Hi, I'm just gonna say this chapter received no rewrite unlike previous ones, so enjoy. Also, I'm thinking of writing two new one-shots, what do you think?
"Gah! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"
Espio woke up in complete terror. He was sweating a waterfall and breathing with lungs stuck by corks. He made another nightmare about him getting attacked by that giant tongue.
It's just a dream, a horrible, disgusting dream.
However, it didn't really help for the fact that he dreamed about it three times in a row last night, which kept him from getting some proper sleep.
Now, he tried to relieve himself with positive thought as his breath began to slowly return to its regular rhythm. He breathed in, breathed out. Breath in, breath out.
"Well, that wasn't so bad."
DRIIIING!
The sound of the doorbell almost made the chameleon jumped out of his bed. He looked at himself and felt discomforted by the fact he was still in his nightwear, or rather nothing at all, since he usually slept naked, with no gloves or shoes on. He prepared himself in a hurry as he tried to brush his teeth, dissipating the morning breath away, washed his face and wore his gloves and shoes at the same time.
KNOCK KNOCK!
The knocking began to get more eager.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Espio spoke as he rushed toward the door.
He opened it.
It was his landlord.
"Sir, it's time to pay the rent."
Espio's eyes widened a bit.
"Oh, the rent, I almost forgot. Hold on a second."
He rushed toward a dresser, about to take out and gave him those 200 rings from the wallet.
"I'm late! I'm late!"
Espio ran across the street. He had looked at the calendar as well as the time while he was paying his rent, and remembered that he had to go to work. One thing he cannot stand is being late. He knew bad consequences could happen when one is late. I mean, what good can happen if you're late.
"Hey!" "Watch it!"
In his rush, he accidentally bumped on some passerby. He wanted to say "sorry" to each of them, but he couldn't since that would cost him time to get to the cafe in time. Lucky for him, the cafe wasn't too far ahead. He looked at his watch.
"Pff, that's a relief." He thought, "if I keep running, I won't be considered late."
"Hey Espio!"
A child voice can be heard piercing through his ears. The chameleon turned around, and, what did he know, it was that bee. He appeared cheerful as he flew toward him, holding something behind his back.
"Charmy? What is it?"
"I want to give you something."
"Can it be done later? I'm kinda late right now."
"I said now."
Espio sighed in annoyance.
"Close your eyes."
He obeyed.
"Now hold your hand toward me."
Once again, he obeyed. He felt something on it. Like some kind of envelope being deposed on his gloved palm. He decided to open his eye. Unsurprisingly to him, it WAS an envelope.
"An envelope? What is that for? "
"Open it."
He opened the envelope, revealing familiar looking tickets in it.
"Wait. Are those rings?", he asked, dumbfounded.
"Pretty neat, huh? I stole them while they weren't watching."
"It's nice, but what am I supposed to do with that?"
"Well, since you have to pay the rent in order to stay here, I have to steal some money for you."
"It's nice, but I can't accept it. It's embarrassing and disgraceful to use money that I didn't earn, especially stolen money."
"...b-but."
"Please, keep it for yourself. You need the money more than I do. Besides, I found myself a steady job for it."
The reptile left the insect behind, resuming his way to the cafe.
"Espio, what happened to you? You looked terrible."
Sally examined her weary employee, his head bending toward the cash register and the
eyelids heavy. He quickly snapped out of his doze.
"Uh what? Sorry, Sally, but I didn't sleep very well last night. I constantly had nightmares about something vile and disgusting. No matter how much I've tried to get over the images, it kept coming back, haunting my psyche."
"That must be horrible."
"You don't say. I promise myself to go to bed sooner tonight."
"By the way, what did you exactly dreamt last night?"
Espio was about to speak, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of the door opening.
He turned around and...
GASP!
A familiar crocodile came inside the place. Espio hid behind the cash register, cowering a bit.
Great, he groaned, of all places he has to go and eat, it has to be this one.
Sally, however, didn't understand his sudden behavior at all.
"What's wrong, Espio?"
"Whatever you do, don't expose me to him", he whispered/begged to his boss.
"Excuse me miss."
Sally turned around; the crocodile was already standing before her.
"Hi, what do you want, sir?"
"I'd like to have a bifteck, please."
"That'll be 12 rings, please."
The crocodile approached the cash register and peaked behind it. Of course, he noticed the chameleon. He managed to recognize him despite having his face hidden from the bigger reptile. He turned toward the manager and asked:
"Excuse me, lady. Who's that purple scaly chicken hiding behind the cash register?"
"Oh, that's my new employee. For some reason, he isn't in the mood to see you."
"Can yeh please send him to me so we can talk?"
"Well, huh. Sure, why not..."
Arg! Traitor!
Sure, the chipmunk was facing toward the still curled up chameleon. She began to open her mouth.
"Espio, quit acting like a coward."
"I wasn't acting like a coward", he defended himself, deeply offended, "I was only trying to protect myself. There's a big difference."
"Look, I'm not sure what that crocodile has ever done to you, but he told me he wanted to see you. I can't deny the request, you know."
"Are you kidding? That guy is the origin of my nightmares from last night. He'd probably do the same thing again, and then I'll never be able to sleep again.'
"You are exaggerating."
"Trust me, I'm not. You don't want to know what this disgusting beast had done to me last night. But I can't tell you no matter how much I try, because if I do, you'll never take me seriously afterward."
"Just. See. Him. And. Have. A. Small. Chit-chat." She muttered to him word by word.
Espio muttered to himself, a little frustrated.
"By the way, take this plate to the client."
She handed to him the plate containing the bifteck. He sighed in defeat and walked toward the awaiting hungry costumer.
"Here's the plate sir", he put down the trail on the crocodile's table.
He drooled a little as he eyed his steamy, good-smelling meal. Espio was about to leave, but was prevented from Sally's glare. He decided to stay with the crocodile, who was eating his dinner like a pig. Chunks of meat flew out of the plate and landed on the clean table. Espio's expression of disgust took shape. After a while of awkward silent moment, he finally succeeded to utter a word, albeit reluctantly.
"Hey."
The crocodile looked at him, without saying a word.
"Sorry, for last night."
He swallowed his mouthful of meat and began to talk.
"Eh that's nothing, what's the matter with that anyway?"
"Well, the thing is, I had no choice, I didn't want to end up in your stomach and get digested in the process."
"What's the point of your reasoning anyway, you sound like every victim I had, ever. Even they never admitted the truth like you do."
"That's not the point. I already have a miserable life of my own. I am not from here, I think you knew that, I had to move out from my own town and start a new life here."
"Sounds sad, I'd give yeh that."
"Of course you'd say that", he commented while rolling his eyes," You lived here for years; folks around here must have respected you like a king, while you act like a tyrant. You wouldn't worry much yourself, right?"
"Actually, I do worry, a lot."
Interested, Espio opened his invisible ears.
"Wait, what?"
"See, I may be the most feared mobian in the city, but I have to keep my reputation in check for that. I have my two minions, who were also my best friends as well, to work for me."
"Uh-huh."
"I did horrible things, I admit. But I did it because I had no choice. I'm a lone croc and no ones like me."
Tears began to form in his eyes. They dripped down his green cheeks. Espio can't help but feel sad for him. However, despite his empathy, something wasn't right when the crocodile was crying, but he couldn't figure it out.
"And now, I can't eat my steak properly. I need you to get outside with me."
"But, I'm still working."
"It's fine" Sally assured him, "I'm allowing you to take a break now. After all, trying to get him better is more important."
"WHAT?" Espio exclaimed in disbelief.
"Thank you missy for letting me borrow this guy for an instant."
He then proceeded to grab him and forced him out the cafe.
Espio was struck against a solid brick wall, feeling an agonizing pain all over him in the process.
He was currently outside the cafe along with the crocodile. The bigger reptile didn't seem to forgive him about the whole event from yesterday. In fact, his anger only increased from what the chameleon remembered. Right now, he was holding him with both hands against the now dented wall. His intense glare made the poor chameleon gulped in fear.
"Gotcha now, ya little dipshit", he growled at his little prisoner. "Ya really think I'd forgive you for yesterday, didn't ya?"
"Well, I did believe that at first" Espio defended himself, trying his best to keep his collected manner, despite the hot breath tickling his face. "I can't believe I fell for that. Then again, I really shouldn't have listened to you in the first place."
"Well, yeh better, I'll never forgive you for hurting my tongue like that!"
"Wait what? All that beating for a tongue? Are you serious?" he demanded in disbelief.
"My tongue is actually pretty sensitive. Besides my face. Don't you realize how painful it was for me to even eat or drink?"
"Stop being a crybaby. I expected a fearsome gang leader, not a bully who behaves like a spoiled brat."
He spoke too much.
Now, all he could see was Vector's glare growing exponentially (showing dark circles underneath his eyes), if that wasn't enough for the chameleon's flesh and bones to melt away from his grasp, his already deep voice shifting to an even deeper and menacing tone certainly would.
"That's it", he growled, drools falling from his protruding jaw," no one, I mean NO ONE is allowed to insult me like that. Geddit?"
"What are you going to do? Punch me until you break every bones of my body just like you did to your previous victims that you didn't eat?" he quipped defiantly.
Vector paused a bit, a bit confused.
"Eh... I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I do kinda like that idea."
Now, it was Espio turn to be confused.
While he was sunk deep inside his thought, the crocodile raised his fist, about to punch him. The chameleon snapped out and struggled, but couldn't escape. He closed his eyes, praying that the beating won't be too painful.
"I'll pound yer little body until it turned into mince meat and then I'll eat it-!"
Out of nowhere, he stopped in the middle of the sentence, his infuriated expression turned into a painful one. He fainted, and he indirectly freed his target as well. The chameleon sighed in relief. That was a close one. He turned to his savior. It was Charmy Bee, standing behind a laid down crocodile. He seemed happy to see the chameleon again.
"Hey Espio."
Espio can't help but felt content about the bee presence. He could thank whoever-the-lord-of-this-world-is for that same bee who tried to steal him.
"Thanks for saving me, Charmy."
"No problem, but I wasn't here to save you in the first place."
"Go on."
"I need you. I need you to help me choose a jacket for me. I don't know how to choose, so I always end up buying both things at once. I think I may have contributed to the orphanage's debt", he admitted sheepish.
"Well, I'll help you. But better learn to pick one or the other, not both."
He rose up from the ground as he prepared to leave a paralyzed Vector behind.
"By the way, what have you done to him?"
"I stung him on the back. The venom has taken effect on him."
"Oh, is it fatal?"
"Nah, the effect only last for a while, he should be back in shape in an hour or two. I dunno."
Afterward, the chameleon and the bee left.
I don't understand. The driver told me Vector would break every bones of his victims' body if they were lucky not to get eaten. How come he is completely unaware of it? Mmh. Maybe he was lying on that statement?