Knock knock.
"Vector?"
"Shh."
Espio frowned and knocked once more. "Vector!"
"SHH!"
Espio clenched his fist tightly. "Vector, open the door—"
"SSHHHhhhhHHHHhhhHHH!"
Espio jerked the door open. "Vector, I need to tell you something!" He shouted.
Instead of being at his desk, Vector was huddled in the corner. Several pieces of paper were scattered around him, and he was vigorously scratching at a piece of paper, looking at it intently.
"What are you doing?" Espio sighed.
"SHH!" Vector brought the paper closer to himself. "4905...4905!" He examined it, but it wasn't the number he was looking for. A loud groan of defeat escaped him as he tossed it behind himself.
Espio huffed and stormed over to him, snatching the next paper before he could grab it.
"Espio!" Vector exclaimed. "I'm trying to help us all out, for Pete's sake!"
"Help?" Espio glanced down at the paper. "Vector..." He shut his eyes. "Are these lottery tickets...?"
"I'm so close to winning 100,000$, Espio!"
"Vector!" Espio exclaimed. "How many of these did you BUY!?"
"Hold on...197...198..."
"YOU SPENT OVER 200$ ON LOTTERY TICKETS!?" screamed Espio.
"I know; and it took me forever to obtain all that money! I had to borrow a couple dollars from your bank to do so—" Vector started.
"WHOA whoa WHOA..." Espio cut him off. "You...used MY money?" He gritted his teeth. "Don't you have respect for anyone other than yourself?" He hissed, but Vector was too busy looking at his other papers. Espio threw his hands up in exasperation and left the room.
"I had a lot of fun, Charmy!" Cream giggled.
"Me too!" said Charmy. "I'll see ya tomorrow!"
"Have a nice day, Charmy." Vanilla smiled, and the six year old bee soon flew out of sight.
Charmy hummed to himself as he headed back over to the detective agency, but a flash of gold suddenly caught his eye. "Oh?" He landed on the ground and wandered around.
By the curb, Charmy spotted a golden charm necklace. There were specific charms on it, such as a heart, a moon, a pot of gold, a shooting star, a rainbow, and a horseshoe.
"Ooh!" A bright smile came across Charmy's face as he snatched it off the ground. "This is shiny!" He was about to put it on, but frowned and looked around the area. "I wonder if someone lost this, though..." When he didn't see anyone in sight, he shrugged. "Oh well. Finders keepers losers weepers!" Charmy swung the necklace around his neck, grinning. He proceeded to hum while flying home.
As soon as Charmy returned home, he found Espio at the table, burying his face in his arms. "Hey Espio!" When the chameleon didn't respond, Charmy nudged him. "What's the matter, Espio?"
"What's that matter?" Espio responded grumpily. "Vector spent over 200$ on lottery tickets! And he used MY MONEY!" He pounded a fist onto the table in rage. "Doesn't he know we need the money!?"
Charmy's eyes widened. "Whoa! I didn't know Vector was THAT desperate for money...I better make sure he didn't raid my piggy bank!" He squeaked with anxiety and dashed towards his room. Before he could do so, however, he spotted something on the ground. "Hm?" Charmy lifted up the piece of paper and looked it over. "Scratch here to see your lucky numbers..." His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" He shrugged and decided to ask Vector. "Vector!" Charmy pounded on the door of Vector's office.
"SSHHH!"
Charmy tilted his head in curiosity. "Hey Vector!" He opened the door and flew inside. "Vector! I found something—"
"What!?" Vector continued sorting out his various lottery tickets.
"Look!" Charmy placed the paper he found on his desk.
Vector looked down and his eyes widened. "Oh! I must've dropped this. Thanks, Charmy!" He snatched the paper and started scratching it to see what his numbers were. "5...0...2...3..." He looked at the ticket, but froze.
"What? What's wrong?" Charmy asked.
"I...I won."
"Huh?" Charmy looked at the paper.
"I WON!" Vector screeched.
"Cool!" Charmy smiled, but then he raised an eyebrow. "What did you win?"
"100,000$!" Vector screamed in exuberance. He lifted the bee and swung him around. "I WON 100,000$!"
"Hey! Charmy frowned. "I helped you win! If I hadn't found that ticket, you wouldn't have won in the first place!"
Vector paused in his triumph, thinking about that. "You're right, kid..." he muttered. He looked at Charmy and nodded. "You're right! Thanks a bunch!" He hugged Charmy tightly and scrambled out of his office to go tell Espio.
After celebrating with champagne and ice cream that night, Vector headed out the next day to buy a new car. Espio decided to stay home and meditate, so Charmy decided to join Vector.
"Ooh! How about this one!?"
"No, Charmy."
"Ooh! This one!?"
"No, Charmy."
"This one!?"
"NO!" Vector shouted. "We're not getting a two-seated car, Charmy! In case you haven't noticed, there's three of us!"
Charmy counted his fingers. "Oh."
"Hm..." Vector held his hand on his chin as he looked through all the fancy cars. He had to constantly remind himself not to waste all the money on a car, however. Besides, he just wanted something better than what they already had.
"That one!?" Charmy squealed, pointed a finger at a Mustang.
Vector narrowed his eyes at the car. "Hm...Mustangs are pretty fancy..."
"And you're just in luck!" spoke a badger Mobian. "Today, all our Mustangs are 15% off!"
Vector's eyes widened. "Gee, that sure is tempting, then..." He scratched the back of his head. "Um...you have a green one?"
"Sure do!" The badger led them over to an emerald green Mustang.
Just the very sight of the car was enough for Vector to choke up in delight. "This must be my lucky day!" He squeaked. He looked at Charmy. "And I have you to thank for it, kid!"
"Aw, it was nothing," Charmy smirked.
After playing with Cream at the park, Charmy was invited to join her and Vanilla in taking a walk through town.
"So, how are Vector and Espio?" Vanilla asked the bee. "I heard they won the lottery!"
"Yep! I was the one who gave Vector the ticket, too!" Charmy beamed.
"What are you gonna do with all that money?" Cream asked incredulously.
"Vector bought a new car earlier today. I picked it out for him, too!" Charmy smiled a bit boastfully.
"What would they do without you?" Vanilla chuckled.
Charmy giggled. It took him a second to register that statement, however. What would they have done without him? If he hadn't found the ticket, Vector wouldn't have won the money, and if he wasn't there while Vector was picking out cars, Vector probably wouldn't have gotten the Mustang that was 15% off. It was rather strange, actually...
"SONIC!"
Charmy was jolted out of his thoughts as a familiar pink hedgehog dashed down the sidewalk after Sonic. Sonic had vanished before Amy could catch him, however, and she abruptly stopped.
"Hello Miss Amy!" Cream waved.
"Oh...hi, Cream." Amy looked rather upset, but she forced a smile when she caught sight of the rabbit.
"How is your day today?" Vanilla asked.
"It's okay...I've just been trying to talk to Sonic, though." Amy sniffed. "I was just going to ask him if he wanted to get a smoothie or something..."
"Aww...it's okay, Amy!" Cream gave her friend a gentle hug.
"Maybe he's busy?" Charmy suggested.
"He hasn't been busy for days! But...he just keeps running away from me!" Amy cried.
"I guess some people just need their space, dear..." Vanilla patted her on the back.
Just then, the blue blur returned. Sonic stepped over to Amy, actually looking rather guilty. "Amy...I'm sorry I ran away back there. It was rude of me, and I apologize."
Everyone ogled at him in aghast. "Really?" Amy wiped her tears.
"Sure! How about we get a smoothie or something?" Sonic smiled.
"Yes! Thank you, Sonic!" Amy squealed, and soon the two hedgehogs walked off together.
"Well...that was..." Cream started, tilting her head in confusion.
"...Weird..." Charmy finished for her. How did that suddenly happen? Sonic practically rejected her until Cream, Vanilla, and I came along... He blinked.
"Oh, look!" Cream pointed at something on the ground. She picked it up.
"Why, it's a 20$ bill!" Vanilla exclaimed. "That's lucky!"
Charmy's eyes widened as he looked at it. "Uh...cool!" He smiled, but he had the weirdest feeling that something really strange was going on. Charmy glanced down at his newly found necklace, noticing that it seemed to be glowing brighter than before.
What exactly is this thing...?