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Max was convinced that he’d finally reached the height of his life when he got a notice from Queen Minnie early one morning. A sharp knock on his college room door alerted him to someone’s presence, though when he dragged himself out of the bunk bed he shared with P.J., a letter was lying on the floor – the person who’d dropped it off having left after slipping it under the door. On the flap-side was the royal seal, and in a haste he tore it open to read it.
The invitation was for him and his roommate to a meeting with the queen herself. There were no further instructions, and a glance at the clock (which he had to clear a sock off of, since it covered the front and prevented him from reading the time) made him start as he realized that there wasn’t much time to waste in getting presentable and scrambling over to the requested location.
Shaking P.J. awake – five or six separate times throughout his hurrying to get dressed – he summarized the contents of the letter, and soon P.J. was trying to get dressed as well, the two boys picking up loose clothes that didn’t smell half rotten. Max was fortunate that his apprentice armor was the majority of his outfit, but P.J., who was studying to be an Imagineer, had to eventually concede to digging out his dressier suit clothes.
“Hurry up, man! We’re going to be late!” Max urged, and the both of them unanimously decided to nab their skateboards on the way out the door to use in speeding up their progress.
What happened in between them leaving their dorm room and arriving at the center of the palace involved a montage of grinding across rooftops, putting holes through differently shaped hedges, one case of showing off for some girls, and generally breaking every civic rule of proper conduct on sidewalks. Twice. Considering they had been too quick to catch by authorities, though a couple were used to the two boys’ antics and hadn’t even bothered to pursue them, and arrived with two minutes to spare, Max and P.J. considered it entirely worth the effort.
Max skidded to a stop just short of the large doors leading to King Mickey’s and Queen Minnie’s study, P.J. narrowly avoiding running into his back at the sudden break, and gingerly they righted their appearances where necessary. Both were winded, but that couldn’t be helped.
“Do you think we’re ready for…whatever this is about?” P.J. asked, adjusting his shirt collar for the twelfth instance, sweat from both the traveling activity and nervousness covering his face.
“If the queen chose us, then obviously she thinks we’re ready and right for the job. Maybe she heard about my test scores and wants to knight me early.”
Knocking on the doors, a voice bid them to enter, and they did so with their chests puffed out and their stance perfectly straight. Queen Minnie was at a desk, jotting down some things on official looking parchment, but she looked up at them the minute they both entered inside the room, P.J. politely closing the door behind them.
“I’m glad to see you two could make it, and on such short notice. That was quite a record!” she complimented, to which Max and P.J. blushed and stammered their thanks. The queen had praised them! It was almost surreal – it’d be nearly impossible to convince their classmates that this had happened.
“I’m sure you’re both curious as to why you’re here,” Queen Minnie continued, and folded her hands together on top of the desk. “Max, are you aware of the duty your father is carrying out?”
Such a question caught him a bit off guard, but he was eventually able to answer with, “Sort of, milady. He couldn’t go into details, and he had to take his leave shortly after I left for schooling, but I had gathered that it was vitally important.”
Nodding, she said, “And have you noticed the stars lately?”
Another question that startled him, and this time Max had no sure answer, so he glanced at P.J., who cleared his throat and said in his stead, “My astronomy class is finding it harder and harder to identify certain constellations, as if the sky has been changing.”
“This is true. Things are certainly changing, and they are continuing to change,” Queen Minnie murmured, before her voice picked up strength again and she said, “The king thought long and hard about who should carry out the tasks he needed completed, your father, Goofy, being one of them. I have done the same, and what I am about to ask of you two is of the utmost significance and secrecy, okay?”
Neither hesitated in agreeing to those terms, and as soon as she was given their nods of consent, she rolled up the single piece of parchment, wrapped it, and properly sealed it. It was added to a small pile of other parchments at her left elbow, and she gently pushed them closer to their edge of the desk.
“There isn’t much you or I, or anyone really, can do right now, and I trust my husband and his friends to do what they must, but I worry for them anyway. So I am going to do what I can. I need you both to deliver these to certain people across the galaxy,” she informed them. “I’ve seen you at the annual X-Games and your determination and ability is unrivaled. If anyone can get these safely to where I need them to be, then it is you two.”
Max hesitated after the news, a bit daunted by the task, seeing as he hadn’t expected this at all, and from the expression covering his friend’s face, he was sharing his sentiments. The fact that he’d been reduced to a delivery boy smarted a bit, too. If the king was involved, then whatever was going on was obviously dangerous, so why couldn’t he go and fight instead? If his father was good enough to help, then Max figured he should be, too. He was going to be a knight; battle was what he was skilled at.
Nevertheless, Max said, “If that is what you need of us, then we’ll do it. It’ll be a piece of cake, right P.J.?”
“Right!”
She smiled, pleased, and said, “I’m glad. You’ll depart immediately, and have full access to any gummi ship in our royal fleet.”
“Wait, any gummi ship?” Max and P.J. asked in unison, eyes brightening at the improvement to their situation. They’d been trained how to use some of the smaller models, like most kids learn to drive a car, but the ones they used were nowhere near the quality of some of those reserved for palace employees.
Keeping in tandem, Max and P.J. high-fived and shouted, “Road trip, yeah!”
Queen Minnie laughed, and motioned for them to take the fifteen or so parchments.
“Good luck to the both of you, and take care.”
Max loaded the documents into a satchel at his hip, giving it a pat to make sure it was secure, and said, “We promise, and don’t you worry! With us on the job, it’ll be done before you know it.”
-Fin-