CHAPTER 12
A month passed by quickly it seemed while the Chaotix team remained busy setting up their new headquarters almost day by day. It was late that warm afternoon. A gentle breeze had blown causing some of the colorful autumn leaves to fall off the trees.
Tikal stood in front of a huge building that wasn't completely finished yet. She gazed at the detective building in admiration.
The building was a lot bigger than the old one. This one now had two floors instead of one.
Tikal had remembered that Shadow mentioned that the agency wouldn't be completely finished until another month. She like everyone else was thrilled to see it when it would be officially done. With a wide smile on her face, she walked through the two entrance doors of the building. Once she stepped inside, she looked around and thought that outside of the building looked more finished than the inside .
Inside of the main lobby was practically nothing except for a few chairs and tables here and there. The walls had nothing on them as well. It just looked like a giant white and empty room.
She imagined if the downstairs looked empty, she could imagine the top floor being even more empty looking. Her thought were interrupted when she heard Rouge's voice call out to her.
"Oh hey, Tikal!"
The orange echidna spun around to face the white bat woman who was approaching her. "Oh Rouge, hi!" Her eyes caught sight of Rouge's new attire.
She wore a skin tight long sleeve purple collared shirt that revealed much of her massive cleavage. She had her sleeves rolled up slightly passed her elbows. She also wore a long black skirt that had a slit that revealed much of her leg, and black high heeled shoes.
"You're wearing the new uniform shirt."
Rouge rolled her eyes when she didn't seem very thrilled with the new uniform idea. "We all are. Shadow made it mandatory yesterday."
Tikal looked around and saw that everyone else was wearing similar attire. The shirts were the same but just different colors.
Espio's collared shirt was blue but he modified it by taking off the sleeves of the shirt, making it sleeveless. He wore the shirt open but he wore a black turtleneck vest underneath. He wore blue jeans and his original purple and black shoes.
Tonya wore her same long sleeve white collared shirt with black skinny jeans, and black dress shoes.
Charmy wore a yellow long sleeve collared shirt, blue shorts, and his same orange and white shoes.
Appex wore an orange long sleeve collared shirt. He wore his shirt unbuttoned just as Espio. He had on a blue t shirt underneath it, black fitted pants, and white and yellow shoes.
Midnight wore a brown long sleeve collared shirt, white skinny jeans, and knee high black boots with silver buckles going down the front of them.
Ker wore a black long sleeve collared shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes.
Tikal turned back to Rouge, "I like it, but why the sudden uniforms?"
"In Shadow's words, he wanted to go for a more professional look." When Rouge heard the door slam from the backroom, she looked to turn to a black and red hedgehog approaching them with an orange extension cord in his hand.
"Hey babe, can you help me for a sec?" His eyes looked over to Tikal who was giving him a friendly smile. "Oh hey, Tikal."
"Hi, Shadow." She noticed that he wore the new uniform shirt as well. She studied his new attire.
Shadow now wore a long sleeve red collared shirt, black skinny jeans with a wallet chain hanging on the left side of his jeans, a gun holster was on the right side of his leg, and he wore black and white sneakers.
"How are things?"
"Busy as usual", he answered. "Trying to get everything set up and all."
The orange echidna nodded and glanced around the room once more, "Things are looking great so far."
"Thanks." He turned to Rouge and held the extension cord up at her. "Assistance please? Since Espio probably ran off somewhere to make out with Tonya."
She placed her hands on her hips and sighed heavily, "Sure, hun."
Shadow flashed his eyes over to her and lightly pinched her sides, "Hey don't get snippy with me, woman."
She playfully smacked his hand away from her and giggled, "I'll get snippy if I want to."
Tikal couldn't help but to smile as the two casually flirted with each other. When Shadow had announced his engagement to Rouge, Tikal was more than happy for the two. Before the two could walk off, Tikal had spoke up. "Uh hey, Shadow?"
He quickly spun around to turn to her.
"Do you need any extra help? I'm not doing much of anything today."
He shook his head, "No thanks, Tikal. I have enough people in here as it is."
"…Okay." She watched as Shadow and Rouge made their way to the backroom. She didn't want to leave. There had to be someone she could spend time with. She looked over to Ker, Midnight, and Appex who were brining in more furniture into the lobby. She smiled at the sight of them and decided to see if they needed any of her help. "Hey, guys! You need any help?"
Appex turned to her. "Nope. We're good."
"Are you sure? That stuff looks really heavy."
Appex pointed at Ker and Midnight who stood behind him, "Um yeah. I'm getting help from an artificial being and a demon. I think we're okay."
Tikal sighed in disappointment and was thinking about just leaving until she spotted Charmy who was carrying a red toolbox into the garage of the building. She had wanted to ask him if he needed any help. She walked up to him trying to put a friendly smile on her face. "Hey, Charmy…" Her words trailed off as the bee spoke without even turning to her .
"I'm busy", he spoke in a bitter tone.
She stopped and watched as he used his wings to fly away from her. She stood in the middle of the lobby saddened because she thought no one had wanted her around.
Later on, Tikal had roamed around the streets of the city. She looked around and saw people laughing and talking with each other as they walked around her. She stopped in her tracks and thought about how everyone was acting towards her today. 'Everyone is just so busy…or is that the real excuse? Is it because I'm not really apart of their team? Do they not want me around?' She wanted to cry because for the first time in a long time, she felt alone. When she tried to fight back her tears, she leaned her head against a window of a building near her. When she decided to take her head away from the glass, she looked up at the sign that was in front of the store. The sign had read 'Magic and Stuff.' She figured it was some type of fantasy shop. She seemed interested and decided to check into it.
When she stepped into the dull lighted store, she glanced around and saw bookshelves full of books, glass jars full of strange items and different necklaces and charms that were displayed in a glass case of the counter. She began to walk around the store even more. "Hello?" She called. It took a matter of seconds before a female voice had answered her.
"Oh hello there."
Tikal turned and saw a dark woman figure appear out of the backroom. She studied the woman more and saw that she was a black bat woman. Her eyes widened at the sight of her.
She looked like the spitting image of Rouge. She had even looked around Rouge's age. She had straight black hair that stopped a little past her shoulders. Her red eyes had matched her eye shadow. She wore a black long sleeve halter top, black tight pants, and black dress shoes with a small heel to them. She gave the echidna a friendly look, "I didn't hear you come in. You need help finding anything?"
Tikal broke out of her daze and tried not to stare so much. "Um, no. I'm just…browsing." She looked around the small shop and didn't see anyone else in the store. She was the only one in there at the moment it appeared.
"I see. You into magic?"
She wanted to tell her that she was more than familiar with all kinds of magic, spells, and anything to do with the supernatural but no one besides the Chaotix knew of her special abilities. She appeared to be an eighteen year old girl but in reality, she was over five thousand years old. She just shrugged her shoulders, "…A little."
"It's nice to have someone who appreciates a little bit of it. Many people think it's just a load of nonsense."
"Oh no not me! I love stuff like this." She spoke as she admired the necklaces and charms in the glass display of the counter. "What kind of stuff do you get into?"
The bat woman sighed heavily, "I used to be big and bad with the dark arts but I learned you don't always get what you desire with or without magic. So now I just try to go with the flow." She giggled a bit, "It's hard but I'm trying my hardest to ease away from it."
"…It sounds like you've had a rough life." She watched as she sat down at a round wooden table. She decided to sit across from her.
"Tell me about it, sweetie. Magic is all fine and dandy but too much of it can really mess you up."
Just by listening to her, she felt like she could really relate to her and feel her pain.
"Take it from me. You don't want to go there."
She slowly made a nod as she listened to her closely.
"Oh God", she giggled. "I didn't mean to get all emo on you."
"Oh no! No! Not at all! You're very brave to face your mistakes and learn from them. It must was really hard for you."
A saddened expression had formed on her face. "Yeah especially when you have to face them alone."
"Oh no!"
She suddenly felt Tikal's hand being placed on top of hers.
"No one should ever have to face something so dark alone."
The saddened look had slowly faded from her face. "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine."
Just hearing her compliment her made her form a warm smile.
"You know what? You're the first person I've ever had this kind of conversation with. It's…nice."
"Nice is my middle name you know?" She giggled.
"You think I could get a first name?"
"Of course! My name is Tikal."
She rested her head on his hand as she leaned against the surface of the table. "It's so pretty and unique too."
"Thanks! What about you?"
The warm and inviting smile had remained on her face as she began to tell Tikal her name. "My name is Nails. Nails The Bat."
In The Next Chapter…
Rouge: I just feel like we were all neglecting her…
Midnight: We should've treated her better.
Nails: I'm sure your friends mean well.
Tikal: Oh! I would love for you to meet everyone!
Nails: Well, well isn't this a surprise…