Charmy Bee took a sip of his morning cup of coffee, a smile on his face. He let out a loving sigh as he thought about the prior night. "Someone's happy," Vector muttered, not even bothering to look up from his morning newspaper.

"I'm better than happy," the bee said cheerfully. "I'm in love!"

Vector rolled his eyes and groaned, but didn't say anything in response. Instead, Espio spoke up. "I take it that the date went well?" the chameleon asked as he carefully snipped some leaves off one of his bonsai trees.

"It sure did!" Charmy beamed. "It was amazing! We had dinner at that nice seafood place by the coast, walked along the beach, talked about our lives and what we've been up to… she even held my hand for a bit." He let out a loving sigh before continuing. "Then I realized it was just past 8:30 and we ran home so her mom wouldn't kill me. Good times." A warm smile crossed Vector's face, which did not go unnoticed by Charmy. "What are you smiling about?" he asked the crocodile.

"I was just picturing Vanilla strangling you to death," Vector said nonchalantly, still smiling.

Charmy rolled his eyes and lightly punched Vector in the arm. "Screw you, man." Vector let out a hearty laugh in response.

Espio glanced over at a calendar that hung on the wall before looking back at his bonsai trees and continuing his work. "So, today is Saturday," he said. "You said we have a guest today, correct? When is he due to arrive?"

Charmy nodded. "Yeah, he should be here any minute now. You mind setting up the projector? He and I made a presentation for you old-timers." A smug look crossed the bee's face. "You know, since neither of you know the first thing about being a social media influencer. Try not to fall asleep while us young and nubile guys show you how it's done."

A fake smile formed on Espio's lips. "If you're so young and nubile and we're so old, why don't you do it yourself?"

Charmy shrugged. "'Cuz I don't wanna." An idea struck his head, and without thinking he yelled, "Nose goes!" and held his pointer finger on his nose.

Espio rolled his eyes, but held a finger to his nose as well. "Huh? What?" Vector asked, looking up from his paper. He glanced at Charmy and Espio and let out a groan. "You guys suck," he muttered as he slammed the paper down on the couch and walked over to the projector. He reached up and pulled on a small ring with two of his massive, oversized hands, gently tugging it down until it locked into place. After the screen was in place, he went into the closet and pulled out a dusty old cart with various cables and old pieces of technology on it. As he pushed the cart in front of the screen, he looked over at Charmy and noticed an unusual piece of clothing he was wearing. "What's up with that?" the crocodile asked, pointing at Charmy's yellow hoodie.

"Oh, this?" the bee responded, looking down. "It's merchandise." He looked back up at Vector and grinned. "Our guest of honor's merchandise, to be specific."

Vector rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered.

It took around twenty minutes for Vector to figure out how to set up the projector properly as they hadn't used it in years. It was shortly after he had finished that they heard a car pull up outside the office, shortly followed by someone knocking on their door. "I'll get it!" Charmy yelled, already fluttering his wings and speeding towards the door. Upon opening the door, a man immediately yelled, "CHARMY! Good to see you, man!"

Charmy grinned at him. "Jimmy! It's so good to finally meet you in person. Come in, come in!" He beckoned for the man to come inside and he did.

Vector and Espio turned to look at their guest. He was a blue cat of some kind, they weren't sure if he was a jaguar, a puma, a tiger or what- but he was certainly some kind of cat. Two pink lightning bolt patterns formed on the outside of both of his eyes. Tuffs of facial hair stuck out of his chin and wrapped around his mouth. His gray T-shirt had a logo that seemed to be a side shot of an animal that resembled him, and said logo was also present on the snap-back hat he wore. A simple pair of black shorts and sneakers accompanied the rest of his outfit. "So this is the famed Chaotix Detective Agency" the man said, his voice full of wonder. A big grin plastered his face, the saber tooth-like fangs in his mouth jutting out slightly. "It looks even more awesome in person!"

Vector and Espio glanced at each other. Both were baffled, not really sure what to say. At last, Vector walked over to the man. The crocodile cleared his throat and said, "Uh, hello there, Mr. uhhhh…"

The man cut him off, grabbing the croc's large, oversized hand and shaking it violently. "Beast!" he yelled, excitement in his voice. "I'm Jimmy the Beast, but most people know me better as Mr. Beast!"

Vector glanced over at Charmy's hoodie. For some reason, he only just now noticed the donut-themed letters that spelled out "MR. BEAST" in the middle of the hoodie. He turned his attention back to Jimmy and said, "Uh… right. I'm-"

"I know exactly who you are!" Jimmy said, cutting him off again. He let go of Vector's hand and pointed at him. "You're Vector the Crocodile, leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency. You're the muscle of the team!"

Jimmy turned and pointed to Espio, who was caught off guard by the sudden point in his direction. "You're Espio the Chameleon, a highly skilled shinobi warrior and master of camouflage. You're the brains of the team!"

He turned once again and pointed at Charmy, who beamed with pride. "And you're Charmy Bee!"

Chaney cringed a little when he realized Jimmy had finished talking. He turned to Espo and Vector, who both flashed him smug expressions. "That's exactly right, Jimmy!" Vector said with a grin. Jimmy didn't seem to notice Vector was even talking, as he was too busy looking around the room, as if searching for something. Vector frowned. "Something wrong, kid?" he asked, scratching his head.

Jimmy shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing," he said quickly. "It's just, for some reason I could've sworn there were four of you guys… Ah well." He shrugged, deciding it wasn't important. Vector, Espio and Charmy all exchanged awkward glances at each other for a moment, but didn't say anything.

"Uh, Jimmy," Charmy piped up. "Why don't we show these guys the presentation we've been working on?"

Jimmy smiled. "Of course!" he shouted, excitedly. "Let's get down to business!" Charmy shut off the lights and turned on the projector, before flying over to the computer and opening their presentation. Jimmy and Charmy walked over to each side of the projector screen and Vector and Espio took seats behind the projector. The title on the slide displayed on the projector read "Mr. Beast x Chaotix Collab Pitch."

"Gentlemen," Jimmy said with enthusiasm, "today, I've teamed up with Charmy Bee of the Chaotix crew to pitch to you all, the rest of the Chaotix, a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"But first," Charmy added, "you geezers need to be educated on just who Jimmy over here is." He clicked a button on a remote for the projector and the slide swapped over to a page titled "Who is Mr. Beast?" with a few bullet points. "Jimmy is the owner and founder of the Mr. Beast channel on YouTube," Charmy explained. "He's most well known for giving away money to people, both in the form of challenges and for pretty much no reason. His main channel has almost one hundred million subscribers. For reference, my channel only has one hundred fifteen thousand subscribers. On top of that, he has several other channels with millions of subscribers each, his own charity organization, his own fast food chain and most recently, his own food company that launched a line of chocolate bars."

Vector's jaw dropped. "How old is this guy again?" he asked.

"I'm 23 years old," Jimmy replied.

"Ok," Vector replied, completely at a loss for words. This got a chuckle out of Charmy, who found the look on the crocodile's face priceless. Espio, on the other hand, seemed to be impressed. Charmy pressed the button on the remote again and the slide swapped over to another slide. This slide showed three select thumbnails from various Mr. Beast videos. One showed Jimmy hunched over a car with a large lion handcuffing him, another had him pressed against a car looking angry with a G.U.N. agent holding their hand on his shoulder, and the last one showed him hiding behind a brick wall with a nervous expression with Rouge seeming to look around for him in the distance.

"These are thumbnails to some previous videos I've done," Jimmy explained. "You see, all of these videos are a series on my channel. It's a challenge for a cash prize, but there's kind of a catch- I'm an active participant in these kinds of challenges."

"Basically, the idea is that he's on the run and a professional tries to catch him," Charmy added. "This first time, it was a bounty hunter. The second time, he got an actual G.U.N. agent to participate."

"And G.U.N. were gracious enough to lend one of their elite agents for the third video. I believe you've worked with her?" Jimmy gestured towards the thumbnail that featured Rouge.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Vector groaned.

Jimmy chuckled to himself. "Yeah, she's… quite the character isn't she? Anyways, now for the main event!"

Once again, Charmy pressed the button on the remote to switch the slide. The slide showed a mock-up of a thumbnail for a potential video. It showed Jimmy in one of Eggman's old Egg-mobile flying machines on the left, a menacing grin on his face. On the right, all three of the Chaotix were clumped together in the background. Under the fake thumbnail was the title, "I Fought the Chaotix!"

"Ta-dah!" Charmy yelled, stretching his arms out to emphasize the slide. "Here's our big pitch. What do you guys think?"

Vector and Espio looked at each other for a second, both equally confused, before looking back to Jimmy and Charmy.

"I don't get it," Vector said bluntly.

"I believe I may require some… additional information," Espio added calmly.

"Sure thing!" Jimmy said. "You see, these videos where I'm hunted by people are popular with my general audience, but they also hit a very niche market: people who don't like me. I don't know why, but I think it's because the idea of me being on the run from a bounty hunter or a federal agent implies I'm some kind of criminal."

"That is a rather logical assumption if not presented with the proper context of the footage, yes," Espio replied, nodding along."

"Exactly!" Jimmy yelled, pointing at Espio with excitement. "So I came up with a brilliant idea: a video where I play the role of a super villain and a gang of heroes come to stop me! And the best part? I managed to get my hands on THIS!"

Jimmy pointed up at the screen just as Charmy switched the slide again. This time, the only thing on the slide was an image of one of Eggman's old egg-mobiles, rusted, busted up and even missing chunks of it just sitting in the middle of a warehouse. Around it stood some people that seemed to be examining it. "Can you believe this was just sitting in a junkyard waiting to be turned into scrap metal?!" Jimmy squealed.

"Yes," Vector replied almost instantly.

"Well I couldn't! So I bought it from the yard and it's now in my warehouse! I've got a team working on getting it up and running and another team working on remodel designs for it. Once we get it up and running, we can start full scale production on this project."

"This project being a video for Jimmy's channel, in case that wasn't obvious," Charmy jumped in. "Basically, Jimmy would play the role of a bad guy. Us three will go through a series of challenges that test our detective skills over the course of a week that will take us across various zones. At the end of the gauntlet, Jimmy will be waiting and ready to fight us. If we solve all the clues and defeat him in battle, then we'll win the challenge. How does that sound?"

Vector scratched his head. "So it's like a game show?" he asked. "Ehhh, look kid, it sounds creative, but I don't know if I really want to-"

"We get a hundred thousand dollars in cash if we win," Charmy said in a monotone voice, frustration evident on his face.

"WELL WHY DIDN'T YA SAY SO?!" Vector screamed as he jumped out of his seat. He bent over so he could look Jimmy in the eye. "You've got yourself a deal!" The crocodile held out one of his giant hands in Jimmy's direction. "Put her there, Jim! Let's shake on it!"

"That's what I like to hear!" Jimmy yelled as he grabbed Vector's hand and shook it. "You have no idea how much this means to me, Vector. Let's celebrate this occasion! I'll order us all some Beast Burger, on me!"

"Oh, oh!" Charmy chimed in. "If this video does well, do you think we could do a Chaotix meal collab as well? I've always wanted a food item named after me on a menu somewhere!"

"Sure, why not!" Jimmy replied. "Let's see how the video goes first and talk from there."

As Jimmy, Vector and Charmy talked to each other, Espio still sat in his seat. The chameleon let out a small sigh of frustration. "Hey, Espio, what do you think of this video idea?" he asked himself sarcastically. "Oh, I don't know Espio, I think it could be fun. It would certainly be a nice change of pace from sitting around this office all day." He sighed again. "I'm surrounded by children," he muttered. "Adults with tiny, child brains."

The giant, steel door connected to the white room opened slowly, revealing the old Dr. Robotnik lying down on the bed in the corner of the room, staring at the ceiling. He glanced over at the now open door, a smile on his face as he anticipated the arrival of the two-tailed kitsune he had started to consider a friend. His smile vanished instantly when saw it was only the two guards. "Oh, it's only you two," he groaned before looking back up at the ceiling. "Is it time for the weekly cleaning?"

"No," one of the guards replied coldly. "It's time for your monthly check up. Come over here so we can put you in cuffs."

Eggman sighed as he stood up and walked over to the two of them. He turned his back to them and felt the cold metal tighten around his wrists. The two of them led him out of the room, locked up the door, then led him into the elevator. The trio stood in an uncomfortably awkward silence.

"On an Island in the Sun," the song on the elevator radio sang. "We'll be playing and having fun, and it makes me feel so fine, I can't control my brain…"

"You know," Eggman spoke up, "I appreciate that you guys use actual music in your elevators and not that generic crap. You know, the lame soft instrumentals you'd find in every other place, like a shopping mall or something." Neither of the two guards replied. "I don't know, I just think it's neat," Eggman added. Eventually, the elevator reached its destination and the door opened. "Good talk," he muttered sarcastically as the two guards led him out of the elevator and down the hall. The two guards led him into a doctor's office and stood outside.

Eggman sat himself down in a chair in the room and stared at the floor. "This is stupid," he muttered to himself. "It doesn't matter how many samples they take, they're no closer to figuring out a cure." He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "If my grandfather couldn't figure this out, what makes them think they can? What an insult." The old doctor sat in silence, waiting for his doctor to come into the room.

Author's Note: I hope you all found this chapter funny and unexpected at the very least. More Tails, Amy and Knuckles next chapter.