Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.!


The Kid Brigade's efforts began. First they went around and asked all their friends if they had any unsolved mysteries. Nothing.

"Not even a disappearance?" pleaded Charmy as their options began to run out. "Not even something you've lost?"

But nobody needed any kind of help that was even remotely detective-like.

"Well then, guess we'll just have to make a mystery!" said Tails grimly.

"We can't do anything bad!" protested Cream. "What if they solve the mystery and find it's us? Nobody will ever trust us again!"

"Of course we won't do anything bad," said Tails hastily. "We'll create little, non-crime type of mysteries. We won't do a single thing wrong, I promise!"

Cream folded her arms.

"But we don't try anything till we all agree on it, right?" she said, her voice surprisingly firm. Ever since she had been nominated club president, she had learned how to put her foot down to keep them out of trouble.

"Sure," said Tails, relieved that there weren't any deeper objections. "Group-approved schemes only."

"Okay," nodded Cream. "What if we . . . "

A little while later, Tails came skidding into the Chaotix Detective Agency.

"Hey guys!" he called, and winced as a startled Vector fell backwards in his chair. "Uhhh, are you okay, Vector?"

"I'm fine, kid," grumbled Vector, rubbing the back of his head. "What can we do ya for?"

"I was hoping you could help me out," said Tails, as Charmy gave him a grin and a wink. "I've somehow lost my spanner wrench. I really need it to work on the X-Tornado, and it's just gone! I've looked everywhere, and I can't find it. Do you think you could help me out?"

"Hmmm. That's a pretty small case," said Vector seriously. "We're very busy, ya know."

Tails hid a smile. Vector always doggedly maintained an image of extreme busyness, trying to make his detective team look good. It fooled no one, not even Knuckles.

"I know you're busy, but couldn't you please squeeze me in somewhere? I need that wrench!"

"Come on, Vector!" cried Charmy. "We're good detectives. I bet we could find that wrench in no time! It'd only take a little while."

"True, true," murmured Vector. He seemed to be weighing the benefit of finally having a case against the damage to his pride that the case's triviality would cause. "Well, I guess, if it's that short of a job, we could squeeze in some time for ya. We'll come over in—"

He was interrupted by a distant call of, "Yo, Tails!"

Sonic came skidding into the scene.

"Hey, Tails, there you are! I just found that wrench you said you were looking for! It was behind your toolbench. Must have fallen there!"

Tails half-heartedly took the wrench that Sonic held out to him.

"Gee . . . thanks," he sighed, as Team Chaotix's faces fell.

The next morning, the Kid Brigade swung into action early. Charmy didn't come, because he had to be at the agency. Also, they didn't want him to know the hiding place and accidentally make the search too easy. The other Brigadiers got to work. Cream sat and nervously made a chain of daisies, while Tails and Marine grabbed Cheese and made a dash for it. They took the little chao to a secluded hollow in the woods.

"Oh, this is a smashin'ly ripper plan!" giggled Marine.

"Don't worry, Cheese," assured Tails. "You'll only have to stay here a little while. Team Chaotix is going to come and find you! Stay right here, don't move, and pretend to yell for help every now and then, okay?"

"Chao, chao-chao, CHAO!" sputtered Cheese, who did not admire their "smashin'ly ripper plan" at all.

"I promise Team Chaotix will find you!" sighed Tails. "And if they don't, we'll come to get you. Just relax and stay here, okay Cheese?"

"Chaooooo," grumbled the little blue creature, leaning against a tree root and folding his tiny arms.

"He does a good Shadow impression himself," whispered Tails. Marine giggled again.

As planned, Cream ran into the Chaotix Agency a half-hour later.

"Please, Mr. Vector, Mr. Espio, Charmy! Could you please help me?" she pleaded. "Cheese is gone!"

"Gone?!" gasped Vector. "Do you suspect foul play?"

"Oh, no, I don't think so! I think he just got lost."

"Lost?" asked Vector, tilting his scaly head dubiously. "Just wandered off? I thought that Cheese always stayed close to you no matter what."

"And don't chaos have a special bond that allows them to always find their friends?" added Espio.

"Well . . . uh . . . ummm . . . " Cream wasn't much of an actor when under pressure.

"Cream, I don't think Cheese is really lost," said Vector seriously.

"But . . . but . . . "

"Nope, not lost at all. He must have been CHAONAPPED!"

Cream tried not to visibly go limp with relief.

"Do you really think someone might have taken him?" she gasped. "What do I do?"

"Don't worry, little lady!" boomed Vector, standing up to his full height. "We'll get on this case right away and save that chaonapped chao!"

With Cream in tow, Team Chaotix charged vigorously to the door. When they threw it open, they were stopped in their tracks by the sight of a small blue creature.

"Chao, chao, chao-CHAO!"

There was silence for a second. Then Cream remembered her part.

"Oh, Cheese!" she squealed. "You're all right!"

As she threw her arms around the disgruntled chao, she snuck a despairing glance at Charmy. He looked to be in utter dismay. So did his teammates.

"Welp. Guess it musta just gotten lost," sighed Vector, and headed glumly back to his desk.

A new rule was written in the List of Lessons that night: "Never try to tell a chao to stay."

The Kid Brigade was not to be so easily dissuaded, however. The next day, Marine stormed into the Chaotix Agency.

"Mates, can y'give me a hand?" she asked, standing on her toes to peer over the desk. "I've been robbed!"

"Robbery, eh?" said Vector. "Tell us what happened."

Marine explained the incident. She and her fellow-Brigadiers were trying to fix a hole in the side of their little pirate ship. They had saved up scraps of wood for ages, and pooled their small resources to buy a bucket of pitch to seal the boat's seams.

"It was going to be the most amazin' boat," sighed Marine wistfully. "The pitch'd make it waterproof and everythin'. We even had a little pirate flag . . . "

"Just the facts, ma'am," said Vector professionally.

"Right, right. Well, this mornin' Tails and I came to work on the boat, and the pitch was just gone! Bucket an' all!"

"Somebody stole a bucket of pitch?" Espio tried not to sound too disbelieving.

"Well, it's gone all right!" scowled Marine. "And we need that!"

Vector made a show of checking his schedule.

"All right, we'll come have a look!" he announced at last. "Lead us to the scene of the crime."

Marine led Team Chaotix to the pond, doing her very best not to look gleeful. She showed them the damaged boat and the exact place where she had left the bucket of pitch. Team Chaotix circled about carefully, eyeing the area, while Tails and Cream came over to watch. The Kid Brigadiers exchanged delighted glances when Vector and Espio weren't looking. It was working! It was a real case for Team Chaotix! Charmy buzzed about excitedly. He knew where the pitch was—he was the one who had hidden it—but he had sworn he wouldn't give it away. He refused to even glance in the direction of the bucket's hiding place.

"Boss," called Espio. "There's a trail of cake crumbs."

"Right you are!" whooped Vector, loping over. "Cake crumbs! These might be a crucial clue, Esp!" He turned to the Kid Brigade. "Have any of you eaten cake recently?"

There was a chorus of no's and some firm shaking of heads.

"Aha! Then the cake crumbs were definitely left by the retreating criminal," grinned Vector. "Let's follow the path!"

He slunk along the trail of little crumbs, eyeing them as if he suspected the cake of being party to the crime. Espio followed just behind.

"Look! Drops of pitch! The thief definitely came this way!" crowed Vector.

"And look here. He or she stumbled into a hollow and spilled a little of the pitch," remarked Espio. "They must be somewhat clumsy."

"And there's a footprint!" said Vector. Espio crouched down to examine it.

"It's only part of the footprint, so I can't tell the size of the shoe. But judging by the pattern on the underside, it must have been a sneaker," he announced. "Also, judging by the disturbance in the underbrush, this person was not sneaking. He was walking, and rather brashly too."

The Kid Brigade's looks were becoming less jubilant and more anxious. Team Chaotix wasn't supposed to guess the identity of the thief! They were just supposed to find the pitch bucket!

It was too late to do anything now, though. Vector was already rubbing his chin in thought.

"Let's see . . . who could it be? They like cake, are clumsy sometimes, wear sneakers, but don't like to sneak . . ." Vector's eyes grew wide. "ME!"

Unimpressed looks all around. Espio sighed and tapped Vector on the arm.

"Boss, I don't think you took the pitch."

"Of course I didn't," snorted Vector. "But somebody tried to make it look like I did! I'm being FRAMED!"

A collective sigh of relief was breathed by the Brigadiers. Vector was on the wrong track, and would probably stay that way for a while. That is, provided Charmy didn't start to laugh.

"Let's just find the pitch," said Espio, shaking his head resignedly. "Charmy, why don't you come help?"

"Coming!" sang Charmy, buzzing over. "How far does the trail go, you guys?"

"We won't know unless we follow it," said Vector grimly.

They proceeded down the trail, with the Kid Brigade tagging along behind. Charmy was trying hard to contain his excitement. He couldn't wait for the moment when Team Chaotix would triumphantly find the missing article, declare the case closed, and resolve never to give up the detective business ever again!

"The trail ends here," announced Espio. "Hopefully the thief hid the stolen bucket nearby, or we'll have a very hard time finding it."

"Well, there's nowhere he could have gone," said Vector. "Except across the stream. He must have waded across here!"

Charmy gulped.

"Guys, wait!" he called, as Vector approached the stream. "What about that little crack in the ground over there?"

"That gully?" snorted Vector. "Nobody could fit in there, it's too narrow. Why would they just toss the bucket of pitch down there where they couldn't get it?"

"Well, uh . . . maybe they just wanted to get rid of it!" said Charmy hopefully. "Maybe somebody mean just wanted to ruin our boat by getting rid of the pitch!"

"Then why did they take the bucket?" asked Espio. "Why didn't they just kick it over right where it stood?"

"Well . . . uh . . . ummm . . . " Charmy fumbled desperately. Vector and Espio turned to look at him.

"Charmy," said Espio quietly. "You're small enough to fit down there. Why don't you just go and get the bucket?"

Charmy's eyes grew very wide. For once, he had nothing to say.

"How did you find out it was me?" he asked at last.

"We knew it was you guys all along!" declared Vector.

"I knew it all along," muttered Espio under his breath. Out loud he added, "We decided to play along to make you kids feel better. We know you're been trying very hard to come up with a mystery for us."

"You . . . you knew it was our plan all those other times too?" gulped Tails.

"Yes. Don't worry, we're not angry. It was very nice of you to try and help," said Espio kindly. "But you can't force the matter. The mystery business is simply going down the proverbial tubes."

"Don't say that!" protested Marine. "You'll find a mystery soon, mates, I know it!"

"Thanks, kid. But it's been too long since our last case," said Vector glumly. "Giving up is the only option left by now."

"But guys!" wailed Charmy. No use. Vector and Espio nodded goodbye and turned to head back to the agency.


Twenty minutes after Vector and Espio left, the Kid Brigade was still trying to comfort a despairing Charmy.

"It's no use, you guys," the little bee murmured. "Th-thanks for trying . . . "

"Charmy, we can't just give up!" protested Tails. "We still have three or four days left before the week's over!"

"Who's giving up?" sniffled Charmy. "I'm not giving up. I'd do anything to keep the Chaotix Agency going! But there's just no way to change Vector and Espio's minds. And now we can't make up any more mysteries for them either, because they know it's just us!"

"I could help out," said a voice from just above their heads. The kids jumped and looked all around. Suddenly Rouge dropped smoothly from the tree they had been sitting under.

"Couldn't help overhearing," she said sweetly. "I'd be happy to lend a hand, you know. Even if Team Chaotix knows that you kids are trying to come up with mysteries, they wouldn't expect you to get outside help, would they now?"

"What do you mean?" asked Tails nervously.

"Just what I said," replied Rouge, winking at Charmy. "I'd be more than happy to create a little mystery for you Chaotix boys to solve."

"Uh . . . I dunno . . . " gulped Tails, exchanging glances with the others.

"Ms. Rouge, could we please talk about this for a minute?" asked Cream politely.

"Go right ahead," said Rouge, with a gracious tilt of her hand. The Kid Brigade nodded and scurried off to a safe distance—or so they thought. Chuckling, Rouge leaned back against the tree, looked the other way in feigned disinterest, and tuned in her very sensitive ears.

"You know she's going to want to steal something!" Tails was saying. "We can't ask her to do that!"

"Why not? The whole point is for us to catch her and get it back," said Charmy.

"Look, you know how Rouge is. She'd never do us a favor without asking for payment! Either she's going to want to keep what she steals, or she'll want us to pay some other way. And we don't have anything to give her!"

"But we can't just let this chance go by," argued Charmy. "Like I said, I'd do anything to save the agency!"

"Even allow a robbery, mate?" asked Marine dubiously.

"But . . . but . . . "

"I have an idea," said Cream suddenly. "What if we had Ms. Rouge steal from someone who knew he'd be stolen from? We could set the whole thing up! If someone agreed to have his stuff stolen, it wouldn't really be a robbery at all!"

"I guess you have a point," admitted Tails. "All right. Let's ask her about that."

They returned to an innocent-looking Rouge.

"Finished talking already, kiddos?" she asked brightly.

"Well, kind of," said Tails. "We were thinking, maybe it would be a good idea for it to be a staged robbery. Would you be willing to do that?"

"Sure," grinned Rouge. "I know just the person to ask."