July 23rd, Time: ?
2nd Floor Corridors, Mason Mansion
A haunted mansion. A hidden treasure. A false person. A dodged tranquilizer. And a limping sniper. These five things normally wouldn't go together, unless you were writing the strangest crossover between Scooby-Doo, Indiana Jones, Ghost in the Shell, Far Cry and Metal Gear Solid 3, but in this case, they have been the driving force behind the ultimately strange mystery that is the long-abandoned Mason Mansion. Deep within the halls of the second floor, Mighty, Espio and Charmy ascended from a small staircase from below, searching for an unknown assailant also suspected of impersonating Vector, the self-proclaimed leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency and sexiest reptile in town, the latter of which very debatable.
Unlike the halls on the bottom floor that consisted of linear routes that went on for practically miles, the corridors on this floor were far more holistic and much, much shorter. As he turned his head to look at all the possible routes, the armadillo asked in uncertainty "Alright, what do we do now?"
The purple chameleon smirked as he replied "What else? We go to the floor that fanged sniper was on and then, to put it bluntly, we kick his ass!" He looked to his right and saw that on the opposite side of that floor was another small set of stairs leading up to the 3rd floor. He pointed two fingers at it and then motioned the fingers forward to give a signal to his two team-mates. Mighty and Charmy nodded in agreement and so, the three detectives began running along the balcony towards the staircase, hoping to find this mysterious sniper and solve this case once and for all.
As they were making their way, a bookcase from one of the walls near the balcony swung to the right and blocked the path in front of them. The three Mobians were startled at the sudden stop but Espio maintained a calm composure as he quickly turned around and ran into one of the corridors, saying "Fine, we'll go around in that case." Keeping a hand with two fingers stretched out in front of him as he ran silently through the mazelike halls, the chameleon was prepared for anything to be thrown at him. However, another bookcase turned and blocked the way he'd just came.
Stopping in his tracks, he turned around and realized that Mighty and Charmy hadn't caught up with him in time for the bookcase to fail in its trap. On the other side, the shelled Mobian ran into the bookcase shoulder-front to try push it down. He rammed into it and as he slid down to the ground, he felt something snap in his left shoulder. He groaned in anger through gritted teeth from the pain as he looked at the bookcase, surprised at the fact that not only had he failed to topple the thing, but that he didn't even seem to budge the furniture from its tall, looming stance. He sighed wearily before yelling to Espio on the other side "Don't worry about us, Espio. Just keep going and we'll find another way around!"
"Roger that." Espio quickly affirmed before turning around and taking off in a quick movement while on the other side, Mighty slowly got up from the ground and hopefully smiled as he thumbed the way they came to Charmy, before the two younger detectives began running that way. Meanwhile, far up above, a purple Mobian that looked like a wolf/weasel hybrid limped down to the 3rd floor, looking over the balcony as he saw the detectives run towards another corridor. A cocky smile appeared on his furry muzzle, revealing a very noticeable overbite consisting of a single massive tooth. His plan was working.
The sniper reached into a small cartridge in his belt and pulled out a small orb-like metallic device. He pressed a circular pattern on the orb, upon which it began beeping and glowing red, and threw it on the wooden steps behind him. As the orb's beeping grew faster and faster, he descended as fast as he could despite the burning pain in his lower leg down the stairs and ducked behind one of the corridors. Just then, the beeping went into a constant flat lining beep as the orb went off in a fiery explosion, taking most of the staircase with it. At the other side of the floor, Mighty and Charmy had stopped in their tracks as they saw the ascending steps get swallowed up in a ball of fire. The armadillo snapped his fingers in frustration as he said "Crap! How're we gonna get up there now?"
The young bee gave Mighty a confident thumbs-up as he slowly began to hover upwards, saying "Don't worry, Mighty! I've got it!" Flying out towards the centre of the massive room, Charmy flew higher and higher, hoping to find the strange sniper. While back on the 2nd floor, the wolf/weasel hybrid took sight of the ascending insect and loaded his rifle with another tranquilizer bullet. Quickly turning around the corner he was hiding in, he aimed the rifle at the youngest detective and pulled the trigger. The tufted bullet flew from the rifle and within a matter of seconds, it hit the back of Charmy's neck.
The bee began to feel drowsy, as if he was suddenly falling asleep, and the small, quickly-beating wings on his back slowed down more and more until they stopped completely. As he hovered in the air for a number of seconds, it looked like Charmy had completely fallen asleep, as an odd snoring noise could be heard coming from him and he even seemed to have a strange bubble growing out of his nose as he slept. Suddenly, he started to descend to the ground, becoming faster the more he fell.
"Charmy!" Mighty worriedly shouted as he leaned on the guard rail and watched the bee fall even faster with a distressed expression on his face. In his descent, Charmy spun around in a very small circle until he landed face first onto one of the soft leather chairs and bounced from that onto the floor, sleeping on his back. The shelled detective sighed in relief and then turned his head to where the shot had come from, noticing a strange figure turning round the corner. A determined glare appeared in his eyes as he quickly turned around and ran into one of the open corridors.
Meanwhile, the sniper expertly snuck through the halls, keeping his back to the wall as he glanced around every corner, making sure not to put any more pressure on his bandaged leg, given the sore state it was currently in. On the next wall, he hugged the wall with his back, with his rifle at the ready, and peeked around the corner. He found Mighty walking down one hall, coming closer and closer towards him. He wasn't going to let himself get beaten that easily so he pulled out a small remote from one of his leg pockets. The remote had several buttons on it but in particular, there was a large red button in the centre of the remote. Hearing footsteps coming in his general direction, he didn't really have any other option so he quickly pressed the crimson button.
Suddenly, a large metallic plate covered the glass ceiling high above and all the lights went out, bathing the entire house in darkness and startling both Mighty and Espio. The armadillo chose to keep it safe and inched himself up to the nearest wall, moving slowly along it in the blackness, while the chameleon decided to keep moving but at a slower pace until his eyesight grew adjusted to the pitch-black world around him. Dipping his hand into one of the compartments of his belt, the fanged sniper pulled out a small visor placed in front of his eyes.
He pressed a button on the side of the visor and instantly, the environment around him was coloured a shade of blue, making it much easier for him to see where he was going. He moved a small dial on the unusual device to detect a specific kind of organic material: blood from outside the body. He moved from his spot and ran through the corridors as quietly as he could. Soon, he hugged up against a wall once more as he surveyed his surroundings for any readings. He found that in an adjacent corridor, there was a strange red line moving around, indicating another person, but what caught his attention the most was the small smattering of blood on the lower torso area of this person.
Placing the visor back into his pocket, an evil grin appeared on his furry muzzle as he loaded his rifle with another tranquilizer bullet. Taking a deep breath to get his concentration right, he quickly moved from the wall and aimed the firearm at the mysterious person. He pulled the trigger and with a magnificent bang, the tranquilizer fired out of the gun towards the other person, whizzing towards them at an incredible speed. Yet, instead of a satisfying noise of the dart going into the target's skin and the slumping of an unconscious body, the sniper heard a small Dink! noise and shortly after, what sounded like a pin dropping on the floor.
Silently mouthing something akin to "What the hell?", the fedora-wearing wolf-weasel pressed a small button on the side of his steel weapon, activating a small spotlight that happened to reveal a tranquilizer with a dented tip lying on the floor. Next to the failed shot, he noticed a certain red shell glinting off from the light as said shell started to turn in his direction. A familiar face of an armadillo appeared out of the darkness with a confused expression on his face, an expression which then turned to anger upon noticing the rifle-bearer in front of him.
Mighty turned around completely and stood tall and determined in front of the hunter. Clenching his fists in anger, the shelled Mobian sternly said "Whoever you are, this one's for Charmy!" before walking slowly towards the sniper. Trembling in fear, the sniper dropped the rifle and his right hand felt into a backside cartridge on his belt, fumbling around to find something, anything, to stop him from getting another busted cheek. The armadillo broke out into a run with his fist hoisted high into the air, ready for action, as the sniper finally found something: his final tranquilizer. He didn't want to waste it, but he didn't really have much other choice in the matter.
A small smirk appeared on his furry muzzle as he gripped onto the tranquilizer and slowly pulled it out, holding it behind his back. Just then, Mighty lunged outwards with a deadly punch and as fast as he could, the wolf-weasel quickly ducked under it, falling to the floor as he passed by one of the armadillo's legs. Finding the perfect opportunity, the purple hunter raised the dart up high and with all his might, he shoved it deep into the armadillo's skin, just as he fell face first onto the floor.
Still lunged outwards, Mighty's eyes widened out and he gasped in shock from the pain. As whatever was in the dart spread through his system, his eyelids began to close, twitching slightly as he tried to stay awake. However, it was all for naught and so, he fell forward and his body smacked off the floor, completely K. . Ignoring the horrifying pain occurring in his shin, the sniper helped himself up from the floor and sighed in relief as he rubbed his arm against his sweaty forehead. Glancing at the shelled detective's unconscious body, he decided that it was time to get back to work.
He flipped the armadillo's body over onto its front side as he started to investigate it; while there didn't seem to be any kind of wound on the lower torso, the sniper figured it was probably some kind of glitch in his visor. After all, he wasn't exactly the master of self-made gadgets, at least not at this point, so he decided to just check whatever he could check just in case. Inserting his hands into the other Mobian's leg pockets, he fumbled around to see if there was anything useful in there.
"Let's see…" he thought as he inspected any items he found in there, "Supermarket receipts; no. HQ Key; no…not anymore. Mobuck notes; well, don't mind if I do." as he put the notes into one of his cartridges with a sly grin on his face before getting back to work. "Sticky, smelly, crumpled tissues…No…just, no!" his mental monologue continued as he tossed the tissues into a small nearby bin with a disgusted expression on his face, making a mental note to take a shower and burn his gloves when everything was said and done, "C'mon, there's gotta be something in here…" when suddenly, he felt something pretty suspicious.
A confident smile formed as he pulled out the suspicious item, exclaiming "Ah…ha?" when he saw exactly what he pulled it. It was a pair of slightly dirty gloves that also happened to be quite drenched in blood. Rolling his eyes in frustration, he threw the gloves into a nearby bin and stood up with an irritated look on his face. He sighed wearily before he walked away from the unconscious armadillo, picking his rifle up from the ground as he did so. As he limped down yet another maze of corridors, the over-bitten sniper took out the visor and raised it up to eye level, pressing the button on the side to activate it once more.
Among the blue see-through hallways, he found yet another red figure, and like before, this one had a bit of blood around the middle, though it was far less pronounced compared to the shelled detective from earlier. Whoever it was, though the sniper had a pretty good idea of the figure's identity, they were quite close so he didn't have to keep relying on the device as much as before. He lowered the eyepiece when suddenly, an enormous bookcase swung in his direction and stopped very roughly, blocking his path and causing several books to topple on top of him.
Making his way of the pile of manga volumes adorned with pictures of young teenage girls with eyes the size of pineapples and breasts that could be more accurately described as water balloons typed to lampposts, the flustered sniper gave a very annoyed glare towards the shelved blockade. "You know," he whispered to no-one in particular, "maybe it wasn't such a great idea to have randomly pressure-sensitive traps like this after all…Wait a minute!"
His eyes slightly widened out in realization as yet another smug smirk made its presence known through that good ol' overbite of his, softly saying "If these traps can screw me over, maybe they can do the same to him…" Lifting the thermo vision visor to eye level, he navigated through the empty corridors with a clever plan in mind. After quickly traversing the hallways he knew quite well, the fuzzy hunter planted his back against another wall and peeked out from the corner as he scanned for the red figure once more.
Much to his delight, he found the crimson streak standing in a small T-shaped corridor that lead to a dead-end, while at the two adjacent hallways were large bookcases, one for each hall, that stretched high up, leaving only a very small gap between the top of the wooden shelves and the ceiling. The sniper's smirk widened out into a devilish toothy grin as he silently exclaimed "Got ya!"
Though he had no idea who designed the house or more to the point, who the hell decided to have simple corridors on the ground floor and then put arguably the most confusing maze of hallways in the land on the second floor, if Espio ever came across this unknown architect, he was going to do utterly unspeakable things to them. And yes, that does include forcing them to watch all of Endless Eight until their eyeballs fall out. He knew that he was supposed to find the staircase to the next floor but he found that to be quite impossible given that he had absolutely no idea where he was going, not to mention that everything being covered in darkness made it even harder to see anything at all.
Despite his eyesight eventually getting adjusted to the pitch-black environment, he still couldn't see a way out of this near endless maze of corridors. Mumbling something under his breath that sounded like "Damn narrator and his stupid puns…", he leaned on a nearby wall and folded his arms as per usual. Weighing up his options, he glanced up towards the ceiling, which only appeared as a faint outline in his currently impaired vision, and wondered to himself "Well, I'm stuck in a dead-end corridor, I'm completely lost and I may not be able to get out of here alive. All in all, not too bad. Still, what should I do?"
He directed his look from the ceiling to one of the adjacent corridors and after a few seconds of contemplation, he removed himself from the wall and walked towards the hall. Suddenly, he heard the clunking of an occasional footstep, the slithering of a limp thing getting dragged across the floor and the creaking of floorboards and stopped in his tracks, taking on a defensive position just in case. Shortly after, a loud banging sound came from the corridor he was heading towards, causing him to slightly jump in his feet. Curious, his stance returned his normal as he walked to the adjacent hallway but found his path to be blocked by a very large wooden wall.
"Not another bookcase…" Espio bitterly muttered as he rolled his eyes disdainfully. Then suddenly, another bang rang out from the hall opposite the one he was currently in. As a suspicion crept into his mind, the chameleon's eyes widened out as he walked over to the source of the second bang with a sense of hesitation. Wading through the darkness, he found an enormous bookcase blocking the way. His breath began to quicken as the horrifying realisation dawned in his mind: He was stuck in a small, tight room with no possible chance of escape.
Espio felt his heart beating faster than usual, his right hand started to tremble and his breathing was getting quicker and quicker with each passing second as he backed himself up against a nearby wall. "No…Oh please…God no!" the reptilian detective stammered softly as he sank towards the ground to curl up into a small huddle, shaking his head rapidly as if to wake himself out of a horrid nightmare. Because right now, he wouldn't care if he woke up back into his dull, boring life as a detective, if he woke up in a post-apocalyptic world filled with dismembered body parts of giant naked women, or even if he woke up in a horrible self-insert fanfic. Just anything, anything, except this.
As his claustrophobia got to him more and more, he was practically hyper-ventilating and shivering as he lay huddled on the ground as he weakly begged "Please…for God's sake…someone help me…Vector…Charmy…Mighty…Mom…Dad…Anyone, please…get me out of here!" with his final sentence breaking out into a shout of desperation. Suddenly, a small orb flew over the tight gap between one of the bookcases and the ceiling and landed next to Espio with a small Dink! noise. The distraught chameleon lifted his head from his arms to curiously observe the faint outline of the strange object.
All of a sudden, the orb began making a very peculiar hissing noise as the purple ninja felt the air changing around him. He saw brief traces of smoke in the darkness as he started to feel faint, like he was slowly fading away. Losing any sort of feeling in his body, his eyelids twitched in an attempt to stay awake but it was a vain effort because he soon slumped forward onto the floorboards. Very much reluctantly, his eyes closed as if he was about to fall into a deep sleep, though whether or not it meant he'd wake up from this terrible nightmare was an answer that would have to wait.
July 23rd, Time: ?
Unknown Room, Mason Mansion
Opening his eyes with all the energy of a teenager on their first day back to school, Espio saw that a series of ropes tied around him and when he tried to move his arms and legs, he felt that they were restrained, with his arms stuck around his back and his legs under his tired torso. Slowly tilting his head upwards to observe his surroundings, he found himself to be in the piano room once more, except this time there was a very familiar figure standing at the gap in the bookcase with a torch in his hand, observing the area down below.
Feeling a strange feeling on his back, well…aside from the fact that his arms were tied up as if he was about to take part in an explicit movie based on the sexual escapades of bounty hunters, the chameleon turned his head to the left and found that Mighty and Charmy were also tied up to him, like they were a big bundle of fish caught out in the ocean. It also seemed that given their eyes were still shut and they looked like they weren't moving at all that they were still asleep, especially Mighty who had a big grin on his face and was drooling somewhat as he mumbled some nonsense about getting special treatment in a vital area…
Immensely disturbed, Espio tried to lean away from the aroused armadillo, thought given with current situation, it was much easier said than done. He stopped his squirming when he heard a nasally laugh accompanied by a very familiar Downundian accent "So, one of you lot finally bothered to wake up from your little ol' nap." The chameleon looked away from his very pleased comrade and found a familiar purple sniper with a large overbite standing in front of him with a smug look on his face. A very toothy grin creased the wolf-weasel's lips as he bowed mockingly, sarcastically saying "Well, I'm quite bloody honoured to know that!"
"Nice to see you again, Nack," Espio jokingly replied as he rolled his eyes in derision, "So, how's life been for you since Mighty punched your lights out and stopped you from getting that 10,000 in Mobucks?" glancing somewhat at the armadillo currently moaning in his sleep next to him, "Still having to steal food from the local Chao Garden?"
'Nack' pulled out a small revolver from one of a small holster on his belt and twirled it around in his finger as he non-chalantly said "The name's Fang and don't ya dare try and bluff me; I know that you're wonderin' how in the 'ell you three and your 'oh-so-great-and-sexy' dimwit of a leader got beaten by a nobody of a bounty 'unter like me!" confidently thumbing towards himself with one hand while still fiddling the steel pistol with the other.
Softly shaking his head irritably, the reptilian ninja remarked in the most over-the-top, yet still somehow deadpan, manner "Yes, of course I was. You must be a great mind-reader to be able to figure that out! Just curious, how long have you been waiting to tell someone of your 'oh-so-genius- plan?"
"Oh, about three weeks!" The Downudian sniper absent-mindedly blurted out before his eyes widened out slightly as he corrected himself "I mean…eh…shut up! Or I'll blow your brains out!" demonstrating his point by grabbing the revolver and pointing straight at Espio's horned head.
After a few moments of silent inaction, the chameleon simply shrugged and tiredly said "Yeah, go ahead. I've got nothing better to do today, anyways…" which seemed to have some effect on the wolf-weasel as he started breathing heavily and irritably through gritted teeth and his grip on the revolver tightened. Giving a derisive glare at the fuming fanged furry, Espio sighed wearily and acquitted "Fine, I'll hear your 'great triumph' if it'll stop your little temper tantrum…"
Fang's grip on the pistol loosened as he fitted it back into his holster and his breathing became normal, well as normal as it could be for someone with an overbite you can stab a man with! His irritated frown morphed into a confident grin as he replied "Glad ya came 'round to it!" while Espio rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Anyways, it all started a month ago during that 'hole Golden Chao incident. Yeah, you royally trumped me in that case but hey, it must say somethin' 'bout you guys when you decide to just leave me lying there K.O'ed. Several cases of kidnapping in one day, attempted murder and even pretendin' to be an old lady; you coulda brought me into the bacon for all that if you weren't thick enough to forget about me!"
"Yeah…" Espio defeatedly admitted with a bittersweet smile on his muzzle, "That wasn't our brightest moment…"
"Still, not that I mind," Fang cheerfully added, chuckling as he leaned on the black piano and folded his arms, "Anyhow, with a wounded pride, a broken cheek thanks to your boyfriend over there," looking at Mighty, who was currently waving his tongue out in the open air, much to Espio's blushing embarrassment, "and 10 grand in Mobucks down the drain, I wandered the streets wonderin' what the 'ell to do."
June 23rd, 5:03pm
God Knows Which Alley, Emerald Coast
It was a cold summer's evening. The sun was sinking further and further into the mountains surrounding Emerald Coast City and the streetlights were turned on, illuminating the city streets in a faint shade of white, as a dejected figure walked down one of the many alleyways. Rubbing his red cheek to try and ease the pain of a mighty punch from earlier, Fang passed the several bins lying around and the old ripped poster decorating both sides of the alley walls. This case was his last trump card: something that would've set him for life if he'd gotten the money. And now it was cruelly snatched away from him; the opportunity of a lifetime, unless you know many rich people willing to give out shed-loads of money frequently. Gone. Completely.
As he slumped through the decaying passages absent-mindedly, Fang's monologue from the present continued "So I was really stuck, I had no idea what to do about anything. And then, it hit me."The sniper in the past found himself walking straight into a large metallic pole and then falling to the floor from the impact. "…Literally." Lying on the cold concrete pavement, Fang rubbed his now slightly bleeding nose as a very irritated teeth-baring frown formed on his fuzzy muzzle.
The pain in both his nose and his cheek, the disappointment from losing possibly the biggest case in his life and the humiliation from what caused him to lose the case to began with was too much. Fang looked up towards the cloudy evening sky as he screamed in absolute frustration and agony, shouting "FOR F&%^'S SAKE! WHEN IN HELL IS ANYTHING GOING TO GO RIGHT FOR ME?!" Taking to his feet, the frustrated bounty hunter proceeded to wildly shake the streetlight in front of him as he continued venting "STUPID POLE! STUPID CASE! STUPID ARMADILLO! STUPID CHAOTIX! STUPID LIFE! I HATE IT!…I F%$&ING HATE IT ALL!"
After about a minute, his grip on the steel pole loosened as he slowly fell to the floor with his head in his hands. He sighed wearily and mumbled "Dammit…why am I doing this?" as he sat there on the curb and looked up towards the indifferent orangey sky once more. "So yeah," Fang's narration went, "I wasn't exactly the 'appiest bloke in Mobius at the time. But then, out of nowhere, fate shined its graceful light on me!"
The young wolf-weasel was suddenly blinded by an insanely bright light accompanied by several repeated honkings. He covered his eyes as he got up and walked backwards onto the pavement as a large truck carrying tons of fish quickly drove past. The driver of the truck was shouting "Stay off the curb, you damn knacker!" as he drove off into the distance, sweeping up a large pile of trash lying on the side of the street. Fang lunged forward and angrily gave the truck the middle finger, though the driver wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon, when a piece of paper flew into his face.
He tore the paper from his face and held it high into the air as he prepared to throw it onto the ground when he caught a glimpse of what the piece was about at the corner of his eye. Hesitating in his frustrated impulse, he took a closer look at the piece, which contained a picture of a large decrepit looking mansion alongside the caption "The Mysterious Mason Mansion: Is Wesker Hill's Shining Glory Really Haunted?" A grin of confidence and hope creased the sniper's fuzzy muzzle as his present self explained "Obviously, you can't just look at this place and think 'Yeah, definitely not 'aunted'. So, I figured there had to be somethin' to the mansion, somethin' that could be very…beneficial to me…"
July 23rd, Time: ?
Piano Room, Mason Mansion
"So, I came over here and spent the next week checking out every room in the house to see what was up." Fang continued in what has to be the longest, most in-depth explanation for what essentially amounts to the back-story of 95% of Scooby-Doo villians, "Turns out that the place wasn't haunted at all. It was just a stupid rumor, as usual. But there was something very interesting I found. Down there." as he nodded his head towards the set of stairs in the bookcase, which Espio looked at in response. "There's a stone block in there with a lid that can't be moved, not matter how strong you are. And on that unstoppable slab reads a small poem."
The fanged sniper unfolded his arms, placing his hands in his leg pockets, as he walked around the small, windowless room, and waxed lyrical "A lunar orb in a pitch-black galaxy, Combined with a spiteful angel's litany, Shall unlock the secrets hidden within, All of which shall be at your whim…that's how the poem goes. And what does it mean? Well, when I scoured the entire house, I found this in the study's fireplace." demonstrating his point by pulling out a small orb from one of his belt's leather pockets. The orb was painted in a pale shade of blue and was decorated in tiny craters and dust, giving the appearance of a midnight moon.
Espio's eyes widened out upon seeing it as he remembered the contents of the note he'd found back in the library: "The second item you need to find is a relic from the stars above, now cursed to hover below them." His mouth opened slightly as he gasped in shock, saying "So, that's what the note was talking about. The second item was a small moon."
"Correctomundo!" Fang sternly appraised as he held up the lunar orb, gazing at it with a hopeful glint in his eye, "But what I really wanted to find was the other item. What it meant completely buggered me; I was probably screwed on that front…and then I remembered you." glancing down at the chameleon with a cheeky grin on his face. "When it comes to lookin' everywhere, you really do…well, look everywhere. So I decided to play up the 'hole 'aunted 'ouse thing to try get your thick-headed agency's attention." he continued as he smiled in smug satisfaction.
"Well, that certainly explains the holographic zombie Charmy mentioned." The purple reptile admitted as he looked down at the floor in contemplation, "Not to mention all those swinging bookcases, that organ abruptly cutting off and that so-called 'Mansion Master'; it was all just a convoluted machination to fool everyone, even us. I have to admit, when you've got a goal in mind, you're quite thorough."
"Well, a course!" The fanged Downundian said back as he started tossing the orb up and down the air with his hand, "At least someone bothers to care; you've no idea how time I spent gettin' everythin' to look convincin'. Problem was, I waited for 'bout what felt like decades for you to show up and I got nothing. I even looked your stupid website too see if you were actually doin' somethin'. Well, until it got hacked altogether."
Espio chuckled somewhat as he commented "That's what you get when Vector's put in charge of a website. Speaking of which, exactly what did happen to the green wonder?" looking back up towards the smirking wolf-weasel.
"After waitin' too long, I figured I'd just sucker you guys in myself and so," The bounty hunter replied, "I followed Vector 'round this mornin' until I caught him alone and knocked 'im out with a good ol' tranquilizer! Puttin' Don Paolo's teachings to good use, I dressed myself up as that great twat and led his three stooges up to the mansion. I was hopin' you'd get me what I wanted and of course, you did!" as he pulled a small disc that had "Zankoku na Tenshi no These" written out on the front in marker.
Espio's eyes popped out in shock and he looked towards his leg pockets as he wondered out loud "Hold on, how the hell did you get that? I got the thing from Mighty and put in my pocket…and then, you knocked me out." uttering the last sentence with a tone of defeatism.
"You didn't think I was thick enough not to check your pockets, did I?" Fang faux-innocently asked, putting a deliberately stupid face as he did so, "Who do ya take me for; Vector?" as he started laughing spitefully. "In any case, I've got both items and now I should be able to find the treasure in that tomb below." he concluded as he started walking down the steps to the dark basement below, "Thanks for your contribution, and don't worry. You'll get something in return…just don't expect anythin' too great, alright?"
As the wolf-weasel sniper descended the staircase, all the while still laughing, Espio sighed wearily, mouthing "This might be actually be over for us…this time, we really are and well and truly f-"
"Oh baby, don't stop!"
Mighty erotically groaned in his sleep as he attempted and failed quite badly to thrust his tied-up hips. The chameleon gave his team-mate a very irritated glare and moaned bitterly at the disturbing sight, taking a mental note to either take a cold shower…or toss his armadillo comrade into the coldest lake in Holoska. Either one would do. Suddenly, an idea formed in his head and he began nudging the shelled Mobian as he said "Mighty, you've gotta wake up. C'mon, get up." Despite his several attempts to shoulder bump his comrade, the ebony teenager just wouldn't stop mumbling gibberish about 2 people in 1969 or something equally inane. A morbid frown creased Espio's tanned muzzle as he kept talking "For God's sake Mighty, get up! You can have your sex dreams later when we're not going to die…GET UP!"
Hearing a deafening shout in his left antler-ear, Mighty jolted forward, his eyes looking as if they were going to fall out of his eye sockets, and he yelped in shock. Moments later, he looked around him and yawned until he turned his head to Espio, tiredly mumbling "Hey partner, I just had the most wonderful dream…I think you were in it," as a mortified expression crept up on Espio's face, "Anyways…what's up?"
Groaning irritably, the chameleon replied "We've been captured by Fang, who built all the traps in the house and the person whose going to get the treasure in the basement if we don't stop him! Now c'mon, help me outta these ropes!" as he started moving around. Mighty wearily nodded as he pushed his wrists against the edges of the ropes tying them together until they snapped in two. He moved his hands from his back onto the ropes covering his legs and torso and tore them off easily before helping Espio out of his bindings. Standing up as he moved his head around to wake himself up, the chameleon glanced towards the armadillo as he said "Thank you. Take care of Charmy, alright?"
He then proceeded to walk towards the opening of the bookcase when Mighty suddenly grabbed his arm and said "Wait a minute. What do you mean 'take care of Charmy'?…Are you planning on going down there alone?" The awkward silence answered the shelled detective's question as the tired look on his face became concerned and he worriedly continued "Look…Espio, are you sure you can take him on? I mean, if he got you before, couldn't it happen again? Heck, you don't even have any weapons to hold him off…wait a minute…" He let go of the chameleon's arm as he checked his pockets for his chameleon friend's bloody gloves, which he remembered had special cartridges containing kunai. He searched as hard as he could, even noting that he'd somehow lost about 15 Mobucks, but he couldn't find them.
Clenching his fists in self-anger, he looked back over to Espio, who had made his way to the top of the descending stairs. The reptilian ninja stopped walking and without turning to look at Mighty, he sternly replied "I was at a disadvantage, that's all. It won't happen again. Just un-tie Charmy and if you're still worried, the both of you can come down to help. But if worst comes to worst, take him and get out of here while you still can…is that okay?"
A second or two of hesitation passed until Mighty sighed wearily and said "Yeah, it is…but one thing, partner. Take care of yourself down there. I've still got that little surprise for ya, after all!" Espio turned his head to find the armadillo giving him a cheerful smile and a confident thumbs-up as he knelt down next to the still-napping Charmy and started snapping the ropes.
The chameleon turned and started walking down the stairs as he said to himself "Don't worry…I will." With a sense of anticipation and hesitation, he descended the metallic spiralling steps as quietly as he could, turning himself invisible to make sure nobody would suspect him, hoping that at the bottom, he would find not only whatever was in the basement and this 'treasure' Fang was on about, but also the light at the end of the tunnel concerning this case.
To be genuinely concluded…
Message from the Author - 12/July/2013
(Alright, so this wasn't the actual conclusion I promised. For some odd reason, I have this limit of 20 pages per chapter at the most and I felt that what will become the real finale, along with what I've already done, would've become way too bloody long. As such, I've divided the last chapter into two; I hope y'all are okay with that. At least it means, you shouldn't have to wait too long for the next part…the key word being shouldn't…
In any case, tell me your thoughts on this chapter and if I can make any improvements to my writing style, in spelling, grammar or anything else. Again, I'm really sorry for the great delay between chapters but I promise I'll do my best to get the finale out as soon as I can! And if I don't, you can personally come down to my house to beat me senseless! J Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)
