hedgehog. Courtney at last spotted him sitting at a table, wearing a white shirt and red baseball cap in a poorly made disguise. Scoffing at the sight, she marched herself over to him with the others following closely behind; once she reached him, she lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
Getting his attention, Sonic turned around and smiled at them, while tilting down his cap a bit. "Hey there. Glad you could finally make it."
"What are you doing?" Courtney asked in disbelief.
"Oh, this place is very awesome! I've never seen such a large assortment of TVs before; though, I don't understand why some of them are airing the exact same show. Oh, and you should definitely try these breadsticks; they're delicious!" Grabbing hold of the basket, Sonic offered them all a breadstick, which Neil gladly accepted.
"Thanks" Taking one bite out of the bread stick, Neil smiled for Sonic was right, these were delicious.
"Dude. You can't just wander off like that. You could get lost or get into trouble." Mitch lightly scowled for it's a very reckless thing for someone of Sonic's age to do.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist. This place is just so awesome; so why don't we just sit down and have a nice dinner?" Pulling out a seat next to him, Sonic gently patted the seat in invitation for one of them to sit down, which only caused Courtney to hold her forehead in frustration for she couldn't believe he was doing this.
"I mean, we are already here." Norman pointed out. He had to admit that he was feeling rather hungry and it would be a bit rude to just leave, even if he wasn't much of a fan of these types of restaurants.
"Besides the Bear's game is on. I do want to see them play." Mitch said as he watched one of the overhanging TV'S; where on it a football player made a touchdown resulting in a good amount of people to loudly cheer that included Sonic. "Whoo! I have no idea what just happened!"
"Fine will eat here." Courtney finally relented. "But please try not to draw too much attention to ourselves. I really don't want to deal with that doofus again."
With that, she and the others promptly sat down at the table, each taking a menu for themselves as Sonic delightedly looked to all of them. "See? Isn't this great. All of us together enjoying the night as good friends."
"It's a little early to call the friendship card, don't you think?" Courtney snarked as she tried to decide between the salad or the soup. It was a tough choice for a vegan like her, considering most of the other food on this menu were meat-based products or other non-vegan options.
"Oh come now." Neil joyfully proclaimed as he happily looked up from his own menu. "Of course we are all friends. You can say that it's just a casual night with your friendly neighborhood hedgehog."
The comment causes a huge smile to form on Sonic as for the first time ever someone actually called him a friend, it honestly felt like his heart was beating much faster due to how much joy he was feeling. "Do you really mean that, Curly Hair?"
"Of course Sonic. You're a very nice guy, who wouldn't want to be your friend?" He happily replied.
"Thanks Neil. You don't know how much that means to me." Keeping up his happy smile, Sonic soon began to look around some more to entertain himself. He occasionally glanced up to the TVs and briefly watched the many games being played; hockey, baseball, basketball, and of course football. "You know. I've seen a few games at the park. I always wanted to play a game, but I never gotten the chance to do it. A big bummer, but at least I had fun watching them."
"So have you seen last year's football game by any chance?" Mitch suddenly asked.
"You bet!" Picking up a breadstick, Sonic held it close to his mouth like a microphone. "The Blithe Hallow witches were down by the last quarter, the score was 15-16, there were only ten seconds left, the crowd was cheering. Then, when it seemed that all hope was lost, number 12 kicked the ball from the other end of the field and scored a complete win for the entire team." Letting out a cheer like the crowd at the game, Sonic happily took a bite out of his makeshift microphone.
"I can't believe you saw me make that kick." Mitch stated with a smile for that was one of the greatest moments in his life.
"Oh that was you? Well congratulations on the win. That sure was an awesome kick!"
"Thanks. I kicked that ball about a hundred yards." Mitch proclaimed very proudly.
"Wait. I was at that game to. Where even were you?" Having been there as a cheerleader, Courtney certainly would have taken notice of him amongst the crowd of cheering fans.
"I was up on the roof of the school. It had the best view of the game, plus it made it harder for people to spot me. By the way, you did very excellent when you were cheering for the team."
Perking up at this, Courtney beamed in pride for she did do a rather great job on her cheerleading skills. "Well thanks. I taken you caught site of my totally awesome flip? That I totally invented by the way."
"The one where you threw both of those puffy, pink things into the air, did a flip and caught them just when you landed back on your feet. Yeah. That was definitely awesome, how did you learn to do that?"
"It takes years of practice and most importantly natural skills." Courtney proudly boasted as she looked down at her outstretched hands, flexing her fingers slowly while her nail polish glittered under the indoor lights.
"Do you think I can do it?" Sonic already knew he could with his speed. In fact, Sonic could throw one of those sticks in the air, run off to a nearby concession stand, eat a bucket of popcorn, and return to the field before gravity could even pull the stick back down to Earth.
"Probably. I mean, you got your speed thing going on." She nonchalantly replied.
"Yeah man." Neil spoke up in excitement. "With your speed Sonic. You can enter into a NASCAR race and easily beat all those racers."
"Not hard to imagine." Sonic confidently boasted as he pointed proudly to himself. If there's one thing Sonic is proud of, it's his speed. He isn't the fastest thing alive for nothing. "So anyway. Who wants to share a funny story?"
Proceeding to chat about random topics from Neil asking Sonic on more information of his homeworld, Mitch telling him about the other football games he had attended, while Courtney chimed in on how great she cheered, especially her form when she finishes a round. During these chats, the waitress took each of their orders, then left them be as she went to inform the kitchen on the new orders and, given how busy it was tonight, it would take awhile for their food to be ready; however, seeing how much they were chatting with each other, the waitress figured that they might not mind.
Norman, however, is the only exception. Unlike the others who are happily talking amongst themselves, he is happily content with simply sitting there with his hands folded on the table, while looking around at the decor of the restaurant. This is when something very strange begins to happen.
Glancing to the wall on his left, Norman squinted his eyes for it could be his imagination, but it looked like it was peeling away, as if it were a piece of burning paper. If that wasn't strange enough, right through that peeling paper of reality was a forest that looked just like the ones back home. Turning away, he saw more things from the reality-warping effect—more trees, the distant lights of a small pilgrim village, and the faces of angry and disgusted adults in pilgrim uniforms staring directly at him.
Terror filled him as he desperately tried to figure out on what exactly was going on? This is definitely new for him, and he didn't like it one bit. Just why was he seeing all this?
"Witch"
"Servant of the devil."
"Bring her to trial."
"Hang her."
These jumble words repeated in his ears like a swarm of angry bees, growing louder and louder with each passing second. It made him want to scream out loud, but then the voices suddenly stopped all together and is swiftly replaced by the sobbing of a child. Looking sharply ahead of him, Norman spotted a girl around his age with long black hair sitting on the ground, crying into her hands.
"Norman, are you ok?"
As quickly as it appeared, the strange vision disappeared with a couple of blinks bringing Norman back to reality; everyone at the table was now looking at him. Sonic and Neil were concerned, while Mitch looked at him strangely, and his sister simply gave him an annoyed look, as if he had once again embarrassed her.
"You okay there buddy? You were kind of zoning out there for a moment." Neil gently asked him.
"I'm fine. I was just thinking about something." He lied for they wouldn't understand about on what he had just seen, heck he doesn't even understand it. What was it all that about? Who were those angry people? Who was that poor crying girl? Just what did it all mean?
"Must've been something very interesting Ghost Boy." Sonic exclaimed.
"You could say that." Norman replied as he kept eye contact with all of them.
"Whatever," Courtney mumbled under her breath. Leave it to Norman to be weird in public. But just as long as he doesn't pull the gorgeous hunk away from her, she can tolerate it. Speaking of which, she better get back to talking with Mitch and the only way to do that is by talking about sports and all that junk.
Lifting her finger as she was about to say something, Courtney is suddenly interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the bar.
Looking over in alarm, they witnessed a man in a suit shouting loudly at the bartender. From what they could make out, he was angry because both his favorite team had lost a game, and the bartender was refusing to give him another drink due to the fact that he already had about five and was clearly becoming intoxicated.
The words he choose to spat out weren't nice at all, curse words that not even Courtney recognized, then he spoke in a statement on how much more important he is to society than the bar tender and how he can easily get him fired with just one simple snap of his finger. However the bartender, who clearly handles these sort of situations often, remains stone face as he calmly tells the angry man that he isn't getting him any more drinks, which only served to anger the man even further.
Grabbing the bartender by the collar and raising a fist to punch him in the jaw. The bartender prepares for the strike, when a breadstick suddenly flew in and hit the man on the shoulder, gaining his immediate attention as he released the bartender and looked around furiously with a deep growl escaping him. "Who did that!?"
"I did angry man." Stepping into his view, Sonic playfully rubbed his nose for this was going to be fun.
"Sonic wait! What are you doing?" Neil called out in concern for the unstable man looked like he was about to go into an unstoppable rage and could very well hurt Sonic.
"Get your blue butt back here right now!" Courtney ordered sternly.
"Chill guys. You're looking at a hedgehog who watched a lot of both action and horror movies. I know just how to handle this creep." Sonic remarks while clenching his fists together, ready to make a move.
"No one disrespects me! Especially not some ugly rodent freak! Don't you know who I am?!" The man shouted with his veins visibly twitching on his neck. All the while Sonic's smirk grew wider after he released a fake yawn.
"You mean ya don't know who you are? Hey everyone! We got someone with amnesia here!" Sonic hollered, earning a few chuckles to escape from the crowds of people who are all watching this whole affair.
"That's it!" The man roared in rage. Charging forward like a Spanish bull, he has his hands stretched out in ready to grab the rodent's neck.
"Bring it, ugly!" Rushing forward, Sonic jumped over the man's reaching hands and delivered a punch to his cheek, knocking him off balance before he crashed into an empty table, flatting it while the chairs fell on their sides or backs. All the while Sonic landed perfectly on his feet and clasped his hands together in victory. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"
"Sonic! Look out!" Neil shouted as he frantically pointed out behind him.
Turning around, the man is back up on his feet with a pocket knife out. Breathing in and out heavily with the look of a wild animal, he charges at Sonic again in full speed, this time with the knife raised. The man gets right up to Sonic when everything suddenly froze up, as if someone had pressed the pause button. The only one who wasn't frozen on the spot was Sonic, who just casually blinked at the angry man.
"Really?"
Smiling for now the real fun could begin. Sonic first tied the man's shoelaces together, then picked up a bottle of ketchup and mustard from a nearby table and used them to draw a mustache, beard, and glasses on his face. He then zipped into the bathroom, returns with a roll of toilet paper, and wrapped it around both of his legs. Sonic then took the pocket knife out of his hand and safely placed it away in the kitchen drawer. On his way out, Sonic took a chili dog from a tray on the counter.
Finishing the chili dog by the time he reached his table. Sonic took notice of the concern on Mitch, Courtney, Norman, and Neil's faces; the latter covering his eyes with his hands. Grabbing ahold of each of their chairs, Sonic moved them all one by one to a very safe distance from the fight.
With that important task done, Sonic went back in front of the angry man and raised his hands in a "bring it" gesture. Everything then immediately went back to normal speed; the man fell to the floor with a mighty thud, his friends blinked in confusion at their new positions in the restaurant, and a waiter asked where the chili dog had gone to.
But by all else the whole restaurant has become completely silent, except for the man who lowly let out a painful groan. Slowly looking up at the hedgehog in a daze, Sonic shakes his index finger at him, then swiftly zips on over to Norman and the others. "And now it's time for us to split."
Glancing back at the grumbling man who is now just beginning to get back up, Courtney nodded in agreement. "Totally with you on that."
Wasting no time, they all raced out of the restaurant and towards Mitch's van. Sonic of course was the first one in, by getting himself all comfortable in his seat. The others soon followed suit, with Mitch being the last one in; he just buckled in his seat belt when the man burst out of the building.
Angrily looking around, he quickly spots them and immediately ran at them. "Floor it Mitch!" Courtney screamed.
Slamming his foot down on the gas, Mitch backed the van onto the road and peeled away from the angry man, leaving him in the dust. "You stupid rodent! I'm going to sue your pants off!"
"Better find some anger management, Angry Guy!" Sonic called back as his angry shouts faded into the distance. Once he could no longer hear him shouting, Sonic leaned back and laughed. "Man. Did you see the lovely art I did on his face? A true work of art, it goes well with his personality."
"I still don't know what just happened. We were at the table, then literally the next moment we were near the wall." Courtney remarked as she tried to wrap her head around it; she didn't even blink when it happened.
"It was like we teleported." Mitch proclaimed for it was sure a trip.
"How were you able to do that?" Norman asked him. He couldn't even remember feeling his body being moved.
Casually shrugging to them, Sonic happily relaxes himself on his seat. "Eh. When you're as fast as me. Time sometimes seems to stop for you."
His answer didn't satisfy their questions on what had happened; it just filled them with even more questions as Mitch drove on through the early hours of the evening.
