Hey guys! Thank you all for reviewing and reading my story! I'm amazed that I made a few friends so quickly, and I'm excited that my story has a good start to it. I just have my fingers crossed and hope this story will continue to be a good story. Now for the Disclaimer.
Disclaimer: Dark-Illusion-Detective does not own Team Chaotix, any of the Sonic Characters or Sega in anyway. Dark-Illusion-Detective however does own Illusion and Charcoal.
Chapter Four, your time is now!
Chapter Four
"So... you're going to take me in?" asked Illusion. Even after a week in the hospital recovering from her wounds, she seemed passive and too scared to talk or raise her voice. Her eyes held a look that no one wanted to bring out into reality and her hand was still bandaged.
"Only until you're ready to go back home."
"A-are you positive you want to do that? What about Charcoal?"
"If he comes then we'll take care of him," replied Espio. And even when Espio had a week to convince himself that there wasn't anything he could do, he couldn't get over it and during the week he convinced Vector and Charmy to allow Illusion to stay with them.
"And we could use a new face!" added Charmy.
Illusion smiled at that; the first smile she's revealed to the trio since a week.
"O-okay. I'll stay with you guys. But I'm going to help you guys out with cases. I hate staying somewhere and not be able to do anything."
Vector nodded, "sounds alright to me."
The Chaotix and Illusion were in front of the small rental building discussing this. The sun was covered by dark storm clouds that threatened to pour rain over them at any second, and they all fell silent. Charmy felt the rain first as it fell on his helmet covered head and he said, "hey boss! It's raining!"
Illusion looked at the sky and grinned happily as she let a few rain drops land on her head.
"Shall we go inside?"
"We shall," said Vector as he opened the front door and everyone ran inside to avoid getting wet. Illusion saw the couch and she ran over to it, turning into a eight year old in the process and she jumped on the fluffy couch.
"YAY!!"
The Chaotix laughed at this and Charmy joined Illusion with bouncing on the couch. Espio and Vector just watched them for a few minutes before they walked over to them; Vector grabbed Charmy and Espio tried to grab Illusion but she jumped out of his reach.
"Can't catch me!"
"Run Illusion run!" shouted Charmy who was laughing wildly at Espio's attempt at catching Illusion.
Espio stopped after thirty minutes of trying to catch Illusion and he held his knees as he panted. The white cat skipped around Espio and she giggled happily, something she hadn't done in a while. The purple chameleon looked toward Vector and Charmy who were sitting at a table playing go fish.
"GO FISH!!"
"Illusion no!"
Too late. Illusion had slammed into the table and everything on the table crashed to the floor and this made the small hyperactive bee and the young cat to laugh at this. Vector blinked as he looked at where the table once stood but the table was a few feet away from its original spot. Charmy gave Illusion a high five.
"THAT WAS GREAT!!"
"I KNOW!!"
The duo laughed as Illusion made a funny face at Vector. The alligator lunged at her and missed her completely as she stepped to the side.
"TADA!"
"ILLUSION!"
Illusion didn't move when she heard her name being yelled. She frowned and sat down.
"Illusion?" asked Espio as he walked over to the cat whose eyes were watering. "D-don't cry."
She sniffled and then started crying just as hysterically as she had been when she was admitted to the hospital. Espio sweatdropped as he lifted the eight year old and rocked her. His gold eyes glared at Vector who had yelled at her.
"Sorry Espio," muttered Vector angrily as he lifted the table and set it back up, and picked up the cards that had scattered across the room. Charmy flew over to Espio and Illusion and helped comfort the cat. She sniffled as her tears stopped falling and she had her head buried in Espio's shoulder.
"Are you going to be okay now?"
Illusion nodded as she didn't move from her spot. Espio let his embrace on her go, and that's when Illusion grew slightly; she had turned back into a fourteen year old.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
For a moment Illusion's face turned slightly pink before she quickly stood up. She then asked quickly, "um... if I'm staying with you guys, where am I going to sleep?"
Espio seemed to slap himself mentally because he looked at Vector. He frowned when Espio looked at him.
"Erm..."
"You can have my room for a while!"
Illusion, Vector and Charmy all looked at Espio when he shouted that.
"I-I don't want to take your room."
"Nah, go ahead."
Charmy grinned deviously as he flew to the refrigerator, took out some maple syrup and vanished up the stairs without Espio or anyone else realizing it. Illusion grinned.
"Thanks!"
Vector then heard a yelp coming from upstairs. The trio looked at each other before darting up the stairs but what they saw next seemed a little too weird to believe. Charmy was stuck to the wall; maple syrup on the wall and floor and he grinned shyly.
"What's up?"
Charmy crossed his arms, "obviously me. GET ME DOWN!"
"If you were going to prank someone. You're doing it wrong. I'll have to-"
"NO! Don't teach him please!"
Illusion raised her hands as though surrendering, "okay, okay! I won't. Just get him down."
Vector walked to where the bee was and pulled him free. Charmy grinned as he took the bottle of maple syrup and squirted the sticky stuff onto everyone. Charmy then flew out of the room. Espio looked at Vector who looked at Illusion.
"Illusion... don't-"
"GET BACK HERE!! DAMN YOU CHARMY!!"
Illusion darted out of the room before the others could stop her. They blinked and Vector tasted the syrup that was dripping from his gloved hands.
"Not bad."
"Vector!"
They stayed in silence until there was a horrified scream. Then there was another one, followed by the sudden collision of Charmy flying into Espio.
"What the-"
"She's got a scythe! She's got a scythe!!" cried Charmy in a panicky tone as Illusion walked in. Everyone stared in pure shock at her.
In her hands was a very large scythe that had dark green ribbons on the handle, and the blade was decorated with a green design that had her name written on it. She then saw everyone's face and she leaned it against the wall.
"What?"
"You were going to use that on me!!"
Illusion giggled, "no I wasn't. That was just to scare... why is everyone still staring at me!?"
"Where did you get that? You didn't have that with you before," stated Espio. The white cat didn't answer but instead smiled widely.
"..."
"Illusion?"
"What... oh right. Well-"
"Never mind. I don't think we want to know," Vector said quickly. Charmy held onto Espio in a hug, the ninja chameleon sighed as he felt stickier than before.
Illusion then broke the silence by saying, "this is going to be fun!"
"Yes. And very interesting."
The cat flashed her pure white teeth and she asked, "do we have any jobs?"
"OH CRAP!" shouted Vector as he dashed to his office. Everyone blinked before he ran in and he looked through the papers. "UUUUUHHHHHMMMM..." he sighed with relief, "not today. Tomorrow we do though."
"I can't wait then!"
Charmy looked at Espio who was staring at Illusion. The bee smirked as he waved a hand in front of Espio's face but he still stared at Illusion.
Illusion's green eyes glanced at the chameleon and her face turned pink as she noticed the stare.
"What's wrong now? Do I have something on me... well besides maple syrup? Any bugs? Dirt? No... why is he staring at me then?" thought Illusion as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Erm... Espio?"
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
Espio's gold eyes no longer seemed dazed as he cleared his voice, his gaze falling to the ground and his face turned slightly red as he nodded.
"Y-of course I am! I just got distracted!"
Illusion giggled and Espio gave a silent sigh.
"She's cute when she laughs."
"So... what do we do now?" questioned Illusion as she spun around and fell to the ground. She tried to get up and realized she was stuck thanks to a certain liquid on the ground under her. "Charmy!"
"EEP! DON'T HURT ME!!"
"I'll hurt you as soon as I get up!"
The white cat looked like a tan cat and her short hair was gravity defying, her clothes were covered in syrup and her ears twitched as she tried to get up.
"Can I have a little help please?"
"Sure, then we probably should clean you up."
"Now when you say we, you don't mean like you're going to help me bathe or anything right?"
Vector's face turned red at that thought and he shook his head, "n-no! What I meant was getting you pajamas so we can wash your syrup covered clothes!"
Illusion raised an eyebrow and the feeling of her being watched was hitting her and she realized Espio was staring again. "Is there something on me?"
"Uhm... what?"
"You're staring at her again Espio!"
Espio looked down as his face was red, "n-nope n-nothing! I... I was going to help you up."
"Really?"
"Yeah," he replied as he walked over to Illusion and helped her up. He then said, "Vector. I'm going to trust you making dinner. Charmy, if you can, look for a long shirt and sweatpants. And... um... I'll show you to the bathroom."
The chameleon started to lead Illusion toward the small bathroom. He opened the door for her and she smiled as she said quietly, "erm... thanks."
"No problem."
"I got the clothes!"
Charmy nearly collided with the duo but he stopped in time and handed Illusion the long dark blue t-shirt and the black sweatpants with two white stripes going down the sides. The cat nodded, "thank you both very much. I'll be out in a few."
The door closed and Charmy literally had to drag Espio away from the door. Espio walked to the couch when they got down the stairs and he sighed.
"I think someone likes someone."
"Not now Charmy please."
"Illusion and Espio sitting in a- OOF!" Charmy was cut short when Espio threw a pillow at the bee.
"Now leave me alone for a while okay? I have to meditate."
The ninja got into his meditating position and he hummed quietly. Charmy blinked and shrugged and went to see how Vector was doing.
"What are we having Vector?"
"Ramen noodles!"
"YAY!" Charmy cheered loudly as he buzzed around Vector's head. He frowned as he tried to swat him away.
"Now get the table set up."
The bee nodded quickly and flew into the dinning room and started setting the table as though it would be their last meal. Vector started to serve the steaming noodles into their bowls and just as soon as he finished, Illusion came down the stairs.
"Is that ramen?"
"Yeah... is that okay?"
"Sure is! Ramen's my favorite!"
The duo grinned as they took a seat on one side of the table. Illusion took a seat on the otherside of the table, right across from Charmy. A few minutes passed before Espio showed up and saw the only remaining seat was next to Illusion.
Illusion noticed this too. That's when she thought, "stay calm Illusion... jeez, my heart's not going to be able to take beating this fast."
Espio sat down next to Illusion, staring at his ramen noodles, trying to keep from embarrassing himself in front of Vector and Charmy... literally. Only one thought raced through Espio's head at this point in time.
"I can handle this. Illusion's just another girl, no different from the others out there... I can handle this... but she is cute."
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Okay there's Chapter Four finally! Okay... I'm going to be a tad bit clueless for chapter ideas for a while. I might get the next chapter up soon. Until then, please read and review and tell me what you think of this chapter. I know, not the greatest chapter but at least I tried.