Chapter 1

One day Vector was in Tesco's, buying groceries for him and his housemates. He was just walking down the aisles, occasionally checking the prices of random items. His favourite song (I'm Sexy and I Know It) had just come on the radio when the screaming started.

'Help! Thief!'

A woman was standing by the checkouts, and a shady character was running away from her, a bag in his hand. Vector, assuming that the bag was the woman's and that the man had grabbed it from her, began chasing after him. He soon caught up to the man and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to spin on the spot. The man looked at Vector with pure hatred, and in this moment of hesitation Vector swung his fist round and hit the man's chin. The thief dropped the bag of shopping, and Vector scooped it up. The thief looked a Vector properly, and recognised him.

'Not you again' said the thief in a low voice.

Vector grinned, 'Problem?'

The thief just looked seriously hacked off.

'Stupid fat crocodile.' He muttered under his breath, beginning to walk down the street.

'They're muscles!' yelled Vector after him. He turned around, and jogged towards the woman, who was standing there smiling. He noticed that she was extremely pretty, probably in about her early twenties, and she was wearing a purple dress that flowed down to the floor. Her hair was the perfect shade of auburn, and it matched the tips of her ears perfectly.

'Thank you so much sir.' She spoke in a soft voice, looking at Vector with her deep brown eyes. Vector's insides practically melted.

'You're welcome ma'am. Always have to help a lady!' Vector replied, trying to act cool, but his face was bright red and his heart beating so fast he was sure she could hear it.

'May I ask your name sir?' She asked.

'The name's Vector, Vector the Crocodile, boss of the Chaotix Detective Agency. What about you?'

'Nice to meet you Mr Vector. My name's Vanilla, it's passed down through family. Do you happen to know where Green Hill Zone is?'

I do, actually, I live there.'

'Oh! I do too!'

'Really? I haven't seen you around.'

'Well Mr Vector, you wouldn't have… I just moved here the other day.'

Vector thought. Suddenly, he remembered.

It was yesterday. Vector was sat at home, 'reading' the newspaper. His housemates, Charmy and Espio, were playing chess together. As usual, Charmy was losing because Espio was just too good. Charmy got up and went to the window.

'Hey Vector, there's a removal van. I think someone's moving in.'

Vector got up to go look.

'Great, another idiot. This town is now full of idiots.' He said to Charmy angrily. Vector hated new people. In fact, if it was possible, Vector would live and die alone without doing any socializing whatsoever.

'Aw, don't worry Vector, you will always be the king of idiots.' Charmy replied, trying to wind Vector up.

'That's ri-… Why you little-!'

Vector looked at Vanilla and smiled.

'Oh I, erm, I remember… erm, maybe we could walk there together?' He said hopefully.

'Sure thing!' replied Vanilla happily. They both set off at a pace down the road together. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. Vector, feeling very awkward indeed, decided to make small talk.

'So… erm, why did you decide to move?' He asked, breaking the silence.

'Oh, I wanted to get away from my old life, you know, start fresh.'

'I know how that feels…'

'Really? Why, what happened?'

Vector sighed. 'Can we drop the subject?'

'Oh… I'm sorry.' Vanilla said quietly, looking sad. Vector tried to change the subject, to try and avoid the awkwardness that was happening between him and Vanilla.

'Don't worry, it's okay. Do you live alone?'

'No, I live with my beautiful daughter Cream.'

Vector sighed again. 'Oh… well, what about your husband?'

'That's why I wanted to leave.' Vanilla replied, looking down. 'Do you live with anyone Mr Vector?'

'Yeah, I live with my boys.'

'You're a father?'

'No! Hehe, they're my teammates, Espio and Charmy. Espio is 17 and Charmy is 6. We're Team Chaotix, I'm the leader.'

'Charmy is 6? Same age as Cream.' smiled Vanilla. 'But really? You're team leader?'

'Well, not at the start. We met each other on Eggman's ship when we were all kidnapped. There was also Knux.'

'Knuckles the Echidna?'

'Yeah, he was leader at first, but then he became guardian of the master emerald and made me leader instead. He and I bonded like brothers, and he looked depressed at first so I asked him a question. It really joint us together. I was like 'Psst, wanna Tic-tac?' and he was like 'Erm…sure.' We were best of friends after then.'

Vanilla giggled. 'You're so silly Mr Vector! Anyway, here's my home. I'll get you a reward for helping me.'

Vector felt he couldn't accept a reward, especially not from Vanilla.

'No reward needed ma'am! I'm fine like this; it's part of the job!' He said, grinning widely. 'Meeting you was reward enough!'

'Aw, Mr Vector you're so kind, thank you!' Vanilla said, smiling pleasantly at Vector, who was now blushing again.

'You're welcome. Hehe. Just glad that I could help!'

Across the park, Charmy and Espio were doing some spying. Charmy was crouching underneath a park bench, and watching Vector and Vanilla talking. Espio was sat on the bench, his legs hiding Charmy from other people's views, reading a book on chess.

'Hey Espio! Look at this!' yelled Charmy from under the bench. Espio jumped, and then looked down, annoyed.

'Charmy, there's no need to shout, I was only here.'

'Whatever. Just look at this.' Charmy said, pointing across the street.

'Hey, that's Vector. And, isn't that Vanilla? She's laughing at Vector's jokes I think.'

'No, she's probably laughing at his face.'

Choosing to ignore this, Espio carried on talking. 'Hang on, is Vector blushing?!'

Back at Vanilla's house, her and Vector were finishing their conversation.

'Make sure you come visit me Miss Vanilla.' Vector said, trying to make sure he was going to see her again. 'I live down the way, in the headquarters. You can't miss it.'

Vanilla giggled. 'I will Mr Vector, don't worry. See you soon!'

'Yep, see you. Okay, bye then.' He smiled at Vanilla one last time and crossed the street.

'Damn it Espio, he's coming! Act natural!' Charmy cried, pointing at Vector who was walking towards them.

'I am Charmy, calm down!' Espio replied calmly, for he was the sensible one out of the pair.

'Hey boys, I'm back.'

'Oh Vecky, you little love detective, are you and Vani kissy facing each other? Huh?!' Charmy was once again trying to annoy Vector. And he was succeeding.

'I… how do you know about me talking to Miss Vanilla?' Vector asked, puzzled.

'Oh, I saw you and Vanilla 'talking' Vecky. Worried?' Charmy laughed at Vectors shocked expression.

'Now now Charmy, they were only talking. Vector just has a crush, that's all.' Espio said sensibly, trying not to laugh at them both.

'Hmm…' Charmy looked at Vector grinning. 'I wonder what their children will look like.'

Vector lost his temper. 'Shut up Charmy!'