The ninja within you
This is the first story I've done for the sonic category so don't expect too much. I've been wanting to do a story involving Espio for ages and here it is. All characters belong to Sega. Anything in italic is thought speech. Please read and review
It's not just a job; it's a way of life.
It was a clear, sunny day and business for the chaotix detective agency has been surprisingly good for the pass few weeks. All the bills have been paid and they were finally eating real food instead of a constant stream of take-out.
Today was a day of rest for the team; they had just finished a particularly tough case involving an underground drugs trade and were taking it easy.
This was all well and good for the older residents of the agency but after weeks of exciting activity the sudden stop left the youngest detective bored out of his mind.
Charmy the bee is one of three detectives at the agency, at only 6 years old he is hyperactive, carefree and very annoying. Today was not going to be any different.
"It's so boring, why don't we ever do anything"
Vector the crocodile, who is the oldest of the team was sitting behind his desk, flipping through a sports magazine trying his best to drown out the young bee's voice.
"Ya know Charmy, ya should do somethin' constructive with ya time"
"Constructive? But I don't know how to build a house."
"No, no, no. not construction, Constructive, ya know like… read a book or learn a new skill, things like that"
"You mean like see how many marshmallows I can eat in a minute!
"Yeah- I mean no! The last thing we need is you high on sugar again, we're still not allowed in the bakery after your last episode."
"That was soooo much fun"
"And so very expensive"
Charmy, who up to this point had been slowly flying in circles stops to think about what skills he has.
"Hmm, I can't think of any skills that I can do"
"Well why don't ya go and watch the telly instead, or at least annoy Espio instead of me"
"Okay" Charmy said as he leaves vector's office.
Charmy fly's to the living room and settles himself on an old beat up couch and switches on the T.V. the final member of the chaotix team, Espio the chameleon was sitting in his usual position on the floor with his eyes closed, deep in meditation.
Charmy flicks through the channels but none of them seem to catch his attention. He once again thinks about what skills he has and what he can do to improve them. The only one who had any real skills, or at least had the most skills seemed to be Espio; in fact he was always trying to improve himself through training and meditation. This gave him an idea.
"Hey Espio" Charmy said as he turned the T.V off and flew within a few feet of Espio.
"Yes Charmy" Espio replied, still keeping his eyes closed.
"I was just wonderin' if you… could teach me."
"Teach you what exactly?"
"You know ninja stuff like catching bullets out of the air and beatin' up bad guys and stuff like that!"
Espio, forgetting all about meditating opens his eyes in surprise.
"You want to learn to be a ninja?"
"Well… vector said I should learn some new skills and you have lots of em, so I was thinking that if I could learn some new things I could help out more. Do you think it's a stupid idea?"
"No Charmy, I think it's great that you want to learn something new and I'd be happy to teach you."
"What, really?"
"Sure, let's start with meditation shall we"
"Yeah"
Charmy lands next to Espio and waits for the lesson to start.
"First cross your legs and place your hands together, like this"
Espio slowly shows Charmy how to get into the correct position and wait patently for Charmy to follow.
After watching Espio, Charmy repeats the action which turned out to be harder then he though. No matter what he did he couldn't keep his legs in the uncomfortable position for long.
"Don't worry too much Charmy; it took me some time to get the hang of it too. Now close your eyes and take deep breaths"
Abandoning his attempts to sit properly he did what Espio said and closed his eyes. After a few minutes of silence, which seemed to last far too long for Charmy, He decides to try and start up a conversation with the purple chameleon.
"So… we just sit like this all day?" he asked.
"Yes"
"Kinda boring isn't it? You know it's not natural too be this quiet. I once knew a guy that-"
"Charmy, have you ever heard the phrase silence is golden?" Espio asked.
Thinking for a minute the bee shakes his head. "Nope."
"Meditating is usually done in complete silence."
"Oh… okay…"
Once more the room fall into silence.
"You know." Charmy said to Espio. "If silence was golden you'd be a millionaire by now"
If Charmy's eyes were open he would have seen a small smile escape from Espio.
"Yes" he chuckled "and if that were true then vector would never make a sound again"
"Hey, you made a joke."
"So I did."
"You should do it more often; you can be real funny when ya want to be"
Espio had a hard time trying to hid a smile, he had always taken life seriously and wasn't the type to make jokes. He always thought he had an underdeveloped sense of humour.
"Um… anyway, no more talking now. Concentrate on your breathing and think of something peaceful, something that makes you happy."
Charmy did as he was told and eventually found something to focuses on. All was peaceful as the young bee and his new mentor sat in silence meditating.
Back in the main office vector had finished flipping through his magazine and was filing the last of the paper work from their previous case.
"Hmm… pretty quiet round here" vector said to himself.
Half an hour had passed since Charmy left him in peace and he hadn't heard a sound since, which was very unusual and at the same time worrying.
"Something's up, better go and see what he's up to. Espio's proberly locked him in the supply closet again."
Filing the last of the paperwork vector leaves the office and heads for the living room.
"Charmy, you okay?" vector said as he enters the living room.
What he finds both surprises and confuses him. The surprising thing being Charmy sitting quietly on the floor, the confusing thing was that he was sitting next to Espio with his legs crossed and hands together, like he was meditating.
Vector tried his hardest to keep himself from bursting into laughter by covering his mouth with his hand.
"Awww, aint that cute… where did I put that camera?"
The crocodile quietly searches the room for the camera until he eventually find it tucked away behind the coffee table.
Taking up a good position vector takes a few snap shots of the mediating duo.
"Wait til I show the rest of the guys these. Those two will never live this down"
Vector smiles and feeling very pleased with himself quickly retreated back to his office before he is discovered by the pair.
Everything was quiet; Espio was in fact quite surprised that Charmy hadn't made a sound in the last half an hour. Defiantly a new record for the young bee.
"I'll give him a hundred dollars if he's been awake all this time" Espio thought.
The minute the thought left his head he feels something land on his shoulder. Espio open one eye and see's Charmy fast a sleep on his shoulder.
"Thought not… No wonder he was so quiet"
Espio opens both eyes and gently shakes the bee.
"Charmy wake up"
"Five more minutes…" Charmy said sleepily.
"Come on now Charmy. Meditations over, lets move on to stealth"
"But… I'm not done… meditating… yet…" Charmy starts to snore lightly.
There were two ways to wake Charmy when he was asleep. Vector's way, which includes water balloons and an air horn or Espio's slightly more subtle way, which involved shocking the bee into a reaction. He decided to try his way first.
"Charmy, I'm sorry to say this but, someone has stolen all the chocolate."
"What!"
Charmy springs up into the air, looking at Espio with wide eyes.
"Where'd they go? I'll track em down and teach to not to steal my chocolate!"
Charmy starts to fly toward the front door but is quickly grabbed by Espio.
"Charmy clam down, no one has stolen anything. It was to get you to wake up."
"Oh…"
"Now as I was saying. Why don't we move on to stealth for the next lesson?"
"You mean like hiding? Because I'm so good at that. Like when I played with the fire extinguisher and vector started yelling at me to put it down and I accidentally sprayed him in the face with it and he chased me and I hid in the cupboard and then he put the chair in front of it and I couldn't get out" Charmy eventually ran out of breath and had to stop. This gave Espio just enough time to interrupt the hyper bee before he could continue rambling.
"There's more to stealth then just hiding Charmy. It's about moving silently and unseen."
"That's easy for you. You're a chameleon, you can turn invisible"
"You don't have to turn invisible to be invisible" Espio said "you just have to make sure that you're not in the places that people are looking.
Charmy tilts his head slightly to the side as he thinks about what the chameleon said.
"I don't get it." Charmy said after several minutes. "If someone's looking for you isn't hiding the best thing to do?"
Espio sighed; he would have to think of a better way to explain what he meant if he had any hope in teaching Charmy. Although he would not openly admit it, he was actually enjoying teaching. Even if his student was an annoyingly hyper six year old bee.
Espio decided that a physical demonstration was the best course of action and that Charmy would understand better if he could see what he meant rather then trying to explain it to him verbally.
"Come on Charmy I'll show you what I mean"
And with that the chameleon walked off towards the office with Charmy following close behind.
A few minutes later the pair were both outside the door of the main office. The door was open slightly and Espio could see vector working at his desk. Satisfied that vector couldn't see or hear them, Espio turns to Charmy to begin the lesson.
"Right" Espio whispered "I'm going to sneak into the office, take something from vector's desk and then come back. All without turning invisible or being seen so watch carefully."
"You'll never get in there without vector seeing you"
"Watch and learn Charmy, its all about creating a distraction."
Before Charmy has a chance to question him, the purple ninja moved quietly to the open door and throws a small object inside.
Vector is so busy with his work that he doesn't notice the small screw, which Espio had taken from the tool box earlier, sail right over his head and hit the wall behind him. It was the small metallic bang that caused him to spin around in alarm.
"Huh, what the hell was that!" vector said as he leaves his chair to investigate.
The moment vector's back is turned Espio quickly and quietly ducks into the room and presses himself flat against the front of the desk.
Meanwhile vector discovers the source of the noise.
"What? Where'd this come from" vector said, while examining the screw, there were no shelves on the wall and nothing near the area that it could have fallen off. Deciding to forget about the mystery screw, vector returns to his desk only to find that the pen he was using a minutes ago has disappeared.
"Now where'd I put that stupid pen?" vector starts to shuffle threw papers and magazine in search of his missing pen.
Unknown to vector, Espio was slowly moving around to the back of the desk as vector moved round to the front. He was going to need another distraction In order to get the large crocodile away from the door. That distraction came in the form of a large stack of books and magazines partly hanging off the corner of the desk.
Espio smiled and slowly pulled the bottom book over the edge, the rest of the pile soon followed and the loud crash brought vectors attention back to the other side of the office.
"Aw now what?" vector moaned aloud. As he move back round to the other side, Espio moved in the opposite direction.
"What's wrong with this place? Everythin's either fallin' apart or gone missing."
Vector stooped down and started to pick up the mess, all the while muttering to himself.
As soon as Espio was sure that vector wouldn't turn around he bolted for the door and as quietly as he had entered slip out unseen.
Once he was safely back outside the office Espio showed-off his trophy to Charmy, he was feeling quite pleased with himself. He could still hear vector muttering and mumbering inside the office. Charmy would have a harder time sneaking in and out then Espio had and vector was certain to be more alert then before.
"That was so cool" Charmy said excitedly as he took the pen from Espio. "He'll go mad tryin to find this"
"Well it's your turn now. Vector's suspicious so the same trick is unlikely to work twice. You'll have to think of another way to distract him"
Charmy thought for a few minutes. What would lure vector away without causing too much suspicion?
It didn't take long for Charmy to come to a conclusion and without saying a word, he flew quickly to the kitchen. Before Espio had time to follow a series of large metal clangs sounded through the house. The sudden noise nearly gave Espio a heart attack and judging by the sound from the office he wasn't the only one.
"What in the hell was that!"
Espio had just enough sense left to camouflage himself as vector charged out of the office toward the kitchen.
"Oh no! I knew I should have followed the instruction when I put that shelf up"
Charmy suddenly reappeared and quickly entered the office. Unfounataly for him vector followed seconds later and closed the door, leaving Espio on one side and Charmy trapped on the other.
There was nothing Espio could do now, so he dropped his camouflage and tried to get a good view via the eye hold.
He couldn't see Charmy anywhere and vector was busy looking through the draws in his desk.
"Where is he?" Espio thought
Suddenly the phone started to ring. Vector jumped at the sound and quickly crossed the office to answer it.
Espio ignored the conversation between vector and the caller and continued to look for Charmy. A slight movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention to the cluster of metal lockers in the corner near the door.
There he saw two small antennas poking out of the nearest locker. Charmy timidly poked the rest of his head out only to find that vector was blocking his only escape route. In desperation he decides the window was the only way out.
Trying his best not to make a sound he carefully hopped out the locker and creeps towards the window. On his way he snatches the nearest object off the desk, as proof so that he could show Espio later. All he had to do now was open the window and fly out.
The window in the office was always a problem. It never stayed open for long and had a nasty habit of slamming shut unexpectedly. This is exactly what happened to poor Charmy.
He had managed to ease the window open without alerting vector, who was still on the phone.
Charmy smiled. He was about to sneak out off the office, unseen and with a stapler to prove it, this was going to be such an achievement for him.
"Hee hee hee… vector won't suspect a thing. For I am Charmy, super ninja!"
"Of course Mr. Fulton we'll start your case first thing in the morning."
After hearing vector's voice again Charmy Suddenly remembers what he was suppose to be doing and quickly snaps out of his daydream. frantically he try's to scramble through the window.
He only got half way out when it slammed shut on his back, trapping him.
Charmy screamed from shock and pain and tried his hardest to wiggle free.
Charmy's ear splitting scream made vector jump a foot into the air and spin round in fright. All vector could see was Charmy's rear end sticking out of the window, with his legs kicking wildly.
"Charmy? How the hell did ya get in here! And what are ya doin hangin outta the window?"
"Vector! Vector! Help me! I'm too young and cute to die! Charmy screamed from the other side of the window.
"hold on' I'll get ya out" vector walked to the window, lifted the panel up and pulled the bee back into the office.
"Charmy what were ya doin in here? Ya nearly gave me a freakin heart attack when ya screamed like that. I thought ya hurt yourself or something. What were ya thinking?"
Charmy kept his head bowed when he spoke.
"I-I'm sorry… I was just trying to learn to be a good ninja" Charmy's voice sounded close to tears.
Vector's face softened as he looked at the young bee
"Charmy, do y'know how much ya scared me just then? I thought something awful had happened to ya… hang on. What do ya mean you were tryin ta be a good ninja?"
Charmy looked up so that he was looking at vector.
"You told me I should learn some news skill, so I asked Espio if he'd teach me some ninja stuff."
Vector was dumbfounded. Not only had Charmy actually listen to him for once, but he was actually trying to do something usefully. And with Espio. Vector nether would have guessed that the quiet and serious chameleon would have the energy and above all patience to teach Charmy. Lord knows vector certainly didn't.
"Oh so Espio's teaching ya some of his ninja tricks his he?
Charmy nodded
"Well I guess miracles do happen" vector said quietly
"What'd you say vector?"
"Err… I said I just have to get somethin"
Vector quickly walked to the door and pretended to get something from the locker. He had a suspicion and wanted to prove it without alerting anyone.
Quicker then the eye could follow vector grabbed hold of the door handle and swung it open. A startled yelp and a small thud were heard seconds later.
Espio unintentionally became visible again. He had camouflaged when he saw vector heading for the door.
A huge crocodile grin spread across vector's face.
"Well, well, well what do we have here?"
Espio picks himself up off the floor and dusts himself off.
"I was looking for my… keys" Espio said weakly. He was feeling pretty embarrassed about being discovered so easily.
"Ya don't have keys Espio.
"We should have keys though" Charmy added.
Vector ignored him.
"So you're teaching Charmy to be a ninja?"
"I'm not teaching him to become a ninja. I'm just showing him some of the
Skills that ninja's use.
"Like stealing"
"It's not stealing vector its stealth, isn't Espio?" Charmy said.
"That's right. You know I'm against theft and would never teach him to steal!" Espio huffed. He was feeling slightly offended by the actuation. Until vector started to laugh.
"Wow calm down Esp. I was only kidding I know ya wouldn't teach the kid anything like that."
"Yeah, stealing bad" Charmy said as he goes to stand next to Espio.
"That right Charmy stealing very, very bad. Now give me back my stapler."
Charmy hands over the stapler to vector along with the pen Espio stole earlier.
"Now would you two kindly get outta here so that I can get some work done. We've got a case to prepare for first thing in the morning and I'd like to get started one the paper work."
"Fine. Come on Charmy, we'll go outside for the next lesson" Espio turns and walks out of the office without another word.
"Bye vector" Charmy shouts as he fly's out the door.
"Kids, wha ya gonna do with em?" vector returns to his desk to get a head start on their new case.
Outside of the chaotix building Espio and Charmy were about to start the next lesson. Espio had long ago converted the empty space around the house into a makeshift training course. On one side there were numerous wood dummies which Espio used to practice his martial arts moves and near the back there were small wooden boards with bulleyes painted on them. Each one had many small marks were Espio's shuriken and kunai knifes had hit, all of them in the center. There was also a large tree stump which espio loved to meditate on when the weather was nice.
The next lesson was throwing and aiming. Charmy was sulking near one of the target boreds. Espio refused to let him use real shurikens and kunais, so he was left with less lethal projectiles.
"why can't I use throwing stars? I'll be real careful."
"Charmy, for the last time. I'm not letting you get your hands on anything which could put someone in the hospital. It would be dangerous for you and irrisponsible of me."
"Aw come on espio. I said I'd be careful"
"sorry charmy the answer's still no. your using stone and pebbles and that's it"
charmy contuied to complain as espio started to set up a large piece of paper with a target on it. He had recived a small number of them from a police target range and found them useful when he need to see were he had hit more clearly. They would be perfect for charmy to use, and safer. The stones they were going to use would just bounce of the wooden target boards.
Once espio had the first target tied up on a washing line he began the lesson.
"Right, throwing projectiles may sound easy but aiming is of the utmost importance. Always keep your eyes on your target. Don't allow yourself to become distracted."
"got it" charmy said
"when you throw keep your arm straight as you let go, otherwise you risk the object curving and missing the target."
Espio takes a small sized stone and throws it quickly towards the centre of the target. The stone fly's straight threw the centre and lands several feet away.
"Now you try"
Charmy picks up a small stone and try's his best to copy exactly what Espio had done. With all his might he threw the stone at the paper target and managed to hit the outer ring.
"I did it! I did it! I hit it. Did ya see Espio? I actually hit it!"
Charmy was buzzing excitably around in circles.
"Well done Charmy. Let's see if you can get it nearer the centre."
For the next ten minutes Charmy and Espio took turns in throwing their stones. Charmy was slowly getting better and more confidants with his throws. He was even close to hitting the centre on more then one occasion.
"I swear I'll get it this time" Charmy said. He picked up a large stone and prepared to throw.
As Charmy pulled his arm back to throw vector called his name from inside the building.
Before Charmy could stop himself he spun round and threw the stone with all the force he could muster.
"No, no, no come back!" Charmy shouted at the inanimate object. But it was no use, the stone crashed straight through the office window with a loud shattering crash.
"Espio! Charmy! Get in here now!" came vector's furious voice from within the office walls.
"Oh no" Espio sighed
"What are we gonna do? He'll kill us for breaking the window"
"Actually Charmy you broke the window not me"
Charmy's eyes widen in fear at the realation of Espio's statement.
"Espio it was an accident. I didn't mean to do it" Charmy was starting to become very upset. "I'm sorry, I got distracted and you told me not to. I can't do anything right!"
All of the days stress had gotten to Charmy. He was upset that he hadn't managed to successfully complete any of the lessons that Espio had shown him. He fell asleep during meditation, he was caught while in the middle of a stealth lesson and now he had put a window in during the throwing and aiming session. How could he be a good detective if he couldn't complete a few simple lessons that even the most novice ninja's could do. Charmy's hopes of becoming a better detective
Through ninja training were fast looking like a huge mistake to the young bee.
"Charmy it's alright, we'll explain to vector that it was an accident, and then you can try again" Espio had hoped to reassure and calm the bee but he somehow made it worse.
"No! I can't do it; every time I try I get it all wrong. I tried really hard and I still keep failing. I can't even hit a stupid piece of paper properly, so how can I help out more during cases." Charmy was in tears now "I-I only wanted to help out more and make you and v-vector proud, but… everything I do is wrong. I'm no good to anyone!"
Before Espio could say anything Charmy flew quickly to the front door of the agency and disappeared inside.
Espio was dumbfounded. Obviously Charmy had been disheartened when he wasn't successful at a lesson, but it was Charmy. This sort of thing wasn't suppose to happen, he was cheerful, optimist and full of enthusiasm. He shouldn't have been bothered by failing a few tests… yet he was and Espio knew that it was his fault.
Espio made his way to the house and headed towards the stairs. But before he got there he was confronted by vector.
Vector stood there with his arms crossed "what happened?"
"I'm not sure, he just seem so upset about breaking the window then he started to say that he just wanted to be a good detective so he could help out more
"I'd better go talk ta him"
"No I'll go"
Espio walks up the stairs to Charmy's room, there is no sound to be heard from inside. Espio knocks on the door and waits for an answer. But he doesn't get one.
"Charmy can I come in?"
Still there is no answer. Deciding to enter anyway Espio quietly opens the door and goes inside.
He finds Charmy lying on his bed with his head buried in his pillow. Espio closes the door and goes to sit beside the bee.
"Charmy what's wrong? Please tell me"
"I can't do anything right" Charmy's voice was muffled by the pillow but Espio could just about make out what he was saying.
"All I do is make mistakes… I shouldn't even be a detective. You and vector would be better off without me!"
"Charmy that's not true. You know when I first started to train as a ninja I made so many mistakes that there were times that I just wanted to quit."
Charmy lifts his head to look at Espio.
"Really?"
"Yeah, but my sensei told me something that made me carry on. He said that a man who goes through life without making any mistakes has not learned anything. Mistakes are what make us better people and help us to learn and improve. Everyone makes mistakes Charmy."
"Even vector?"
"Especially vector, remember when he set the kitchen on fire"
"Yeah and he was only making toast" Charmy laughed.
Espio smiled at Charmy's laughter.
"And Charmy never ever think that vector and I are better off without you. We're a team and more importantly a family; we wouldn't be the chaotix without you. Never forget that."
Charmy pushed himself up and gave Espio a hug. Espio hugged the young bee back.
"Vector and I are very proud of you Charmy, you could never disappoint us. You're a little brother to us."
"And you're a big brother to me, I don't know what I'd do without you and vector. I love you both"
"And we love you too Charmy".
Espio releases Charmy and looks him in the eye.
"Don't worry about making mistakes. It's all part of growing up."
Charmy nods his head "okay"
"Now how about we go and get something to eat?"
"Will you cook?"
"If you like"
"Can I help?
"Of course you can"
"Yay, I promise I'll try my best"
"I know you will"
Espio stands up and walks towards the door.
"I'll go and get everything ready, think you could get washed up before we start"
"Sure thing" Charmy said happily.
Espio leaves the room and closes the door behind him. As he turns around he bumps into vector.
"Geez vector, are you trying to kill me" Espio said after recovering from his fright.
Vector just smiles broadly.
"You're gettin' soft Esp.
"No I'm not" Espio huffed "but I did mean everything I said"
"I know ya did, I feel the same way about the little squirt… and you"
Before Espio could escape vector had him in a bone crushing hug.
"Vector… I can't… breathe"
"Yay chaotix hug"
Charmy suddenly shot out of his room and join in the group hug. After a minute or two the group released each other.
"Well we'd better get on with dinner" Espio said once he got his breath back.
"Yeah I'm staving" Charmy said.
"Me too" vector added.
All three chaotix members made their way down the stairs towards the kitchen.
"And I still want to talk to you about that window" vector said to the duo.
Charmy and Espio just laughed as the started to prepare dinner for the team.
Charmy may not have learned how to be a successful ninja but he did learn to never give up or lose hope and that to keep trying even if you don't succeed the first time.
The end.
I never expected this story to be this long but once I started writing I couldn't stop. I couldn't resist a fluffy ending and I've always thought that the chaotix had a brotherly relationship. Please review and let me know what you thought.