(WARNING: Some yaoi overtones detected in this chapter, because I know how much you all love it! Enjoy! - Author)

June 24th, 4:20pm

Twoson Avenue, Emerald Coast

The Chaotix were running down the endless hills that made up this town as fast as they possibly could; Sonic had his arms stretched out behind him as if he was an aeroplane that had somehow grown legs and was running at a speed that meant he didn't overtake his allies, Espio softly ran with two fingers cast out in front of him like he was a spectacular ninja running into battle, Mighty had his arms confidently going back and forth with every step he took and Vector was running in an odd way looking as if he was about to collapse from exhaustion, though this was mostly because of the laptop he was carrying under his arm and the little bee who had fallen asleep on the crocodile's shoulders.

"How far is it to the police station at this point?", Espio asked, looking back every now and again to make sure they weren't being followed.

"About another kilometre or so…I think," Vector panted and heaved, while his armpits started to sweat like manatee orgies.

As the four ran through the streets, Sonic heard what sounded like the distant echo of a truck horn going off and faint noise of a large metallic object crashing onto the ground over and over. Getting flashbacks of an especially bad week a few years before, Sonic asked as calmly as he could muster "Uh…guys, do you hear something…odd?"

"Nope!", the other three declared.

Each second that they continued to run down the hill, the noises seemed to grow louder and come closer and closer and soon, all of them noticed, with Vector voicing what everyone was thinking, though not quite how they'd have worded it, "Holy crap! What the hell is that noise?!"And, as if to answer his question, a gigantic black truck flew off from the hill above and hit the ground with a great amount of ferocity, driving towards the Chaotix with the intent of turning them into the biggest pile of road-kill the town had ever seen. Sonic, Mighty, Espio and Vector stopped, looked back and stared at the massive thing for a few seconds before Vector remarked rather dully "Oh, that…" Literally the next second, his eyes shot to the size of the moon and he screamed with a strong scent of urine reeking through his trench coat "RUN!"

And with that, the four began running faster and faster to avoid the truck catching up to them. However, it was in vain as the truck caught up within seconds and it was now possible to see who was in the front cabinet of the truck; Jet was driving with a downright psychotic look on his face as he grinned demonically and one of his eyes kept twitching while Wave, Storm and a K.O.'ed Bean sat to the left of the crazy hawk, the former two looking determined albeit concerned for their comrade Rogue.

Sonic and Vector looked back to see how close the truck was and realized that the bumper was less than 15ft away from them. Their eyes widened out in shock and Mighty, looking back and noticing how close they were to getting screwed, nervously asked "Oh God! What do we do now?!" Meanwhile, Espio was keeping calm; he knew that the truck must've been pretty close but he also knew that someone had to keep a level head to stop things from getting out of hand.

As he and his comrades desperately tried to run away from the enormous truck of death, Espio's eyes darted around his surroundings to find any possible solution when suddenly, he noticed a wide open entrance with a sign above it saying 'Mobius Mall' about 50ft ahead of him. He turned his head towards the others and calmly said "Guys, on my signal, we go left."and as soon as they were within 15ft of the entrance, he thumbed toward it and they all turned left and ran into the mall, just barely avoiding being run over by the truck.

Inside the truck, Jet angrily whacked the steering wheel as he shouted "DAMN IT!" He stayed silent for several seconds while still driving the truck when he decided out loud "Screw it!"and sharply turned left, heading straight for a nearby building.

Realising what he was planning, Wave reached over for the steering wheel and tried to force it out of the way, saying "Jet, stop it! Are you trying to get us killed or something?"

Jet put one hand over Wave's face and pushed her back, saying "I don't give a damn about that; they're not getting away with that laptop. No matter what," with yet another frighteningly disturbing grin plastered on his face.

Storm caught Wave in his arms and looked at her for a few seconds, before blushing and nervously looking away, muttering "W-well, we're dead."

Inside the mall, Mighty, Espio and Vector with a snoozing Charmy on his shoulders were sitting down on a nearby bench, just under a massive glass awning on the ceiling above, panting heavily from exhaustion while Sonic nonchalantly leaned on a nearby pillar. Sonic looked over to the Chaotix and chuckled slightly, as he said "Well, that was a let-down."

Mighty put an arm over the bench, turned his head to look at Sonic and tiredly asked "What do ya mean 'a let-down'?"

"Usually, when something like that happens," Sonic said with a shrugging smile, "it goes on for a bit longer and would've ended more epically than what did happen."

Mighty stared at Sonic in confusion for several seconds before he asked "The hell's wrong with you?" The Blue Blur chuckled sheepishly at the sentiment, bewildering the armadillo even further.

Vector, finally gathering enough of himself to keep going, got up from the bench and said to no-one in particular "Alright guys, we gotta finish what we started and get the laptop to the police station, which if I'm right is about another half-kilometre to go. You guys ready?"

Sonic got off from the pillar and did some brief body stretches as he said "Yep!"

Mighty sighed softly and stood up, saying "Yeah, I guess."

Espio stood up, folded his arms and nodded with an affirmative hum.

Vector grinned in satisfaction and pointed toward the exit just to his left, saying "Alright Chaotix Crew, to the police station!"

Sonic and Vector took off for the exit of the mall and Mighty was about to catch up when he noticed that Espio was standing still, looking towards a nearby flower shop with a look of contemplation yet showing hints of feelings of sorrow and regret about some past event. Mighty walked over to Espio and put his hand on the chameleon's shoulder, asking "Hey partner, what's up?"

Espio's eyes darted toward Mighty and after a moment, removed Mighty's hand from his shoulder and said "It's nothing of your concern. And by the way, stop calling me 'partner'." Espio walked off towards the exit of the building and Mighty was about to start walking when he noticed what looked like a massive black metal box falling towards the glass awning that Espio was currently under.

Realising that the massive box was actually the truck from earlier and what was about to happen, Mighty ran over to Espio, yelling "ESPIO! LOOK OUT!" and pushed the chameleon and himself out of the way right before the truck crashed through the glass awning and started driving for the exit.

Sonic and Vector were waiting outside, wondering what was taking Mighty and Espio so long, and looked back to see if they had shown up but instead saw a gigantic truck heading towards them. Sonic and Vector's eyes widened out and they screamed as they ran away from the exit, which was quickly broken through (along with a large portion of the wall around it) by the truck. Sonic and Vector ran for their lives towards the police station as the truck started chasing them again.

Meanwhile, back inside the mall, Mighty was able to get Espio away from the truck but the impact of the push along with the shock generated from the truck slamming onto the floor had disoriented him for a few minutes. When he came to, he looked around him and noticed that somehow, he had pushed Espio and himself into the flower shop from earlier. Not only that, but when he looked down, he realised he was lying on top of Espio in a very, very compromising way.

Espio, waking up from a similar disorientation, looked up at the blushing armadillo lying on him in a certain manner, then looked around his surroundings and realised that they were in the flower shop, while romantic music was playing in the background! Noticing the extremely over-the-top yaoi overtones, Espio face palmed himself and groaned "Oh God! I hate the writer!" (You aren't alone in that - the writer) When he removed his hand from his face, Espio noticed that Mighty was still lying on him, smiling nervously and blushing like a ripe tomato.

Mighty's face was very close to Espio's and although he himself started to blush, he took his mind of it by bitterly saying "Do you actually enjoy this or something? GET OFF!"

Mighty, realizing this, nonchalantly got up as he said "Oh right. Sorry," and chuckled as if this didn't really faze him. Given that he didn't show any visible signs of enjoying this, things were at least going better than the evening before.

Espio got up and brushed himself down, as he told Mighty "Frankly, I'm getting sick of the ship teasing but thank you anyways. However, we have a big problem; how are we gonna catch up with that truck?"

Mighty stroked his chin with his hand, pretending that he had a beard of some sort or at least a furry muzzle instead of a skin-like one, for a few seconds before he said "…How 'bout we just get a taxi?"

Espio slightly threw his arms in the air and replied "Sure, why not?" The two exited the flower shop and, carefully avoiding the damage caused by the truck, exited through the giant gaping hole in the wall that was formally a door.

They ran out onto the road and started calling out for a taxi for about a minute when a familiar yellow taxi crashed out from the second floor of the mall behind them and promptly fell on Mighty. Squashed under the taxi, Mighty yelled in pain "AAAAAGHHHH! IS THIS BUTT MONKEY BUSINESS EVER GONNA STOP?!" Espio tried to pull out Mighty from under the wreckage and after a few seconds of difficult effort, he finally succeeded.

Meanwhile, the driver of the taxi had rolled down a window and popped his head out to see the damage when he recognized the chameleon and the run over armadillo just as they recognized him; he was the black Overlander in very tropical clothes from Chapter 8. Mighty and Espio shouted in shocked unison "You again?!"

"I should be saying that to you!", the furious driver retorted, "Do you realize how much gas I wasted driving around town for the last hour or so 'cause I thought I lost ya?! I mean, it's one thing to ditch a guy without saying so, but it's another thing altogether when you don't even bother to pay me! Seriously, how cheap are you?!"

"What about running me over like some kind of ruined pizza?", Mighty cut in, ignoring the driver's question, "If it wasn't for my shell, I could've been killed!", as he pointed towards the massive red shell covering his head and most of his back.

The driver, getting even more furious, slammed his fist on the window sill and replied "Well, sorry! I didn't see ya on the way down, but you still coulda paid me before jumping out!"

Espio, realizing how much of a waste of time this argument was, quickly cut in as he sternly said "And we will pay you; for the gas, what we were supposed to pay, everything. But we need a favour: there's a jet black truck crashing through the city chasing a blue hedgehog and a green crocodile in a trench coat. We need to catch up to it but we're not fast enough. So, will you help us?"

The driver repeatedly tapped his fingers off the steering wheel in rhythmic fashion as he thought about this for a few seconds. Finally, he breathed out through his nose and replied "Alright fine, but keep in mind that this is going on your bill too."

Espio shrugged and said "Fair enough." as he and Mighty climbed into the back seat of the taxi.

As he sat down and put on his seatbelt, Mighty whispered "Espio, we're broke, remember? How're we gonna pay him?", thumbing toward the driver in the front seat, gleefully starting up the taxi's loud, magnificent engine and turning on the radio to play his favourite Offspring album.

Espio smirked and folded his arms as he replied "Don't worry; Sonic said he'll pay us when he complete this case, right? We'll just use some of the money to pay the guy back. Oh, and by the way, keep your seatbelt off. It'd be quite the hindrance considering what my plan is."

Mighty raised an eyebrow in confusion as he asked "And your plan is…?"

Espio devilishly chuckled and said "You'll see." And with that, the driver kickstarted the taxi and drove off towards the wherever the truck may be as fast as the taxi could possibly go, which happened to be just short of light speed.

June 24th, 4:29pm

Hill Top Lane, Emerald Coast

(Mood Music I - Want It All Back ~ The Seatbelts)

Even though he didn't want to admit it, Sonic was feeling absolutely ecstatic as the jet black truck determinedly chased him and Vector down the massive hill. He couldn't help it; he thrived on thrills as life threatening as this and it really did brighten up what had been a relatively dull, if very odd, day. Sure, all he had to do was trip up even a little if he wanted to become deader than disco but hey, that just made the chase all the more fun.

As the hedgehog cheerfully sped down the hill, he asked the crocodile running alongside him "Hey Vector, how far away's the police station?"

"It's at the end of this hill, I think," the sweating Vector hurriedly replied, "Don't worry, we're nearly there!" As they continued to run down away from the massive machine, Sonic noticed that Vector was beginning to get exhausted again as he began panting like a starving dog in front of a giant pile of meat. This wasn't good; if anything upped the ante, they might get screwed.

However, the crazy hawk driving the truck also noticed this and grinning psychotically, he pulled down a walkie-talkie of some sort and announced to the two victims he was chasing "Hey guys, did you ever wonder why this was the only truck that was coloured differently from the rest?…No? Well, allow me to show ya why!" And with that, he pressed a special button on the side of the steering wheel and suddenly, three massive buzz saws popped out from the back of the truck and lowered down towards Sonic and Vector, who stared at it

After a few seconds passed, one of the buzz saws fell right to the ground and started chasing Vector. As it came closer, Vector started running faster and faster, yelling (very quickly) "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh Goooooooooddddddd!" The buzz saw came within inches of chopping off Vector's tail when it suddenly rose back up as another buzz saw went down to try get Sonic, who was cheerfully smiling and easily keeping ahead of the buzz saw.

Sonic started laughing from pure joy and asked "C'mon, you stupid buzz saw! Can't you keep up?!" while Vector just stared at the hedgehog in pure bewilderment. Sonic jokingly slowed down so that he came within mere inches of the buzz saw before gleefully increasing his speed as the buzz saw rose back up. Sonic laughed again and looked back at the truck, cheekily sticking his tongue out at Jet, who was fuming at how easily the hedgehog was toying with him.

Jet's grin had turned into a ferocious snarl as he reached for the laser blaster on the seat beside him and threw it at Storm, who just barely caught it. Storm, confused at this whole ordeal, asked "Uh… Jet, what's going ons?"

The hawk kept his eyes focused on running down Sonic as he angrily said "If that spiky bastard wants a real challenge, then I'm gonna give it to him!" Storm, as well as Wave, just stared in confusion and concern at the young hawk for a few seconds until the hawk glanced over and ordered "Well, what are ya waiting for? Open the window and start shooting at them!"

Storm sighed wearily and replied "Okays, just calm down, will yas?" He rolled down the window on his side, took aim and started firing laser blasts at Sonic and Vector. The first blast hit the back of Vector's trench coat, singeing it to a crisp. This caused Vector to try run even faster than he already was and clearly, this was doing nothing but making the poor crocodile even more exhausted.

Storm then tried to catch Sonic out by firing several laser blasts as another buzz saw lowered down to attack him but the blue blur gleefully dodged and weaved out of the way as the blasts got near him and ended up hitting the ground. He looked back at the truck and proudly announced "Yeah, that's more like it! Keep it coming, guys!"

Wave grabbed the blaster from Storm as she said "Let me give it a shot." She leaned out from the window and started firing laser shots more accurately but unfortunately, Sonic just kept dodging them, sidestepping left and right, jumping over the shots aimed for the ground to catch him out and avoiding the giant buzz saw trying to cut him in two, all the while laughing in pure joy.

Wave pulled the trigger but all that came out of the blaster this time was a click noise. She tried again and again but nothing would come out of it. She retreated from the window and took a look at the blaster, saying "Damn thing's jammed!"

Meanwhile, Sonic had his arms folded and a disappointed look on his face as he dodged the buzz saw yet again. He looked back and obnoxiously asked "C'mon, where'd the blasts go? I was having the time of my life here and now, you've wrecked it!"

Vector, getting irritated at how Sonic was acting, angrily asked "Will ya stop it?! We're barely survivin' as it is…I'm barely survivin', anyways. I dunno if I can keep this up…" as his heavy panting became even heavier and he placed a hand over part of his chest and gripped on it tightly. He chuckled in a very bittersweet manner and said "Think I've got a stitch…we're dead."

Meanwhile, about a few hundred feet away, a familiar yellow taxi was plummeting down the road at what was damn-near close to light speed, quickly followed by another giant avalanche of cars, vans and all manner of unlucky vehicles. The driver in front eyed the jet black truck down below as he asked "Is that the truck you're lookin' for?"

Espio rolled down the window as he replied "Yep, that's it. Just get close enough to it and we'll take care of things from there."

The driver gave another thumbs-up and said "Can do." before going back to focusing on avoiding the giant landfall of endless vehicles and trying to get close to the dangerous looking truck down below.

Espio started to climb out of the window and onto the roof of the taxi as Mighty watched in confusion and worry before asking "Is this that plan you were on about? …Espio?" Espio ignored him and finished climbing onto the roof, reply pretty much answering his question so he also rolled down the window, mumbling "Fine, then; let's try it." and climbed out onto the roof.

Mighty stood up on the roof and left a little off-balance, which was quite understandable given that he was trying not to fall off the roof of a taxi driven by a certifiably insane driver that was dodging loads of falling cars and vans. After a few seconds, he regained his balance and proceeded to ask Espio "Okay, so now what do we do?"

"We wait 'till we get near the truck," the chameleon replied as he took an offensive stance, "then we jump on the container and try anything to delay the truck long enough for Vector to get that laptop to the proper authorities."

Mighty rolled his eyes in slight derision and sarcastically replied "Yeah, that sounds pretty simple. Nothing'll go wrong there."

Espio simply kept his stance, mumbling "Baka…" as the taxi swerved around the road, getting closer and closer to the truck until it was in parallel to held his arms and torso back and Espio tightened his stance as he said "Alright, ready… JUMP!" And with that, he and Mighty jumped over onto the truck and landed rather successfully on the container, with a noticeably loud thud.

Inside the truck, the three Rogues over heard the loud thud and Jet nodded his head toward the roof as he said "Storm, take care of it." Storm silently nodded and climbed out the window while Wave continued fixing the blaster and Jet driving like a flipping maniac.

Storm was able to get onto the roof of the truck and after that, onto the container, where he found Mighty and Espio ready and waiting. Storm punched one fist with the other as he said "Youse wanna get to Jet, youse gotta get through me foist!" as he smiled a devilish grin before charging toward Mighty and Espio.

He ran towards Mighty and swung his arm out at the armadillo, who rolled under it and turned around to deliver a roundhouse kick to the albatross' face. He staggered back in pain, holding a hand to where he'd been kicked, before running over to Espio and performed a low kick, intending to trip the chameleon. However, Espio was able to jump over the kick and counter-attacked with an upwards kick to Storm's chin, knocking out one of his teeth.

Storm fell on his back from the impact and cried out "Wave, I need ya… yer help, that is…", blushing when he thought that first part could've been taken the wrong way. Wave quickly climbed out from the window, having repaired the blaster, and started firing blasts at Mighty and Espio. Espio dodged rapidly as if he was avoiding being hit by flying kunai while Mighty just took the easier option and removed his shell and placed it in front of him, using it as a faux riot shield.

Realising that this wasn't going to work, Wave threw down the blaster in frustration and ran towards the two, pulling off a drop kick to Mighty which hit on target due to the armadillo being distracted by putting his shell back on. Mighty fell on his side and rolled off to the side of the container, eventually grabbing the ledge of the container.

Wave walked over to him in order to finish the job but was interrupted by Espio suddenly punching her in the face as he said "Forgot about me, did you? Well, don't worry, I'll make you regret it." as he smiled a very dark looking grin. He then proceeded to attacking Wave with multiple light kicks, which she just barely dodged by ducking under at the last minute and then rolling to the side. Soon after this, Storm had regained enough strength to try tackle Espio as well.

While Espio went about fighting head to head against Wave and Storm in mortal combat, Mighty figured it would be an easier idea to let Espio deal with her and try to delay the truck in some way himself. So he started to shuffle along the edge, being careful of the massive avalanche occurring just below him, avoiding any vehicles that flew up into the air somehow or collided with the truck.

After quite an effort that was almost ruined by a bus nearly squishing his legs like a pancake, Mighty was finally hanging from one of the side windows of the truck. Jet was too busy trying to run over Sonic and Vector that he failed to notice the black armadillo that swung into the front and knocked him out with a double foot kick to the facé.

With the green hawk finally taking a peaceful nap, Mighty went about trying to stop the truck. Problem was…he had no idea how to do so; he could take out the keys but the truck would still be going due to being on a downward hill and potentially cause a lot of damage. He decided just to wing it and grabbed onto the steering wheel and press his foot down very hard on the brake pedal; so hard in fact that his foot actually went through the floor.

Mighty's jaw dropped at this and quietly said "Oh crap…" before he started turning the steering wheel manically, hoping that he could stop the truck running over Sonic and Vector. However, the road was completely straight and he didn't want to risk smashing any buildings so he couldn't do anything but sway the truck from side to side in a desperate attempt to make things better.

Upon noticing this odd change in patter, Sonic decided it might be best to get the hell outta there so he grabbed the wrecked Vector's arm and sped up to a degree that they got to the bottom of the hill and were finally safe…or so they thought.

Meanwhile on the top, Espio, Wave and Storm were falling about due to how the truck wildly swayed from side to site, causing Espio to fall off the side of the truck as he was pushed off by another sudden sway. Espio expected to be grievously hurt but felt that he landed rather safely. He sat up and realised that he had fallen back onto the taxi, which somehow was still driving alongside the truck.

Noticing the hysterical armadillo in the front weaving the steering wheel about like a furry Cruella De Vil, Espio asked "Mighty, what the hell are you doing?!"

"What else, I'm trying to stop this crazy thing!", Mighty yelled back.

Espio raised an eyebrow and asked "Why didn't you just try braking?"

"Because I broke it!"

Espio face palmed himself and muttered "Figures…" Knowing that thrusting the wheel wildly was going to do nothing, Mighty started rapidly and desperately pressing every button on the dashboard in the hope that it would somehow turn the whole truck off completely. However, all he had managed to do was activate and deactivate the window wipers over and over, flash the headlights on and off, turned the radio on and somehow, managed to activate an ejector seat function that launched the nearby seat with the unconscious Bean and Jet on it through the roof into the sky.

Mighty stared at the controls in complete confusion before he shouted "W-WHY?!" and was about to press more buttons when he heard a strange shredding noise going on at the back and after a few seconds, the container, with Wave and Storm still on it, lost its connections to the truck and fell onto the ground. Turns out that the buzz saws went haywire due to Mighty's button mashing antics and started flailing about, cutting anything in their path; in this case, what connected the container to the truck.

After witnessing what had just happened, Mighty returned his attention to the road and realised that they were at the bottom of the massive hill and heading toward a café that looked very familiar. It suddenly hit Mighty as fast as the truck was going that he was driving right for the Sparkling Emerald and he was going to ram into it and possible hurt or kill everyone inside, especially Honey.

(Mood Music II - Fate ~ Shiro Sagisu)

Mighty's worried expression suddenly and swiftly turned into a determined, cross one as he sternly said "Screw it!" And with that, he punched the window in front and jumped out of the truck, rolling on the ground before quickly getting back up. He turned to face the truck and threw his arms outwards, ready to take the truck on like some sort of crazy nut job with six arms.

Sonic, watching from inside the Sparkling Emerald with Vector, ran outside to Mighty and asked "Mighty, what the hell are you up to?!" Mighty remained silent as he gripped his fists, ready for action, when he took off towards the speeding truck and as soon as he reached it, grabbed the front with his hands and started pushing against it in a desperate attempt to stop it.

Mighty was clearly struggling with this as no matter how hard he tried, the truck wouldn't stop moving and would still crash through the building and hurt everyone. This thought seemed to be what made him even more determined however as he kept pushing at it with such a force that his feet even broke through the road and left behind a large crack.

As the truck came closer and closer to the Sparkling Emerald, Mighty's strength seemed to increase as well since he pushed harder and harder, which began to slow the truck down to a considerable degree. Until finally, the truck finally stopped just in front of the Sparkling Emerald, nearly breaking through the recently repaired hole in the front wall.

Mighty slowly removed his hands from the front of the truck, slowly breathing from exhaustion as he said "Finally…it stopped…everyone's okay." before promptly falling on the floor unconscious with a soft smile on his face.

June 24th, 5pm

Chaotix HQ, Onett Department Store

Mighty woke up with a sudden jolt, staring at that damned ceiling from this morning. He thought "I was right; I would get to know you Mr Ceiling. Wait, I'm still calling you that?! God dammit…" He noticed that he was lying on that blasted couch and promptly sat up to avoid screwing up his back again.

However, when he sat up, he noticed that Vector, Espio, Charmy and Sonic were standing around the couch, looking at him with concerned expressions on their faces. Vector was the first to break into a smile, asking "You alright, buddy?"

(Mood Music III - Mhaura ~ Naoshi Mizuta, Kumi Tanioka)

Mighty rubbed his head from exhaustion and replied "Yeah, I think so. Did I faint or something?"

"Ya did," Vector assured him with a smile, "But after you saved everyone in the café."

Mighty sighed in relief, saying "Oh thank God. By the way, what happened to the case?"

Sonic folded his arms and answered "Don't worry 'bout it, we got the laptop to the police. They'll use that to try track down the Rogues, wherever they went."

Remembering the incident with the ejector seat and losing the container, Mighty scratched his head in embarrassment and said "That's right; I let them get away. Sorry 'bout that."

"It's fine, really," Sonic said as he scratched his muzzle with his hand, "but Mighty …were you always that strong?"

Mighty contemplated this for a few seconds before finally replying "I think so, or at least as long as I can remember."

Sonic raised an eyebrow in confusion before he threw his hands into the air, dismissing the whole issue, and left for the door, saying "Well, I'll see ya guys later! I'll admit this was pretty fun; at least it wasn't a complete disaster like last time. Nice seeing ya again, Mighty, by the way!"

He opened the door before turning around to give another one of his charming smiles and trademark thumbs-ups and with that, he took off to head on another adventure. Mighty laughed a little, saying to no-one in particular "He really hasn't changed, has he? …Oh, that reminds me. Did we get paid?"

"We did," Espio replied with folded arms, brightening up the armadillo's face before he added, "but that bill we owed the taxi guy…pretty much killed all of it."

"Damn," Mighty said as he jokingly rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly, "So does this mean I still have a paying case until next week or what?"

"Nope," Vector remarked, "We've talked it over and it's decided that you're staying on the team, mainly 'cause of how hard ya tried to help people out. Plus…to be fair, you did get us paid. In short, welcome to the Chaotix Crew, buddy!"

Mighty smiled again as he said "Thanks. I really mean it. Thanks, all of you. Just one question …can I sleep anywhere besides the couch? It's been driving me insane since last night."

Vector stuck his chest out, cheerfully saying "Sure, but we can't afford to get a new bed right now. So you'll just have to sleep with Espio!"

Espio's stern expression completely fell apart as his eyes widened out and his voice rose as he very nervously asked "Hold on a minute. Why me? Can't he just sleep on the floor?"

Vector replied "Mainly 'cause you two seem to get along so fine together and 'sides, if he slept on the floor, he may as well be sleeping on the couch. Don't worry, it'll just be a few days, no more."

Espio rolled his eyes in pure frustration as he replied "Fine… That doesn't mean I'm completely okay with this, however."

Charmy flew up to Vector and asked "Hey Vector, since we're broke, what're we gonna eat?"

Vector simply shrugged when Mighty said "Actually, if you have the right stuff, I can make dinner for you guys. If you like."

Espio, Charmy and Vector jumped in joy at being able to eat again and Espio asked "So what's the recipe?"

"What else? Chilli dogs!", Mighty replied with a laugh.

The three stared at Mighty in complete disbelief for a few seconds before they fell over onto their arses in a dizzy faint. That faint nearly turned into a coma when the armadillo tried using the sweet smell of his speciality to wake them up, and so, his second case with the team was to learn some new recipes.

It didn't really go well (the curry-reeking, tentacle-waving monstrosity hiding in a locked room deep in the basement was proof enough of that), but it was worth a shot. Y'know?

The End

Next time on the World's Greatest Detectives: A week has passed since Mighty's first two cases but now, they have to tackle a rhino that's been let loose in the city. Will the detectives be able to solve this case and just maybe change what people think of them? The answer and more shall be revealed in 03 - Rhino Hunters! And don't worry, the good ol' fanservice is still gonna be around!

Message from the Author - 11/Feb/2013

(Finally, after a month and a half, I've finished off this bloody episode. Overall, I think it's only okay but tell me what you think anyways and if I can improve anything. Also, I'm planning on doing a short chapter-long intermission to tie up some loose ends and maybe do a bit of foreshadowing… In any case, I hope you enjoyed this episode along with the rest of the fanfic so far and I'll see y'all next time! Have a great day, y'all - FrDougal9000

NOTE: 10/July/2015 - Good, we're already halfway through these rewrites (already, he says, after stopping for a year and a half) and we're making decent progress. Looking back on this episode, I'm actually amazed that it turned out to be a bit better than the first episode, especially how I wrote the entire last chapter in a day. There's a few seeds here and there of things to come, even with things I never really noticed meant something until I looked back at this, and I put a bit more world-building in. And for fans of the Babylon Rogues, I'm really sorry for how I portrayed them; I have no idea what the hell I was thinking back then, and I should've tried harder to get their personalities to match the games. You can kick me in the virtual groin if you like. For the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed this redone episode, and I'll see you for the next redo for Episode 3. Have a great day, y'all! - FrDougal9000)