Chapter 2



Espio's POV

The next morning, Vector, Charmy and I were getting ready for our soon-to-be

employee to come for the interview. In about a few minutes before she was to arrive, I was polishing my

shoes and I saw Charmy wearing a bow tie.

"Charmy, what the heck are you doing?" I asked the bee.

"I'm just getting myself prepared," Charmy replied. He inhaled some pepper spray.

"Pepper spray? Oh, you're not thinking about asking her on a date, are you?"

"Hey, you may not know it, but most girls find me very attractive. There's a good

chance that she might say yes to my offer."

I sighed. "You have a weird obsession with women, Charmy."

"Excuse me, but girls like boys with fresh breath. You should get some spray too. Your

breath stinks." Instead of spraying the pepper spray into my mouth, Charmy sprayed it in my eyes.

"My eyes!" I screamed for the pepper spray stung my eyes. Charmy got nervous and

backed away from me, but I grabbed the pepper spray and him. I glared at him. "Why I ought to--"

"Boys, she's here!" Vector called out from the front door. "Get into your positions." I let

go of Charmy and we stood by the door. As Vector grabbed the door knob, he said, "Espio, Charmy, say

hello to our brand new worker-to-be, Salley Hallivan."

When the door opened, I gasped and couldn't believe my eyes. The new girl was my

young apprentice. "Salley?"

Salley looked at me. "Hey, Espio," she said, smiling at me.

"You two know each other?" asked Charmy.

"Yeah," Salley replied. "He's been giving me ninja lessons. We met a few days ago."

"Oh, cool. I'm Charmy Bee." Charmy shook Salley's hand.

"That's nice to know. And, of course, I've heard about Vector the Crocodile."

"Exactly," said Vector.

"And the number one greatest ninja in the Chaotix." I blushed when she mentioned me

and called me 'number one'. "Excuse me, Vector, but where should I put my stuff?"

"There's an empty locker over there." Vector pointed to a row of lockers that were near



the bathroom. "You can put your stuff there."

"Thank you." Salley walked to a free locker and put her backpack in it.

I walked to her. "Salley, I-I can't believe you're here," I said, feeling surprised.

"Well," said Salley, "since I'm turning fifteen soon, my parents insisted that I'd get a job

as soon as possible. Plus, I know that you work here, so I thought this could be the perfect one."

I sighed. "I'm just really glad to see you."

Salley smiled at me. "So am I, Espio."

We gazed into each other's eyes, until Vector interrupted our moment. "Alright, that's

enough chit-chatting," he said. "C'mon, Sal. We've got to get through with your interview."

"Oh, yeah," said Salley as she walked away from me and followed Vector upstairs.

Before they left, Vector said, "The interview's only going to be a few minutes long, but I

don't want you boys coming up for any reason. If it's an emergency, try to handle it yourselves.

Understand?"

"No problem, Vector," said Charmy.

I turned to Salley. "Good luck," I whispered to her. She smiled at me and went back

upstairs with Vector for her interview.

About fifteen minutes later, Charmy was playing with his Nintendo DS again and I was

playing the shamisen. We both stopped when we saw Salley and Vector come down the stairs.

"How'd you do?" I asked.

Salley made a huge smile on her face. "I've been hired!"

I was surprised. "Oh my God, that's so incredible!"

"Congratulations," said Charmy.

"And the best part is," Salley continued, "I'm Espio's detective partner."

I hesitated for a few seconds. "Wow, that's…really awesome."



"Thanks, Esp." We left to do something for ourselves.

"So, I wore this suit for nothing," Charmy complained.