A couple hours later, the band finished
playing as it came close to closing time for Cedric's Bar and Grill. They said their 'goodnights' to the audience and
made their way backstage. As the lights slowly came back on, Cedric made his closing time announcement to the customers.
While everyone else shuffled and stumbled out through the front doors, the two male
ducks, T.J and Chase stayed behind.
"What are you doing McMallard?" Chase questioned his friend
as T.J tried to make his way toward the bar owner.
"I just wanna know if there's a chance we could meet the members
of the band," he answered.
"Why? Want autographs?"
"No, not exactly. I really just want to meet the lead
singer, you know, the one who smiled at you?" Chase nodded. "Well," T.J continued, "there's something about her."
"Yeah, I know," Chase said dreamily.
T.J frowned, frustrated with his friend's lack of cooperation.
"No, I mean, she looks really familiar."
"How can that be possible when you've never even met her before?"
Chased asked curiously, once again snapping back to reality.
"I don't know," T.J answered, shaking his head. "That's
what I want to find out." With that, he turned away from Chase and walked over to Cedric. "Excuse me, sir?"
"Yes," Cedric turned to face him and jumped, startled at the
sight of the alien duck.
"Sorry," T.J apologized.
"What the hell are you?!" Cedric demanded, sounding a bit frightened.
T.J looked at him strangely, shocked. "A duck.
What do I look like?" he answered sarcastically. Then he shook his head and his hands. "But look, never mind that."
Cedric continued to stare at him, ready to defend himself if he had to. "I just have a question to ask you."
Cedric frowned at him, angrilly. "Sorry. I don't
have time for questions. Don't you know we're closed now?"
"Yes, but I just wanted to know if my friend and I could meet
the band," T.J quickly blurted out.
The bar owner shook his head. "Sorry, but they don't
have time for autographs. This restaruant is closed now."
"But-"
"Did you not hear me?" Cedric interrupted him. "I said,
no."
The whole time, Julie had been watching, peeking out from behind
the curtain. She hated to see Cedric treating customers like that, especially this one in particular. At last,
she decided she had seen enough and was gling to do something about it.
"It's okay Cedric!" Julie called out to the owner as she stepped
out from behind the curtain and jumped off the stage. Both Cedric and the two ducks turned to face her. "If they
wanna meet the band, then they can meet the band. We don't mind."
Cedric opened his mouth to protest, but quickly decided against
it. He didn't have the energy nor patience to argue about it. "Fine," he replied in a huff. "Then they're
your problem now."
Julie rolled her eyes. "Fine." Cedric walked off
to clean up the bar as Julie approached the two ducks. "Don't mind him, he's always like that," she explained to them.
She assumed they looked annoyed because of Cedric's attitude towards them.
"It's alright," T.J shrugged. "I just figured he'd had
a bad night."
Julie smiled. "So, you guys wanted to meet the band?"
T.J almost stumbled over his words as he spoke. "Uh,
yeah. I mean, yes, please. If...that's alright?"
"Of course. It's no problem, really." Julie continued
smiling, only taking her eyes off the first duck to look at his friend. "Wow," she thought to herself, "he's even better
looking up close." Then she stopped herself, trying to shake the thought from her mind. "No, Jules, stop
it. That's riddiculus! He's a duck! You're human!" She quickly turned her attention back to the first
duck when she realized the second one knew she was staring. Blushing slightly, she reached out to shake hands with the
first duck. "By the way, the name's Julie Harris."
"T.J McMallard," the duck replied, shaking her hand.
"And this here's my friend-"
"Chase DuCaine," the second duck interrupted, shaking hands
next with Julie. "Pleased to meet you, Julie," he said with a smile.
She couldn't help but smile back. "Likewise."
T.J looked at him oddly. "You know, you're acting very
strange," he whispered to his friend as they followed Julie backstage.
"So," Chase replied in the same volume.
"So?" T.J continued whispering. "That's not like you.
It's kinda freakin' me out, actually." Chase just waved him off as they realized they were already backstage.
"T.J, Chase," Julie started, "I'd like you to meet, 'Anything
Goes,'" she motioned with her arm, to her friends. One by one, she introduced each of the band members to the two ducks.
"So, how're we getting to know more about Julie by meeting
her friends?" Chase asked T.J in a whisper.
"Cover up," T.J replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Wouldn't
want her to think we're stalking her."
His friend nodded his head agreeing to go along with it.
"Good point."
As the six members of 'Anything Goes' put away their instruments
and packed up their stuff, they chatted with the two ducks.
"So, where'd you guys say you were from?" Grant questioned,
eyeing them carefully.
"Puckworld," Chase told the humans.
"Oh yeah?" Scott responded with a note of interest. He
soon recalled and explained how he had learned about a team of alien ducks. They had saved Earth from another race of
aliens, evil aliens, many years ago. "I believe they were from Puckworld too," said Scott. "They played hockey
here, in the NHL, and one of them had this way cool goalie mask."
"The Mask of Drake DuCaine," T.J said quietly. The humans
just stared at him silently. "It was a cool mask indeed, a special one, in fact," he added, remembering what his parents
had told him about it. "It was passed down from generation to generation in my family. Until, it was misplaced
and lost in one generation. No one's seen it since."
The band members continued staring, nodding their heads as
if they were really listening. However, the only two that appeared to be somewhat interested in T.J's story were Julie
and Scott. Taking notice of this, Chase apologized to the band.
"T.J, you're rambling on again," Chase whispered in his ear,
cuffing him on the shoulder.
"Oh!" T.J snapped to and apologized. "Sorry about
that."
Julie giggled. "That's alright."
Meanwhile, Naiomi and Caprice were talking quietly with each
other about the alien ducks.
"So, why did Julie bring them back here?" Caprice whispered
to Naiomi.
"I don't know," the second girl shrugged. "We'll have
to ask her once they're gone." Caprice nodded in agreement.
"I don't know either," Grant replied softly, coming up behind
them. Evidently he had overheard his sister's question. "I just know that I don't like the way she keeps eyeing
the taller one. Like he's good looking or something. It's disturbing."
"Oh, waaah," Naiomi teased, rolling her eyes. "What do
you care? You two are split."
"Only temporarily," Grant told her. Caprice and Naiomi
stared at him with surprised expressions. "I'm hoping to patch things up with her and get back together." Naiomi
had to do everything she could to prevent herself from laughing.
"Yeah right," she snorted, underneath her snickering.
"Good luck with that one."
Caprice looked at her twin apathetically. "You know,
I hate to tell you, Bro, but I just don't see that happening. Not with Julie." Grant opened his mouth to rebut,
but his sister continued on, ignoring him. "You really screwed up this time, Grant. I know Julie's usually pretty
forgiving, but she refuses to back down. You really hurt her."
After that, Grant had nothing to say. He just frowned
angrilly and walked away, mumbling. "Thanks for that reminder, Sis," he hissed. "Just twist the knife a bit deeper."
When he was out of ear shot, Naiomi spoke her mind, relieved
to finally let out what she had been holding in. "No offense Caprice, but your brother's a moron. It's his own
damn fault that Julie broke up with him." Caprice just shook her head sadly and the two girls turned their attention
back to Julie.
"So, you guys liked our music?" Julie was questioning the two
ducks.
"Are you kidding?! We loved it!" Chase said enthusiastically.
"Get out! Did you really?" Naiomi asked. She was
surprised to hear him say that. The two ducks nodded.
"Who wouldn't?" T.J asked back, curiously.
"Well, we've gotten mixed reviews," Cece explained.
"Which doesn't make sense," added Scott. "I mean, we
play a bit of everything, from country, to rock, rap, hip-hop and R & B. You name it, anything goes."
Chase let out a slight chuckle. "I take it that's how
you came up with the name of your band?"
"Yeah," Julie shrugged non-chalantly, "or something like that."
"Excuse me," Grant suddenly cut in. Julie turned her
attention to him, feeling slightly annoyed. "I don't mean to be rude, but," he pointed to his watch, "it's getting late."
The rest of the band alll looked surprised, as they hadn't realized the time. "I don't know 'bout the rest of you, but
I've gotta work in the morning. So, I'm outta here." Chase made a face as Grant walked out.
"Evidently, he's grumpy too," Julie told him, shrugging.
"But he's right. It is late, and we should go."
At this point, T.J nearly panicked. "Wait," he started,
"before you go..." Julie turned back to him, looking confused. "Is there any way we could see you again?"
The singer smiled and let out a short chuckle. "Of course,
tomorrow night, we're playing again."
T.J frowned slightly. "Well, that's not quite what I
meant...." Julie giggled.
"Alright then, be here tomorrow afternoon, and we'll see."
"Right, we'll be here," T.J nodded, relieved.
"See you then," Chase said to Julie, smiling as she led them
out the door.
"Bye!" Julie waved after them.
To be continued.......
Disclaimer: These stories and characters are based on the original Mighty Ducks: The Animated
Series (owned & copyrighted by Disney), however these stories consist of my own characters based on the series.
And I am, in no way, whatsoever, making a profit off this. Thank You!
