Chapter 2: Day 1

It was well after the sun had risen, but it was at least still morning. Outside on the front porch, a group of adult Sweetypies clad in purple, apparently affiliated with the royal palace, stood at the front door, knocking hard and loud several times.

"My, it sure is tiring to be doing this so early in the morning," one of the present guards commented with a yawn. "Sure would be great to sleep in later."

"You think they're taking their time in there?" a fellow guard asked.

"Well, it is early after all," the first guard replied. "I don't imagine them getting a lot of sleep."

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In the main sleeping quarters of HQ, the sound of the knocking reached Mao Mao's ears, making him stir and open his eyes. He groaned groggily while he checked for a nearby clock. When he saw that the digital clock wasn't showing the time (it was blinking 12:00 nonstop), he looked another direction to check the time on the nearest battery-powered clock. Mao Mao's eyes were wide open.

"BADGERCLOPS!"

Badgerclops snapped awake, yelping in fright from Mao Mao's sudden shouting and also in pain from accidentally whamming his head on the ceiling since he was on the top bunk. He fell right off his bunk onto the floor, making noise which awoke Eugene too. It was only when both badger and bat finally got their bearings and looked at the cat with the same understanding that it became clear.

All three of them were yelling the exact same thing at the exact same time. "WE SLEPT IN!"

The next half-hour was spent aggressively waking up the children and hustling them to pack up the last of their things, ignoring the overlapping chatter that filled the air as Mao Mao spent ever other available second telling the kids to move it. Everyone was scrambling around and by the time they were finally out the door, they were running and jumping to the aerobuses. At the same time, Quinton was moving everyone's luggage to the back of said bus.

"Badgerclops, count heads to make sure we have everyone!" Mao Mao commanded as he busied himself with locking every door.

The badger hurriedly looked over and lightly tapped each Sweetypie's head with his extendable robot arm to keep count. He tapped Chubbum, Lucky, Kevin, Ketchup, Plippy, and…reached his arm over to the back of the aerobus to tap the last head, which was supposed to be Adorabat. Quinton stopped for a second when he felt Badgerclops's arm touch him, but he resumed cramming the luggage in the trunk without another thought.

By the time everyone was crammed in the bus, Mao Mao was the last to enter. "Did you finish counting?" he said to Badgerclops. "Is that everyone?"

"Seven Sweetypies – six kids, one adult, plus both you and me," Badgerclops recapped, "and one driver to take us to the aeroport." He finished off his statement with a pointed finger at Quinton who was in the bus's driver's seat.

Mao Mao nodded in approval before turning his attention directly to the front. "Good. We better get a move on then. QUINTON!" Quinton immediately revved up the engine and made the bus take off, going directly to the aeroport.

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Once everyone arrived at the aeroport, they all immediately grabbed their luggage and rushed into the main hall, making sure to have goodbye to Quinton first. While everyone was sprinting – well, mostly just Mao Mao and Badgerclops each carrying half the group of kids in their arms while Eugene flew to the departure gate with everyone's tickets in his wings. He hoped the mass aero-transport craft hadn't taken off already.

"Did we miss it?" Eugene panted once he reached the lady who stood at the desk next to the gate.

The lady answered him just as promptly. "No, you got here just in time."

Everyone cheered in relief, unhesitatingly charging into the boarding bridge as Eugene have the tickets to the lady to process. It took no time at all, but everyone was seated and could finally relax and breathe easy. Mao Mao and Eugene were visibly relieved while Badgerclops was happier that the rush was finally over with.

"Made it!" Mao Mao remarked triumphantly. "Just before takeoff too!"

Badgerclops just sank into his comfy seat. "Let's never go through this again," he sighed, content with taking a nap as soon as everyone was in the air.

"I sure hope we didn't forget anything," Eugene chimed in before the giant transport vehicle powered up its engines and began its ascent into the sky.