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The End Of The Rainbow
...
"Is it really the treasure of gold
or the dance on the rainbow itself?"
- Edguy, 'Dragonfly' –
...
A Day Disturbed
His slow, calm breathing was close to inaudible in the room. It pretty much was a regular day at the Chaotix' office. The ventilator span lazily, making a small, steady noise while providing a bearable temperature in the room in spite of the heat of summer outside. Adding to the constant whirring, the muffled sounds of music were audible, a sound he had grown used to over the years.
Espio's eyes opened at a sudden, loud bang that pulled the ninja's mind out of a light meditation; and the chameleon turned his head around. He instantly relaxed again at identifying the youngest member of the team, Charmy Bee, as the originator of the disturbance. The six-year old that Vector and Espio had kind of adopted at finding him years ago had been occupying himself by throwing up a ball almost the size of his own head; a mistake in aiming had caused his toy to drop onto the edge of the big desk, the shock setting off a chain reaction that caused a bunch of papers, pencils and other stuff to fall down to the floor.
"Oops…" Charmy grinned sheepishly, rubbing tha back of his head. "Sorry."
Espio slightly shook his head, finding himself once again unable to be mad at the boy. It seemed to the ninja chameleon almost as if the three of them were family. "Why don't you go play outside, Charmy?", he asked calmly, not moving from his lotus seat.
"But… if you get a job while I'm gone?" Charmy scrambled to pick up the ball, hugging it to his chest, giving Espio a puppy-dog-eyed look that begged not to send him away.
Espio would have never considered doing; the bee's look made him smile nonetheless. "We didn't get an offer for the last three weeks; the chances we'll get one now are not quite bigger."
In fact, that was the main problem the team of detectives had to deal with at the moment. There were bills to pay, but without jobs there was no way to do so. Espio's gaze wandered over to the leader of their agency. Vector's large feet rested on top of the desk while the crocodile more lay than sat in his chair, hands crossed behind his neck, eyes closed, oblivious to the world around him and like often noticing nothing aside of the music coming from his earphones. He had not even noticed Charmy's accident. For a second Espio wondered if he was the only one being concerned for their outcome. Without a job soon, it'd be goodbye Chaotix…
He had not even quite finished his thought when the loud ringing of the phone shook him out of it. Startled with excitement, Charmy dropped his ball to the floor, beating his wings to fly over to the desk and pick up the phone; but the little bee had not even made half of the way over to it when Vector sat straight, pulling the headphones off his ears and reaching to answer the call. A rare smirk flashed on the stoic chameleon's face, knowing the only way to get Vector out of his own, music-filled world was the sound of a ringing phone.
"Hello? Chaotix Detective Agency, Vector speaking?", the crocodile spoke in his slightly rasping voice into the phone. He listened for a second as the caller answered him, then a smile lit his face, showing off the long teeth in his large jaw. His free hand gestured a thumbs-up at his two colleagues.
"Go ahead, Miss," the crocodile continued; and for the next minute he just listened, nodding from time to time and starting to grin softly. "Of course we will take the job, Miss. It's our policy: We never turn down work that pays! And in this particular case, it will be a very pleasant occasion to serve. We will call you as soon as we finish everything!" Vector laughed good-heartedly. "Yes, anytime, Miss. Goodbye."
Espio folded his arms as his 'boss' hung up and smiled at them. "So, we got a job?"
The crocodile nodded vigorously. "Yes, we will be paid, but I think I'll make the young lady a special prize."
Espio tilted his head as he listened to Vector's report about the call, a small frown growing on his brow. "Since when is it our job interfering with matters as private?"
Vector stood and shook his head. "Espio, my friend, you have no sense for romantic occasions. Sometimes luck needs to be pushed a little. Beside, you know our policy."
Espio was about to contradict, when Charmy started flying around him, clasping his small hands together. "We get to have a jo-ob! We get to have a jo-ob!", the young bee called out happily.
Reluctantly the purple chameleon swallowed his uncertainty about the matter. "Alright, it's work that pays…"
Vector's hand friendly hit Espio's back. "That way I like you!"
"Whooooohooooooo!" A long, enjoyed cry forced out by a high resulting half of adrenaline and half of simple, genuine fun echoed through the hills of Mystic Ruins. A pair of red-sneakered feet was sending the constant sound of small thuds through the ground they touched, several hundred times per minute.
Sliding through a narrow turn, Sonic used one of the hills as a halfpipe to support his change of direction. Dashing further and faster, the blue hedgehog lowered his head into the wind of his speed, his green eyes tracking the leaves on the ground that twirled all around his feet, pushed up by the immense wind he created.
The smell of the ground still wet with a bit of dew was almost oblivious to him due to the hard stream of air in his face; all Sonic sensed was this heavy fresh air deeply filling his lungs as he raced through the early morning. The sun had just begun to crawl over the next hilltop and warming reddish beams painted the landscape, in response to it every water drop on the meadows turning into a brilliantly shining diamond.
The blue hedgehog slowed down when he returned to Tails' workshop. The building was a weird junction of house, mill of some sort and hangar. Stepping into the latter through a small side-entrance, the hedgehog decided getting to the kitchen upstairs to prepare some breakfast. He'd promised Tails yesterday they'd have it together, but Sonic had been wakened up early by the familiar feeling of itchy feet and gotten himself outside for a morning run. Relaxedly jogging up the stairs with soft, bouncing steps, the hedgehog whistled through his teeth. He felt like doing something fun today. He wasn't sure what exactly yet, but planning ahead had never been in his nature.
As he made his way over to the kitchen, Sonic found by the noises of dishes scraping against one another his adopted little brother Tails was already awake as well. Pushing the kitchen door open, the blue hedgehog grinned at the young fox who was about to place some breakfast stuff on the table. "Hey, morning Tails!"
A pair of twin tails twirling lazily behind his back, the fox grinned back, seeming not the least bit surprised to see the hedgehog come in from outside. "Good morning, Sonic! How was your run?"
"Cool as ever," Sonic replied, opening the fridge and sticking his head inside. "I'm right if I think you want that stuff, huh?", he asked with a small look of distaste on his face while holding up a bottle of milk, from the beautiful pastures of Green Hill Zone as the label proudly displayed.
"Yes," Tails grinned, used to the dialogue already. "Unlike you, I can drink two liters of milk without getting sick." He stuck out his tongue at the hedgehog.
"If you like you can drown on the stuff," Sonic gave back, putting the bottle down on the table and diving back into the slightly unordered fridge. As most of his species, Sonic didn't go too well with dairy products. There sure were hedgehogs being much worse lactose intolerants than him, considering he ate ice and drank hot chocolate, but… pure milk? No thanks, Sonic thought, pushing a few packages of unidentified food out of the way to get over to the ham.
Shutting the fridge's door again, the hedgehog looked over their table. "Where'd you put our toaster?"
"Down in the workshop," Tails answered crawling out of a cupboard and blindly throwing two cups over to Sonic. The hedgehog caught the first from where he stood, the second was saved from a crash to the floor by two high-speed side steps.
Putting the two cups down on the table, Sonic grinned again. "Ah, yes, now I remember. You wanted to repair the thing so our toasts won't start burning after a minute inside the thing anymore, right?"
"Absolutely correct." Tails snapped his fingers. "I'll get it!"
Sonic dropped onto one of the chairs, pouring himself some tea while he waited.
"Here it is!", Tails declared enthusiastically and put the toaster on the table. "Oh, and you got a letter!", he added while plugging the cable.
"A letter? Me?" Sonic blinked. He never got letters…
"Yes, you, unless you know someone else called 'Sonic the Hedgehog'…" Tails looked down onto the envelope before handing it to his friend, almost causing the milk bottle to fall down as he leaned over half of the table.
Sonic took the letter from Tails after putting a pair of toast pieces into the toaster. "Really, it's for me. I wonder who sent it." The hedgehog looked up at Tails. "Maybe it's from Eggman, and he's inviting us to spoil another one of his plans."
"The only one who ever sent us a message to come spoil his schemes was Metal Sonic," Tails reminded him. "And there was a plan behind all this."
Sonic shrugged casually. "Whatever." He ripped the envelope open to pull out a piece of paper. "Dear Mister Sonic," he read aloud, "Please come to the beach in Station Square at half past twelve today, it is very important. Signed: The Sender." The hedgehog put the letter down. "This is weird, huh?"
Tails frowned. "Maybe it's a trap. Or you got a secret fan."
"I've got a lot of fans, but no secret ones," Sonic laughed. "Oh well, I'll find out. Maybe it's just –" Sonic was interrupted when a small bang sounded from the toaster. The two pieces of bread rocketing out of it carried a trail of smoke as they flew up halfway to the ceiling and a small flame darted out of the toaster behind them. Sonic stared at the smoking device as the black pieces of toast dropped back onto its casing, then slowly turned to Tails. "You sure you fixed it?"
Tails needed a second to get his gaping jaw closed. "I... thought so…"
A sudden sense of anxiety startled him awake, the soft relaxation of his nap immediately forgotten. Knuckles shot to his feet, with one quick look assuring the Master Emerald itself was fine.
Still, his senses were screaming at him, tugging on the close link between guardian and Master Emerald power. Knuckles knew after just a second of listening to it that it was nothing directly affecting the Emerald; it was something affecting the island's ground and therefore the slight flow of power that went through it.
The red echidna took off running into the forest, not minding the strikes of branches and thorns against his legs as he tore through the thick undergrowth. He was not alone any more, and that was always a reason to be worried.
Starting to hear faint, but unfamiliar noises, Knuckles turned towards the direction they appeared to come from. He left the forest behind and swiftly climbed up a group of rocks. Rounding the corner of a small valley, Knuckles' steps briefly faltered at the sight of a dozen robots, using laser beams to cut the rock and earth. However, his surprise lasted just for a brief moment, then the guardian hurtled himself at the machines, a growl akin to a war cry rising from his throat.
The robots quickly adapted to the new situation, abandoning their work and aiming their lasers at the echidna. Knuckles dived to the right, swinging a blow at the nearest robot he could reach, his spiked namesakes pinching the armor of the machine's chest.
It was one of the humanoid models he'd seen on many occasions before, their design resembling the look of their creator Dr. Eggman. They were clumsy and not very fast, their most dangerous weapons either sharp kinds of spears or guns, but Knuckles found their armor had improved. The one he'd punched sure showed a remarkable dent, but his fist had not managed to get through to the interior.
Striking out at a second of that sort, Knuckles' eyes darted over the few other members of the robot group. They were floating in the air, long arms hanging down from an upper body that had always reminded Knuckles of these slimy creatures you sometimes saw at the beach. The echidna grimaced, remembering a couple of unhappy occasions he'd gotten trapped inside the force field they carried below their bodies. Without the help of his friends he wouldn't have gotten out of there again. Making a mental note to avoid capture being on his own, Knuckles lurched at one of the floating bots, jumping up into the air to hit the head. He had aimed well, the machine tilted and dropped to the ground.
Still in mid-jump, Knuckles tried in vain dodging the laser beams one of the walking robots aimed at him. Flaring his dreads and rolling to the side while still airborne, the echidna still screamed out as one of the hot rays grazed his arm. Landing not quite gracefully on one hand and one knee, he tried his best to ignore the smell of burned skin and fur as well as the hot sting from his left upper arm. Not even wasting the time to look at the extent of the damage, Knuckles charged at the robot having shot him, not favouring his injured arm, but putting enough anger into his punch that it blew the head of the machine clear off its body.
Spinning around, Knuckles found two of the humanoid machines having leaned down to the hole they'd been interrupted digging, their hands loading several objects they'd unearthed into the force field of another floating bot. Knuckles couldn't make out much of the robots' haul, jumping over to them he just noticed the hole was empty now and one of the smaller robot's just about to add the last piece to the other things in the sizzling field.
Intercepting the way of its arm, Knuckles snatched the small object from its grip, briefly noticing it was some sort of medallion, a round plate attached to a golden chain, but he didn't have time examining it, instead, he just wrapped the chain twice around his wrist so he wouldn't lose it.
Obviously having decided there was no more stuff to steal or alerted by the guardian's interference, the floating robot started its retreat. Knuckles narrowed his eyes and ran after it. "Come back here, thief!"
Sonic slowed down to a walk when he reached the city of Station Square. The way some of the buildings tilted and the few ruins here and there still reminded him of the near disaster that had taken place almost a year ago, after Eggman had set free a monster from the ancient past, but the citizens had been busy repairing the damage. The streets were tidy and clean, the walls of most buildings freshly painted and small trees had been planted aside the roads to add some green to the looks of the city center.
Taking his time, the blue hedgehog wandered along the streets; it was a while since he'd been here. He briefly stopped in front of the broad window of a shop that offered sports articles for sale, his green eyes wandering over a few skateboards and tennis baskets to stop on a pair of running shoes. Sonic glanced down on his feet. Compared to the shiny pair in the window, his sneakers looked worn, dirty and… yes, old. The blue hedgehog looked back up to study the offer again. Maybe later, right now he didn't have much time or money… but he could ask in the shop if they had these things in red. It was his favourite color, and together with his buckles it had grown to a sort of trademark.
Strolling along the street again, Sonic passed a Burger Shop, forcing his feet not to follow his stomach that took the opportunity to demand some of the food he could smell from inside; but he was heading to the beach, and right now he was curious to know what would await him there.
When he reached aforementioned beach it was disappointingly empty, no-one there aside of the a few mews and himself. Shrugging, the hedgehog walked a few steps to look around, resting his hands on his hips. "Either I'm too early or they're late," he muttered, in an old habit of impatience starting to tap his foot, but then his sharp ears caught the small rustle of feet tracing over the sandy ground and he turned over his shoulder, but there was no-one there. Before Sonic got the chance to wonder about it, something connected hard with the side of his neck and the world melted into darkness.