Sonic the Hedgehog

Chaotix Control

Stage 01: Another Day, Another Assignment

The sparkling ocean lit the path to a bright and beautiful sunshine filled day, and the seagulls flew over the vast body of water soaring as free as they will could take them. They cawed with hungry fervor, searching the lands for their usual morning gathering of food for nourishment. However, this small pack of birds were forcibly interrupted as a small anthromorphic bee crashed his way right past them, knocking the birds all out of course.

"Excussssseeeeeeee me!!!! I'm a hurry, don't you see? So get out of my way!" the bee said, as he zoomed at a high speed towards the shore of the beach nearby. The little bee's eyes perked up once he spotted the familiar hut like house sitting in the middle of the shore, and flew down heading straight for the closed door.

"CRASH!!!" the bee shouted as he slammed through the door and burst it open, making the other larger anthro, in the form of a big green crocodile, jump at his desk.

"HEY!!!" the crocodile yelled as he fell over in his chair and hit the floor with a loud clang. "Oooohhh, what's wrong with you, Charmy?! Didn't I tell you to KNOCK first? That's damned near about the thirtieth time I've banged my leg this week!" the crocodile said, rubbing his knee furiously.

"Oops! Hee hee! I'm sorry, Vector. I didn't mean to scare you like that!" Charmy Bee said, laughing playfully with his happy-go-lucky attitude.

"Bah. You're so easily caught off guard by everything, Vector. I should entice you into coming under my wing in order for you to learn the ways of the ninja. Anticipate your enemy's every move, and you shall never succumb to even the biggest of surprises." someone said in a deep and calm voice. Charmy looked over to see the voice coming from the shaded corner of the room, as the animal walked out to reveal his appearance. It was a purple chameleon with striking purple eyes to match. His arms crossed and eyes narrowed, he stared at Vector with an insinuating glare. He tapped his blazing sneakers lightly against the wooden floor in silence.

"Um... I hate to break your proverbial little suggestions, Espio. But the last time I checked, Charmy wasn't our enemy." Vector the Crocodile said, as he dusted himself off and comfortably sat back in his chair. Vector sported a gold chain around his neck complete with stereo headphones tightly snug around his ears, constantly blasting some type of weird electric rock music on a regular basis when he wasn't filing papers at his desk.

"Hmph." Espio the Chameleon snorted as he turned to his side, throwing a shruiken throwing knife onto the dart board that hung up on the opposite side of the room. As always, he struck a direct bull's-eye right on target.

Vector, Espio, and Charmy were all members of the Chaotix Detective Agency. With Vector taking the role of the head honcho of the group, normally he served as the brains behind every operation carried out by the odd looking bunch and took his job very seriously so he had very little time to have any kind of virtual fun. However despite his strong will to make sure the job always gets done, Vector was an all around cool kind of crocodile, charitable even to the point where he would respond to a much needed request or favor. But when it came down to business, Vector expected no less than big money for the big types of jobs he was handed. No matter how dangerous or death-defying it was, if the reward price was high, he would be the first out of the door. Also long as the office bill was paid, he was content.

"Guys! I got some great news! I couldn't quite contain myself so I burst through the door, but once you see what I got I'm sure you'll think it was worth falling down this time today!" Charmy said, flying forward and handing a telecommunicator device to Vector.

Charmy Bee was wearing a black and red bordered helmet with two of his antennae sticking out from the provided holes on top, and goggles strapped onto each side. He also wore an amber vest with a bee symbol and gold zippered little sneakers. Charmy was known for being the typical fun loving goof-off of the Chaotix trio, and usually brought out the happy side to the team whenever things had gone fast from bad to worse in specific situations.

"I wonder." Espio mumbled, throwing another shruiken onto the dartboard and getting a second bull's-eye.

Espio made himself out to be the silent and wise loner of the group. He was always calm and at ease and shared very strong beliefs in the ways of the ninja arts. Usually quiet most of time, words of wisdom and dislike he expressed towards his enemies were the kind of normal things to come out of his mouth. If it was anything Espio hated however, was not directly living up to the ninja ways of his training. Once he felt that his moves were out of line, he would harshly scold himself until he was satisfied that he was once again up to par with his martial mastery.

"We'll see about that! If this is another mission for petty amounts of cash then I wouldn't waste my time." Vector said, taking the communicator from Charmy and pressing a button on the top left of the small LCD monitor. The device's screen flickered with a mess of black and white static before a digitized voice made its announcement over the monaural speaker located in the back.

"Greetings, Chaotix members. I require an assignment of the three of you, and I am confident in each of your individual unique abilities to handle the hazards of what I am about to ask of you to partake in." the voice said, causing Espio to raise an eyebrow.

"Spill it! We're listening!" Vector pressed, removing his headphones to hear more clearly.

"Intelligence reports of Dr. Eggman has been leaked onto the black network market that he has resurfaced and is currently in the process of building a brand new prototype armada fleet. Before intel's hackers could discover the meaning behind Eggman's new project, only the words 'PROJECT NIRVANA' could be deciphered before communication lines were discovered and promptly cut off." the communicator informed the gang.

"Sounds like something only the mad doctor would concoct." Espio replied, walking closer to the desk.

"Yeah, but what in the world is Project Nirvana? I never heard of something like that before." Charmy said, buzzing around Espio's head.

"With two weeks and counting, there has been no further advancement regarding the news as to what Project Nirvana could possibly be. Leads have yet to be found, however ancient scientific research dictates that this mysterious threat may be related to the Nirvana Rubies, the equivalent to the Chaos Emeralds. However upon looking up Dr. Gerald Robotnik's research, there are no mentions of these stones. The Nirvana Rubies' existence is only marked by the old ruins of Shoreside Ocean." the robotic voice continued.

"Nirvana Rubies? Now things are getting more interesting, I'd say! Any further info you have for us? You ARE our official client, right?" Vector asked while scratching the scaly back of his head.

"Yes, but I choose to refrain from enlisting my name, as you shall only know me as your client by word of mouth. This assignment is to be specifically kept under wraps if you choose to accept it. Your goal is to stop Eggman from completing the construction of his fleet and to prevent the Nirvana Rubies from falling into his hands to prevent the world's apocalypse. Do you understand your objectives?" the communicator questioned.

"Before we give you our answer, first we must hear the sum of the reward." Espio demanded, clenching his gloved fist.

"The reward is payable to the amount of exactly $50 million dollars and 73 cents with possible consideration of an extension depending." the device's response nearly gave Team Chaotix a heart attack. Vector, Espio and Charmy all leapt back in unison at the huge sum of cash.

"Aw, come on!!! Are you serious?! This straight up HAS to be a sick joke!" Vector said in a disgusted manner. "There's no way any kind of organization out there would ever consider giving out that high amount of dough for a simple sounding job like this! Surely there must be some sort of obvious catch or two."

"Oh, but it is quite a serious proposition. If you are not interested in this mission then please refrain from making irrelevant comments and either accept or decline. If I do not hear your answer then I will take this mission to another willing agency." the communicator said flatly.

"Touchy. We shall take the job." Espio said with his eyes closed.

"Sounds like fun to me! I'm all for it." Charmy chimed in.

"Oh, alright already! We'll take it. I'll personally hold you accountable for the cash if you decide to chicken out on us. We have ways of finding our clients, trust me. We refuse to do a hefty job only not to get paid for it at all, and it makes us very upset." Vector warned.

"There is no fine print and there are no 'catches' that you make the accusation of. This mission is purely confidential and you will receive your reward. But that will solely depend if you are successful in completing the list of secondary objectives first." the device replied.

"Secondary objectives? You didn't initially say that the first time. I have a feeling we're being dragged into something big. VERY big." Charmy squeaked with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Correct. And now that I have recorded your official agreement to this assignment, I now ask of you to immediately head to Shoreside Ocean as soon as possible. We haven't much time before Dr. Eggman begins his search for the seven Nirvana Rubies. Once you reach the ocean beach that is when I will contact you again. Your position is being tracked by satellite radar. Good luck on your assignment. The fate of the world may very well rest in your hands, Team Chaotix." the communicator bleeped just before shutting off.

"Hey, wait! We didn't get to talk about the governmental tax cut! Damn! Guess that'll have to wait." Vector said, strapping the communicator to his left glove with a black band. "Alright, Chaotix! You heard the man... er, woman! Um... whoever the heck it was talking to us! Let's get to Shoreside Ocean and hop to finding those Nirvana Rubies!"

"Right. We must be careful, however. I sense that this mission will prove to be much more difficult than from the simplistic description the organization gave. If Eggman is definitely playing the main role in this so called 'Project Nirvana', then we should be on the lookout for his machinations." Espio said.

"Not to worry! With all of our combined powers we should be able to stop Eggman's plans no matter how many robots he sends after us! We did it before and we can do it again! Have some more faith. Heh heh!" Charmy laughed while slapping his helmet.

"Who said we we're worried? I'm pumped and ready to take on all comers any day of the week! Besides, this an opportunity to pay our agency office bill. Its been backed up for three months and counting now, and $50 million is more than enough to pay twenty year's rent for this place. Not to mention we can finally go out and start our own band!" Vector grinned, his sharp teeth sparkling as he made a striking pose with his guitar.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get to Shoreside Ocean!!!" Charmy said, heading for the door as Espio and Vector jumped in to join him. Slamming the office door, the three of them made ran off down the long shore at a huge burst of speed.

"This time I will make certain Eggman dies for his crimes." Espio said while taking the lead.

"Remember our old team formations. They may come in handy for the things we might run into during our search." Vector said.

"Off to find the first Nirvana Ruby!" Charmy buzzed as the entire Chaotix team disappeared beyond the horizon of the shore. Had they only left a few minutes prior, they would have spotted a lone mysterious caped figure standing on a tall ridge near the agency office. The shrouded person held a small radio in his hand, lowering it to his waist.

"The Chaotix Detectives are on the move. As expected. Now all that remains is Phase Two." the figure whispered, as the sun's rays reflected off his body to reveal that he wore black and red armor with a white hexagon shaped mark on his chest. His long flowing cape whipped around in the morning wind, as he let out a soft laugh before jumping off of the ridge and disappearing into the bright sky.

STAGE 01 CLEAR.