Hello to all the readers out there! This is Chapter 3 of Espio's Little
Sister. The way I see it, this story will only last for 3 more chapters
until it's finished. Before we start, as always, I do not own any of the
characters in this story. Sega owns Sonic, Espio, and the every other
character of the series. Skye Agony owns Phantom, Firethroat, and Espirit,
I'm just own this story. Anyway, let's get started!!!
Chapter 3:
The Blue Fairy
Daylight was slowing ending in the Mystic Ruins, the only sounds present were the gentle wind blowing through the grass and the chirping of crickets. The Chaotix's shack was just as quiet. Phantom had fallen asleep in a tree, resting for the next day. He was still alert and aware of any movement that would come out of the shack.
Inside, the Chaotix were enjoying dinner, thanks to Espirit. It has been a week since she first arrived and Vector and Charmy have been enjoying her company. Charmy had fun plying video games with her and even getting taught a few secrets. Vector enjoyed going to the concert, and the Museum of Rock with her, and especially loved her cooking. Espio, despite the embarrassing stories she told his friends, was still glad to have her around. Espio had gotten used to his sister's cooking to be better than his. She even offered to help him make food that was non-burnt.
Vector stuffed his face filled with spaghetti and grinned. "Another 5 star meal, Espirit! This is delicious!"
Charmy made sounds of enjoyment every time he took a bite of his meal. "Yeah..." He said with his mouth full. "It's really good!!!
. "Thank you!" Espirit said in her usual cheery mood. She loved it when they complimented on her cooking.
Vector stood up to get a glass of soda. Charmy quickly took all of his pieces of bread and stuffed them in his face. He quickly ate them before Vector came back.
Vector looked at his empty bread plate and looked at Charmy with an annoyed look. "What happened to my bread?" He sarcastically asked.
Charmy thought of an excuse. "You ate it all!"
"Did I?" He said still annoyed.
"Yeah... you uh, ate every last piece in one bite! Don't you remember?" Charmy smiled nervously.
"Oh..." Vector said. He then got angry. "WHY YOU LITTLE CREEP!!!" He started to chase after Charmy around the table. Charmy flew into the living room with Vector still after him. They ended up in front of the front door, with Vector putting Charmy in a headlock. "Shouldn't...take...other...people's...bread!"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Aren't...you...gonna...get it?" Charmy choked out.
"As soon as I choke the air outta ya!!!"
Espio walked in. "I got it." He went and opened the door. Outside was a red scaled, armadillo and 4th Chaotix member. "Well if it ain't Mighty the Armadillo!"
"How's it goin', Espio?" Mighty said. "Just thought I might drop in on ya guys, with this..." He held up a DVD.
Espio looked excited. "Is that "Texas Chainsaw Massacre!?" He exclaimed. I've been dying to see that movie!"
"Who is it, Espi?" Espirit walked out of the kitchen and saw the DVD. She immediately hid behind Espio. "Are.. Are we going to watch that?"
"Uh..." Espio tried to think up an excuse to get Espirit to go to bed early.
"Who's that?" Mighty asked.
"That's my little sister, Espirit."
Espirit peeked from behind Espio and looked at Mighty. "Hi... I'm Espirit. I'm 7 years old. Are you going to make Espi watch that? Don't you know he'll have nightmares and wet his bed like he did last time?"
Everyone except the chameleons started to laugh. Espio turned red and was embarrassed.
"I...I was 11..." He stammered out.
"Espio, ya can't let Espirit watch that." Vector said. "She's too young."
"Well, she can go to bed early." Espio said.
"It's only 7 PM!" Charmy said.
"We can watch this over at my place!" Mighty suggested.
"Good idea!" Espio said. "Espirit will be okay by herself for a few hours."
They all started to head out the door, when Espirit latched on to Espio's leg. "Don't go..." She whimpered out. "It's scary..."
"What do ya mean scary?"
"It's dark out... someone might be out there..."
"C'mon, Espirit! There isn't anyone out there." Espio didn't know that Phantom was just watching from the window.
"Please..." Esprit tighten her grip. "Don't go..."
"But, Espirit..." He looked at her cute sad face and gave up. "Okay... I'll stay..."
Espirit instantly smiled and let go of Espio. "Thank you, Espi!!!" She hugged him and he just looked at the floor.
"Seeya guys later!" Charmy said as he, Vector, and Mighty walked out the door and closed it.
"I bet you're glad you won't have nightmares tonight, huh Espi?" Espirit said to her big brother.
"Yeah..." He said disappointedly. He had wanting to see that movie forever since it came out. Now his friends would be enjoying it without him. He started to feel left out, both when the others played with Espirit and when he was left to watch her.
"I got a movie you'll like!!!" Espirit squealed as she ran towards her luggage bag. She opened it and looked down in the mess of random stuff. She found what she was looking for and leaped to Espio. She held up a DVD. "Blue's Clues!!!"
"Fine..." Espio sighed. He watched as Espirit skipped to the TV, put the DVD in the player and turned it on. She cuddled with her stuffed dog toy, Pudgy, and started to shout along with the show. "At least she's having fun..." He muttered to himself. He decided to walk into his room.
Night had fallen and everyone had came home. Charmy and Vector were saying, "It was the best movie in the history of Slasher films!" and... "You just had to see it, Espio!" But it was now 11:00 PM and everyone had fallen asleep. Except for Espio. He stared at the ceiling as he lay on the couch. He slowly closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.
He had the strangest dream that night. He, Charmy, and Vector were walking through the streets of Station Square doing a case they were hired to do. When a young chameleon girl holding a toy dog walked up to them, Vector and Charmy both walked away from Espio and followed her. He ran after them to catch up, but found himself staring at the mechanical jaws of one of Eggman's robots. He attempted to fight it himself, but was soon up against the wall and corner. He shouted to his friends, but saw that they, along with the girl were enjoying a lunch while ignoring the robot and the endangered Espio. He soon found himself in the jaws of the robot and when everything flashed white.
Espio woke up in a cold sweat as he near death dream ended. He looked at his palms and saw the sweat rolling of them and onto his blanket.
"They would never forget me..." He thought to himself. "Would they?"
He got up and looked at the clock, 2 in the morning. He headed for the door and walked out in the green fields of the Mystic Ruins. The fireflies all flew around, lighting up the dark area. The cloudy skies wouldn't allow the moon to shine its rays on the grass. Espio wasn't walking anywhere in particularly, just a trip to the forest would do. He walked to the giant stone temple that was in the right in the middle of the forest. He stood atop the tall stairs and looked at all around. He then snapped into attention.
"This place reminds me of home..." A mysterious voice said.
"Who's there?" Espio demanded to know.
"Amazing temple... so well built... yet so fragile." The next sound that could be heard was the crumbling of the first bottom steps. Espio didn't see who or what has caused it.
"SHOW YOURSELF!!!" He shouted again.
"You should stick close to your sister... She may be in danger very shortly."
"Is this a threat?"
"No... merely a warning... You'll find out what I mean..." Suddenly, the voice was gone.
"For the last time... WHO ARE YOU?!?!" Espio didn't get an answer and assumed the voice was gone. He turned back and slowly walked back to his shack.
On the highest point of the temple, Phantom became visible.
"Do you think he'll heed your warning?" Firethroat asked.
"If he doesn't..." He started to say. "The world will be in grave danger." He turned towards the end of the forest. "We still have 6 emeralds to find..." With that, he vanished into the woods.
It was the late afternoon at the Mystic Ruins. Espio was still trying to figure out what the voice at the temple meant by Espirit might be in danger shortly. He sat on the couch and was in deep thought. He didn't even notice when Espirit and Charmy walked in the room carrying grocery bags.
"We're back from the store!' Charmy shouted. "Espirit got alotta get stuff for dinner today!"
Espio didn't respond.
"Something wrong Espi?" Espirit asked.
"Huh?" Espio lost his train of thought. "Oh! Hey guys!"
"You looked spaced out." Charmy said. "Thinkin' bout sumthin'?
"Nah... just tired..."
Vector walked into the room. "Hey guys! Guess who I ran into at Station Square!"
Tails and Sonic both walked in. Tails was holding a laptop and a small antenna. Espio got up and greeted them. "Hey guys! What's up?"
"We got great news!" Tails said excitedly. He set down the laptop and plugged the antennae into it. He typed a few keys on it and a large green screen showed up. On the screen was a small blue blip. "Guess where this is?"
"Someplace that's REALLY green?" Charmy replied.
"Is it Blue's Clues?" Espirit said while pointing to the blip.
"It's the White Jungle." Tails continued. "And that blue blip is a Chaos Emerald."
"What color is it?" Charmy said absent-mindedly.
"Gee..." Vector said sarcastically. "The blip is blue so it must be yellow!"
"Nah... I think it's blue." Charmy replied. Vector slammed his own head on the table after hearing the comment.
"Better show them what you had an hour ago, Tails." Sonic suggested.
Tails typed a few more keys and showed the same screen with 2 blips, a blue one and a white one.
"I'll bet that white one is the white emerald!" Charmy said. Vector slammed his head on the table even harder.
Suddenly, the white blip disappeared. "It's gone..." Espio said.
"The blip disappeared precisely, 1:09 PM." Tails said.
"Anyone care to guess, why that blip is gone?" Sonic asked.
"Eggman..." Espio said instantly.
"He still hasn't given up, huh?" Charmy said.
"He might not know about the blue emerald." Sonic said. "So if we beat him to it, we'll be able to keep 1 away from him!"
"Sounds good!" Espio said seriously. "Let's get going!"
"Wait!" Espirit shouted. Everyone looked down at her. "You didn't forget me, did you Espi?"
"Oh yeah! She's can't go!" Espio said. "It might be dangerous."
"But Espio..." Vector started to say. "We don't now anyone who can baby-sit her while we're gone. Plus, I think she want's to go with you."
They all looked down at Espirit, who was clutching Espio's leg tightly. She had a tight grip on her, even though she was just a little girl.
"Let go, Espirit!" Espio tried to shake her loose, but she wouldn't let go. "You can't go! You're too young!"
"Please Espi..." She looked up with huge sad eyes. "It'll be okay..." She smiled. "You'll be around to protect me."
"It'll be okay, Espio." Sonic said. "After all, it shouldn't take long to get it with my sonic speed!"
"Well..." Espio shook his head. "Okay..." He slightly smiled. "I guess it'll be okay for a while. Just listen to what we tell you, okay Espirit?"
"Uh-huh!" Espirit said happily as she hugged her brother. She was very excited that she would finally be able to see what kind of adventures her big brother had.
Thanks to a large transport airplane Tails has been working on, they made it to the White Jungle in no time. They had the plan all set. Break into groups and search the entire jungle. Espio would have to stay behind to watch Espirit, so that meant that Vector and Charmy would search one half of the forest, while Knuckles, who they had brought along, would search underground, and Sonic and Tails the other half.
Espirit was walking around the plane looking for Espio. "Big brother Espi?" She dragged her toy dog, Pudgy, around and had several photos in her hand. She called his name and kept wandering around the ship. When she found an open door, she peeked in and saw Espio was sitting at the control panel with his head on the table. He had falling asleep while watching for Emerald action. "Espi!" She squealed happily as she tugged at his arm to wake him.
"Huh..." Espio groggily woke up. "Hi Espirit... What's up?"
Espirit giggled. "You are, silly!" She handed him the pictures. "Look what I brought!"
Espio smiled as he thumbed through all the pictures. He saw pictures of him and his old chameleon friends, him and Espirit running through the forest, and one of Espirit in a cute, yellow ninja costume. The picture made him laugh a little, until he came across an embarrassing Christmas photo of him when he was 10, crying and looking scared while sitting on Santa Clause's lap.
"Where-Where did you get this!?" Espio said.
"Mommy asked me to show it to you... she still thinks it's funny."
"I can't believe she kept this embarrassing picture! We can't let the others see this! They'll never stop talking about it! Promise me, Espirit! You'll NEVER show it to anyone!"
"Okay." Espirit said cheerfully.
"I'm serious! No one should EVER see that!"
"Okay, Espi! I promise I won't show anyone."
"Okay..." Espio sighed a breath of relief and hugged her. "Thanks..."
Espirit took the pictures and walked out the room. She was going to put them back in her backpack, but she unknowingly dropped a picture... the same picture Espio told her not to show. When she put the pictures away, she yawned quietly. The trip had exhausted her. She lay down on the bed in one of the rooms and drifted to sleep.
Meanwhile, the 3 search teams walked into the plane. They were all tired and sweating from the hard expeditions.
"Man!" Vector shouted as he slammed the door shut. "We searched the whole dang forest! That emerald ain't here!"
"It has to be here." Tails panted out. "The radar was picking up strong signals of it..."
"Then where is it?" Knuckles half asked, half demanded.
"As soon as we rest up..." Sonic started to say. "We'll search again from the top of the trees to underground!"
Charmy struggled to flap his wings, but thanks to his exhaustion, he was grounded. "It can't fly... someone throw me to my room!"
"You can walk, can't ya?" Vector shouted as he sat in a small chair.
Charmy groaned. "All the way over there?" He pointed to a door that was 4 feet away. Charmy struggled to walk as fast as he could, but he could barely even move his legs. After a while he was half way to his bedroom when he collapsed face first on the floor. He got up and noticed that a small white piece of photo paper was stuck to his face. He peeled it off and looked at it. He snickered as he recognized the chameleon in the picture. He turned and ran towards the others, forgetting his exhaustion. "Hey guys!" His shouted made the others grimace.
"C'mon Charmy!" Vector complained. "I got a headache da size of Neptune!" Charmy put the photo up to Vector's face, causing him to fall over laughing. "HAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
The sounds of Vector's laughter woke up the napping Espio. He groaned as he heard the others join in.
"With all that laughter..." Espio said. Then a thought came to his head. "They must have found the emerald!" Espio quickly ran to the room they were all in and saw that it wasn't the emerald they were laughing about but rather... His face was covered in sweat as he saw the embarrassing photo that they had found. "No...No..."
"Man, Espio!" Sonic said while laughing. "You musta been pretty sad of the scary ol' St. Nick to cry like that!"
Soon Espio was even more embarrassed, and tired. Tired of the humiliation, and the embarrassment that his own sister spread. He had begged her not to show that picture, and she did anyway. His sights were turned from the laughter and on the little chameleon girl that walked from her room while rubbing her eyes.
"What's goin' on..." She asked innocently. "Big brother Espi?"
"I told you not to..." Espio said in a monotone. "I asked you... And what do you do?" He snatched the picture from Charmy rather harshly. "You show it to them, anyway?!" He shouted at her and made her shake a little.
"But... Big Brother..." She whimpered out. "I put that picture away and..."
"AWAY?! AWAY?!" He shouted even louder. "Then why do they have it?! Why are they laughing at me?! Are you doing this on purpose?! Making me look stupid?!"
"Hey Espio!" Charmy protested. "Don't ya think you're being hard on her? Besides..."
"Quiet!" Espio shouted made Charmy stop talking. "Espirit! Ever since you got here, you told them embarrassing stories about me, made them laugh at me and ridicule me... BUT THIS IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE!"
Espirit's eyes started to well up with tears. "But...Espi..."
"It's Espio!" He shouted at her. "ES-PI-O! Just add the 'O' at the end and you got it right! You're a pain in the ass! You know that?!" He saw the tears fall from her eyes, but he didn't care. "I can't wait until you go home! They I can be happy again!"
Espirit couldn't take it anymore. She ran into her room, crying from the shouting of her brother and from the broken heart she had. She slammed the door and continued crying. Espio turned away and saw down on the nearby chair.
"You know..." Charmy said quietly. "She didn't show us it... I found it on the floor."
Knuckles was frustrated at Espio's word towards his own sister. "You didn't have to say those heartless things to her!"
"Knux is right!" Sonic added. "That was harsh what you did to her!"
"I gonna go check on her." Vector got up and walked towards her room. "Maybe if you stop acting like a jerk, you'll apologize to her!"
Espio ignored the words from his friends. He already knew he was out of line. But he wasn't yet ready to apologize. In any case, she would probably hate him.
"Espio!" He heard Vector shout at him and run towards the others. "She's gone! She's...She's not in her room!"
Espirit ran through the White Jungle with tears running off of both sides of her face and dragging her toy dog, Pudgy with her. She was weeping as she ran deeper into the dark jungle. Soon, she was so far away, she could see the ship anymore. Soon, she stopped and was surrounded by nothing but dark, dead trees. She looked around and realized she was lost.
"Where...am...I..." She said between weeps. "Charmy?! Vector?! ...Espi..." She heard a sound and started to run forward, where she tripped on a root and fell to ground. "I'm...lost..." She cried even more as she got up, her face covered in dirt and tears. "She wrapped her arms around her knees and sat all curled up in fear and sadness. "I want to go home... I want to see mommy... I don't want to stay here... alone..." She cried in the dark, until a shining blue light caught her eye. "Huh?" She wiped some tears from her eyes and walked towards it, where she found the source of it. Suddenly, her fear and sorrow was gone, replaced with silent awe. "It's so pretty..."
Right in front of her eyes was the blue Chaos Emerald. She said how bright the light it shone out was. It could light up the entire area. She hesitantly touched it and saw the light become brighter. She quickly pulled her hand back and saw a small dancing light fly around the emerald. It flew up to her nose and tickled it a little. Espirit saw the light take the form of a small fairy that was a beautiful blue. Her entire body was blue, along with a blue dress and long blue hair. She wasn't any bigger than Espirit's hands.
"Hello!" The small fairy said in a happy tone.
"Hello..." Espirit said silently while still wiping away tears. "Who...who are you?"
"I'm from the Blue Emerald you touched! My name is Bluebell! What's yours?"
"Espirit..." She smiled. "Are you a fairy?"
"Mmm...hmm!" Bluebell nodded. "Are you a seer?"
"Seer?"
"One who can summon Chaos Beasts from the Chaos Emeralds!"
"I..." Espirit didn't know what she was talking about. "You're a beast?"
"A Chaos Beast."
"No you aren't. You're too pretty to be a beast. Besides, they're scary monsters, and make scary noises!" Espirit was instantly cheered up and she gave out a quiet growl. "Reowlllll!"
"Grrrrrrr..." Bluebell playfully growled "Rooooooar!"
Espirit giggled along with Bluebell. She then asked the fairy question. "Will... Will you be my friend?"
"I already am." Bluebell answered as she flew around Espirit, spread in blue light around her. "I like you! You're fun! Grrrrrrrr..."
Espirit giggled even more as Bluebell made more monster noises. But their laughter abruptly ended when a cage appeared around them and locked them in.
"Huh?" Espirit said fearfully. She tried to pull apart the bars, but she was still trapped. "We're trapped!"
Bluebell tried to help her, but they couldn't even bend them. Suddenly, a figure walked towards them. "Who are you!?" Bluebell demanded to know.
"I finally found it!" It was Dr. Eggman. "The Chaos Emerald! And a Chaos Beast! And a Seer, too! It must be my lucky day! Hahahahahaha!" He pulled out a remote control and he pushed a button on it. The cage was lifted into the air and into a flying airship he had over the jungle.
"NO!!!" Espirit shouted as she and Bluebell stuck close together and shook in fear. "ESPIO!!!" Her cries to her brother were in vain, as she and Bluebell were already in the ship.
Eggman saw both the emerald and her toy dog on the ground. He took both and climbed into his Egg Craft. As he ascended towards his ship, the sounds of his evil laughter filled the air.
Eggman has struck and took Espirit as his prisoner. What sort of plans does he have with the young seer? And can Espio and his friends stop him in time? You'll have to find out this when the next chap comes out. It's definitely one you don't wanna miss! Seeya soon!
Chapter 3:
The Blue Fairy
Daylight was slowing ending in the Mystic Ruins, the only sounds present were the gentle wind blowing through the grass and the chirping of crickets. The Chaotix's shack was just as quiet. Phantom had fallen asleep in a tree, resting for the next day. He was still alert and aware of any movement that would come out of the shack.
Inside, the Chaotix were enjoying dinner, thanks to Espirit. It has been a week since she first arrived and Vector and Charmy have been enjoying her company. Charmy had fun plying video games with her and even getting taught a few secrets. Vector enjoyed going to the concert, and the Museum of Rock with her, and especially loved her cooking. Espio, despite the embarrassing stories she told his friends, was still glad to have her around. Espio had gotten used to his sister's cooking to be better than his. She even offered to help him make food that was non-burnt.
Vector stuffed his face filled with spaghetti and grinned. "Another 5 star meal, Espirit! This is delicious!"
Charmy made sounds of enjoyment every time he took a bite of his meal. "Yeah..." He said with his mouth full. "It's really good!!!
. "Thank you!" Espirit said in her usual cheery mood. She loved it when they complimented on her cooking.
Vector stood up to get a glass of soda. Charmy quickly took all of his pieces of bread and stuffed them in his face. He quickly ate them before Vector came back.
Vector looked at his empty bread plate and looked at Charmy with an annoyed look. "What happened to my bread?" He sarcastically asked.
Charmy thought of an excuse. "You ate it all!"
"Did I?" He said still annoyed.
"Yeah... you uh, ate every last piece in one bite! Don't you remember?" Charmy smiled nervously.
"Oh..." Vector said. He then got angry. "WHY YOU LITTLE CREEP!!!" He started to chase after Charmy around the table. Charmy flew into the living room with Vector still after him. They ended up in front of the front door, with Vector putting Charmy in a headlock. "Shouldn't...take...other...people's...bread!"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Aren't...you...gonna...get it?" Charmy choked out.
"As soon as I choke the air outta ya!!!"
Espio walked in. "I got it." He went and opened the door. Outside was a red scaled, armadillo and 4th Chaotix member. "Well if it ain't Mighty the Armadillo!"
"How's it goin', Espio?" Mighty said. "Just thought I might drop in on ya guys, with this..." He held up a DVD.
Espio looked excited. "Is that "Texas Chainsaw Massacre!?" He exclaimed. I've been dying to see that movie!"
"Who is it, Espi?" Espirit walked out of the kitchen and saw the DVD. She immediately hid behind Espio. "Are.. Are we going to watch that?"
"Uh..." Espio tried to think up an excuse to get Espirit to go to bed early.
"Who's that?" Mighty asked.
"That's my little sister, Espirit."
Espirit peeked from behind Espio and looked at Mighty. "Hi... I'm Espirit. I'm 7 years old. Are you going to make Espi watch that? Don't you know he'll have nightmares and wet his bed like he did last time?"
Everyone except the chameleons started to laugh. Espio turned red and was embarrassed.
"I...I was 11..." He stammered out.
"Espio, ya can't let Espirit watch that." Vector said. "She's too young."
"Well, she can go to bed early." Espio said.
"It's only 7 PM!" Charmy said.
"We can watch this over at my place!" Mighty suggested.
"Good idea!" Espio said. "Espirit will be okay by herself for a few hours."
They all started to head out the door, when Espirit latched on to Espio's leg. "Don't go..." She whimpered out. "It's scary..."
"What do ya mean scary?"
"It's dark out... someone might be out there..."
"C'mon, Espirit! There isn't anyone out there." Espio didn't know that Phantom was just watching from the window.
"Please..." Esprit tighten her grip. "Don't go..."
"But, Espirit..." He looked at her cute sad face and gave up. "Okay... I'll stay..."
Espirit instantly smiled and let go of Espio. "Thank you, Espi!!!" She hugged him and he just looked at the floor.
"Seeya guys later!" Charmy said as he, Vector, and Mighty walked out the door and closed it.
"I bet you're glad you won't have nightmares tonight, huh Espi?" Espirit said to her big brother.
"Yeah..." He said disappointedly. He had wanting to see that movie forever since it came out. Now his friends would be enjoying it without him. He started to feel left out, both when the others played with Espirit and when he was left to watch her.
"I got a movie you'll like!!!" Espirit squealed as she ran towards her luggage bag. She opened it and looked down in the mess of random stuff. She found what she was looking for and leaped to Espio. She held up a DVD. "Blue's Clues!!!"
"Fine..." Espio sighed. He watched as Espirit skipped to the TV, put the DVD in the player and turned it on. She cuddled with her stuffed dog toy, Pudgy, and started to shout along with the show. "At least she's having fun..." He muttered to himself. He decided to walk into his room.
Night had fallen and everyone had came home. Charmy and Vector were saying, "It was the best movie in the history of Slasher films!" and... "You just had to see it, Espio!" But it was now 11:00 PM and everyone had fallen asleep. Except for Espio. He stared at the ceiling as he lay on the couch. He slowly closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.
He had the strangest dream that night. He, Charmy, and Vector were walking through the streets of Station Square doing a case they were hired to do. When a young chameleon girl holding a toy dog walked up to them, Vector and Charmy both walked away from Espio and followed her. He ran after them to catch up, but found himself staring at the mechanical jaws of one of Eggman's robots. He attempted to fight it himself, but was soon up against the wall and corner. He shouted to his friends, but saw that they, along with the girl were enjoying a lunch while ignoring the robot and the endangered Espio. He soon found himself in the jaws of the robot and when everything flashed white.
Espio woke up in a cold sweat as he near death dream ended. He looked at his palms and saw the sweat rolling of them and onto his blanket.
"They would never forget me..." He thought to himself. "Would they?"
He got up and looked at the clock, 2 in the morning. He headed for the door and walked out in the green fields of the Mystic Ruins. The fireflies all flew around, lighting up the dark area. The cloudy skies wouldn't allow the moon to shine its rays on the grass. Espio wasn't walking anywhere in particularly, just a trip to the forest would do. He walked to the giant stone temple that was in the right in the middle of the forest. He stood atop the tall stairs and looked at all around. He then snapped into attention.
"This place reminds me of home..." A mysterious voice said.
"Who's there?" Espio demanded to know.
"Amazing temple... so well built... yet so fragile." The next sound that could be heard was the crumbling of the first bottom steps. Espio didn't see who or what has caused it.
"SHOW YOURSELF!!!" He shouted again.
"You should stick close to your sister... She may be in danger very shortly."
"Is this a threat?"
"No... merely a warning... You'll find out what I mean..." Suddenly, the voice was gone.
"For the last time... WHO ARE YOU?!?!" Espio didn't get an answer and assumed the voice was gone. He turned back and slowly walked back to his shack.
On the highest point of the temple, Phantom became visible.
"Do you think he'll heed your warning?" Firethroat asked.
"If he doesn't..." He started to say. "The world will be in grave danger." He turned towards the end of the forest. "We still have 6 emeralds to find..." With that, he vanished into the woods.
It was the late afternoon at the Mystic Ruins. Espio was still trying to figure out what the voice at the temple meant by Espirit might be in danger shortly. He sat on the couch and was in deep thought. He didn't even notice when Espirit and Charmy walked in the room carrying grocery bags.
"We're back from the store!' Charmy shouted. "Espirit got alotta get stuff for dinner today!"
Espio didn't respond.
"Something wrong Espi?" Espirit asked.
"Huh?" Espio lost his train of thought. "Oh! Hey guys!"
"You looked spaced out." Charmy said. "Thinkin' bout sumthin'?
"Nah... just tired..."
Vector walked into the room. "Hey guys! Guess who I ran into at Station Square!"
Tails and Sonic both walked in. Tails was holding a laptop and a small antenna. Espio got up and greeted them. "Hey guys! What's up?"
"We got great news!" Tails said excitedly. He set down the laptop and plugged the antennae into it. He typed a few keys on it and a large green screen showed up. On the screen was a small blue blip. "Guess where this is?"
"Someplace that's REALLY green?" Charmy replied.
"Is it Blue's Clues?" Espirit said while pointing to the blip.
"It's the White Jungle." Tails continued. "And that blue blip is a Chaos Emerald."
"What color is it?" Charmy said absent-mindedly.
"Gee..." Vector said sarcastically. "The blip is blue so it must be yellow!"
"Nah... I think it's blue." Charmy replied. Vector slammed his own head on the table after hearing the comment.
"Better show them what you had an hour ago, Tails." Sonic suggested.
Tails typed a few more keys and showed the same screen with 2 blips, a blue one and a white one.
"I'll bet that white one is the white emerald!" Charmy said. Vector slammed his head on the table even harder.
Suddenly, the white blip disappeared. "It's gone..." Espio said.
"The blip disappeared precisely, 1:09 PM." Tails said.
"Anyone care to guess, why that blip is gone?" Sonic asked.
"Eggman..." Espio said instantly.
"He still hasn't given up, huh?" Charmy said.
"He might not know about the blue emerald." Sonic said. "So if we beat him to it, we'll be able to keep 1 away from him!"
"Sounds good!" Espio said seriously. "Let's get going!"
"Wait!" Espirit shouted. Everyone looked down at her. "You didn't forget me, did you Espi?"
"Oh yeah! She's can't go!" Espio said. "It might be dangerous."
"But Espio..." Vector started to say. "We don't now anyone who can baby-sit her while we're gone. Plus, I think she want's to go with you."
They all looked down at Espirit, who was clutching Espio's leg tightly. She had a tight grip on her, even though she was just a little girl.
"Let go, Espirit!" Espio tried to shake her loose, but she wouldn't let go. "You can't go! You're too young!"
"Please Espi..." She looked up with huge sad eyes. "It'll be okay..." She smiled. "You'll be around to protect me."
"It'll be okay, Espio." Sonic said. "After all, it shouldn't take long to get it with my sonic speed!"
"Well..." Espio shook his head. "Okay..." He slightly smiled. "I guess it'll be okay for a while. Just listen to what we tell you, okay Espirit?"
"Uh-huh!" Espirit said happily as she hugged her brother. She was very excited that she would finally be able to see what kind of adventures her big brother had.
Thanks to a large transport airplane Tails has been working on, they made it to the White Jungle in no time. They had the plan all set. Break into groups and search the entire jungle. Espio would have to stay behind to watch Espirit, so that meant that Vector and Charmy would search one half of the forest, while Knuckles, who they had brought along, would search underground, and Sonic and Tails the other half.
Espirit was walking around the plane looking for Espio. "Big brother Espi?" She dragged her toy dog, Pudgy, around and had several photos in her hand. She called his name and kept wandering around the ship. When she found an open door, she peeked in and saw Espio was sitting at the control panel with his head on the table. He had falling asleep while watching for Emerald action. "Espi!" She squealed happily as she tugged at his arm to wake him.
"Huh..." Espio groggily woke up. "Hi Espirit... What's up?"
Espirit giggled. "You are, silly!" She handed him the pictures. "Look what I brought!"
Espio smiled as he thumbed through all the pictures. He saw pictures of him and his old chameleon friends, him and Espirit running through the forest, and one of Espirit in a cute, yellow ninja costume. The picture made him laugh a little, until he came across an embarrassing Christmas photo of him when he was 10, crying and looking scared while sitting on Santa Clause's lap.
"Where-Where did you get this!?" Espio said.
"Mommy asked me to show it to you... she still thinks it's funny."
"I can't believe she kept this embarrassing picture! We can't let the others see this! They'll never stop talking about it! Promise me, Espirit! You'll NEVER show it to anyone!"
"Okay." Espirit said cheerfully.
"I'm serious! No one should EVER see that!"
"Okay, Espi! I promise I won't show anyone."
"Okay..." Espio sighed a breath of relief and hugged her. "Thanks..."
Espirit took the pictures and walked out the room. She was going to put them back in her backpack, but she unknowingly dropped a picture... the same picture Espio told her not to show. When she put the pictures away, she yawned quietly. The trip had exhausted her. She lay down on the bed in one of the rooms and drifted to sleep.
Meanwhile, the 3 search teams walked into the plane. They were all tired and sweating from the hard expeditions.
"Man!" Vector shouted as he slammed the door shut. "We searched the whole dang forest! That emerald ain't here!"
"It has to be here." Tails panted out. "The radar was picking up strong signals of it..."
"Then where is it?" Knuckles half asked, half demanded.
"As soon as we rest up..." Sonic started to say. "We'll search again from the top of the trees to underground!"
Charmy struggled to flap his wings, but thanks to his exhaustion, he was grounded. "It can't fly... someone throw me to my room!"
"You can walk, can't ya?" Vector shouted as he sat in a small chair.
Charmy groaned. "All the way over there?" He pointed to a door that was 4 feet away. Charmy struggled to walk as fast as he could, but he could barely even move his legs. After a while he was half way to his bedroom when he collapsed face first on the floor. He got up and noticed that a small white piece of photo paper was stuck to his face. He peeled it off and looked at it. He snickered as he recognized the chameleon in the picture. He turned and ran towards the others, forgetting his exhaustion. "Hey guys!" His shouted made the others grimace.
"C'mon Charmy!" Vector complained. "I got a headache da size of Neptune!" Charmy put the photo up to Vector's face, causing him to fall over laughing. "HAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
The sounds of Vector's laughter woke up the napping Espio. He groaned as he heard the others join in.
"With all that laughter..." Espio said. Then a thought came to his head. "They must have found the emerald!" Espio quickly ran to the room they were all in and saw that it wasn't the emerald they were laughing about but rather... His face was covered in sweat as he saw the embarrassing photo that they had found. "No...No..."
"Man, Espio!" Sonic said while laughing. "You musta been pretty sad of the scary ol' St. Nick to cry like that!"
Soon Espio was even more embarrassed, and tired. Tired of the humiliation, and the embarrassment that his own sister spread. He had begged her not to show that picture, and she did anyway. His sights were turned from the laughter and on the little chameleon girl that walked from her room while rubbing her eyes.
"What's goin' on..." She asked innocently. "Big brother Espi?"
"I told you not to..." Espio said in a monotone. "I asked you... And what do you do?" He snatched the picture from Charmy rather harshly. "You show it to them, anyway?!" He shouted at her and made her shake a little.
"But... Big Brother..." She whimpered out. "I put that picture away and..."
"AWAY?! AWAY?!" He shouted even louder. "Then why do they have it?! Why are they laughing at me?! Are you doing this on purpose?! Making me look stupid?!"
"Hey Espio!" Charmy protested. "Don't ya think you're being hard on her? Besides..."
"Quiet!" Espio shouted made Charmy stop talking. "Espirit! Ever since you got here, you told them embarrassing stories about me, made them laugh at me and ridicule me... BUT THIS IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE!"
Espirit's eyes started to well up with tears. "But...Espi..."
"It's Espio!" He shouted at her. "ES-PI-O! Just add the 'O' at the end and you got it right! You're a pain in the ass! You know that?!" He saw the tears fall from her eyes, but he didn't care. "I can't wait until you go home! They I can be happy again!"
Espirit couldn't take it anymore. She ran into her room, crying from the shouting of her brother and from the broken heart she had. She slammed the door and continued crying. Espio turned away and saw down on the nearby chair.
"You know..." Charmy said quietly. "She didn't show us it... I found it on the floor."
Knuckles was frustrated at Espio's word towards his own sister. "You didn't have to say those heartless things to her!"
"Knux is right!" Sonic added. "That was harsh what you did to her!"
"I gonna go check on her." Vector got up and walked towards her room. "Maybe if you stop acting like a jerk, you'll apologize to her!"
Espio ignored the words from his friends. He already knew he was out of line. But he wasn't yet ready to apologize. In any case, she would probably hate him.
"Espio!" He heard Vector shout at him and run towards the others. "She's gone! She's...She's not in her room!"
Espirit ran through the White Jungle with tears running off of both sides of her face and dragging her toy dog, Pudgy with her. She was weeping as she ran deeper into the dark jungle. Soon, she was so far away, she could see the ship anymore. Soon, she stopped and was surrounded by nothing but dark, dead trees. She looked around and realized she was lost.
"Where...am...I..." She said between weeps. "Charmy?! Vector?! ...Espi..." She heard a sound and started to run forward, where she tripped on a root and fell to ground. "I'm...lost..." She cried even more as she got up, her face covered in dirt and tears. "She wrapped her arms around her knees and sat all curled up in fear and sadness. "I want to go home... I want to see mommy... I don't want to stay here... alone..." She cried in the dark, until a shining blue light caught her eye. "Huh?" She wiped some tears from her eyes and walked towards it, where she found the source of it. Suddenly, her fear and sorrow was gone, replaced with silent awe. "It's so pretty..."
Right in front of her eyes was the blue Chaos Emerald. She said how bright the light it shone out was. It could light up the entire area. She hesitantly touched it and saw the light become brighter. She quickly pulled her hand back and saw a small dancing light fly around the emerald. It flew up to her nose and tickled it a little. Espirit saw the light take the form of a small fairy that was a beautiful blue. Her entire body was blue, along with a blue dress and long blue hair. She wasn't any bigger than Espirit's hands.
"Hello!" The small fairy said in a happy tone.
"Hello..." Espirit said silently while still wiping away tears. "Who...who are you?"
"I'm from the Blue Emerald you touched! My name is Bluebell! What's yours?"
"Espirit..." She smiled. "Are you a fairy?"
"Mmm...hmm!" Bluebell nodded. "Are you a seer?"
"Seer?"
"One who can summon Chaos Beasts from the Chaos Emeralds!"
"I..." Espirit didn't know what she was talking about. "You're a beast?"
"A Chaos Beast."
"No you aren't. You're too pretty to be a beast. Besides, they're scary monsters, and make scary noises!" Espirit was instantly cheered up and she gave out a quiet growl. "Reowlllll!"
"Grrrrrrr..." Bluebell playfully growled "Rooooooar!"
Espirit giggled along with Bluebell. She then asked the fairy question. "Will... Will you be my friend?"
"I already am." Bluebell answered as she flew around Espirit, spread in blue light around her. "I like you! You're fun! Grrrrrrrr..."
Espirit giggled even more as Bluebell made more monster noises. But their laughter abruptly ended when a cage appeared around them and locked them in.
"Huh?" Espirit said fearfully. She tried to pull apart the bars, but she was still trapped. "We're trapped!"
Bluebell tried to help her, but they couldn't even bend them. Suddenly, a figure walked towards them. "Who are you!?" Bluebell demanded to know.
"I finally found it!" It was Dr. Eggman. "The Chaos Emerald! And a Chaos Beast! And a Seer, too! It must be my lucky day! Hahahahahaha!" He pulled out a remote control and he pushed a button on it. The cage was lifted into the air and into a flying airship he had over the jungle.
"NO!!!" Espirit shouted as she and Bluebell stuck close together and shook in fear. "ESPIO!!!" Her cries to her brother were in vain, as she and Bluebell were already in the ship.
Eggman saw both the emerald and her toy dog on the ground. He took both and climbed into his Egg Craft. As he ascended towards his ship, the sounds of his evil laughter filled the air.
Eggman has struck and took Espirit as his prisoner. What sort of plans does he have with the young seer? And can Espio and his friends stop him in time? You'll have to find out this when the next chap comes out. It's definitely one you don't wanna miss! Seeya soon!