Dancing Chapter 21! Oh yeah! Man, this is going great! Are you all having a nice summer so far? I hope so! Guess who appears in this chapter? The Chaotix, along with lots of dialouge! What horror will this bring? I dunno. You'll have to read to find out!

Shadow was surprised to find, when he got to Tail's house, that no one was in the living room. Not a soul. Even the Playstation was left to sit at the TV, still paused. If the black hedgehog hadn't been so dang…well, Shadow-ish, a shiver would have gone down his spine. Thankfully, it didn't. Well, not until he noticed someone in the doorway. It was yellow and black, had wings, and wasn't Ciel. That's right folks, it was…

"HiShadowhowareyouIhaven'tseenyouinalongtimeohboyohboy!" For those of you who haven't guessed it, it was Charmy the Bee.

"Charmy, what the hell are you doing here?" The Ultimate Lifeform asked. "And answer slowly. In English too."

"WeeEEEeeeEEEll," The bee said, drawing out his word, "Vector and Espio came here to solve a mystery, so I came too!" Shadow blinked.

"Mystery?"

"Uh huh! They're holding an investigation with everyone right now! Come see, come see!" Unwillingly, Shadow was dragged by the hyperactive bee off to who-knows-where.

"I'll explain this to you one more time," The crocodile declared, shining a flashlight in his suspect's face (even though it was perfectly light out). "You are going to answer any question I ask you, okay?"

"…Sure." Vector eyed his suspect, who was the magenta mink, Verity. He nodded to himself; girls always spilled the beans easily. Just ask a few questions.

"First: Where were you on Friday the 27?" The gumshoe inquired.

"Doing a gig at Club Rouge."

"What kind of gig?"

"A rock concert." The mink looked around. "You know, since I'm not tied to a chair or anything, I could leave anytime."

"Just answer the questions!" Vector exclaimed. "Now, let me look at my list of questions…where were you on Tuesday the 5?"

"You already asked that." The croc blinked.

"I did? Okay…hmm…will you go out with me?"

"Hell no!" This was accompanied by a punch to the nose as the mink stormed off. As she threw the door open, Shadow and Charmy entered.

"You next!" Vector practically jumped in front of Shadow's face, shining the dreaded flashlight into his bloodshot eyes. "Where were you four days ago?"

"Vector, what the hell?"

"Just answer the question and you'll be free to go. Where were you four days ago?"

"…At Shiny Lights Cemetery, killing zombies with my brothers." The croc's eyes widened.

"Aha, a clue! Espio, jot this down in our handy dandy notebook!" Watching from the corner, the ninja chameleon rolled his eyes.

"I thought this was a detective story, not Blues Clues." Espio shrugged. "Mass Zombie Murder doesn't have anything to do with our case either."

"What is your damn case anyway?" Shadow shouted.

"We're investigating the kidnapping of your brother Gemini, and Sonic the Hedgehog. They mysteriously disappeared while you were fighting off hordes of fangirls last chapter."

"And you, Mr. Shadow Q. Hedgehog, are our prime suspect!" Vector finished.

"There's no Q in my name."

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!"

"…You didn't ask one yet."

"Oh yeah…" The gumshoe pulled out his list. "Ask about relation between suspect and missing persons? No, that's stupid. Questions about suspicions about suspect? No…aha!" Vector stared down the hedgehog menacingly. "Tell me Shadow…WHERE IS THE COMPUTER ROOM?" The black hedgehog gaped at him.

"That has to do with the case how?"

"I just remembered that I forgot to put Rocky Horror Picture Show back on my Netflix que," Vector explained professionally. With that, Shadow just walked out of the room and into the hallway. Maybe he could find someone with a brain to actually explain things.

"Oh hi Shadow!" The black hedgehog turned around, seeing a nervous looking Amy Rose.

"What's up?" He asked. "Nervous about those idiot detectives questioning you?"

"Wha? Am I next? I'm innocent, I swear!" She screeched in a sudden panic.

"Amy, it's alright." The black hedgehog blinked. "Say, why's Metal Amy behind you? I thought we killed her in Chapter 17." Indeed, the metal counterpart of Amy stood behind her.

"I am not doing anything wrong!" She yelped. "I am innocent! I did not kidnap anyone! Initiating retreat! Aiiee!!!" Both the metal and real Amy ran off, leaving Shadow alone again.

"Has everyone in this house gone insane?" He asked to no one in particular. Since he got no reply, he wandered off. Maybe he could find Tails or Ciel somewhere…

"Why exactly am I here again?" Ciel asked. Currently, he was tied to a chair with duct tape, and anything that wasn't taped was glued onto the wooden piece of furniture. In front of him was Charmy, holding the flashlight.

"I'm questioning you!" the bee exclaimed. "Vector went off to find the computer room, and Espio's meditating, so I get to ask you questions!"

"Oh, okay." The winged hedgehog shuffled about in his seat. "No offense, but there could be a little less glue on the seat. I'm not going to run away."

"Not with three pounds worth of glue on your rump you aren't!" Charmy explained. "After what happened with Verity and Shadow, Vector didn't want to take any chances. Even I can't escape that chair, and believe me, I've tried before, and…oh yeah, the questions! Da DA!" The six year old then pulled out a list of questions.

"Alrighty, first question," Charmy yelped with excitement. "Ooh, this questions came from a movie! I saw this one! Okay, have you ever killed anyone?"

"…Does that include the voice in my head?" Ciel asked nervously.

"You have a voice in your head? Cool! Sure, include him too!"

"Okay…then yes."

"Mutilation, whatever that is?"

"Uh huh."

"Sexual Assault and Rape? I don't even know what that is…"

"Neither do I! I'd have to ask him, but the voice in my head is asleep right now." Charmy nodded at this answer.

"Animal Abuse?"

"…I think he kicked a puppy once." Ciel replied. The bee gasped.

"You are so evil! Espio, write that in the handy dandy notebook! With pictures!" The ninja opened his eyes, sighing.

"He just admitted to murder and torture, and you're concerned about kicking a puppy?" Charmy nodded. "I swear, you and Vector must be the stupidest-"

"Can I please get unglued now?" The schizophrenic suspect begged. "This glue is really uncomfortable, and I'm hungry…"

"No, you puppy-kicker!" The bee yelled. "Come on Espio, we have to go tell Vector!" Charmy flew out of the room, Espio following suit. Ciel, alone, looked around the room.

"…This stinks," He muttered. "And I'm hungry too…"

Shadow soon learned that, upon the arrival of the Chaotix, Knuckles, Blaze, Tikal, Tails, and Rouge had all skedaddled out of the house. Why Amy and Metal Amy were still here was a mystery in and of itself, and Verity only stayed because a certain someone coughSoniccough owed her money for a guitar.

"I still don't know why those stupid detectives are here," the mink complained. "I mean, even n00bs are better than them."

"…I beg to differ," Shadow muttered, "but that's beside the point. Where could Faker and my brother have run off to?"

"They probably went running as soon as the Chaotix came near." The mink shrugged. "Either way, I'm blowing this joint. I can always get my money back later. Ciao hedge-boy." Verity walked out of the house, discreetly handing Shadow three concert tickets before she left. Before he could contemplate this, Amy and Metal Amy entered the room, the latter dragging Ciel (still glued to the chair) behind her.

"Hey girls, hey Ciel," Shadow said. "Found anything?"

"We know nothing about what happened!" Amy shrieked, hiding under a table.

"I agree! Circuits contain no traces of Sonic or my Gemini's wherabouts." Metal Amy jumped under the table too.

"I'm hungry…" Ciel moaned, chewing on the edge of his shirt collar. The red-streaked sibling turned around, giving up on finding any intelligent lifeforms in the building, and opened the door to leave. Guess who was in the doorway?

"Hi Shad!" Sonic greeted happily. "Wazzup?" Shadow raised an eyebrow. Behind the Blue Blur was Gemini, who seemed to be munching on something.

"Where were you?" Shadow asked. "Everyone thought you went missing, and the Chaotix were sent here to figure out where you went."

"Oh, that's easy!" Sonic exclaimed. "We went to Wal-Mart!"

"…Wal-Mart?"

"We ran out of chips," Gemini explained, "So Sonic and I ran off to grab some before the girls decided to follow us." To prove this point, the mage pulled out a bag of Doritos, waving the bag in front of his brother's face before grabbing a few more chips out of the bag. Shadow nodded.

"That solves everything…except why Amy and her copy are acting so jittery.

"I have an inexplicable fear of anything related to Blues Clues," Amy explained from her sanctuary under the table. "That handy dandy notebook brought back so many bad memories…blue…doggy…STEVE!" The pink hedgehog curled up into a little ball.

"…Since I come from Amy's DNA, I share the same fear," Metal Amy added before curling up alongside the original in the fetal position.

"Well, that solves every-" At that instant, Vector burst into the room, Charmy and Espio behind him.

"We figured it out!" The head gumshoe declared triumphantly. "Sonic and Gemini were kidnapped by rock-gigging, puppy-kicking zombies! They are currently locked inside of the computer room!" There was an awkward silence.

"Not to burst your bubble, but we're right here," Gemini said. Vector gasped.

"Another witness!" He exclaimed. "Quick, the flashlight!" With the trusty light in his hand, the reptile stood in the mage's face. "So Gemini, do you know anything about your captors or whereabouts?"

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"Now, is that your captor, or is What-I-Just-Said a new city…?"

Shadow stood outside Tail's house a few hours later, carrying his bright purple suitcase. He had decided that he was not going to stay another minute. Either he was going to fix the apartment, or he'd just bunk with someone else. That was final.

"Shadow, wait for us!" Behind him, Ciel and Gemini ran out with their own luggage.

"We had to say goodbye to Tails," Gemini explained, "and Ciel had to get a pair of pants on before the Chaotix tried to glue him to the chair again."

"But Ciel never wears pants," Shadow argued.

"…Let's just say it wasn't painless getting ripped off of that stupid chair," the younger brother muttered, sporting a pair of jeans. "So where to now Shadow?" The black hedgehog brothers thought about this a minute.

"I suppose we'll see when we get there," The Ultimate Lifeform decided. "Come on, we'd better leave before the Chaotix wake up." That was the other reason for leaving; they had gotten so sick of Vector and Charmy that all three brothers knocked the detectives unconscious.

So, with a bright sunset behind them, the brothers walked off yet again to find another place. Where would they end up, even I don't know yet. However, we will all know in a week or two. Hopefully.

Hopefully indeed. See you all soon!