"VEEEEEEEEEEEEEC-tor!"

Charmy bumbled through the open door, tumbling all around in flight from sheer terror until he landed in an uncomfortable, but snug enough, position on the back of the crocodile's head. He was shivering uncontrollably, and it was a warm day.

Exasperated, Vector faintly pressed his controller's pause button, set the device beside him on the couch, and craned his neck around to see his youngest teammate. The room was dark and the screen, displaying a frenetic but apparently hugely invigorating puzzle game, very bright, so his eyes pained to adjust to make out the bee's already trembling form.

"What is it, Charmy?! …Aw, no, did you break the dishwasher again? I keep telling you – there are plenty of other ways to clean your portable TV when you spill grape jelly on it!"

"N-no, that's not it, Vector! I wasn't even watching TV, a-and I've upgraded to using a fork for my jelly, since I know you and Espio don't like the messes! It's not that – I just heard a reeeeeeally scary noise!" His eyes widened for dramatic effect. "Right outside our door!"

"Right outside our door, huh?" Vector groaned as he considered one possible cause of this supposed noise. "Ahh, I wonder if it's the Chaos' Witnesses again? I swear – you give those guys one little friendly handshake at the grocery store and it's like they're your long-lost great-grandnieces, six-and-a-half times removed!"

"What if it's the mailbox?"

They both double-took, hearts racing for a second before they recognized their other reptilian cohort. "Espio, don't sneak up on us like that!" Vector shouted to the chameleon, who stood innocently in the doorway, flipping a wooden flute around in one hand like a baton. "You almost gave me a heart attack, too, and I'll have you know I've been hitting the gym a lot lately! They didn't like it when I changed the videos on the TVs from those dumb workout routines to my awesome hard-rock music videos, but darn it, I still try!"

Espio's face was unimpressed, but his suggestion was simple. "You two could try changing something else: your habits with unfamiliar noises, from 'cower in fear' to 'investigate'. I know we haven't had a case in a while, but we are detectives, after all."

"Now that you mention it," Vector thought aloud, "we don't really have any reason to be scared of it – I don't even know what it sounded like. C'mon, let's check it out!"

Finally, some action and an active attitude – he didn't have to ask Espio twice, and Charmy was glad to check the situation out if his two best buddies were there. They tramped across the apartment, which was fairly clean for its record except for a fork, a pair of tongs, a spatula, and a jar's lid – each lying on the floor and partially coated with a sweet purple substance.

There could be some kind of trap sprung outside – or worse, an enemy patiently awaiting them, so Espio tiptoed ahead of his two friends and, without warning, grabbed the front door and whipped it open.

But no one was there – the hallway was just as dingy and boring as always, with no assailant or trap in sight. Just to make sure, Espio hopped out and took a look around, when he saw it.

"Oh," he chuckled softly, "we've got mail!"

Vector scratched the nape of his neck, confused; they didn't get much mail these days. "Huh, is it tax time already?" He shrugged. "Espio, if they ask, you and I are happily married, Charmy is eight different kids, and those Master Audiophile Deluxe headphones I bought last month were an absolutely necessarily business expense, so we could wiretap a crook or something!"

Espio rolled his eyes and pulled the envelope from its clanging metal home. It was unmarked, but he had left his shurikens inside, so he made a quick, expert tearing motion along the shortest edge, allowing the contents to slip down into his patient, open hands.

He smiled and looked up at the impatient Vector, who was tapping his foot and glancing every few seconds in the direction of his trusty video games. "Well, Vector," he announced, rather satisfied, "perhaps we can stay bachelors, Charmy can keep his zany personalities contained into one bee, and you can enjoy your music on its own merits – because we've got a job application."

"Whooooooooaaaa!" Charmy cried. "Lemme-see-lemme-see-lemme-seeeeeeeee!" He buzzed around to get a closer look at the document Espio had printed up for simple pride and propriety but thought would never get a response, which had been filled out neatly and comprehensively by a rather refined, curly handwriting in a smart ballpoint pen. When the young bee did get his closer look, however, he was dismayed at his unique obstacle. "Aww, man, look at all those long words! …And why'd you need all this information anyway? Couldn't people just mail in a picture of themselves and say, 'I want to be a detective'? That would be so much more awesome!"

The more stoic of the two reptiles turned around and stood in place; he was still attentive to the bee, but an idle, formal pacing would be a better use of his rhetorical prowess. "But Charmy," Espio explained, "there's a lot of information we need to know when considering our applicants. Team Chaotix is a serious organization, you know… or at least it'll be able to become more that way if we can up the average quality of our workers."

Charmy flew back outside the apartment, having apparently left for a brief spell during the speech. He was carrying a perfectly good spoon… filled with ketchup, which he gleefully licked off. "Sorry, what was that, Espio? The application stinks and you want me to tear it up? I can do that!" He reached playfully for the document, which Espio pulled away.

"I don't think so, Charmy" – and he called out more loudly to Vector, who had been zoning out and accelerating his foot-tapping to blur-like proportions – "and Vector, I think you might get a kick out of this."

"Huh?" The crocodile walked over to the two and quickly scanned the details of the application. When he reached its end, where a name was signed in quite generous legibility, he bared a great, toothy, genuinely joyful grin. "Hey-hey-heyyyy! Nice job, you two!" He gave them both enthusiastic high-fives, Charmy's spoon falling with a clatter as he smacked Vector's hand with both of his. "All right! Here's someone I'd love having on the Chaotix crew!"

The name was an unexpected one, particularly for an employer such as them, but they would learn all the details when a routine interview was arranged:

Vanilla the Rabbit.