Note: There's some rewrite from the original chapter that was originally posted in my DA account. I consider this one of my best chapters of this story. WARNING: This is one of the chapters that made the story M-rated in the first place.
"Yawn."
Espio woke up. It was another day for him to try and finish resolving his case once and for all, while hoping for the best. He took a glance at the pink girly room, before he got out of bed. He took a glance at the pink and gold flowery patterns that adorned the bed in disgust.
"Ugh, this is embarrassing; I can't believe I've slept in this all this time."
He left the room.
In the bathroom, the chameleon took a hot shower. He could feel the sweet, warm and wet jet of water hitting his purple scale. While he let the water sprinkle on him, he looked around the bathroom. It was pretty much like every other room of the apartment he ever put his feet in. The ceramic wall that surrounded him was a pale pink, decorated with flowers and butterflies patterns everywhere, the toilet he may or may not had used prior to his shower was pink, the curtains was pink, the floor was pink, even the sink was pink. After he's done showering, he turned down the shower and put his wet feet on the (pink) carpet lain on the floor, and used the towel that was placed on the toilet sit to dry himself (Guess what color is that towel). After that, he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. However, he realized something when he opened the fridge. There was nothing left.
"Damn it", he cussed to himself, "the food supply is empty. I need to restock it!"
After spending time in the apartment (that wasn't even his) for so long, he forgot to go outside for a walk. The chameleon was too busy trying to solve his own mystery he cut any contact from outside. He even shooed away his only form of socialization, his neighbor, every time he tried to pay visit to him. However, this means he was also emptying the food that the fridge could provide. It was only when he realized that it was empty that the chameleon needed to temporarily leave the case behind and focus on the grub and money. He took out his wallet from a dresser and counted the money.
"200 rings. Well, that should be enough for at least two entire month of groceries", he reassured to himself.
As he left his apartment, he saw Sonic coincidentally walking out his own. When he noticed him, he greeted him with the same old smile.
"Hi, Espio, long time no see. I haven't seen you for like 3 weeks or so."
Espio's heart stopped a bit. How long was he stuck inside his apartment again?!
"Y-yeah, studies can take off much of your time, and you need concentrations just for it", he tried to make up an explanation, while hiding his stutter.
"That's prodigious of you, I wish I was half as determined as you when it comes to those kind of works", he naively praised the (unknown to him) lying chameleon. "So, what are you doing, and what makes you finally quit your room for the first time?"
"I was going to buy some food, since I ran out of it. Don't worry; I should be back in a few hours."
"Oh cool. By the way, don't forget to pay the rent before tomorrow."
Espio's heart literally turned into a heavy weight. Realization started to light on his face, and then inside his brain, and heart, which turned into a small electroshock running across his purple body afterward. The rent, he forgot he could stay here as long as he could pay the monthly rent! The cost wouldn't be too bad, right?
"Well, hopefully, I have the budget to pay the food and the rent. What is the cost of the rent, by the way?"
"Huh, the rent here usually cost around 75 to 150 rings or something. However, for this month, we need to pay 200 rings, since they need the extra money for maintenance works."
"200 rings!?" his jaw dropped."But that's the exact amount I have on me, and I need it to buy food!"
"Well, if you don't want to get evicted or starve to death, which is quite the dilemma you got there, pal, just find a job, it will keep you pay both your rent and your groceries."
"Thank you, I guess it's time for me to get a job."
He left.
"That'll be 50 rings, sir."
Espio gave the exact amount to the female cashier.
The chameleon then left the store holding two big, heavy and fully loaded paper bags in his arms.
He sighed.
"I lost 50 rings for this month's groceries. I need to find a job to get back those 50 rings, but first, I need to leave those bags in my apartment."
As he walked toward the red building, a little kid bee was spying on our purple passerby.
"Look at the amount of food he bought. This guy definitely has money."
He flew toward our hero.
Back to the said hero, he didn't know there was a spy lurking behind him. He finally did when the kid knocked him (much to his surprise and anger) and buzzed away as fast as possible. Perplexed, he resumed his walk.
"That was weird."
He then put his bags down to check out his wallet. To his shock, he couldn't find anything. He tried and tried once again to find the most important thing he brought with him outside, besides his key. He gave up when he realized he lost it.
"H-how? It was there when I got out, and then, all of a sudden, I lost it! Wait..."
He began to think back about the little bee who knocked him for some reason. He slowly put two and two together.
"That damn bee!" he thought to himself, "he must have knocked me so he could steal my wallet and take all the money I have."
He ran despite having to hold two heavy bags as he tried to follow the same path the small bee took. He slowly remembered that the insect went to the alley to the left corner of the street.
When he arrived to the alley, he made sure to hide his grocery bags inside an abandoned box found near a dumpster before he proceeded to render himself invisible. He walked toward the dead end alley, where he saw the same black and yellow troublemaker who sported in an orange jacket. He appeared to be surrounded by other kids of his age. Among them, there was another bee , a yellow squirrel and a cream-colored rabbit . They seemed fixated by the wallet that their friend was holding before them. Unknown to the kids, the chameleon was spying on them.
"Phew! Can you imagine how hard is it to find a person with money?" the bee bragged to his friends. "Lucky for me, I've come and touch the jackpot."
He took out all the money he could gather inside the recently stolen wallet and counted them one by one.
"150 rings. We're gonna buy lots of candy, that's for sure!"
"Charmy, we need the money to buy actual food, like meat, fruits, bread, vegetable and whatnot, we can't pig on candy forever", the rabbit pointed out, without being rude.
"S-she has a point. W-we aren't the only k-kids in the orphanage a-after all", the squirrel agreed, "a-and what's worse is that the orphanage is currently in debt. I-It's really a shame, b-because t-they are so low on money t-that they couldn't even afford to t-take care of us."
"And not to mention, we would get sick from eating too much sweets", she added.
"Aw." The bee uttered his disappointment, "I wanted to try that new candy from the candyshop."
"Don't worry Charmy", the blonde bee reassured, "we will figure out something once we're done buying those foods. Then, we could buy that candy you wanted to try if we had enough money left."
"Sounds like a plan. Let's see what we can buy with the money, I'm starving now."
After hearing their conversation, Espio's angry expression gradually became a pitiful one. Those kids were poor and even their own caretakers from their own orphanage didn't bother to take care of them, which led them to steal for survival. The chameleon almost felt like he should let him slide with his money... however, the pity stopped when he remembered the reason why he needed the money for himself. Determined, he walked toward the bee, still invisible, and took out the wallet, as well as the money, from the bug's hands.
"You little brat. This is mine!"
"Gah! A ghost!" Charmy didn't know what just happened.
The peers screamed in horror as well when they saw the wallet floating in the air and voice coming from nowhere. They just witnessed a ghost!
But then, Espio turned visible again, he glared at them before he counted the money. He sighed in relieve that he didn't lost a single ring.
The small bee recognized him and prostrated before him, in tears and desperation.
"Sorrysorrymister,butwewerehungryandtheorphanageweren'tabletotakecareofussowehavetostealforlivingsorrysorrysorry!"
Espio was about to leave them behind, but something made him stopped a bit. That kid was truly desperate to live his own life, and now that he was depriving him of his bounty, and therefore, food, he couldn't help but feel guilty about it. He felt like having a huge weight that was stuck inside his heart growing exponentially, which it would drag him into the solid ground. He turned back toward the kid.
Charmy cowered in fear, thinking he would receive a punishment for his unlikable deed. To his surprise, he gave him 20 rings instead. The bee was astounded by this unexpected selfless act. Did he really mean it? Why did he have a change of heart that all of a sudden?
"Here, take this."
Charmy stood still, dumbfounded.
"Well, will you take it or not?"
Without hesitation, Charmy took it.
"Wow, thank you mister. No one ever did such an act of kindness to us. By the way, why did you do that?"
"Well, you mentioned that your orphanage couldn't take care of you, right? And besides, if I don't help you, I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life. However, it won't excuse me for wasting my money before rent day."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, I am presently living inside an apartment, and each month, I have to pay a sum in order to keep living there, or else they'll evict me, and if they do, I won't have anywhere to live and as a result. That said I would have to move somewhere else and start a new life."
"What does evict mean?"
"It means get kicked out of your house."
"Gasp, but that's horrible. We are starting to like you. You can't move out like that!"
"Which is why I have to find a job that pays. And I have to do it fast. The rent day is tomorrow."
"I think I found a great job for you, mister. Follow me."
Espio obeyed.
Not far away from the alleyway, they found a cafe across the street.
"So, that's the job you were talking about?"
"Exactly, that's where me and my gang hang out together every day." He grinned, "the food here tasted delicious and lots of people go there to eat. I'm sure you'll gain a lot of money in no time. Well, not sure how much you must pay for your rent."
"Well, I've spent 50 rings on the grocery, and now that I gave you 20 rings, I believe I'll need at least 70 rings if I don't want to move out."
"70 rings? Well, I'm gonna make sure you'll never get out of this town, ever, and you can count me in. By the way, what's your name, mister?"
"I'm Espio. Espio the Chameleon."
"Hi Espio, I'm Charmy Bee."
The bee flew away.
Espio breathed in and out before he headed toward the cafe. A nervous chill developed within his heart before it went across his stomach rapidly. He couldn't do it, he thought. Like against his will, he hesitantly lifted his hand and put it on the cold and silvery grey door handle. He grasped it firmly and...
It didn't budge.
To his surprise, the chameleon retried to open it several time, and nothing happened. On the other side of the glass door, he could see a brown squirrel washing the glass. Espio presumed she was an employee or the manager of this coffee bar. When she saw a purple chameleon staring at her by the transparent door, she pointed at the schedule list glued on the glass. Espio took a look:
Rainbow Cafe
Monday ~ 11:00 - 23:00
Tuesday ~ Closed
Wednesday ~ 11:00 - 23:00
Tuesday ~ 11:00 - 23:00
Friday ~ 11:00 - 23:00
Saturday ~ 8:00 – 17:00
Sunday ~ 8:00 – 17:00
Then Espio took a look down, a familiar red sign with white edge with the word CLOSED written in it.
"We're not open yet", the squirrel explained, a bit muffled due to the closed doors, "please come back later."
"I'm here for an appointment; I wish to get a job here."
"We will talk about that later."
"But, it's an emergency; I need at least 70 rings or else I'll face an eviction, and I'll do anything to avoid that. Heck, I'll even do extra works and night shift if this establishment allowed us to."
"Come back here at 11 o'clock and we'll see about that."
Espio looked at his watch before he put his hand down.
"Well, if you said so. I guess that'll leave me more time to get my grocery bags back."
He ran away, leaving the place behind.
Back to his apartment, Espio was placing the food he bought inside the empty fridge. When he was done, he went back to the door and exited his home.
Bang!
He closed the door behind him a bit abruptly. Unknown to him, a piece of paper dropped from the table and landed on the hot pink rug, right in front of the entry door.
It was dark.
Espio was walking in the street, the cold and darkness surrounding him. Only a few lights from streetlights could shine (or sometimes, flicker) through this unsettling darkness that enveloped the partially ruined and fissured city. It also made the lone chameleon felt a little safe. However, he didn't worry. Indeed, after a long day of working in the Rainbow Cafe for the first time, he came out completely exhausted, yet satisfied that he gained his 70 rings. For his first day at his new job, he diligently overworked himself, from cashier to sweeping the floor, and he even worked during his pauses! As gruelling as it may seem, this came out with a great reward; he was now able to pay his rent. Out of exhaustion, he was heading, or rather trudging, toward his home, his heavy eyelids half-closed, his body bent over and his brain half-functioned. All he cared was to go back home as soon as possible and slip inside his comfy bed.
"!"
Then, something made him react despite being tired; he remembered that the driver told him about the city being crime-driven and thugs terrorizing the streets.
"What is he talking about", he tried to restore confidence in himself while in his half asleep state, "I never met a single criminal ever since I came here, and the only crime committed on me was that bee who stole my money, but he wasn't so bad. I think he must have exaggerated a bit."
THUD!
He suddenly felt something knocking him out cold on the head with a herculean force. He fainted from the impact, not knowing what hit him. A black silhouette stared at the fainting chameleon before they dragged him away.
"Boss, we found you another fresh meat."
"Ah, good."
The chameleon woke up, his vision a bit blurry, and his head still in pain from the previous concussion. Holding his forehead, he looked around, a bit confused.
"Ugh, what just happened? Where am I?"
He recoiled from the bad smell in the air all of a sudden. Wherever this place he was in smelled horrible!
"Sorry fer the smell of this place, but it cannot be helped."
The chameleon started in shock. The voice that made him jumped sounded masculine and had a weird accent as well. He wanted to run away, but then, two red mobians were holding him by his arms. He was held prisoner as he was forced to watch the silhouette staring at him with two glowing eyes from the darkness. The chameleon remembered everything about the whole criminal warning and assumed that this very same silhouette was the criminal leader who terrorized the city (according to the driver, anyway).
The chameleon gathered his courage and voiced his bravado at his possible assailant.
"If yeh insist." The silhouette walked out of the darkness to reveal a giant green crocodile who wore a pair of black earphone on his head and a golden chain around his neck. "Man, I'd never think ya could be the stubborn type."
His courage dissipated abruptly (and replaced by fear) when he saw the crocodile's appearance for the first time. He expected the rumored leader to be intimidating, but not like this. This huge green reptile was wide, muscular and must be twice as tall as him. He also had a menacing look on his face and sharp teeth that could cut through metal. The crocodile approached, grabbed his chin with his huge fingers and forcibly tilted his head to his eyes level, which stared at him. The chameleon was frightened yet hypnotized at the same time by his menacing stare. His amber eyes met his vermillion eyes. Refined and slightly feminine face met rough and heavily masculine one. The crocodile appeared to examine his victim.
"Mmh, interesting", he commented as he moved his head around," of all victims yeh guys had found me, ya found another reptile. I haven't seen another one besides myself until now. I thought I was the only one in this town."
Unknown to him, he breathed on the smaller reptile's face due the proximity of his long and huge jaws to him. He shuddered in disgust when he felt his hot and putrid breath blowing on him inadvertently as he talked, but couldn't move at all, due to being held by the echidna and the armadillo, not to mention the crocodile was still holding his face near his, preventing his head to even jerk.
"He's a little scrawny to my taste, just flesh and bones no doubt, however, he does look and smell exotic, and rather handsome-looking too. I don't mind trying him tonight."
The crocodile gave the chameleon a sly look, which didn't sit well with the latter.
Then, without warning, the bigger reptile licked sloppily the smaller one. He shuddered violently and groaned in fear and disgust as he could sense the heat and moistness of the sleek and massive pink tongue leaving a huge trail of reeking saliva that extended from his neck to his right cheek, eye and forehead, covering half of his face. It also dripped down to his body.
"Ugh", that was all he could say as his scale turned green and his expression was frozen from shock. Oh no, he didn't!
Knuckles ran toward a tunnel, the darkness seemly engulfing him as he went to the search of the said potion. Mighty, now all alone, was holding both of the prisoner's wrists. Espio vainly moved violently to escape. Despite being held by only one being, the armadillo was capable of holding him on his own even without the help of another guy. Espio used his feet, being his only free limbs, besides his curly tail, in order to kick the armadillo's legs and stomp on his feet while he was facing backward. Of course, it hurt the armadillo like hell, but he was still resilient on restraining the chameleon.
"Ow, boss, a little help here?"
The crocodile had obliged as he crouched down and restrained his legs.
"Now, be gentle and don't move", he ordered.
"Sorry for the wait, Vector."
The echidna finally (and unfortunately) came back from the dark and showed them a small vial made of transparent glass containing a mysterious red liquid inside.
"Shall we start?"
"Finally you're back; this horny savage is killing me!"
"Wait, what did you just called me?", the prisoner asked, offended.
"Whatever, make him drink the potion."
Knuckles headed toward the struggling chameleon and tried to put it inside the chameleon's mouth. The prisoner, hopeless at this point, moved his head back and forth while keeping his mouth shut. He stubbornly refused to drink whatever was inside that glass container.
"Damn it", the echidna swore, already frustrated, "he is more stubborn than I thought!"
"Here, let me help", Mighty offered.
He crushed his prisoner's wrists that he was still griping, hoping he could make him yelp, or at least open his mouth. Espio's tried his best to resist despite the horrible pain his poor wrists went through. The herculean strength of this one armadillo proved to be beyond his thought. He could feel his bone slowly crushed from the sheer force, it felt like a mix of burning and extreme pressure.
"Ow!"
The excruciating pain was too much for him to handle. He yelped in pain as a result. Sadly for him, this mean that Knuckles succeeded to put the potion inside his open mouth and forced him to drink it. He witnessed himself gulping down the weird liquid down into his throat. He was then released after the deed was done. He fell into the ground, spitting out the liquid he just drank, trying to get rid of its taste from his taste bud. Man, it tasted rancid! (Think about sock sweat mixed with cough syrup medicine, well that's what he just tasted)
His vision began to blur a bit, he started to feel woozy. He looked around and saw in his POV that everything was growing. He saw Vector advancing toward him, making himself visible to his visual field. Well, that is if he could even see him entirely from this close anyway. Espio knew he was gigantic when he first laid his eyes upon him. But now, he appeared to be a large tower to the small chameleon. Vector grinned and bent over to pick the shrunken reptile. The chameleon quickly stood up and took to his heels as fast as he could. Unfortunately, being shrunk mean that his speed was greatly reduced to a giant, and it wouldn't take long for Vector to finally catch him with his giant gloved claws. He lifted him by his tail toward his menacing crocodilian look. Espio looked away from it, not because he was terrified, but he was hoping that everything that happened to him right now was only a nightmare. He needed to wake up.
"Welcome to my territory, little stranger."
Espio yelped at the booming voice as he covered his poor painful ears as fast as he could. However, he couldn't do anything against the giant putrid breath coming from his giant jaws that blew on his entire body like a giant fan. The smell almost made his stomach turned to a 180 degree, he thanked himself he didn't eat, or else it was going to be messy.
"W-what do you want for me?" He stuttered while trying to keep his composure, which proved to be difficult, especially when he was dangled many feet away from the ground by a gargantuan carnivorous reptile.
"Oh, nothing special. I need you. I need you to satisfy me."
"Satisfy you about what?" he inquired with curiosity. He shouldn't ask.
"See, I haven't eaten since this mornin' and it makes me mad when I'm hungry. Sure, I was thinkin' of headin' outside and eat at some diners, but I'm in the mood fer somethin' fresh and alive."
He stared at his tiny victim with a smirk as some drool seeped through the spiky teeth and dripped through his jaws (and he cleaned them up by licking them away). Espio gulped as he slowly got the hint.
"Y-you can't be serious. You disgusting monster, put me down this instant. I'm warning you, don't you even dare think about it, or else..."
"You're my dinner."
Those growling, deep-sounding words penetrated Espio's body like broken shards. He struggled and struggled, trying to get out of the giant's grip. Vector looked at his panicking prey in amusement. As he struggled in order to save his dear life, the crocodile proceeded to dangled him above his open jaws without mercy. The chameleon abruptly stopped and yelped as he looked down in complete terror the saliva-ridden jaws, which heavily covered the huge pink and glistening tongue; strings of saliva connected from the tongue to the palate, sharp tooth and even the dark gullet slowly, which broke and assimilated into the liquid below. The crocodile rotten scented breath blew onto his victim once again, which made him quiver. He'll never get used to that smell. Out of desperation, he tried to hold on the huge claw to avoid the fatal (and revolting) fall, which proved to be difficult since the giant was holding him by his tail and that his arm aren't long enough to reach them, let alone grab them. However, he knew that if he tried harder, he could at least grab the tissue of his gloved hand. With all his might, he used his weight and flexibility to swing himself toward the finger.
"Almost there. ALMOST THERE." The chameleon encouraged himself, concentrated on his task.
He could feel his hand getting nearer and nearer, which gave him hope he could get it. He was this close to get it, only one swing and...
Suddenly, he began to get farther from the fingers and gravity took him over. He realized that Vector released his grip and now, he was falling into the wide, salivating and eager jaw.
"Argh!" that was all he could scream out before he felt his face (then his entire body) splatted brusquely on the tongue, making a sickening sound in the process.
Surprisingly, his fall was cushioned due to the muscle's softness.
Then, as a reflex, Vector snapped his jaw shut when he felt the chameleon had landed on his tongue.
Espio was left inside in complete darkness. He could feel the rancid and humid air that filled the entire maw scorching his scales and filling his nostril. The chameleon panicked. Bad enough he was stuck inside this wet and smelly torture chamber, but he was stuck inside a tight place.
"T-this isn't happening!" he wanted to shout out of dread. "It must be a nightmare! Wake up, Espio, wake up!"
However, while he was distracted, the long and wide tongue shifted and rolled around him like a burrito, coating his already wet scales
ARGH! I'M NOT DREAMING!
The chameleon kicked, punched and struggle his way out of the colossal wrapping tongue. It finally released him out of its hold. But before he could relieve himself, he cried as it started to move up and down, he whirled accross the cavernous mouth, warm saliva sloshing all over him. It soaked his purple and black shoes and his white gloves, and filled inside his mouth and nostril.
Kof! Kof! Ugh. Argh!
He accidentally took a mouthful of the sticky substance and spat it out as soon as possible. The awful taste of the crocodile's saliva hit his taste bud, which made him wish to switch his own tongue for a new one. If the stench of the breath and saliva was bad, the taste of it was even worse. It tasted like salt mixed on a rotten meat. Espio almost hurled in complete disgust, but couldn't do it since he was already drowning inside what felt like a big and elongated organic washing machine with no breathable air, dry place or even light.
"Aah!"
Espio let out a cry of pain as he felt several big pointy objects piercing his soft purple scale, making it spilled some blood in the process. It didn't take him long enough to realize that it was Vector's sharp teeth, who threatened to chew him.
Vector let out a happy murmur. He never thought the chameleon could taste this sweet. He ignored the struggle and hopelessness of the captive as he sucked on his body, savoring him. He licked and licked every inch on his scale, feeling his breath and squirming. He was glad to live. (Or rather skip his dinner)
Alas, we couldn't say the same with the chameleon. After he avoided the teeth, he slipped and fell into the floor of mouth, splashing in the shallow pool, as the tongue began to painfully grind his body, like soft sandpaper grinding a piece of wood. With all of his strength, he tried to ward off the pink appendage off him, which proved to be extremely difficult. After a while of enduring his seemly endless torture, Espio was sprawling over the tongue, panting, he was now out of strength, breath or even courage to do anything against the seemly unbeatable blasted reptile. Yet, he knew that his remaining bit of courage wasn't completely gone; he needed to remain resourceful like he was. He didn't flee to this town and hide in order to become someone else lunch, all he wanted was to resolve his case and return to his hometown once he was done. He wanted to catch the villain who left him into this mess and live a (sort of) happy ending. He delved his right hand into the black and silver compartment around his left now sticky wrist, seemly taking something from it.
"I hope this will work", he thought with a glimpse of hope.
Outside, Vector was eager to finish his light snack before going to bed.
"Aw man, this sucks", he thought, disappointed."I'm tired and I don't wanna swallow mah food right now. Oh well, there's plenty of people I can eat tomorrow. I can live with that."
He tilted his head and swall-
"OW!"
He felt scorching pain on his tongue. It only got worse and worse.
Inside, Espio was using his kunai to stab the soft tongue, making it bleed. He even threw several shuriken toward the throat; some of them even hit the uvula.
"I tasted good, right?" he taunted as he attacked continually the inside of his maw. "How about some spice to go along this morsel, you like your food extra spicy, right?"
It was cheesy, he knows.
"ARGH!"
The pain got him so bad that he had no choice but to spat his food out. The chameleon flew out of the jaw at the speed of sound as he crashed painfully on the ground, rolling over like a barrel and had his head landed on the puddle of the remaining potion. He grew back to his original size as soon as he drank it by accident. The animal, now all sticky and in his original size, tried to recover himself and his rugged breath. The crocodile didn't show mercy toward him, however. Indeed, after he made some cut on his tongue (making it bleed in the process) and hurt his throat, his heart and brain burst in anger, followed by his white eyes becoming red and bloodshot. It was clear that this chameleon's gonna pay hard!
"Mighty. Knuckles. Let's seize him!"
The two henchmen obeyed.
YIKES
Espio had only one idea going inside his mind.
RUN!
He rushed through the dark tunnel that Knuckles took before and disappeared in the complete obscurity. When he got out from the other end, he immediately braked and teetered when he almost fell into a sewer system down below. He was glad he didn't tumble down, or else he was going to be very messy. (Even though he was already messy)
"C'me back here, ya little bastard!"
Espio turned around to see that the raging crocodile was chasing him like an angry bull. He turned invisible out of reflex and walked out of the way. Vector didn't expected that to happen and, unfortunately for him, couldn't stop his sprinting as he accidentally ran out of the edge and fell into the sewer river screaming, where he plunged into the murky water. Espio was looking at his misfortune with a smirk. Good riddance, he thought.
"He should be here. I just know."
Sadly for our hero, he would have to snap back to reality and get rid of the goonies. He ran away and saw a nearby ladder.
"An exit!" he exclaimed triumphantly.
He was about to climb out when he saw the red minions seemly tailing after him.
"He went here, and it seems like he is about to escape!"
WHAT? Impossible. How can they see him when I'm invisible?
His question was soon answered when he saw a trail of wet footprints that followed him on the sewer's already humid border.
OH CHAOS! I completely forgot that I'm all wet and sticky!
Espio mentally facepalmed for his stupidity. He can render himself invisible, but not his footprints. And because he was dripping with Vector's saliva, any trace he left behind betrayed him, and made him easier to find. He quickly got out of the manhole and put back the heavy bronze lid on the open hole. After that, he ran away as fast as he could.
"The crocodile's minions will get out of the hole in a moment", he thought nervously as he ran, "and there's no way for me to hide now that I leave wet footprints behind. If I go back home, they'll find me. What am I going to do?"
He looked at the trail of footprints he left behind and looked back at his drenched gloves. An idea formed inside his head.
Meanwhile, Mighty and Knuckles got out of the manhole. The two began their search.
"Give up, chameleon, you have nowhere to run, especially with the sloppy footprint you've left behind", Knuckles tried to communicate with the hidden chameleon as he followed said footprints.
"Yeah, we didn't want to hurt you, we were just following our boss' orders", Mighty wanted to comfort him.
"Mighty, stop, you're ruining Vector's reputation", he whispered/grounded his fellow friend.
"Sorry."
The two followed the trail. They advanced toward the crossroad before they turned right. When they thought they were about to find him, something unexpected stopped them on their track: the entire road was covered in footprints and handprints. They were in different directions; it was like the movement of someone who got drunk and staggered everywhere akin to a cyclone. Finding him was much more confusing now.
Of course, the echidna punched the cement road to take out his frustration, causing a mini earthquake and a dented road in the process.
"Please Knuckles, calm down" Mighty pleaded to his hot-tempered echidna friend, "just let him be. It's not worth to chase him down like that. I'm pretty sure he'll come back tomorrow, and if he did, Vector will do his job and get rid of him by himself."
"I guess you're right", Knuckles was finally convinced.
"How about we go to a diner and eat, I'm a bit hungry."
"Alright, that is if we can find one that isn't closed by now."
The two turned on their heel as if they gave up their search. When they were finally out of sight, the chameleon broke out his camouflage, making himself visible again. He climbed on a wall and he stuck there all along in order to avoid detection.
"Sigh, that was close. Now, it's the best opportunity to go back home."
He turned invisible again and climbed on the top of the building where he ran and jumped across every buildings until he reached his.
Espio finally made it to his building. He went inside; the cold breeze froze his soaked scales and penetrated into his flesh, then made it through his fragile bones. He slogged, teeth clattering, trying to get some warm while crossing his arms. He was relieved when he realized that his apartment was only several feet apart. Sonic came back from his nocturnal stroll not too long ago and was about to open his door, when he saw Espio. He happily welcomed him back.
"Hey Esp..."
Suddenly, he recoiled as he pinched his nose; the disgusting smell entered his nostrils and made his eyes watered a bit.
"Ugh, what happened to you? Why are you all wet? And what's that horrible smell?"
Espio said nothing; he refused to tell his neighbor the unbelievable and humiliating "sticky" situation he went through. He entered his apartment, took out his drenched shoes and gloves, having one thing in mind he wanted once he was home: to take a scorching bath.
One bath wasn't enough for the chameleon. In fact, he had to take at least three just to get rid of that horrible stench. Sadly for him, the bath wasn't exactly an efficient therapy to get rid of his horrible experience inside of Vector's mouth. Images of him getting violently assaulted by his tongue will forever haunt his nightmares.
He looked at the time:
23:14
"Well, I didn't expect to be back this early. I guess there's time for me to wash my shoes and gloves."
He took out the kunai and shuriken out of his compartment, which happened to be covered in drool and dripping from it as well.
"Ugh, I'm not sure how long it's gonna take me to clean those."
He was about to wash his shoes when Espio noticed something under its sole. He took it out like a sticker and realized it was the "Ringleader" paper from one of his clues he found that he unknowingly stepped on it while he came back home.
Oh NO!
He frantically tried to clean up the drooly side of the paper (which is also the blank side of the paper), not wanting to have one of his only clues and hope to get out of this nightmare ruined. Suddenly, something strange began to happen. He noticed that when he was done wiping out the liquid, he noticed a note appearing. The letters were written in red and were handwritten by someone.
The Chameleon read it out loud.
Please, meet me at six o'clock. I have a mission for you. Help me defame the blasted chameleon and then get rid of him. I'll reward you handsomely in return. -Signed ANONYMOUS
Espio grasped the paper firmly, devastated and mad. Someone must have planned to frame the unfortunate chameleon and kill him afterward. Whoever the vile character did this deserve more than being reported to the authority and incarcerated afterward. In fact, they deserved to die! Espio then tried to calm down and headed to the bathroom to wash his clothing and weapons.
After an entire month of trying to shed some light in his case, he finally did it. Only 98% more to go…