Nightriders: The Reluctant Marching Band

Nightriders: The Reluctant Marching Band is a five-chapter story in the Nightriders series published on June 7, 2017 with its' last chapter on September 15, 2017, written by AxlReigns. Unlike the main trilogy story series as illustrated by BluePisces97, this one was illustrated by BlueMario1016, with characters drawn in the Japanese Anime style.

Some fans have considered this to be a side-story to the lineup due to it being less significant than the main trilogy entries. However, it's still canon and has a place in the mainstream Nightriders series because this was officially written by the creator himself, despite being a much shorter story. And the illustrator has also mentioned that this story was made with getting a younger audience in mind that would become interested into the series.

In chronological order, this story takes place after Nightriders: The Battle Continues, but before Nightriders: The Kidnappings, because the more prominent characters such as Slade did not appear yet. The series introduces the Brassland location, which is another region that they travel to. In addition, new characters make their debut such as Mayor Woodwind and Sergeant Baldwin. If one was to count all stories in the series, then this story actually comes after The Battle Continues.

The alternative title as published by the illustrator was titled: Nightriders: Marching Orders as originally coined in 2016. But when the actual story began in 2017, the finalized name was published by the author.

Summary
While the Nightriders relax on their last day overseas in Brassland after their rock tour overnight, Iggy has spent all the money on gambling which that was needed for their trip to return back home to Beach City. Then afterwards, him alongside Axl, Rolf, Lonnie and Brutus end up getting arrested for vagrancy and disturbing the peace after attempting to generate enough money to get back with street garbage materials. The charges would only be dropped if they were to form a band to play and participate in their carnival and festival. But due to a miscommunication, the Nightriders get mistaken as a marching band. With that, they must take on the challenge on becoming an actual band and put aside their usual rock and roll attire. By using their music experience towards learning to play marching band instruments and perform for the masses. Otherwise, they will spend some quality jail time as international felons and never go home.

Plot
After the Nightriders band had their rock tour in Brassland overnight, Axl Reigns and Rolf Steiner were having breakfast in a diner together and relaxing themselves on their last day before heading back home to Beach City. But then, they hear Brutus Crocker and Iggy Stiles shouting and arguing from outside and come swinging right in. Brutus threw Iggy right in front of their table and put him a choke lock hold as Axl got a sick feeling and Rolf angrily wanting to know what is going on. Brutus commanded Iggy to tell them the truth. Iggy admitted that he went down to Sharky's Casino and ended up gambling all his money and drugged Brutus while he was supposed to keep an eye on him to not get himself or the others in trouble.

Afterwards, Lonnie Leo comes rushing in panicked and sweating. Axl asked Lonnie what has happened. Not only did Iggy spend all of his money in the casino, it turned out all of their money that was needed to pay for their trip back home is gone, as Lonnie showed them the empty leather bag as evidence. Iggy gambled every last bit of cash.

Everyone was enraged at Iggy. Especially Rolf who was furious and annoyed towards his thoughtless action. Axl suggested that they should sell their instruments and equipment for money to buy tickets. But Rolf already had them shipped out on another plane. With hardly any money at all in hand, Lonnie had an idea. He suggested that they should write autographs and take photos of fans in the streets, as they are well known famous rock stars themselves. And if the fans are loyal and generous as they were last night, they can donate the band more than enough money to send all five of them back home and return once more. Surprisingly, Rolf liked that idea. And for one, he agreed to it. Axl, Brutus and Iggy then followed suit.

The band collected street garbage materials as Axl declared that they would extend their stay to give the citizens of Brassland a "very special treat." For the first time ever in the history of rock n' roll, they'd play music by only using those. But the materials did not sound too well, with the exception of Axl's voice being the only redeeming quality. This angered the pedestrians and came by booing, heckling and throwing objects at them.

It got far worse when the police showed up. A tall bald eagle officer named Sergeant Baldwin approaches them. He was not joking around when he demanded the full story on what was happening. Iggy and Rolf tried to damage control the situation, but Lonnie told the truth by confessing that they were begging in the streets for money by putting on a public concert in the alley. Soon enough, all five of the members were arrested for vagrancy and disturbing the peace.

Upon entering a local police station all handcuffed, they met by a hawk police chief who was speaking with a short porcupine dressed in a black suit and maroon vest, who is actually the mayor. Mayor Woodwind. Axl being so tired of Baldwin's by-the-book and militant strict attitude, he felt like he was a war prisoner despite being arrested for minor legal offenses. Humiliated and embarrassed, Axl was also cringing at the idea about their incident becoming a viral sensational story on social media that would get many people talking about, all over the world. All band members responded to these accusations differently. Lonnie and Brutus emphatically answered yes, while Rolf and Axl answered no. Iggy wanted no part, but the rest were not going to let him off the hook so easy.

Axl himself wanted to speak out for the entire crew and did so. He did tell the mayor it was not any of their intentions to break the law, but didn't excuse the decisions that they made. The mayor did sympathize with them but unfortunately, that did not subside. Brassland has a very strict law regarding disturbing the peace and as a consequence, they would be spending time in prison and unable to go home. The five protested, saying that they are a band who have a schedule that must followed. Just when Baldwin was about to take action, the mayor restrained him and asked if they really were a band. Axl said yes and the mayor was gleeful and said that every year, Brassland has a yearly celebration towards the city's foundation with a carnival and a band. Their previous band went on strike because they wanted the city to pay for new hats. The charges will be dropped, if the five members were willing to take the position of being the band of this year's carnival. Axl accepted the offer, but Rolf did not seem too open on that.

Mayor Woodwind has requested Sergeant Baldwin to escort the five to the Brassland House of Music. After looking around many mystical and extravagant structure and detail, Axl thought that there would be rock band instruments for them to play and while he was speaking, Sergeant Baldwin showed them their instruments. Though, not what Axl had in mind. He was in a place which gave him a flashback back in high school where a band room full of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments. Tubas, trumpets, snare drums, bass drums, trombones and others, which all of that make up of a marching band. A huge miscommunication. Since it's Brassland hence the name of the city, they think they are a marching band. They still must do what they are offered to do. Otherwise, it's off to the slammer for all of them for a very long time.

Axl glanced at an Alto Saxophone. This was actually his very first instrument he played, before he quit shortly after and switched to a rock guitar. This was when he actually began his passion for music. He did have a hard time playing at first, but soon enough he was able to get warm jazzy notes playing. Rolf was interested at that and he picked up a trumpet and began to toot in rhythm to Axl's alto saxophone. All of this gave Axl flashbacks to his elementary school days. And soon enough, everyone got instruments to practice with, with Lonnie having to be the music teacher for Iggy and Brutus, due to lack of music experience.

Alongside with Axl having an alto saxophone and Rolf having a trumpet, he got Iggy and Brutus to join in, with Lonnie having cymbals, Iggy having a bass drum and Brutus gets to play with a snare drum. Many hours they practiced, well until dawn. It seemed that all was hopeless because they just could not find the right tone to play. After numerous frustrations and difficulties, it appeared that they were just ready to throw in the towel and face jail time. But Axl has reminded them to think positive and after more tiresome tries, they finally got a marching rhythm to pull off that they can all perform towards. But after all that, they were exhausted and slept as the morning sun came.

In a few minutes they all fell asleep. But not for long. Sergeant Baldwin woke them up and said that it's 4:10PM and they have until 5:00PM to be ready in their marching band uniforms and shako hats. Surprised, nobody said that they had to be dressed. But they have a strict code that they must be in. Just barely in time, everyone got their band clothing set. But Baldwin still had an issue with Axl's collar as he protested that he wants to keep it on. Then Baldwin scolds him saying that it violates the code. With a word from Mayor Woodwind, they decided to make an exception and have him keep it.

The time has then finally come. The Brassland Parade begins, as the five members get right into the action and began marching with their instruments. Everyone loved what they were seeing and the Nightriders grew a happy feeling upon seeing the cheerful townsfolk across the City sidewalks with confetti being shot with guns held by the Avian and furred citizens as well as holding balloons as the place became packed with all sorts of bright colors. There were also parade floats well decorated being pulled by antique tractors. Excited kids were dancing around with candy being tossed in the streets, as they ran to collect their bags full of them. This gave Axl a very wonderful feeling as he felt like he was in a large party and not being held prisoner, as being in Brassland for the first time.

Axl's saxophone performance really paid off for him as his notes eased with notes, even if he struggled a bit here and there, but still did well enough. Lonnie added splash with his joyous crashes with his cymbals being smashed together, as Iggy thumped on the bass drum with booming noises when struck with mallets. Even Brutus has enjoyed himself with his music talent that he found playing the snare drum as his militant quick sharp taps and rolls keep the beat for the band. Lonnie has successfully proved himself to be a talented teacher for Iggy and Brutus. Rolf blurted on his trumpet to jazz things up and he had an earnestness look on his face with the intense lifelong obsession on being sure that everything involving his performances is to perfection or close to it.

After that, Sergeant Baldwin was very impressed and is amused to see that they really can play marching band instruments after all. As a reward for their great performance, he gave five yellow tickets to Beach City for all Nightriders members to return back home. But as Axl sees the other members playing with the kids at a nearby playground, he decided that maybe they can stay a little longer before heading back. With all troubles gone and Sergeant Baldwin now returning back to do his regular police duty, this was a special day that would be well remembered.

Names in other languages
Below are translations towards the title of this story.

Development, publication and reception
The story begun planning in 2016, as the illustrator BlueMario1016 became fast friends with the author/creator of the Nightriders series. After winning an art contest in April of 2016, an art piece of the five Nightriders members as an actual marching band was drawn as a commission for his winning prize by Ferroth. Fascinated, this gave the idea towards wanting to do a story featuring them in a situation where they had to be a marching band and take part of a parade to avoid spending time in jail as to make up for their incident while traveling overseas. Blue has known a few others and has drawn various images featuring anthro animal characters in such attire. With that, AxlReigns himself has written this as a special story and to show honor and appreciation towards his friendship with Blue.

Also in more specific, Blue had mentioned that this story was also made towards expanding the Nightriders fanbase, as this one was geared towards a more younger audience that would get interested into the series.

Then just a few weeks before summer started, the story finally began development. Chapter 1 being published by AxlReigns on June 7, 2017. Due to other stories also being worked on at the time; especially since The Kidnappings was still going on as this story was being made, the progress for this story was a bit slow. As time went by, chapters two, three and four would eventually be published following suit. Then the fifth and final chapter would then be published on September 15, 2017 at the near end of the summer season, concluding the story.

The story has received mixed to positive reviews with readers and fans of the Nightriders series. Although it did not catch nearly as much attention as the main trilogy stories has had most likely due to the quality art style and a much shorter length, it still had its fair share of admiration towards the fans of the series, with AxlReigns' input. Blue himself said that he loved the story and enjoyed taking part towards working on it.

Trivia

 * This is by far in record, the shortest story in the entire Nightriders series to date. Only being five chapters long. Originally, it was to be as little as three, but it was extended to an additional two chapters to conclude the story being at five.
 * This is the first story in the series to not have any villain characters.
 * Mac Manson, Selena Drex and the Flame Heart girls do not appear in this story, because this was specifically written to focus on the five Nightriders members in mind. It's also due to that they were given profiles at the time and were more well recognized with fans.
 * Brassland is a location that is introduced to the series for the first time.
 * For the first time ever, Beach City is not seen anywhere at all in the story, despite being mentioned.
 * This is the first time that all five Nighriders members get involved in a situation together and have to overcome it throughout the entire story from start to finish. They all also appeared in the second story of the main trilogy prior, but they got involved in separate situations until near the end where all the major characters came together.
 * When all five characters are seen being arrested in the chapter two illustration, the "Busted!" sign is actually supposed to be a reference to the Grand Theft Auto games, when players end up getting arrested by the police or any other law enforcement.
 * If one was to look closely underneath, there is Japanese text reading: "Taihosawata" (逮捕さわた) meaning "Arrested." Essentially, it's still in the same context. This is given that this story was made in the Japanese Anime style.
 * This is the second time Brutus Crocker was seen being angry with Iggy Stiles due to his clumsiness. The first time was in Nightriders: The Battle Continues on Chapter 34 when them and Axl were in a situation. However this time, Rolf and Lonnie were also involved as well.
 * We learn that Axl playing the Alto Saxophone is what started his entire musical career.
 * Lonnie playing cymbals is actually a reference to when he used a pair to fight off the citizens who were turned into zombies in Chapter 13 of Nightriders: Battle of the Bands.
 * The idea of Iggy playing a bass drum seems to fit for him personality-wise, given he's the prankster of the band.
 * The Brassland Marching Band attire wear has become popular enough to where there are some art images done by a few fans of the series that shown specifically Brutus and Lonnie in their gear, even outside of the story.