Shortly after the ducks left, the five remaining band members
also dispersed and headed home for the night. Each of them going their seperate ways, except for Naiomi and Julie who
lived together. On the way to Julie's car, Naiomi bombarded her with all sorts of questions. She had been dying
to know the answers.
"So, you mind explaining what the hell was going on in there?"
Naiomi interrogated her best friend.
"What? What are you talking about?!" Julie came back
at her.
"The way you were talking to those ducks," Naiomi confronted
her. Julie stopped and stared at her in shock and confusion. "I swear you were even flirting a bit."
Julie shook her head as she opened the car door. "You're
crazy. I wasn't flirting. I was just being nice to them."
"No surprise there," Naiomi cracked under her breath.
Julie ignored her and continued on.
"I guess, I just felt a connection to them," she explained.
The two girls got into the car and Naiomi gave Julie a strange look. "What? I don't know how to explain it."
"Jules, they're alien ducks from another universe! What
connection could you possibly have with them?!" Naiomi flipped out on her.
"I don't know," replied Julie, in a huff. "Maybe I'm
going crazy, but I really do think they're alright."
Meanwhile, T.J and Chase were having their own discussion about
that night's events.
"So, why're we trying to befriend this girl? Other than
the fact that she's cute," Chase questioned his comrade with a slight grin.
"Well, like I said," T.J answered, trying to explain.
"There's something familiar about her. And besides, she might be able to help us find my sister."
"You think so?"
"Well, I'm hoping..."
All T.J knew about his sister was from the rumors that had
been going around. He didn't know where on Earth or even what she looked like. He just assumed he was looking
for a female duck, a couple years younger than him. "How hard could it be to find an alien duck on a planet full of
humans?" T.J had thought to himself. Until he and Chase arrived on Earth, he had thought it would be an easy search.
Then, he found out just how big the planet was.
"She could be anywhere," Chase pointed out.
Now, here they were, in their vehicle, two weeks later, no
where close to finding T.J's sister.
"Even if they can't help us," T.J continued on, "at least we'll
have made some friends."
"True," agreed Chase, nodding his head. "I'd rather have
allies than enemies."
"But I'm not too worried," T.J went on. "I've got a good
feeling about this."
"Well, I'm glad one of us does. 'Cause Drake knows, she
could be on the other side of the world."
The next day, the two ducks did as Julie said and met the band
at the restaurant that afternoon. That's when T.J broke the news to Julie why he and Chase were there on Earth.
He explained to her that they were searching for T.J's long-lost sister, who had been sent to live on Earth when she was a
baby.
"Why was she sent here?" Julie asked curiously.
"Well, I don't really know," T.J answered her. "My parents
won't tell me anything." He stopped briefly as Caprice came to take their order, since she was still working at that
time. "Anyway," the gray duck continued after placing his order. "Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't even know
I had a sister."
"Oh my gosh!" Julie exclaimed, putting a hand to her face.
"How terrible..."
"Do you know where abouts on Earth, she may be?" Naiomi questioned,
hoping to help out.
T.J shook his head. "No clue."
"Puh, good luck then," Grant said sarcastically. "Your
chances are, what, one in a million?"
"Grant!" Caprice exclaimed, smacking her brother. "That
wasn't very nice." She turned to T.J before heading to the kitchen. "Well, I hope you find her and I'm sure you
will."
"Yeah," Julie agreed. "Don't give up hope. For
all you know, she could be closer than you think." T.J smiled, thankful for the support.
"She could even be.....Julie," Naiomi joked lightly.
Her friends all gave her weird looks and she lowered her head. "Sorry," she apologized, continuing on to T.J.
"It's just that, I couldn't help but notice that you kinda look like Julie. Well, except that she's human and you're
a......well, a duck."
T.J chuckled slightly. "That's okay."
At this point, Julie was blushing profusely. When she
realized everyone was staring at her, her eyes widened and she turned away, casually scratching the back of her head.
"So, anyways...."
"Right," T.J replied, also turning away, blushing slightly.
"Well, Chase and I were thinking..."
"Hey!" Scott interrupted him, pointing at T.J's arm.
"Cool tatoo!" He had noticed the marking on T.J's right shoulder: a teal triangle with criss-crossing hockey sticks
going through it.
"Uh, thanks?" T.J felt somewhat confused. Curiosity
pulling at her, Julie glanced over at T.J's shoulder and gasped lightly.
"Actually, it looks like Julie's," Cece pointed out, shining
the spotlight back on her friend.
"Oh, really?" T.J questioned, turning to face the band's lead
singer.
"That's a Puckworld exclusive, you know," Chase added.
Julie was extremely nervous by now. Cece was right.
T.J's tatoo was exactly like the marking on Julie's left shoulder, the one she had as far as she could remember. "Could
it be a clue as to who I really am?" she thought to herself. Recently, she had found out from her parents that she had
been adopted. It turned out that she was left on their doostep when she was just a baby, only a few weeks old.
Now, she wanted to begin her search for her birth parents, but certainly, not like this.
"What she meant was," Julie paused nervously, trying to figure
out what to say. She didn't want to tell the truth. Not just yet. "She meant, it's similar to my.....my
cousin's tatoo." Her friends stared at her strangely, knowing she had just lied.
"Your....cousin?" Scott looked at her.
"Yeah," Julie nodded in a way as if to say: 'Just go along
with it.' "You remember my cousin." Her eyes widened now, staring back at her band of friends, nodding.
"He's got that tatoo....you know...that looks similar."
After a few seconds, Naiomi caught on and played along.
"Oh yeah, that's right. It's a skull with criss-crossing swords, right?"
Julie looked at Naiomi, thinking. "Yes, that's right!"
Mentally, she tanked her friend for helping her cover up. She was also thankful she was wearing longers sleeves that
day. So, it helped cover up the mark on her shoulder.
"Oh," T.J replied quietly. He was hoping it could had
been a clue, but unfortunate for him, it wasn't. However, he was still hopeful. He thought Julie's behavior just
then, seemed rather odd. It was as if she was trying to hide something. Though, what she had to hide, T.J did
not know. "Oh well," he told himself. "Perhaps in time, I shall find out."
Also, the fact that Julie did look a bit like him, gnawed at
him. "Her eyes...." he thought to himself, noticing her eyes were like his mother's. "No", he shook his head.
"It's just a mere coincidence, that's all."
"Hey! You know what else I just remembered?!" Scott's
voice cut into T.J's thoughts.
"No," Cece sighed, "what Scott?"
"Julie just found out recently, that she was adopted."
Scott turned to face Julie just as she was blushing again, trying to hide behind her drink. "You said you wanted to
find your birth parents, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Julie replied smugly. She had slid halfway
down the booth and was now peeking over the table at him. "I wish he would just keep his big fat mouth shut," she thought
to herself.
After listening to Scott, it was as if a light bulb went on
in T.J's head. In his mind, opportunity was knocking and he was about to let it in. "Hello opportunity," he told
himself. He looked over at Julie and smiled. "Maybe we could help each other?" Julie blinked and sat up
right, listening carefully. "We'll help you find your parents, if you help us find my sister."
"What?" Julie sat, staring at him, unsure of what to
say. Somwhere in the back of her mind, a voice was telling her not to do it. "You just met these guys. You
don't even know them." Yet, another voice was telling her to accept the duck's offer. "This could be your one
and only chance, Jules," it was saying. "They might even know something about that mark on your shoulder."
After some time and thought, the singer finally answered.
"Alright, it's a deal." Julie smiled as she reached across
the table to shake hands with T.J.
"Great," the duck returned the smile. Feeling highly
confident and proud of himself now, T.J decided to bring up his next issue. "Now, if we could just find a place
to stay...", he said casually, as if he was hinting.
Chase nudged him and whispered in his ear. "You don't
seriously expect them to take us in, do you?"
"No," T.J whispered back. "But, I figured it was worth
a shot." Chase just shook his head out of pity for his friend.
"You mean you don't have a place yet?" Naiomi's voice interrupted
them.
"No," Chase answered her.
"Awe man, you guys are killin' me," Julie said, letting out
a short chuckle. T.J shrugged innocently. "You know what," Julie continued on, "Naiomi and I have an extra room
at our place. So why don't the two of you stay with us?" T.J couldn't help but smile even more as his
friend sat, gaping.
"Damn! It worked. They bought it," Chase was
thinking to himself. He glanced over at T.J, waiting for some sort of response. T.J just winked at him slightly,
before replying to Julie.
"Oh, we couldn't," he answered shaking his head.
"No, really, I insist," the singer told him.
"Well..." the drake sat silent for a moment, pretending to
ponder the thought. "Alright, if you insist."
"Great," Julie nodded. She still felt really nervous
about the whole idea, but she was confident in her gut instinct. Something inside her was telling her she was doing
the right thing. Once she was sure of herself, she glanced over at Chase and caught him smiling at her.
"I think I'm not only speaking for myself, but for T.J as well,
when I say how much we appreciate your hospitality, Miss Harris." The human girl blushed slightly.
"Oh please, just call me Julie. I don't do too well with
formalities," she told Chase, returning his smile. "And you're welcome, it's no problem, really."
For the rest of the afternoon, they sat, chatting and eating.
They talked and got to know one another, up until the band had to get ready for their performance, which the two ducks stayed
to watch again.
The band's performance that night, seemed different to Julie.
As she sang, she glanced over at T.J and Chase and smiled, feeling more confident than she had in a long time. Both
her and T.J could sense, in their hearts, that they would become close friends. But, little did they know, just how
close they would come to the end of their search.
The End (???)
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!
