CHAPTER 1 - WELCOME BACK TO PARADISE, DUDES!

Howdy all, on the heels of my most recent fanfic (and the last of what I now call my "Year One" collection), this is my first story in what will be "Year Two" (as well as my tenth Stoked fanfic overall). In my fanfic continuity, this takes place about five months after the events of A Stoked Christmas, and one year after the show's "Welcome to Paradise, Dudes!".

This new entry's going to be a bit of an ensemble piece, focusing on both the returning groms-turned-seniors and on a set of new groms who arrive at Surfer's Paradise for a summer of work, surfing and fun. As the story progresses, you'll notice a few changes from the "Year One" fanfics (but I won't spoil them for you now), so read on and see what changes are in store. :D

Up in his office in the Ridgemount penthouse at the Surfer's Paradise hotel, Mr. Ridgemount was reading the financial section in a Vancouver newspaper when he heard a knock on the office door. Usually preferring not to be disturbed when he was in his office, the hotel magnate lowered his paper for a moment. "I'm busy right now," he called to the door. "Come back later."

The office door, which was already slightly open anyway, opened a bit wider as Lo stuck her head through the doorway. "Sorry, Daddy," she apologized. "I didn't know you'd be working."

"Well, I'm never too busy for you, Lauren," Mr. Ridgemount said as he put his newspaper down on his desk. "Come on in, it's okay." As Lo entered her father's spacious, well-appointed office, he asked her, "So what's on your mind, Princess?"

"I wanted to talk with you about the summer and the start of the tourist season," Lo said as she stopped in front of her father's desk.

"Ah, right," Mr. Ridgemount said. "Before we do, Lauren, I wanted to say I'm proud of you for the way you've carried yourself since last summer - your problems with George aside, of course."

"Yeah, that," Lo said. "I'm glad you got involved and laid the law down on him last Christmas after he was exposed for that nasty prank he pulled on me and tried to get me in trouble with. He hasn't given me any problems since then."

"Good, I'm glad," Mr. Ridgemount said. "I meant what I said too about what would happen to George if he ever gave you trouble again, so I'm happy my warning stuck with him." He then set his paper aside and got up from his executive's chair to walk the floor. "But back on topic, you've really done me proud since I put you to work on the hotel staff last year. You improved your work ethic a hundredfold after you and Kelly started getting along better..."

"It helped that Kelly became a better person herself after she found love," Lo said.

"Oh yeah, her boyfriend David Hughes," Mr. Ridgemount remembered. "Fine young man, that David - a real credit to his father. Anyway, you also did what you could to improve the summer staff's lot here in spite of Andrew's mismanagement and his poor treatment of them..."

"The new widescreen TV and satellite receivers went a long way," Lo remarked. "So did sneaking them good food to replace the swill Andrew was feeding us," she added, thinking about the things Bummer had done to the groms that summer.

"And you were there for your friend Fin McCloud after she lost her father last year to that drunk driver, then Andrew denied her the chance to go back home for the funeral..." Mr. Ridgemount continued.

"Fin was definitely worth it," Lo said. "She also got some closure last fall when the drunk driver who killed her dad was sent to jail for two years and banned from driving for ten years. And we all know how Andy paid for what he did to Fin."

"Then you were there for me at my hospital bedside in Victoria while I was in that coma after my heart attack two weeks before Christmas," Mr. Ridgemount said. "I know this because your mother and Tyler told me about it."

"I'm just happy you made it through and fully recovered," Lo said.

"You also did a great job with your school work throughout the year," Mr. Ridgemount pointed out. "Straight A's across the board in every term and you made the honor roll and passed Grade 10 with flying colors."

"You always said I should do the best I can do in school," Lo said with a grin, "and I did."

"You sure did," a proud Mr. Ridgemount said. "And most of all, you didn't get yourself in trouble by throwing any wild parties to celebrate the end of the school year like you did last year."

"Oh, yeah," Lo said, blushing visibly at the memory of what happened the year before that got her into her father's doghouse, but which, ironically, led to the events that made her a better person for it. "And just for future reference, is a small party with just the fam and two or three friends okay for special occasions?" she asked, grinning again while looking hopeful.

Mr. Ridgemount thought about it a moment before giving his answer. "As long as we don't get a repeat of last year, and the guest list stays small," he told Lo, "I can't see a reason why not."

"Oh, sweet!" a pleased Lo said, happy to hear her father's decision about any future parties she threw. "Thanks Daddy, you won't regret it. Now, about those summer plans..."

"Yes, of course," Mr. Ridgemount said. "For doing so well in school this year, you're going to get to come with the rest of the family when I go on business trips overseas this summer. To start, I'll make it up to you for not taking you on the trip to Cabo San Lucas last year when we head down there in a few..."

"Actually, I was thinking, Daddy," Lo said. "Instead of me joining you on those trips, I'd like to go back to work waitressing in the Pirate Ship again this summer."

"What?" a surprised Mr. Ridgemount said, not believing what he had just heard. "You're saying that you actually want to go to work again to earn your spending money?"

"That's part of it, but it's not the only thing," Lo said. "I've been hearing from Fin and some of the other summer staff from last year saying they're coming back again to work here. Broseph said he'll be back to work here again this summer, and with Johnny graduating high school this year, he'll start working at the front desk full-time now, helping out his cousin Carter with running day-to-day at the hotel."

"Well, this is a surprise," Mr. Ridgemount admitted.

"It's a chance for me to get to work and hang out with my friends from last year again," Lo said. "That's what I want to do, even if it means I have to leave the penthouse again to stay in the new staff house for the summer."

"You know Lauren, I'm really impressed that you want to continue learning what it means to work and learn the value of a dollar," Mr. Ridgemount said, "and more so, that you're doing so voluntarily instead of me having to make you work as punishment like last year. In that case, consider yourself back on staff at the dining lounge, Princess."

Lo let out a delighted squeal when she heard her father grant her request to go back to work at the hotel. "Thank you, Daddy!" she said gratefully while going over to hug him. "I'll do you proud again like I did last year. That's a promise."

Meanwhile at the seaplane terminal at the Sunset Beach waterfront, the seaplane from Victoria had just arrived at its dock, where two terminal workers tied the plane to the dock to moor it in place. As soon as the plane door opened, Reef was the first one out, suitcase and gym bag in hand. "WOO-HOOOOO!" he whooped as soon as his feet hit the dock. "Sunset Beach, guess who's back!"

"You might wanna be careful about announcing that to the town," Fin, the next one off the plane, quipped to Reef.

"And why's that?" Reef crowed. "Worried I'll get mobbed by the hotties that watched me in action at Gromfest last year?"

"No," Fin retorted. "More like you should be worried you'll get laughed out of town by those same girls when they realize you're the same guy who got beat by a girl at Gromfest - and lost your prized hair when you used hair remover on it, thinking it was hair-enhancing gel."

"Whatever, dudette," Reef said, running his fingers through his gel-styled quiff hairdo. "At least it grew back. Anyway, you only beat me by two-tenths of a point at Gromfest."

"That narrow edge was still good enough to beat you and get me the win in the girls' category," Fin reminded Reef. "Besides, you still finished second to Broseph in the boys' category, and he wasn't even going to compete in Gromfest at first until you pushed him into it with your non-stop bragging and needling of him."

"Hmm, who knew he had it in him?" Reef said with a shrug.

"That's what happens when you underestimate a soul surfer," Fin said.

"And that's something I'll never do again," Reef said. "Just like I'll never underestimate your drive to win when it comes to surfing."

"See now?" Fin replied when she heard what Reef said. "You're still a braggart, but you're already a little wiser for your experience after last year. You didn't brag as much when we met up again during my plane's stopover in Toronto to pick you up as you did when we first met last year. You also don't make sexist remarks about women or call them second-best at surfing or anything else like you did before the Battle of the Betties last year. See what a difference a year makes?"

"Very true," Reef admitted. "But you know the best part about being a year older and a little wiser for it? I got you as part of the deal."

"Can't complain about that...most of the time," Fin said with a giggle, then she kissed Reef on the cheek.

"Tell you what else we can't complain about - another year back at Surfer's Paradise, another year of working an awesome job as surfing instructor and another year of surfing and shredding some of the best waves on Earth," Reef declared.

"You said it," Emma, who got off the plane next, agreed as she stepped onto the dock. "Even better, it's another summer we get to spend with the friends we made last year."

"Couldn't agree more, Alberta," Fin said. "But wait 'til we get to the hotel and Lo sees us. She'll be so excited that we're back, that's when the squee-fest begins. Just wait and see."

"And you know what else?" Reef added. "When we left here at the end of last summer, we were but groms. But now, we're back as seniors. How cool is that, huh?"

"Yeah!" Emma said. "As seniors, we can do what we weren't able to do before as groms. We're not the bottom of the totem pole at Surfer's Paradise anymore."

"True," Reef said, "but this year, there's a whole new crop of groms arriving at the hotel. If Bummer hadn't been demoted to concierge last year, I'd say that I feel sorry for the new batch."

"But in a way, the new guys are lucky," Fin said. "Bummer had it coming for not allowing me to go back home for my dad's funeral and for threatening to fire me for even asking for time off for that."

"Don't forget that he also let those rotten Marvin boys have the run of the hotel and do as they pleased," Emma said. "I'm glad Mr. Ridgemount banned them and their parents from the hotel for life after that last incident with the cherry bombs in the Pirate Ship kitchen."

"Speaking of the new groms..." Fin said quietly, directing Reef and Emma's attention to the seaplane. The first of the new arrivals, a big, stocky boy of Polynesian appearance with short, curly black hair, stepped off the plane with his luggage and a surfboard and checked out the scenery. "Cool, man, real cool," the stocky boy, who appeared to be 16, said as he surveyed the area. "It ain't Hawaii, but it looks about as good."

Right then, Reef, Fin and Emma walked over to meet the newcomer. "Hey, you must be one of the new guys joining the staff at Surfer's Paradise this summer," Reef said, greeting the stocky boy.

"Sure am, bra," the stocky boy replied in a laid-back manner. "Name's Greg - Greg Kahale."

"Reef Garcia," Reef introduced himself, bumping fists with Greg. "This is Fin McCloud, and that's Emma," he then introduced the girls.

"Fin McCloud?" Greg said. "Hey, I've heard 'bout you - three-time junior surfing champion, right?"

"That's me," Fin said with a grin. "I also won the girls' division at the Gromfest event here last year. Gromfest gets held at the beach at Surfer's Paradise each year. You planning to enter it this year, Greg?"

"Since you mentioned it, I think I'll do that," Greg said with his own grin. "I've picked up a thing or two about surfing back home in Hawaii. But how 'bout you?" he asked Fin.

"I got bigger fish to fry this year," Fin said. "I found out the Canadian Surfing Championships are being held this year at Sunset Beach and I'm planning to enter in the women's division. It was the first major surfing event my grandma entered when she was young and she won it on her first try back in 1965."

"Hey, righteous," an impressed Greg said. "Sounds like you got one mad-skilled kupunawahine."

"Kupu-what?" a puzzled Fin, who did not speak Hawaiian, asked.

"Grandmother," Greg explained with a chuckle. "It's the Hawaiian word for grandmother. Don't worry, you guys stick with me and I'll show you how to talk Hawaiian in good time."

"Sounds like you'd get along great with a friend of ours," Emma said, thinking about Broseph. "You'll meet him later when we get to the hotel. He lives here in town and he's returning staff from last year."

"Hey Greg, what's the haps out here?" a female voice called from the plane, getting the group's attention as two girls, both 16 years old like Greg, stepped off onto the dock next. The girl who had called was dark-skinned with purple-dyed dreadlocks tied back in a high ponytail, while the girl accompanying her was tall, thin and pale-skinned and had long, dark brown hair.

"Just shootin' the breeze," Greg said to the dreadlocked girl. Turning back to Reef, Fin and Emma, he continued, "Dudes, this is..."

"Name's Ashanti," the dreadlocked girl introduced herself, speaking with a slight Jamaican accent. "You can call me Ash for short if you like."

"Hey, cool to meet you, Ash," Reef said. "Come here from Jamaica?"

"Sort of," Ash said. "I was from there originally, but I moved with my family to Canada and settled in Toronto when I was six." Turning to the tall dark-haired girl, she then introduced her to the gang. "This here's Bonnie," Ash continued. "She's here from Seattle. She'd say more, but she's kinda on the shy side."

"Hey, Bonnie," Reef, Fin and Emma all greeted the tall girl.

"Hi," Bonnie replied in a small voice, waving her hand.

"Whoa, she's gonna be working here?" Reef said quietly to Fin about Bonnie. "If she's as shy as Ash says, I'd hate to see her end up waitressing at the Pirate Ship. Can you imagine her customers asking her to speak up if she asks for their orders?"

"Hey, leave her be," Fin said with a light elbow to Reef's left arm. "She's probably not used to people she doesn't know. Give her some time." As Fin was about to say more, she was interrupted by the sound of a commotion coming from the seaplane, which caught the group's attention.

Right then, another boy ran hurriedly off the plane with his luggage, with another suitcase being thrown after him and a female voice yelling at him, "...AND STAY AWAY FROM ME, JERK!" The boy, who had short, spiky brown hair, grabbed the suitcase which had been thrown at him and commented to the gathered group, "Wow, did she get up on the wrong side of her bed this morning or what?", while pointing a thumb toward the plane.

"What was that about?" Fin wondered with a raised eyebrow as she watched the spiky-haired boy pick up his other suitcase.

"I was just tryin' to make small talk with that babe on the plane," the boy explained, "and she totally wigged out on me. I dunno, maybe I caught her at a bad time or something," he added with a shrug. "My name's Trevor, by the way," he introduced himself to the group.

"Hey, Trevor," Fin, Reef and Emma all greeted the spiky-haired boy. "I guess you'll be joining us at Surfer's Paradise too," Fin then said.

"You betcha, babe," Trevor said with a finger-point gesture to Fin, making her roll her eyes. "You're lookin' at the soon-to-be newest lifeguard at the hotel beach."

"You gotta actually get that job before you can say you're the newest hotel beach lifeguard, bra," Greg remarked to Trevor.

"There's no guarantee that you'll get the job you applied for," Fin said. "Take me - I applied for surfing instructor at the hotel last year and I got saddled with a housekeeping job instead."

"You got stuck as a maid?" an incredulous Trevor said before he started laughing. "Must've sucked having to scrub toilets day in and day out for the summer!"

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," Fin quipped sarcastically. "Better remember what you said though, 'cause it could come back to bite you in the butt."

"Take it from someone who knows, bro," Reef told Trevor while taking a bag of barbecue potato chips from his gym bag and opening it to snack on. "Last year, I was in the same boat you look like you're in now."

As Trevor was about to reply with something witty, the group's attention was caught again, this time by the sound of a female voice clearing her throat. Reef, Fin, Emma and the new groms turned to see a girl, about the same age as the new groms, sporting shoulder-length blonde hair and wearing a powder-blue, short-sleeved summer dress, standing at the bottom of the steps from the plane with two big wheeled suitcases. "Well, isn't anyone going to help me with my luggage?" the blonde girl said in a curt tone while putting her hands on her hips, looking displeased.

"That reminds me, there's someone I'd rather not be in the same boat with," Ash remarked while indicating the blonde girl.

"Is that who threw your other suitcase out at you, Trevor?" Fin asked.

"That's the one," Trevor confirmed, not looking too enthused to again see the girl who had thrown a fit at him minutes earlier.

Meanwhile, the blonde girl, who was not happy that no one had offered to help her with her suitcases, marched toward the gang with a scowl on her face as she wheeled her luggage along behind her. While everyone else stayed out of her way, Emma stepped up to greet her. "Hi, my name's Emma," the redhead said, but she got no reply as the blonde girl snobbishly turned her nose up at Emma and walked past her without acknowledging her beyond a brief "Hmph!".

Once the blonde girl was out of earshot, Greg said jokingly as he watched her walk away, "Well, welcome to Sunset Beach, Miss Congeniality," making the rest of the group laugh. At that moment, the Whalebus arrived from Surfer's Paradise to bring the returning employees and newcomers to the hotel.

"What, that's supposed to be our ride?" an incredulous Ash said as she saw the Whalebus pull up.

"Yep, believe it or not," Fin said with a smirk as the group started toward the bus. "But hey, I know how you feel. That's the reaction I had last year when I first came here and saw that bus."

"Man, what were the haoles who designed this bus smokin' when they came up with the plan?" Greg said while checking out the bus that was designed to resemble the hotel's cartoonish mascot, Wipeout Whale. "You'd never see somethin' like this back in Hawaii."

"Then you might wanna brace yourself when we get to the hotel, Greg," Reef said. "The whole place is like one big tourist gimmick." While digging through his bag of potato chips, Reef then spotted a familiar sight close by in the sky, a seagull flying over the water and approaching the Whalebus. Remembering the running feud he had with the seagull last summer and how the seagull had constantly made a fool of him by "seagull-bombing" him from time to time, an older and slightly wiser Reef decided to extend the proverbial olive branch by throwing a potato chip into the air toward the bird. "Come and get it, seagull," Reef called as he threw the chip upward.

Without missing a beat, the seagull swooped in, snatched up the chip and gobbled it down, then squawked its thanks to Reef in seagull-speak. The surfer boy then gave a thumbs-up as he and Fin, the last ones to enter the Whalebus, stepped on board.

So there's our introduction to the new grom OCs so far. On a note, the physical appearance of Ash, one of those new groms I described (the purple-haired dreadlocked girl), is based on an unused Stoked character design from when the show was first in development.

The newcomers have their first meeting with the rest of the returning staff, that blonde girl attempts to stir things up against some of the newbies, and one of the new groms ends up falling head-over-heels for Lo - all coming up next.

Meanwhile, let me know what you think of the story so far, the new groms, etc.

Stoked (c) Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon. I don't own the show or any of the characters except my OCs.