Zip Zap Zoom ʚɞ Sonic the Hedgehog

ʚɞ Three - Meow? ʚɞ

That evening after Ashley's baseball game had ended, Alex found herself in her room, putting all of her things into cardboard boxes. She started with her desk, leaving only her laptop and charger out as she was planning to use them on the car ride to San Francisco.

But just as she reached over to grab her clay model of a police officer, her bedroom lights switched off. Her phone lit up, indicating the charger had turned off too.

'What the...?' she thought.

Alex got onto her feet and walked over to the light switch, flicking it on and off, but nothing happened. Grabbing her phone and turning on the torch, Alex left her room and began making her way downstairs to where she could hear Wade panicking on her dad's phone.

"Call Zim before Gil?" Wade asked, worried like most of the time when something like this happens. "Call Gil- Hello?!"

"I'll call you back," Tom said before hanging, obviously having noticed something.

"Dad?" Alex called out.

"Sweetie, come here," Tom said. When Alex arrived next to him, he pointed at something on the table. "You recognise that?"

On the table was something Alex had never even dreamed of seeing. It was a quill, glowing a bright neon blue and lighting up most of the room.

Alex held it in her hand, filled with curiosity. "Can't say that I have. Where did you find it?"

"By the speed trap," Tom replied. "You sure you've never seen anything like this? You're in the woods a lot."

"Pretty sure," Alex answered, nodding her head. "But whatever this quill belongs to, I think it wanted to stay hidden."

"What makes you say that?" Tom asked, taking the quill out of Alex's hand.

"I don't know," Alex sighed. "Just a feeling."

■■■

The next morning was still busy for the two. While Alex was eating breakfast, Tom was marking down the best way to get to San Francisco.

As he continues, his phone rings.

"Hey!" Tom smiled as he answered the phone.

"Hey!" Maddie replied, a smile on her face too.

"Hi, Mom!" Alex called out from where she was finishing her breakfast.

"Alex says hi," Tom said to Maddie. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just colouring with Jojo and Rachel," Maddie answered.

"Ah, that sounds... half fun," Tom admitted. "Hey, exciting stuff here. We had a power outage. The whole town went dark. It was like a sign telling me to get out of Dodge."

"Wade must have lost his mind," Maddie replied.

"Yeah. And he does not have much to lose," Tom remarked. "How's your sister? Did she convince you to leave me yet?"

"No, but she did tell me to check your phone for dating apps," Maddie answered while Rachel was watching from nearby, waiting for an answer.

"The only apps on my phone are the ones that came with it," Tom replied before sighing as he admitted to another app on his phone. "And the Olive Garden."

"Because when you're there..." Maddie started the motto.

"You're family," Tom finished with a smile, but it quickly faded as he heard a noise coming from outside. Tom looks out the window to his garage, spotting the bins that were toppled over.

"No way. The raccoons are back. And they are in for a surprise," Tom announced as he opened a drawer.

"Your surprise better not be my tranquillizer gun," Maddie replied. "They're just hungry. And also, that's for bears."

Tom grabs the tranquillizer gun, checking it was loaded before closing and cocking it, "Good. Now I know it'll work."

"Tom!" Maddie warned her husband.

"I'm kidding. I'm just gonna use it to scare 'em. Possibly to death," Tom said before quickly ending the call. "Love you, honey. Bye!"

"Mom's gonna kill you if you use it," Alex said. "She's right. The raccoons are just looking for food, they don't mean any harm."

"Alex, please finish your breakfast," Tom said as he began making his way to the garage.

"Already have," Alex replied, following Tom to the garage. "You're not really gonna shoot them, are you?"

However, Tom didn't reply as he burst open the door with a kick. "SFPD! Pending background check! Paws in the air-"

When Tom stopped talking, Alex poked her head into the room, eyes widening as she spotted what her dad had seen.

A blue... thing was standing in the middle of the garage, holding what looked like a ring in his right hand.

"Uhhh... meow?" the thing said.

Tom and Alex let out terrified screams, making the creature scream out in fear too. Tom's hand jolted and a tranquillizer fired at the creature's leg.

"Oww!" the creature let out, already beginning to lose consciousness. He reads the words on Tom's shirt. "San... Francisco"?

The creature drops the ring and it opens up and into a portal at the top of the Transamerica building in San Francisco in the middle of the floor. A bewildered Tom drops the gun and watches as the creature stumbles to the ground and drops his ring satchel through the portal, which lands on the roof of the building.

The portal then begins to close.

"No..."

The portal is now closed, leaving the creature unconscious and lying on the ground. Tom, still in shock at what he saw, lets out only one word.

"What...?"

"The...?" Alex finished.