Hey guys! I'm very appreciate of all the reviews and moral support my stories get. it wouldn't be possible without you guys! Chapter Two is here and I promise you, it's a sad chapter. Enjoy!
Boredom was settling in. Espio was getting tired of tossing the same Kunai up and down and attempting to catch it. Knuckles was much later than Espio would have estimated. He had figured that Knuckles would have only been gone for one, maybe two hours. Except that they had been sitting there for four hours and there was still no sign of their fearless leader.
Next to him, Mighty was staring off into space, yawning occasionally. The armadillo had his hands behind his back and was leaning against the base of the emerald. Espio looked around the area and noticed that Charmy and Saffron weren't back yet. Slightly worried, he stood up and quickly decided that he would check on them. Charmy was the type of person to get himself into trouble easily.
"They're fine, Espy."
Mighty said, noticing Espio's worry.
"Why would they come back if theres nothing going on? They're probably just playing around."
Espio thought about that statement. It was very possible that the duo had gotten bored of tag and were just doing other things, but Espio had a nagging suspicion that something was wrong.
"Maybe…."
He said quietly, thinking. If he left to go find them, there was a chance (but very slim) that something was going to happen and he wouldn't be there to help. But if he stayed here, there was a chance that they could be hurt.
"I'll give them ten more minutes. Then I'm going to search for them."
Mighty shrugged.
"Watch. They're gonna be perfectly fine."
Espio glared at him.
"And if it were Ray that had wandered off?"
Mighty sheepishly grinned at him.
"Okay, caught me. I would have gone to look for him."
Espio stared at the trees in the distance. Five minutes; and then he was going to search for them. He sat back down next to Mighty and waited patiently.
Four minutes….
Three Minutes….
Two…..
One…..
A sudden high pitched scream pierced the air and echoed back to where the Chaotix were. Flickies flew quickly out of the trees they had been roosting in and took to the air. Espio was suddenly on high alert and leaped up again, pulling out a couple of his ninja stars. Mighty tensed up and looked behind him to make sure Ray was still standing there.
From the trees, a small bee flew out of the woods, slightly battered and covered in blood.
Espio ran as fast as he could toward the bee, which was Charmy. He ran into Espio's arms and burst into tears. In the woods that Charmy had just run out of, a million glowing lights lit up the forest. The rest of the Chaotix came up beside Espio. The glowing lights came closer and now the Chaotix could see what they were. A million of Eggman's robots stood there; some flying, and some on foot.
The team stared in horror at the sheer amount of metal badniks that stood before them. Espio Looked over Charmy and noticed that even though he was drenched in blood, there wasn't a scratch on him. With a sense of rising horror, Espio realized that Saffron hadn't come back. Charmy was shaking and would be no use to them in this fight.
"What are we gonna do?"
Julie-Su whispered, pulling out her laser weapon and loaded it. Vector glanced at the team and smiled grimly.
"Ready?"
The team nodded, and leaped into a battle for their lives.
Vector smacked one of the robots in the head and watched it spark and crash into three more around it. Vector happily grabbed another one and threw it straight up, almost laughing at the sight. Around him, the Chaotix were fighting fiercely. The rather large crocodile had been pleased to discover, when they shot into battle, that the robots weren't all that tough. They Were easily destroyed compared to some of Eggman's mechanical menaces. The only real problem, was that there were so many robots to deal with.
He tore off the flapper of one of the flying robots and chucked it at a robot attempting to fire a laser at him. He already had a pile of scrap metal around his feet. Looking around, Vector realized that the other members of the time were having an equally easy time as Espio used a katana to slice a robot in half and Mighty was just running around, slapping the robots hard enough to dent in their heads.
Julie-Su was a couple feet away from Vector and blasting away at many of the troublesome bots.
"Cleaning this is gonna be a pain."
She said, eyeing the growing pile of metal, wires, and spilt oil. Vector agreed. Knuckles would think he'd just come back into a disaster zone. It would take them all another six hours to clean the wreckage up.
Quickly, Julie-Su aimed her gun and shot a bright red laser inches away from Vector's face. Vector flinched in surprise and angrily glared at the pink Echidna.
"Watch where you shoot that thing, you maniac!"
Julie-Su smiled at him and pointed behind him. Vector turned and saw a robot, crumpled to the ground, just inches away from where he was standing. A laser hole was cut right through it's chest.
"Watch your back, Suitcase face."
She said, grinning. Vector grumbled at her and resumed beating the living daylights out of the robots around him. Within ten minutes, all of the robots were sparking and lying where they lay. The Chaotix looked around to see if there were any more. There wasn't.
"Well, that was fast."
Mighty said, and gave Ray a high-five. Espio still had Charmy with him, though Vector had no clue how the Chameleon had fought and held on the the young bee at the same time. He was the only member there who wasn't smiling. He looked downright miserable in fact. Vector wandered over to him.
"Is Charmy okay?"
He asked nervously, looking at the bee, who had his eyes closed and was laying in Espio's arms. Espio looked up at Vector and replied in a deadpan voice.
"This isn't his blood."
Vector stared at the dark red stains on Charmy's jacket in confusion.
"What?!"
The other members of the Chaotix were looking over now too.
"This isn't his blood Vector. He doesn't have a scratch on him."
"Then whose…."
But he already knew the answer. Glancing around, he counted his teammates. Only one was missing.
"Saffron didn't come back with Charmy."
Espio said, trying to wipe a tear from his eye before anyone noticed it.
"And Charmy said….. He said…. The robots surprised them and Saffron was shot before they had any time to react. She's…. she's…."
His voice broke and Espio didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.
Saffron's dead?!
Vector thought to himself, in shock and horror.
It was my responsibility. I was in charge. I should have kept better watch. I should have done something; anything. And now one of our team is dead.
The mood among the remaining Chaotix was somber as they waited for Knuckles to return. Julie-Su was in the distance, keeping herself busy by cleaning up the fighting area. She lifted hunks of metal and began to toss them into a pile. Espio was sitting back at the base of the master emerald, still holding Charmy and staring at nothing. Mighty and Ray were whispering amongst themselves, with sad expressions. Vector realized that he was just standing in one place. He decided to help Julie-Su, due to the fact that he needed to do some sort of work and no one else was helping her. he picked up a couple of pieces and threw them into the pile she'd already started.
For once, no words were exchanged between the two. They worked in silence and quickly moved over half the robots into the pile. Vector leaned over and picked up one of the robot's arms which had been torn off earlier by Mighty. He threw in into the pile, like the rest and watched as it hit the pile hard, landing right on top of a shattered robot. The robot hissed with sudden smoke and vector stared at it, not sure what the piece of junk was doing. He went toward it and pulled the broken robot off the pile and looked at it. The smoke was streaming from it now, and the robot's eyes were a dull glowing red.
"The heck?"
Vector said, chucking the robot back. Julie-Su came out of nowhere and shoved him to the ground.
"You idiot! It's gonna blow!"
She screamed at him right as the robot blew to pieces behind her. Shrapnel flew in all directions and Vector couldn't see. He heard Julie-Su hit hit the ground and he felt chunks of sharp, jagged steel scratch his face and tear at his flesh.
How was I supposed to know it was a bomb?
He thought to himself, his ears ringing. The acrid smoke was beginning to clear and Vector sat up slowly, almost losing his balance and falling back over. His left arm had long deep tears and blood was beginning to flow. vector didn't even want to know what his face looked like.
"Julie-Su?"
He asked, squinting and trying to peer through the thick smoke.
Mighty and Espio ran over, and tried to check on him. Vector ignored them, stood up carefully, and stumbled to where Julie-Su had last been standing. He found her within ten seconds, by almost tripping over her. She was lying in a pool of her own blood, barely breathing. Vector knelt next to her and tried to stop the bleeding. Her chest had been ravaged by shrapnel and multiple cuts looked fatal.
Julie-Su opened her eyes slowly and watched as Vector held his hands on her wounds.
"It's not gonna work, suitcase face. The cuts are too deep."
She smiled weakly and tried to push his hands away. Vector ignored her and still tried to help her.
"You are NOT going to die today."
Vector muttered to her. With a small sigh, she stopped fighting Vector and stared at him.
"Let me die, Vector. Just tell Knuckles I'm gonna miss him and that he better not get all screwed up over me."
She smiled again and then winced in pain. Vector tore off his gloves and held them against the bigger cuts. he looked up and noticed that Espio and Mighty were just standing there.
"Why are you just standing there?! Help her!"
He yelled at them. Mighty flinched back, but Espio didn't move.
"She's dying, Vector. There's nothing we can do."
Vector gritted his teeth and stared in anger at the Chameleon. Julie-Su slowly closed her eyes again, her breathing slower.
"Goodbye, Vector."
She said quietly, saying his name correctly for the first time. Her breath slowed down and came to a quiet halt. Vector stared in shock and then shook her, trying to get her to open her eyes, to do anything but lie there, in a pool of her blood. Bitter, angry tears streamed down his face as he wept.
Espio put his head down and turned away, still trying to cover up whatever emotions he had. Mighty openly cried, his blue eyes sparkling with salt water.
It was a very bad day for the Chaotix. And by fate, or by coincidence, it was then that Knuckles returned from whatever mission he had gone to for so long.
