~Chaotix Secrets~
Chapter One: Secrets
"Bedtime, Charmy," Vector shouted. The green crocodile was entering the Chaotix Detective Agency building after going out doing some errands. It was pretty late when he came back.
He spotted the six-year-old supposedly hyperactive bee lying on the couch in front of the TV munching on potato chips.
"Aww man, not yet," moaned Charmy with his mouth full and stomach round with potato chips. "I'm not sleepy yet!"
"Bedtime Charmy," Espio echoed, getting off the floor. He was a purple ninja-slash-detective chameleon who usually spends his free time on the floor meditating. He was the level-headed one in the group although Vector was the team leader and the oldest ("Vector's also good at thinking," Charmy once said. "Delusional thinking.").
"Now go upstairs and into bed, there's a good little bee," Vector said, turning off the TV. "It's late."
"Aww," Charmy moaned. "I don't want to." He tried to escape, but being full of potato chips, he barely managed to get off the couch.
Vector had simply plucked him up before he could do anything. "Time for bed, Charmy Bee," he said, going upstairs with Charmy in tow.
...
Once Charmy was in bed (but no doubt not sleeping yet, Vector thought) Vector and Espio also went upstairs to their bedrooms.
"'Night Espio," said Vector with a loud yawn as he entered his room.
"Goodnight Vector. Sleep well," said Espio, and he locked his bedroom door behind him. After a furtively good look around, he turned himself invisible.
...Right. He was alone at last. The coast was clear.
Across the hall and behind his own door, Vector was thinking the same thing.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Vector jumped when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. Grunting indignantly, he quickly dove to his bed, grabbed the thing that had been lying on it and quickly scanned the room for possible hiding places.
The wardrobe! He yanked it open desperately and pushed it in before any of the wardrobe's contents could spill out (he hadn't been telling his teammates to 'touch any of my thing at yer own risk' for nothing).
He practically flew across the room and opened the door to see Charmy hovering there with sleepless red eyes.
"Oh, Charmy," he said, opening the door a crack. "Is something wrong?" he asked, although he already knew what the problem was.
Charmy moaned, "I can't sleep."
Vector sighed. Charmy thought that being the oldest means that he knows how to do everything, but there were of course some things he just couldn't do. One of those is helping kids sleep. Curing insomnia just wasn't his turf.
"Tell you what, why don't you go see Espio," he said. "He'll know what to do. As always."
"OK," groaned Charmy and he floated slowly away.
Meanwhile, Vector quickly slammed his door shut and leaned against it with relief. That was too close. WAY too close for comfort.
"Charmy and Espio must never see the thing I put in the wardrobe," he thought.
Knock! Knock! Knock! "Espio?"
The knock on the door made the chameleon jerk his head up, diverting his gaze from the thing on the floor in front of him. Someone was coming. He had to act quickly. In one swift move, he whisked the thing on the floor under the bed before making himself visible and opening the door. "Yes, Charmy?"
"I can't sleep," said Charmy Bee.
"Again?" Espio said and Charmy nodded miserably. Espio sighed and said, "Fine then. We'll go downstairs and I'll make you some tea. As usual."
Charmy brightened up instantly. "And honey-flavored cookies?"
"Yes," Espio replied as he led the young bee down the stairs.
"And potato chips?"
"No. Not potato chips. You've eaten three whole bags this afternoon."
...
So after a midnight snack of tea and cookies, Charmy was soon all tucked up in his room, and Espio himself went back into his own room and carefully retrieved the thing from under the bed.
"I must be more careful," he thought. "I mustn't get reckless. Vector and Charmy must not see the thing I hid under the bed."
"Sleep well, Charmy," Espio had said before turning off the light and leaving the bee's room, but Charmy had a different activity in mind. It had nothing to do with sleeping.
After making sure that he heard Espio's footsteps get softer and softer and he finally couldn't hear anything at all, he turned on a small night light and pulled something out from under his pillow with a mischievous expression on his face.
"I mustn't let Espio and Vector see the thing under my pillow," he said softly with a slight smirk. "If they did, it might just get disastrous."