The speeders
So yeah, another short Chaotix fic because... well, Chaotix. I'm not actually quite sure how Sonic ended up being in this story. He just suddenly was there, but his appearance made this story much better, so... Long time no see, buddy!
Charmy buzzed around the kitchen, opening cabinets and trying to find something to eat.
"Everything is full of nothing." the bee complained and sat on the dining table to think. He turned his glance at a jar of honey on one cabinet's top shelf. Was he allowed to eat it? But he was so hungry! Vector had told him that he shouldn't eat much sugar one fell swoop. But honey wasn't actually sugar, there just were lots of it.
Charmy hopped down from the table and silently skittered at the office room's door, which was slightly open. In the room, Vector dictated a report at their last case to the client, which Espio transcribed at the computer. Charmy grinned, flew back into the kitchen and got himself a spoon and the honey jar. The kitchen's window was open and it was a great sunny day, so the bee flew out and sat on the roof to eat secretly. In the office Vector and Espio got the report wrapped up.
"All right, time for a coffee break." Vector said, but Espio stopped him with a cruel comment.
"Don't you remember? We're out of coffee."
"Darn it," the crocodile grunted. "I guess there isn't much else in the closets either. Someone must go shopping."
"Your turn." the chameleon stated and gathered papers of the table into a binder.
"Why so? I went last time."
"And I two times in a row before it."
"Do you seriously tally who goes shopping at each time?"
"Not more than you do."
Vector mumbled something while walking in the kitchen and stopped at the doorway. All of the cabinets' doors and drawers were open, and some dishes laid around.
"CHARMY!"
On the roof, the bee's spoon stopped in the air when he heard the shout. Charmy looked at the jar at his hand, where there was not much to eat anymore. The bee started to scoop it clean twice as faster and decided to hide the jar somewhere before he would go listen to what Vector had to say. The crocodile called him again.
"Where's that kid again?" Vector growled while closing doors and drawers. Espio came into the kitchen too.
"So will you go shopping?" the chameleon asked.
"Go yourself."
"It is still your turn."
"Hey! Which one of us is the boss here?"
"We are now talking about grocery shopping, not a mission. Besides, it's embarrassing to drag that much food in here."
"That´s life, there's three of us."
"You and Charmy eat five times more than I do."
"Well, you are an odd ascetic. But fine, if you so badly want to stay as a babysitter that's okay for me."
"Charmy probably comes too since he has spent the whole day indoors."
"You can't be so ruthless! I can't keep an eye on him if I must at the same time look for good sales. We are low on money now, you remember?" Vector shouted at the chameleon, who just stood in the doorway, arms crossed.
"I just said what is presumable. Where is Charmy anyway?"
"I don't know, but he has rummaged the whole kitchen. Go find him."
"Yes yes." Espio answered and went upstairs. The bee wasn't in his room or nowhere else either. The chameleon was already going back downstairs when a familiar buzzing sound came from Charmy's room and something metallic clinked against a floor. Charmy was closing the window when Espio appeared at the doorway. Quickly the bee turned around and hid the honey jar behind his back.
"Where have you been?" the chameleon asked.
"Outside." Charmy answered innocently and tried to kick the spoon away unnoticed. Espio looked at him a bit suspiciously.
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing."
"Of course not. Do you want to go shopping?"
"Yeah!" too late Charmy realized that he had raised his hands up. Espio looked at the empty honey jar in disbelief.
"Did you eat all that?"
"Noooope..."
"Charmy."
"I was hungry!" the bee defended himself.
"What's up with all the noise?" Vector also came up.
"Charmy ate a jar of honey." Espio explained and Charmy apologetically dropped his look at the floor.
"What?!" terrified Vector shouted. "You'll totally stay as the babysitter. Bye." the crocodile said and hurried away. Espio wanted to say something for his behalf, but couldn't come up anything if he didn't want to recant. Submitting to his fate, the chameleon sighed deeply and looked at Charmy. The apologetic face was gone and instead, there was a dangerously excited grin. Hungry bee in a sugar rush was the last thing Espio would have wanted at a day. The front door slammed.
"I wanna do something fuuuuuuun!" Charmy shouted shrilly, flitted in the air and as quick as lightning he zoomed at the corridor.
"Charmy-" Espio tried to stop him, but the bee was already gone. A cheerful trolling blared in the house. The chameleon shook his head and ran downstairs. Now he should just keep an eye on Charmy and take care of that he wouldn't break anything. A sound of first shattering plate came from the kitchen.
"It was an accident! It was on the edge of the table!" the bee defended before Espio even was in the kitchen.
"We don't have money to buy new plates all the time." the chameleon said.
"Yeah yeah." Charmy called out and somersaulted in the air, bumped into the ceiling, thudded on the table and continued flying.
"What am I going to do with you?" Espio sighed under his breath.
"Something fuuuuun!" the bee answered and brought his psychedelic grin against the chameleon's face. Espio took a step back.
"Charmy, now-"
"Come!" Charmy grabbed Espio from his horn and started to drag the chameleon trough the living room towards the hallway.
"Charmy, let go." Espio told him, and at the very moment, the office's telephone rang.
"Well huh." the bee protested and let the chameleon go.
"Don't rollic too much in the meantime." Espio said emphatically and got to pick the call up. A moment Charmy buzzed around and then noticed a football in the corner of the room, which he had yesterday forgotten there.
In the office, Espio scribed down information the new customer gave while trying to keep an eye at Charmy, who on and off swooshed past the open door with his ball, singing loudly. The chameleon hoped that the old lady on the phone would have told her case a bit faster or at least with a louder voice, but the customer seemed to have nothing to hurry and Espio tried delicately mention he quite had.
"I'm unstoppable! Mwahahahahahahaaa!" and shortly after the bee's yell, a crash so loud blared trough the house that it probably could be heard on the phone too. Espio stopped writing and thought what could make such noise. It couldn't be only dishes.
"Excuse me, madam, could you wait a minute." the chameleon asked and after getting an affirmative, he put the earpiece on the table and rushed to see what had happened. Charmy buzzed next to one of the livingroom's windows, which his football had just went trough, and in the corner of his eye noticed Espio, who kind of appalled stared the broken glass. The bee freaked out and tried to escape trough the window when something hit him in his back, tug him back and then Charmy found himself in Espio's tight grip.
"Ewww! Did you grab me with your tongue?" he complained.
"You know I won't use it if it isn't completely necessary," Espio answered, rather roughly put Charmy on the couch and looked him in the eyes. "Now sit there quietly until I have handled that phone call." he commanded and returned at the office. Charmy startled a bit about how vexed Espio's voice had been. The bee had a guilty conscience, but he was also afraid of the consequences. Vector would for sure give him a piece of his mind after getting back from the market. But was also Espio really angry at him? Lecturing was nothing new to Charmy, since Vector often got mad at him, many times because he on purpose bugged the crocodile. But now he had broken a window. What should he do? Run away?
The phone call finished. The Chaotix had to go investigate one theft after few hours, so now there was time to clean up Charmy's messes and have a few words with the bee. Espio took few deep breaths to keep his calmness, and only then stepped out from the room. The bee wasn't on the couch anymore. Of course not.
"Charmy," Espio called, but didn't have an answer. "Charmy?"
The chameleon began to search the house but couldn't find the bee. The only option was that he had escaped outside. Espio sighed, being frustrated at himself. He shouldn't have lost his temper. Charmy had been reckless, but he was still a child. Besides, it was his and Vector's fault that the bee hadn't had anything else to eat than honey. The chameleon didn't waste time. He went out and started searching Charmy first nearby, and when it didn't give results, he went further. Charmy must be found before anything would happen to him. Sugar's effect would soon fade away, but before that the bee could go Chaos knows how far.
Charmy flew as fast as he could, trough thin forest, but soon he became exhausted. Finally, the bee stopped to that great mountain on the edge of Leaf Storm Zone. He noticed how horribly hungry he was again. Gasping, he sat on the ground covered in leaves and started to think about when he would be brave enough to get back home. Not yet anyway.
By no means it was first times Charmy broke something. He had also broken a window once before, and breaking things was fun. He still hadn't done it on purpose, the ball had just suddenly flown trough the pane. Mostly Charmy was irritated because a thing like that had happened again and replacing the window was expensive and he had made his best friends angry. Every time he was in a speedy mood, things ended in a bad way. But how can you calm yourself down, when you must fly fast and do something eventful 'cause otherwise it's so boring? Sure Espio could talk about self-control or Vector could tell him to calm down 'cause they weren't as busy as he was. They couldn't understand him. Charmy sighed deeply, pulled his legs against his chest and leaned chin at knees.
All of a sudden, from the middle of the forest, dashed a blue flash past the bee and made him jump up. The comer stopped a few meters away and turned to look the child.
"Hey, Charmy. Did I surprise you?"
"Hi Sonic!" the bee greeted the blue hedgehog.
"What's up? Are you on a mission or something?" the hedgehog asked in a jovial way and came closer to Charmy, but the bee turned his glance at the ground, looking a bit sad.
"No." he answered. Sonic became more serious.
"What's the matter?"
The bee sighed with shoulders and sat back down.
"I ran away 'cause I was too speedy and were only on others way. First I ate a jar of honey 'cause there was nothing else, and then I broke a plate and a window and Espio became angry and then I escaped while he was on phone."
Sonic nodded.
"Did you get a lecture?" he said gently.
"Not yet..."
Sonic couldn't help smiling sympathetically. The bee's case felt almost too familiar.
"I know how you feel." he said and sat next to the kid.
"Really?" Charmy lifted his look up to the hedgehog. "How do you know?"
"I've been the same in your age, maybe even worse," the hedgehog laughed. "When the drive is on, it's hard to stop before something happens, even though you didn't want to cause harm."
Charmy stared Sonic with wide eyes. The hedgehog really knew how he felt.
"I didn't want to break anything either... Well, that plate maybe a bit, but the window was really an accident." the bee explained and got an understanding nod from Sonic.
"I'm sure Espio and Vector understand that too."
"But why things like these happen so often?"
Sonic turned his glance at the forest for a moment while thinking.
"Such is life. It'll take time before you learn to release your energy constructively." he answered. Charmy didn't completely understand.
"Like how?"
"In a way that nothing which isn't meant to get broken, won't. I run every day and if I'm lucky, I found some of Eggman's robots and destroy them. Otherwise, I would get totally bored."
The bee deepened into thought for a moment.
"I could fly every day, no matter how much. But I'm not allowed to go very far on my own so I won't get lost or cause any harm. Except I never get lost." he said then.
"People tried to set boundaries for me too when I was younger, but many times I didn't obey, and usually things didn't end well." Sonic told.
"Do you still ramp sometimes?" Charmy asked and made the hedgehog laugh again.
"Yes, I do. Many times I botch only because I don't bother to stop."
"So I can break things, even if I was at your age?" the bee already sounded happier.
"I don't mean that mindless ramping and breaking things should be done, but it will happen sometimes anyway, whatever age you are." Sonic explained and Charmy nodded first slowly and then bit quicker. He seemed to understand what the hedgehog meant.
"How can I then avoid those bad things from happening?" he asked next.
"Well...For one, when you notice you're going too fast, stop completely and think twice before doing anything. And you'll learn over the years anyway."
"I'll learn too?"
"Without a doubt!" Sonic stated and gave the bee a thumbs up. Charmy smiled widely. Suddenly his stomach growled loudly and reminded the bee how hungry he was.
"You might be better go back home." Sonic said.
"Yeah." Charmy answered but then looked unsure. Sonic put his hand on the bees shoulder and looked him in the eyes while smiling gently.
"Hey, you don't need to be afraid of what Vector or Espio will say. Mishaps happen and they know that. And it's also better to face the consequences 'cause then you truly learn." the hedgehog encouraged.
"Okay." Charmy nodded. He already felt a bit more confident. Sonic smiled contented and stood up.
"Can you fly or will I give you a ride?"
"You'll gimme a ride?" the bee got excited and jumped at his feet.
"It's a long way to your office from here, especially if you're very hungry," the hedgehog grinned. "Hop on a piggyback. We could also look for some fruits from the forest."
"Sure!" Charmy rejoiced, climbed on the hedgehog's back and then the duo vanished into the woods with a great speed.
In a flash, Sonic and Charmy arrived at the Chaotix's office. The shards of the window glass and the football were still on the ground. The house looked silent. Charmy tried the front door, but it was locked.
"Weird. Where's Espio?" the bee wondered.
"Probably looking for you. Well, let's wait here if he would return soon." Sonic recommended. To pass the time, they collected the glass shards at the stairs which led to the front door, and then played football. After all, it took only about twenty minutes before Charmy noticed Espio approaching the office. The bee forgot the football and flew against the chameleon.
"Hi Espio! Were you searching for me?" he asked, smiling happily.
"Yes, I was. Where have you been?"
"Weeeeell I ran away and flew to that one big mountain and then I met Sonic and we found some food in the forest and get back here." Charmy explained.
"I'm sorry that I loosed my temper, but I assume you understand it wasn't gratuitous?" Espio looked seriously the bee, who nodded.
"I'm sorry."
"I forgive you." chameleon's voice was already a bit more compassionate. They came to the house, where Sonic stood waiting with the football in his hands and smiling with his typical, relaxed smile.
"Thank you for bringing Charmy back. I hope it wasn't too much of a trouble." Espio nodded at the hedgehog, who laughed shortly and waved his hand casually.
"Not at all. We had a good conversation about life." Sonic answered. The chameleon slightly raised an eyebrow but didn't question.
"I'll go clean up that plate. Could you open the door?" Charmy buzzed around and Espio unlocked the door for him.
"See ya Sonic!" the bee called out.
"Yep!" the hedgehog laughed. After the bee was gone, he turned his glance at Espio.
"Charmy is a rapid kiddo." he noted.
"Yes," the chameleon nodded. "I guess you found a mutual understanding."
"Yup. Charmy just needs enough space to free his energy. And time," Sonic grinned and tossed the football to Espio. "By the way, didn't know even you can lose your temper."
The chameleon humphed.
"Well, I still got about fifty kilometers to run for today. Later!" the hedgehog waved his hand for a goodbye and dashed away. Espio picked up the glass shards from the stair and went into the kitchen to see, what Charmy was doing. The bee had gathered the plate's pieces together, found some glue somewhere and now tried to fix the plate.
"Put a newspaper under your work, so the table won't get dirty." Espio advised.
"Ah. Okay!" Charmy flew to one basket, where they collected old newspaper and took yesterday's number. "Will Vector come soon? I'm still hungry."
"Hopefully." Espio laughed slightly.