Another case completed. Another day had come and gone. Espio walked aside his teammates after another... success, he'll call it. It was about late in the evening as they were taking the forest trail back home.
"I still can't believe we got swindled!" Vector yelled.
"I tried to tell you that guy was nothing but trouble," Espio explained. "But once again, you didn't listen to me."
"You should've told me that sooner!"
Why do I even bother sometimes?
"It's cold out here," Charmy shivered as he rubbed his arms. "How much longer do we have to go?"
"Not much, Charmy," Vector said as his teeth chattered. "So just suck it up and deal with it."
The ninja felt the air around him. Charmy's right, for once. It's freezing out here. But it's summer; it's not supposed to be this cold. A loud roar echoed in the night, followed by a louder scream.
"What was that?!" Charmy exclaimed.
"It sounds like someone's in trouble," Espio theorized.
"C'mon, boys!" Vector declared, taking a head start.
Charmy and Espio quickly followed behind as a harsh wind started up. But that didn't stir Team Chaotix a single bit. When the wind died down, Espio suddenly stopped and looked to his left. Down at the bottom of the hill, he saw someone on the ground. "Vector!" he called. "Over here!" He went ahead and went to the person's aid. The person happened to be a human girl with fair skin and long brunette hair. She wore a worn out white spaghetti strap top and fleece camouflage pajama bottoms.
"What's up, Espio?" Vector asked as he and Charmy approached. "Who is that?"
"I'm not sure, but she's out cold." He glanced back at his boss. "Possibly been attacked. We need to get her to safety."
Vector picked the girl up, carrying her bridal style, and the three detectives quickly made their way back to their detective agency.
The girl was laying on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her.
"Who is she?" Charmy asked.
"Well, whoever she is," Vector said, "I'm sure that it wasn't her lucky day today." He stretched and yawned. "Well, time to hit the hay."
"Vector, what if she wakes up and doesn't see anyone around?" Espio asked.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. C'mon, boys."
"Okay, Boss!" Charmy squeaked as he followed Vector up the stairs.
Espio let out a quiet, annoyed sigh. He placed a gentle hand on the girl's forehead. No fever... but I wonder what could have happened? The girl let out a small groan, but made no attempt to wake up. I just hope that it wasn't anything too dramatic.
The next morning crawled in. Espio had been meditating all night beside the couch the girl slept on, waiting for some kind of change. Unfortunately, she didn't wake up, but she was still breathing.
"Is she gonna be okay, Vector?" Charmy asked as he and Vector looked down at her.
"I don't know," Vector replied. "She's really out of it."
"She was unconscious the night before," Espio spoke as he joined his team. "Who knows what could have happened." The girl let out a groan, her eyes slowly opening. She's waking up.
"Hey! You're awake!" Charmy said excitedly.
The girl blinked a couple times... and then screamed. The Chaotix screamed back, only because she was. She quickly got up and grabbed Vector's desk lamp to use as a weapon.
"Calm down, Kid!" Vector yelled. "You're safe! Nobody's gonna hurt ya!"
Keep yelling at her like that, and she'll never calm down. The ninja realized that she wasn't putting much pressure on her left foot. He slowly started for her ankle. She swung the desk lamp at him, but he avoided being hit. Espio reached for her ankle and touched ever so lightly, and she pulled away as if she had a knife sticking through it. She must have injured herself and probably didn't know. "If I may ask," he started calmly. "How did you hurt your foot?"
She lowered the desk lamp. "I, um," she quietly stuttered, "sort of, uh, tripped..." Her voice was soft, and a bit shaky from fear.
"It would probably be best that you sit down so that you don't injure your foot more."
She set her weapon back down on the desk and limped back to the couch. She looked at the detectives, very unsure as to where she was.
"Now that our guest had calmed down a bit," Vector said to his team, "we can finally get some information from her." He looked back at her. "Alright, Kid, who are ya? You play nice, I'll play nice. If not, well then, we'll just have to see what happens."
"Vector..." Espio groaned. You don't say things like that to someone who's nervous.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
"Didn't sound like that to me," Charmy squeaked.
"Who asked you?!"
"Well... I think it might comfort me... if you tell me where I am," the girl asked shyly.
The team introduced themselves to her one at a time, getting a few reactions out of her. When Charmy asked for her name, she just kept quiet. He poked at her leg, asking her why she was silent all of a sudden. Vector thought it was because she didn't have a name, and Espio said it's more likely that she doesn't want to give out that kind of personal information to strangers. She nodded her heard to the ninja, and gave his boss an 'I told you' look.
Espio knelt down and pulled out a first-aid kit from underneath the couch, grabbing some bandages. He knew his teammates well enough to know that Vector, somehow, ends up getting injured, and Charmy, somehow, gets caught in something disastrous. He stood straight up, looking back at the girl. "If I may," he said to her. "You sprained your ankle and it needs to heal."
She nodded in approval, and he gently wrapped the bandages around her ankle. He was surprised that she kept still as he did so. When he was finished, he looked back at her with a bit of curiosity. Even though running into a human is uncommon, she's been acting as if we were going to hurt her. I'm sure that's what she feels, anyway. Perhaps if we explained to her that she was unconscious...
"Alright, if you're not gonna speak, then we'll have to try somethin' else," Vector spoke to her. "I'll be asking 'yes' or 'no' questions, and you answer with a nod for 'yes', and shake your head for 'no'. Understand?"
She nodded.
"Good. Now, about last night... When we found you, did you go into some kind of shock?"
She thought a moment, then gave a brief nod.
"Did you see something so horrifying that you thought you were gonna die?"
"Vector..." Espio sighed.
Surprisingly, she nodded at the cocky crocodile.
"See, Espio?" he said to the ninja. "It's just a question, and every one has an answer."
"Not every one," Espio muttered.
Vector looked back at her. "Ignore him. Ya tell him he's right, and his ego's gonna go straight through the roof. Anyway, did you see some kind of hentai tentacle monster?"
She raised a confused eyebrow, shaking her head.
"So then you saw a horrible viscous killer with a horrible smile and a thirst for blood?
Once again, she shook her head.
"Uh-huh..." His eyes brightened, and he snapped his fingers. "So you were out in the woods looking for pages-"
Before he could finish, she strongly shook her head without any hesitation.
Espio quietly sighed. What does the Slender Man have to do with this? He isn't even real.
"Alright..." Vector let out a quick huff, and then took a deep breath. "Did you see some kind of giant monster flying around ready to kill some prey?"
She instantly froze, shaking in fear, her eyes wide. Charmy sat on her lap. "She's like a vibrating chair," he squeaked. "Not a good one, though."
"I'm... gonna make that a 'yes'," Vector concluded. "You definitely look like something really spooked ya."
That's a little more than obvious. "I think that's enough for today, Vector," Espio spoke. "She's frightened out of her mind."
"Guess you're right." He looked back at her. "You're not exactly a tough nut, Kid, but at least you're honest. One more question: Do you live anywhere near the area?"
Even though in fright, she shook her head.
"Well, Mobius is a pretty big planet," Charmy said.
"MOBIUS?!" the girl yelled, then fainted on the couch.
Vector and Espio glanced at the bee.
"What?" Charmy asked nonchalantly.
"Way to go, Charmy," Vector said. "You gave her a heart attack and now she's dead."
"Dead?!" Tears started forming in his eyes.
"No, she's not dead," Espio retorted. "She's still breathing. She only fainted, that's all." He gently shook her a minute until she came to, sitting up again. "See? I told you."
"Alright, Kid," Vector said to her. "Why did you suddenly pass out on us?"
"Uh... well..." she started. "I'm not, exactly... from this planet. I'm from a planet called... Earth."
"Earth?"
"Hey, Vector!" Charmy said excitedly. "We were on Earth for a while! Did she come here like how we went there?"
"It could be possible," Espio theorized.
"Boys! Team meeting!" Vector declared, and the three detectives huddled up. "Alright, boys, we got a girl who isn't really happy about where she is right now. What do we do?"
"It's not like we can send her home," Espio said. "And we're not going to send her outside without a plan, either."
"Maybe she can stay with us!" Charmy excitedly squeaked. "Can she, Vector? Can she?!"
"Alright, alright," Vector said. The detectives turned back to the girl. "We have decided to let you stay here until you get back on your feet or somethin'."
Well, at least he's... honest enough.
She didn't say anything. She just sat there, looking at her feet.
Later that evening, Espio was asleep in his bed. He opened his eyes, hearing the door open and close downstairs. His bed right next to the window, he glanced outside, seeing the girl sit on the porch. She appeared to be looking up at the night sky. She probably can't sleep. I don't blame her. Vector's snoring can keep anyone awake. He gently opened the window, quietly descending until he was sitting beside her, looking up at the sky as well. "The night is interesting, isn't it?"
She quickly turned in surprise.
"The night interests me because it can do two things at once. The stars tell stories of ages past, show us the constellations, as well as guide us, hence the North Star. It also hides the shadows of danger, making us vulnerable to an attack." He looked over at her. "Why are you interested in the night?"
She merely twiddled her fingers, not meeting his gaze.
She seems to be shy. Or maybe it's something else. "Is there something you didn't tell us?"
She bit her lip. "Well..." she quietly started. "I saw something last night... something really big. I thought... I thought I was dreaming. When it wouldn't go away, I started running..."
"And then you hurt your foot."
She nodded. "When it had me cornered, I thought I was going to die. But the funny thing was, I didn't. It just... disappeared into thin air. I just don't know what would've happened if..." Her sentence drifted away.
"Hmm..." Something big... There are a lot of creatures in the woods. She needs to be more specific. "What did this 'thing' look like?"
"Well... It was gray with these icy-blue wing appendage things, these piercing yellow eyes, short little T-Rex like arms and stubby legs. It sort of looked like a hollow shell of something."
Whatever she ran into last night, she must have hit her head pretty hard, too. "I'm not sure that there is such a creature like that around here."
"And if that wasn't bad enough, it seemed to give off some kind of cold air."
The ninja raised a skeptical, yet curious eyebrow. "Cold air?"
"Practically if you tried to touch it, your hand would probably freeze off."
"Like I said, I never heard of such a creature." He looked at the sky. Cold air... as in the changing air...? "We should head inside. It's pretty late."
"Yeah, I guess..." The two went back inside. Espio started up the stairs just as the girl laid back down on the couch. She seems a bit upset. She probably thinks she's alone in whatever had occurred. He laid back in his bed, his eyes gently closing.