(I do not own Sonic X, R, etc.)

Flip Card 2:

Name; Espio

Age: 19

Sex: Male

Species: Chameleon

Job description: Ninja member of the Chaotix detective agency.

Pillars of flame on his tail and his mind set on a singular objective, Espio coursed through Reactive Factory, one eye looking out for the targeting sensors that would earn him points and the other keeping itself locked onto the flame throwing robot following him, trying to ruin Chaotix's chances of winning the second place prize money.

Shadow had lost count of exactly how many sensors he had hit in the last four minutes but he was sure it was enough to ensure a first place position. Now all he had to do was make his way to the finish line. Regardless of points, those who did not cross the finish line were automatically disqualified. He was about to finish his part of the race when he caught sight of Espio being chased down on of the lower paths by Theta. The chameleon was obviously in need of dire help. He checked the time on his wrist watch. There were only a good fifty seconds left before the race ended, so he would have to be very quick.

Espio hit the last sensor in his path before swinging around firing a shuriken directly at Theta. The robot dodged it before charging forward, firing a torrent of flames directly in the Espio's face. The chameleon was by no means as fast as Sonic and lacked the agility to avoid the blast. Before it could hit him however, a black and red blur came flying hit, its spinning momentum absorbing the flames before it shot forward at terrifying speed smashing itself directly into Theta's body.

The robot was sent flying through the air before crashing down to the ground with a loud crash, his limbs all in an untidy heap. As he fell, the fire around them died down to nothing in an instant. Shadow slid out of his super spin and stood over the defeated robot.

"Get!" he snarled and Theta stared at him defiantly although he lacked the facial muscles to form a sneer and he disappeared in the red haze of a tractor beam from the Egg Carrier 3 some distance away. "Thirty seconds." The black and red hedgehog told the stunned chameleon before he raced of. Espio blinked in confusion before he checked his own watch. His eyes widened, Shadow was right. He only had twenty five seconds now to finish the race.

On his feet in an instant, Espio soured after Shadow towards the end of the course which was a large platform that once housed an oil tower. The rusted rivets drilled into the floor on its surface showed where it had once bee. Vector was on the edge of his seat was the large screen showed Espio as he soured towards the finishing line through the twisted metal maze. If his comrade didn't finish, then they were finished. He bit into his lips, his fingers crossed. Chamree was hovered over his shoulder, repeating 'comeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeon' over and over again.

The others had finished the race now and they were all standing there waiting for their final scores to be announced. Another of the larges screens had a digital timer on it, slowly counting down from ten. Espio had just ten seconds left.

The crowds in the Stadium and millions of viewers at home held their breath. Espio was closing fast on the end, but he was down to his last few seconds now. Now in sight of the finish, Espio tried to run faster than he'd ever run before with out six seconds to do. Time for him seemed to slow down to a crawl and the only sounds he could hear were coming from his struggling heart. Then, with a giant explosion of sound he crossed the finish line with one second to spare and the whistle was blown, officially ending the race. Vector uncrossed his fingers, breathed a well deserved sigh of relief before collapsing into his chair.

"I can tell you Scarlet, that was a close call for Team Chaotix." Stuart stated as Espio stopped to catch his breath. He certainly hoped he come in third place; because there was no way in hell he was doing all this again. He was a ninja for crying out load. "Another second and they would have been instantly disqualified."

"Don't cheer for them yet. We still have to announce the scores to see which two teams go onto the finals." The largest screen at Reactive Second switched to a tally chart with the different team names down the side. Everyone looked in his direction and suddenly Vector was highly strung again, his heart pounding away in desperate anticipation. Next to the Team Mecha, the number ten thousand and fifty appeared. Then Team Sonic who managed to score ten thousand one hundred. Finally it came down to the next two teams, S-Team and Team Chaotix. Vector pressed his teeth together, nearly drawing blood from his lips. After a brief moment that Vector felt carried on for ten hours, the number nine thousand and ten flipped on for Team Chaotix and for S-Team, nine thousand.

There was a brief moment of silence as it sank in before Chaotix cast each other unsure glances and they realized that they had taken third place and won five hundred thousand dollars.

Vector's first reaction was disbelief. Chaotix had been in debt so long his mind simply refused to belief that they were finally finically well off. It was only when Espio uncharacteristically thrust his fist into the air with a loud YAHHOOO, did he actually except it.

"I lost?" Sam repeated, looked unfounded. His helmet fell from his grip as he stood there in shock.

"Oh get over yourself." Tails moaned.

"That is it folks, the Semi's are over and the two teams to race each other have been decided." Scarlet told the excited crowd. Metal Knuckles and Metal Sonic Exchanged another painfully piercing glare that refused to budge either way. Even though the Chaos Emerald was no longer open to them, Chaotix couldn't have been happier. Then they found they could when a security guard clad in Swat gear brought them two silver cases stuffed full of money. Vector grabbed a fist full of it and threw it up into the air, dancing in his first money rain.

"It's the high life for us guys." He cried and that was when Espio grabbed all the money back, stuffed it back into the cases and slammed the lids.

"Oh no you don't." He declared, taking the cases from the guard. "The first thing we're going to do it dig our way out of debt, then we relocate the agency to some better part of town, with a nice office. Maybe even a secretary." Vector let his arms dropped to his sides with a disappointed look on his face. While getting out of debt was his main concern, he had wanted to splurge a little of it on a celebration party night. Espio however was a realized, knowing exactly how money Vector would spend if he was let loose on the town with two cases full of case. Besides, the longer they held onto it in person, the more likely it would be fore someone to steal it.

"But let's not forget the two teams that raced like true Speed demons." Stuart stated quickly. "Let's give Team Chaotix and S'Team a big hand." The crowds suddenly erupted into a rumbling of clapping, cheers and whistles.

"So what now huh?" Charmee asked, hanging in the air inquisitively. Espio handed one of the cases to him as both were too heavy for him and he was knackered as it was.

"First." The chameleon began; speaking for Vector could interrupt with part ideas. "We give the banks their due money and then you too go house hunting for a few place to set up shop. I doubt money will be much of a problem now." Vector picked up the 'the two of you' part in the sentence and narrowed an eye questioningly at the chameleon.

"And where will you be?" He asked as the three of them made their way back towards the bridge that would lead them directly back to the Stadium, the cheers of the crowd still beckoning them out.

"Where else?" Espio asked. "Napping for the next two days."

Sam looked utterly defeated. He hadn't even raced Sonic and he'd been eliminated from the Semi finals. It was so embarrassing, even more so when he lost to Sonic for the first time in front of all of Station Square. A loud whistling caught his attention and he looked around. Sonic himself was standing there with his hands on his hips. The two of them shared a glance that seemed hostile for a moment before a grin made it's way onto Sonic's face. His humour was contagious and however Sam found himself smiling at well. Suddenly loosing didn't seem all that bad, after all he reckoned, they say it builds character and he was certainly mature enough to avoid being a sore looser.

"I'll get you next time." The human stated, before turning and making his way towards the bridge. Sonic's grin widened.

"Well I suppose that's it for me then." Tails commented as he pushed his Tornado racer off the track. Amy had been watching him since S-Team had been officially declared the ultimate losers of the semi finals, worried that the loss would make him a little sour towards them. Fortunately, neither Tails nor Sam were sore losers and all the fox could do was grin. "Which one of you will take be taking on those Metal jerks in the finals, as if I need to ask?" He added, looking past the pink Hedgehog towards Sonic who had his back to them both.

The blow Shadow had dealt Theta had not proved to be too troublesome to fix and Decoe had managed to repair the damage within minutes, but by then the race had ended. Eggman was still busy in his workshop reprogramming Tails' dolls nano bots for use in robot construction and hadn't been informed of the race results yet. Someone, the two hencebots knew that he was already aware of the outcome. He was after all in constant communication with Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll.

Some time after the race ended, Eggman emerged from his workshop with a determined, almost angry look on his face. He marched past Decoe and Becoe without saying a word before seating himself in the metallic throne in the centre of the Egg Carrier 3's bridge. Theta quickly left, sensing his creator's bad mood.

Decoe and Becoe said nothing either, knowing it was much better to let Eggman steam away in silence than provide themselves as targets. It was a good few minutes before the Doctor sighed and slouched in his seat, showing that he had regained some control over his anger.

"It seems I'm forced to chance my objectives." He sighed, looking disappointed with himself. He had been counting on and looking forward to Metal Knuckles beating Sonic but now he wasn't so sure if either of the two robots he had at the Tournament was up to the job. He couldn't enter another, faster robot now. He had neither the knowledge nor means to construct one and besides, it was against the Tournament rules. Humiliating Sonic seemed less and less attractive with each passing second. The Chaos Emerald prize on the other hand was quite appealing.

Winning it fair and square was quite out of the question. He would simply have to cheat. The nano technology had he been able to salvage from Tails doll could a lot more to help him in simply upgrading his manufacturing capabilities.

"Metal Knuckles." He announced, pressing a button on his throne's arm rest. There was a brief buzzing sound and a holographic display of his prime robot appeared before him once the robotic Echidna answered the com link. "I'm sending you a little present to help you win in the race tomorrow." Eggman pressed another button and a small vile containing some of the Nano bots was ejected from the Egg Carrier 3 through it's tractor beam. Metal Knuckles let a hand trail up into the air and he caught it. "Integrate these into your system, they will greatly increase your strength and speed." He paused, narrowed an eye before adding . "Don't lose them, I can't make another batch." Metal Knuckles saluted and the holographic transmission ended.

Despite Espio's warning and moaning, Vector insisted that they had a celebration. It wasn't every day that Five hundred thousand dollars fell into your lap. Eventually, Espio relented and handed the crocodile five hundred to throw a small party, stressing the small part and while the chameleon got to work quickly clearing their debts before something could go disastrous wrong, Vector went out to buy as much champagne and small packet of peanuts he could. Not that he was found of peanuts, but Charmee couldn't get enough for them.

The bee himself had been circling up-town of Station Square all after noon and reported back with a short list of places they would find perfect for a new place. When Vector came home with several grocery bags under his arms, Espio put down the phone and announced that now, Chaotix was officially debt free. Vector nearly jumped in the air for joy had he not be carrying bags full of expensive champagne bottles.

"I hope your looking after that money." Sonic stated when, upon invitation, he Tails, Amyan Shadow arrived at their small apartment with Chris, Helen and Chuck in tow, to what the invitation claimed to be, 'the partee of the cetary'. Clearly, Charmee had written them.

Vector thought inviting Sonic was a wise precaution as few would be willing to try and steal something from under the blue hedgehog's nose, no matter how much money he was sitting on.

"Espio's gone completely paranoid about it." Vector stated, looking back to see the chameleon wasn't ease dropping. "He's hand cuffed one of the cases to himself and hidden the other, even I don't know where it is. He says he won't let either of them out of his sight until we sort out all we have to do." Tails chuckled.

"Don't want it stolen do you?" He asked as the crocodile stepped aside and let them all inside. From the roof of the apartment building, Fang the Sniper paused to study the plans of the building that he had stolen from city hall. His old team mates had a staggering amount of money in their apartment and the fact had been announced on nationally T.V. He wasn;t too concerned about the buildings security or Chaotix themselves. If anything, the weasel would be facing more competition from rival thieves. Nearing a sudden nose, he looked over the edge of the building to see Sonic and his friends enter through the downstairs entrance. He cursed. This was not what he needed. Quickly he rolled his plans up and tucked them into his belt.

Fang was not the sort to give up at any obstacle. He was going to get his hands on his money and nothing was going to stop him. The weasel looked over all his equipment to see if he had everything necessary to pull the job off, a grappling hook, infrared scopes and a shot gun.

"Get used to the taste of champagne Espio." Vector said as the night wore on and after several calls from the neighbours to turn the music down. "It's the high life for us!" Clearly the crocodile had had a little too much to drink. Espio could smell it on his breath and in his stride, staggering every so often. Quickly the chameleon snatched the bottle away from him before he did himself an injury.

"Something tells me you'd better put that money in an account before it's all gone." Chuck muttered, gaining Espio's ear.

Surprisingly, Shadow had done more in the way of partying than Sonic, who simply sat at the end of the small apartment staring into the centre of the room solemnly. Finally Shadow noticed this, sighed and went over.

"It's not like you to be so quiet." He stated. The blue hedgehog looked up noticing his presence.

"I'm just thinking." He stated quietly.

"And that's not like you either." When Sonic didn't reply. Shadow followed his gaze to what he was looking at. He groaned in realization when he saw Amy talking with Helen next to the large Juke box Vector had bought earlier in the day. The black and red hedgehog crossed his arms and gave Sonic a sly look. Sonic matched it a glare of his own.

"Yes, I know." He stated, before turning back. Shadow sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"I can remember when you couldn't stand being around her."

"So can I." Shadow had little to no experience in this sort of thing and so decided that it was best not to bother the blue hedgehog with his advice. Better to let him do this on his own.

Captain Okida knew he was on the right trail, but if his instincts were correct, when what he found at the end of that trail could be very dangerous. Following the President's direct orders, he and the rest of Freelance division had spent their time pursuing leads that might reveal to them the identity of the agent betraying all their secrets to the Eggman Empire. The Government considered this a top priority and to be kept as quiet as possible. The last thing they needed was outright paranoia infesting the country.

While Bean and Bark had been unsuccessful in locating any clues, Okida though he had stumbled onto something big. In the private files of the G.U.N military, the bat discovered clear evidence of a download of classified information. This proved that the agent they were looking for was a Government official with a username and password to gain access to the system. Unfortunately, they had also used an unknown piece of software to cover their tracks pretty well. It wasn't much but it was start.

The vampire bat started to rise form his chair to deliver this information to the President but paused. There would be little point of informing anyone of his discovery until he could verify the information. He didn't want to lead them off down a wild goose chase without first making sure he was right.

He sat back down and began streaming thorough the thousands of files that flashed up on the screen.

This agent was clearly computer literate with enough knowledge of Government affairs to know exactly what and when to go after. But sop far, little clues to reveal his identity. Okida paused for thought again. Perhaps he was trying this all wrong and looking for the wrong thing.

His fingers flew over the keyboard and he began looking again.

"Well hello." He stated finally finding something. Apparently, there had been several failed attempts at downloading information within the last month and the amateurs had even left their username at the top of the page. The bat remembered reading about this. A terrorist group had tried to gain access to government files but had been caught in the process, it had been all over the news. This seemed a little too convenient for the agent. The perfect division. "I think I may just have something."

Late that night, Fang descended down the side of the building one a line, clad completely in black clothing. His watch was timing him. He had to be in and out with the money in two minutes, any longer than that and he risked revealing himself. He pressed a button at the side of his goggles and their lens started glowing screen, activating the scopes. He paused for a few seconds before kicking himself off from the building and sliding down to the window he was aiming for.

To his delight he found it open and just as he was about to slid inside, a arm lashed itself out from the darkness inside, a hand tightening itself around his neck. Fang gagged, struggling in mid air to free himself. Shadow leaned out of the window. It was a good think they decided to stay for the night after all. This guy looked oddly familiar thought but he couldn't place where. He shrugged, gave Fang one long glare before tossing him straight off the side of the building. His ropes slowed his decent and prevented the weasel from gaining serious injury, although his fall wasn't broken completely when he crashed into a tree below, fell out it's branches and into a bush below.

"Hey what was that?" Sonic asked sleepily from inside.

"Nothing." Shadow replied before turning away from the window.

(In Chris Voice)

The finals begin, but something goes wrong and its Chaos Control time! Void makes his move on the next Sonic X, Enter the Void. Don't miss it!"

(R&R)