A/N: Yes, the Kid Brigade is back! With a vengeance. This is technically a sequel to my first story, "The Kid Brigade," but it stands entirely on its own. And since Cream got the spotlight last time, guess who gets to be the center of attention this time! (Hint: peace-loving Mobians had better batten down the hatches.)

Are all the hatches battened? Good, then let's begin!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.!

Far out in the uncharted wilderness of Mobius's oceans, a storm like no other was howling. The wind screamed and rampaged, stroking huge whitecaps off the sea's tumultuous surface. Among these merciless waves, a comparatively tiny little ship was being tumbled violently about. The hull creaked and groaned under the weather's furious assault; the sails hung in useless tatters as St. Elmo's Fire glowed eerily on every mast; enormous breakers tore over the ship's prow and washed all over the deck. How the craft stayed afloat at all was a true mystery.

At the helm of this ship stood the calm and courageous captain, her teeth set grimly, her fist clenched in defiance of the elements. She heaved mightily at the wheel, masterfully keeping the pitching vessel upright.

Meanwhile, the first mate staggered up from the main deck, clinging to the railing so he wouldn't be swept overboard. Three times he disappeared under a foaming wave, before he finally managed to grapple his way up the ladder and stand by the wheel.

"Captain!" he bellowed above the scream of the storm. "We're going down! There's no hope!"

"There's always hope, mate!" the captain bellowed back. "Stand by the awnings on the mizzenmast!"

"There no longer are any awnings on the mizzenmast! They were taken by the horrible—" The first mate's sentence was cut short by another deluge of seawater. He coughed and wiped his face irately.

"All right Charmy, that's enough!"

Charmy looked up from drawing another bucket of water.

"But you said you wanted it to be realistic! And it can't be realistic unless there's huge waves washing over the deck all the time. This pond isn't even going to give us a ripple all on its own, you know!"

"True, but enough's enough, mate," grumbled Marine. "We can't even finish a decent line without you sloshing that bilge about. Besides, it's not realistic if we're wet and you aren't."

"No way!" yelped Charmy, holding the bucket above his head as Marine lunged for it. "Stoppit!"

"Gimme that, matey! Cap'n's orders!" howled Marine in return. In the course of the squabble, both Marine and Charmy succeeded in tumbling off the little makeshift pirate ship that the Kid Brigade had built.

"Mobians overboard!" wailed Cream, as she and Tails rushed to the edge of the deck. Marine and Charmy, meanwhile, surfaced easily in the knee-deep water.

"I'll have you keel-hauled!" roared Marine, shaking her fist at a dripping Charmy. "That's no way to treat your captain!"

"You're not my captain! I have no captain! I am—" Charmy hauled up a bunch of pondweeds and draped them over his head— "the great and mighty KRAKEN!"

The valiant captain had no fear of krakens, mighty or otherwise. Neither did her equally valiant crew.

"Slay the kraken!" howled Tails, as he and Cream threw themselves down after Marine and Charmy. The subsequent flurry of splashing and squealing and laughing and good-natured pummeling put the earlier storm to shame.

At last the four youngsters sloshed out of the pond and flopped down on the bank, still giggling and out of breath.

"Gosh," panted Charmy. "It's really awesome hanging out with you guys."

"It is fun," agreed Cream, as Cheese wrung water out of his little bow tie.

"Especially since things are so bad back at the office these days," Charmy added, sighing. "It's great to get out of there whenever I can."

"Bad?" asked Marine, looking up anxiously. "What d'ya mean, mate?"

Charmy picked at a blade of grass awkwardly.

"Welllll, it's nothing really that bad. It's just that we haven't had a case in three months. Vector and Espio are really worried about it. Every day we just wait and wait for a mystery to come up, and there never are any! Not one! It's making them kinda jumpy. They're grumpy all the time," finished Charmy sadly.

"That's terrible," said Cream, her eyes full of sympathy. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," said Charmy. "We've tried advertising, even in the nearest cities. We put up posters everywhere, but we never got even a single phone call. We've told all our friends to tell all their friends, and them to tell all their friends, and Vector says they must know about us in Spagonia by now, but we still don't get any calls! I guess there just aren't any mysteries in the world these days. That's what Espio says." The little bee folded his arms, shut his eyes, and tilted his head in imitation of the ninja chameleon. "'The age of the detective is over, boss'," he mimicked in a deep voice. "'The electronic era has destroyed the need for the classical art of detection'."

The others couldn't help but chuckle.

"You sound just like Espio," smiled Tails.

"You should hear me do Vector!" replied Charmy. "I can imitate anyone! Even Shadow."

"Don't you dare!" warned Tails, jumping up. Ever since the Kid Brigade's near-disbanding after a fiasco involving a leek, the youngsters had been keeping a carefully numbered list of things they learned in their adventures. They kept this "List of Lessons" partly for appearances, to prove to the older Mobians that they had turned over a new leaf and were now focused on good deeds and personal improvement. However, they also kept it because they really did want to learn from their mistakes, to avoid repeating the horrendous pickles they got themselves into sometimes.

Either way, the very first entry in the List of Lessons, written very bold, was, "Never, ever play tricks on Shadow."

"Okay, so I won't imitate Shadow," shrugged Charmy. "That makes my throat hurt anyway. Want to hear me imitate Vector?"

"First try Sonic," grinned Tails.

"And after Vector, how about me?" asked Marine.

Charmy obliged willingly. Soon the youngsters forgot about the troubles back at the Team Chaotix agency, as they got caught up in trying to impersonate all their friends.

The next time the Kid Brigade met, in their "clubhouse" in Cream's basement, they could immediately see something was wrong. Charmy's head was hung low, and his feet scuffed the ground sadly as he clumped down the stairs.

"What's wrong, Charmy?" asked Tails.

"Nothin'. I'm fine," said Charmy, plunking down on the floor next to Cream. Cheese flew over to him anxiously.

"Is it about Team Chaotix? Did you have a fight?" asked Cream worriedly.

Charmy gulped and shook his head.

"Charmy?"

"We're gonna disband!" wailed Charmy. "No more Chaotix Detective Agency!"

"What?!" yelped the others, as Charmy struggled not to burst into tears.

"You know we haven't had a case in forever and ever," groaned the little bee. "Vector thinks we'll never ever get one ever again. He says it doesn't pay well enough to be a detective, and we're all just wasting our time. He says we have to go find new jobs now, and if I can't find one, I'm just gonna have to go back home and be a normal kid. I don't wanna be a normal kid! I wanna be a detective!"

Tails, Cream, and Marine exchanged shocked glances. They knew how much being a detective meant to Charmy. It had been his dream ever since he was old enough to talk. And Vector and Espio loved the detective business too, even slow and difficult as it sometimes was. And now they were just giving it all up?

"You can't just disband!" sputtered Marine, as Cream wrapped her arms comfortingly around a sniffling Charmy. "That's all rot! You're bound to get a case soon! You've just gotta hang on!"

"She's right!" agreed Tails vehemently. "It's like with earthquakes or volcanoes. The longer it's been since the last one, the sooner the next one will come, and the bigger it's going to be!"

"Now there's gonna be a volcano?" wailed Charmy. "The agency isn't volcano-proofed!"

"No no, not a real volcano," said Tails hastily. "I was just making a comparison! What I mean is, since it's been so long since your last case, you're bound to get another one really soon, and it's bound to be a doozy!"

"Chao!" agreed Cheese, waving his little arms.

"Vector doesn't believe that," said Charmy sadly. "He's just given up. Espio too. They say they'll wait one more week, and if they don't get a case by then, no more Team Chaotix."

"One more week?! Why didn't you say so, mate?" whooped Marine. "We can save the agency!"

"Wh-what?"

"All we have to do is find a mystery for you to solve!" agreed Cream, catching on. "Even just a little one! If Mr. Vector and Mr. Espio see they still have some work to do, they'll change their minds about quitting the detective business!"

"I don't know, you guys," sighed Charmy. "You remember what happened the last few times we tried to do good deeds."

He had a point. After that first rule in the List of Lessons, there were other tidbits of wisdom such as "turpentine old paint BEFORE putting on new paint," and "don't let Tails try to bake cupcakes."

"We can't just give up on good deeds, though!" argued Tails. "We'll just have to hunt up a mystery that nobody thought of asking Team Chaotix about!"

"You think it'll work?"

"Charmy, Charmy, Charmy mate," scolded Marine. "You're supposed t'be the optimistic one!"

Charmy looked doubtful for just the briefest of moments. Then he smiled slowly.

"And you guys would really help me with that?" he asked hopefully.

"Are you kidding? Mobius just wouldn't be the same without Team Chaotix! Of course we'll help."

"You're the best!" grinned Charmy, bouncing to his feet and clenching his little fist. "And you're right. We can do this! We can save Team Chaotix!"

The others whooped in agreement and raised their fists high.

"Charge of the Kid Brigade!" they hollered, and thundered up the basement stairs.

"Chao, chao-chao!" protested Cheese, and whizzed off after them.