Chapter Three: A Day's Travel

An alarm clock blared into the ears of a lilac hedgehog. Once again, her sleep was interrupted by that wretched clock. She groaned as pushed the clock off. The plum female sat up and stretched her arms.

She quietly slid off her bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen. There, she prepared to make herself some eggs and bacon. As she got the pan out of the cupboard, she heard the distinctive ringing of the phone. After placing the pan down, she raced to the phone.

"Hello. This is the Prower & Roslia residence. May I ask who is speaking?" she asked in a polite voice.

"Y-yes. This is Dr. Samson. Am I speaking to Eve Roslia?" the male voice responded professionally.

"This is she."

"Oh. I'm speaking to you about your volunteership for the Chaos science division. I just wanted you to know that you have been selected for a special project," said Samson in a firm voice.

"Really?! I-I don't know what to say, I hope I can be useful in any way possible," exclaimed the lavender hedgehog.

Samson chuckled, " I've already sent a plane ticket to your email. We'll expect you to arrive tomorrow morning."

Eve took the phone with her back upstairs to check her email. She would have to print it out but who cares, she was going to highly professional scientists with a special project.

"So, what is this special project?" Eve asked, slightly curious as to what she would be doing.

"Hm? On, sorry. Only the head of the department can tell you about that. I'm only the messenger right now," Samson answered apologetically.

"O-okay," the lilac female stuttered.

"So, about your plane. There will be a chameleon-purple chameleon to see you through the trip. His name is Espio Nage`," the male explained.

"Why is he going to escort me all the way to the Chaos division?" Eve questioned.

The male sighed, " I'll tell you a little. The project you're assigned to deals with an extremely rare species. Many hunters, black market dealers, and even other scientists want to get their hands on that. Understand?"

"I do. I'll leave later today. Should I pack anything?"

"A medium-sized bag with only spare nightwear, daywear, undergarments, and personal hygiene utensils," the scientist stated.

Her flight was at six p.m. The lavender hedgehog looked at her surroundings. Terminals. Coffee shops. Baggage claim. Not once did she see a purple chameleon like the one Samson described. A yellow rabbit with what seemed like her husband, a coyote, passed by. Two saffron mongeese, probably a couple, did too. A yellow fox with two tails that had a black sweep over for hairstyle looked around. There was a lot of yellow mobians here, she thought. She looked through the crowd once more and she noticed the fox coming over to her, but he stopped in mid stride.

He looked surprised then he glared. Eve turned around as the fox began to walk away. She found the chameleon she was supposed to meet. The one who was going to act as her bodyguard. He wore a black tee and grey pants. His gloves were fingerless and black.

"Eve Roslia, correct?" His voice was low. Golden eyes fixed onto her sapphire orbs.

"Huh?" the plum hedgie was dumbfounded by his polite yet low tone and that he found her so quickly. "Y-yes! I'm Eve Roslia," she stuttered.

"I'm Espio Nage`. I guarantee your safety under my protection. I ask that you don't leave my side at all til we get to Chaos division," the chameleon made a small bow.

"O-okay, I won't," the lilac female tucked a small strand of hair back into the bangs that framed her face.

"Then, let's go."

"Flight 127 is boarding, all first-class please board the plane."

"I'm amazed that Chaos division actually paid a first-class trip for a volunteer like myself," the lavender hedgehog exclaimed, finding her seat quickly.

The purple chameleon placed her bag in the storage unit above them and scanned the plane. "Chaos division takes care of all workers and volunteers of theirs," he said taking the seat beside her, trapping her between the window and himself. Not that she minded it.

Espio crossed his arms, tilted his head down and shut his eyes. "Do you want to talk about anything?" the sapphire-eyed hedgehog asked, taking him out of his meditation. "What is it you wish to talk about?" he asked, answering her question with another question.

"Ummm, how long have you been with Chaos division?"

"A few years," he said, keeping his eyes closed. He knew she was just trying to make conversation.

"Hmm, I heard that the people from Chaos division have special abilities, do you have any?" she asked, then waved her hands, It s okay if you don't want to answer," she stuttered.

He smirked, opening his eyes to the flushed face of the plum hedgie, when she was embarrassed it was cute," I can turn invisible and copy the image and voice of a person only if I need to."

"Cool," her sapphire eyes sparkling with wonder.

"What about yourself?" Espio asked.

"Huh?" she lowered her left ear and tilted her head. Eve didn't expect Espio to ask about her.

"Why did you volunteer for Chaos division?" Espio asked, turning his head slightly.

"Well, I needed a job to do and I wanted to do something I'd enjoy. So, I looked for anything that had to do with science and nature and I found that Chaos division was asking for volunteers," the lilac female smiled.

Espio nodded. She enjoyed nature and that was good especially for the project she volunteered for. But there was no telling how long she would be gone. What did her parents think of this? Did they care? Now he had to ask.

"What about your parents? How do they feel about this?" he questioned, wanting to know.

Eve's ears dropped at the word 'parents'. She put her hands in her lap and looked down. Espio looked at the female next to him. Thoughts running wild in his head. Did she run away? Not tell them about it or did they forbid it and she left without them knowing? Her files said she was twenty-two, but this was still something to tell them about and discuss.

His eyes narrowed, "You didn't run away or something, did you?"

She perked up. "What? Oh, no. I didn't. It's... well... My parents..." she looked into his eyes," They passed away a few months back in a car crash."

Espio's eyes widened with this new information," I-I didn't realize. Forgive me."

"It's fine, really. You didn't know. But that's why I needed a job. I barely had enough to pay for college and my friend allows me to stay at his home. I didn't want to be useless and here I am," she smiled lightly.

"We'll be landing very shortly. We hope you had a pleasant flight," boomed the female voice on the intercom.

"We'll be landing soon," the chameleon said, stating the now obvious.

"Yep, and that means my job will start soon too, the hedgehog exclaimed with glee.

"When we stop, don't worry about your bag. I'll take it to your quarters in the division. Just hurry to the van parked right outside the port," Espio said in a monotone voice.

"Why?" Eve asked, confused by the chameleon's instructions.

"I have to take care of something that's been following us," responded the amber-eyed reptile.