Authors Note: Finally have a new chapter up! Sorry for the wait. Thanks Animanizanny, Fiction Expansion, and MonstaHunta for your reviews/critiques which have all been cherished and duly noted ;)

This chapter is a bit different and probably a little confusing ^_^; Sorry but come next chapter a lot of questions are going to get some strange answers!

Constructive criticism/Reviews are awesome!

Side Note: All characters in this story are owned by Sega.

Chapter 5: Nice Meeting You

The world around them seemed to disappear as they ran through busy streets and quickly made it to the center of town.

Now, they were walking along the pavement on an abandoned street. The sun, resting high above giving little way to see the white-blue shade the sky had taken on. "So where do we go now?"

"I told you Charmy," Vector looked back to his friend as they came to a stop. "We just gotta wait here until he shows up."

"That's stupid!"

"It's not stupid its-"

"Quiet." Espio interrupted.

"Huh?" Charmy and Vector turned to their friend who seemed to be surveying the area.

Vector paused for a moment then couldn't help but question the fighting stance his friend now took on, "What'sa matter Espio?"

"We're being watched." He kept on the look out, not even bothering to make eye contact as he spoke.

"By who?" Charmy flew over to the chameleon, his tone overly joyful as usual.

"Hm," After a moment he regained his composure and hid his throwing stars once more. "It seems they're gone." He hesitated then stared foreword, beyond his friends.

"What the heck are you-"

Vector was quickly cut off by a deep and haunting voice, "-So you did it."

"Whoa, this is our client?" Charmy tilted his head in question.

"Sure sounds like it." Vector nodded.

"I thought were weren't going to take anymore clients by phone?" Espio quietly chimed in.

"Well," The croc leaned into a whisper, "I checked out our client this time, although I gotta admit- he looks a lot shadier than I expected." He then turned his attention back to the man as his friends eyed him curiously.

The stranger was covered in a long black coat, it seemed to sparkle in the mid-day sunlight. It was as if he was attending a funeral at a disco. Such odd attire. A long dark hat veiled his face as he spoke, "You have the brief case don't you?"

With a nod of his head the crocodile grabbed the case from the floor and gave it a good look with a soft moan of question to himself.

"Something wrong?" The coated man asked.

"Urr... Uh... I do I know that I can trust the story ya told me. I remember you sayin' ya needed our help and that it was urgent, but how do I know you're not really a criminal?"

"Whaaat?" He seemed to catch the man off guard. "What do you mean? I am no criminal. I'm the one who is here to aid you."

Vector titled his head, as did his friends in a humorously similar manner. "Aid... Us?" He held the brief case closer to his chest.

"Yes, but I first need that case."

"Fine," He gave a nod, "But tell me exactly what ya need these so called 'manuscripts' for. Deal's a deal, right?"

Charmy and Espio's eyes widened as they shared a glance. "Deal?" The chameleon started, "What do you mean Vector?"

He went ignored as the mysterious man spoke again. A smile laced in his tone, "How did you know I hadn't told you the whole truth?"

"I'm a detective. I always know." The croc crossed his arms, a smug smile of his own appearing.

"Just as well, perhaps being more direct with you will make things easier for me." He nodded.

Not too far off from the Chaotix's current location...

"Ya know," Tails began, now holding his handheld translator, "I still can't get over the whole name issue."

"Who cares," Knuckles shook his head, "Long as we don't have to see this creature then what does its name matter?"

"Hm, I just... I'm still trying to configure this thing..." He pushed a few buttons on the gadget causing it to clink and emit a loud high pitched squeal.

"Whoa," Sonic slowed his already, according to him, too slow walking pace to fall back to the fox's, "What's up with your translator pal?"

"I...I don't know...It must be on the fritz," He gave it a small hit to the side then continued, "because now...wait-it's deciphering some of those names- but...they look so- wait a minute! Here they are." He proudly proclaimed.

He then began to read them out loud, "Naunet, Profundum, Abismo," He raised an eyebrow, "Bezdibenis, Sangat Dalam, Bezdan-"

"Hey," Sonic waved a hand before his friend, "This is no time to show off your multilingual talents Tails."

The fox rolled his eyes.

"What's your point anyway?" Knuckles covered the screen of the translator with his palm, staring at his friend intently.

"My point is... These are all translations of their ancient counterparts made present day..." He glanced from Sonic to Knuckles then gave a sigh of defeat, "Well, all of these names mean abyss."

Sonic smirked as he raised his hands in a wobbly manner, "OoOo... Ayss. Sounds real scary." He nearly chuckled. "But that still doesn't explain why the name was left blank in the English version of the story."

"Tuh," Knuckles crossed his arms, "All of that no-name worry stuff for nothing. And all you got out of that was a stupid useless name."

"I think you guys might be underestimating this creature," Tails scolded, "But your right Sonic, I still don't know why the name is blank for that one."

Sonic shook his head, "So why couldn't your translator get such a small word like that right in the first place?"

"It was trying to take it as just a name and Abyss wasn't in the data block for it though so it must of froze up. What a dumb mistake." His eyes angrily scanned the gadget once more as he shook his head, "No, something else must have messed with it." He hit it again, "I know that if it couldn't have found the name it would have ran a full search rather than a specific name search."

"Riiiight." The hedgehog gave a nod. As the trio continued onward.

"Talk about a total freak-o." Charmy shook his head as he watched their client walk off in the distance. They said to call him 'Cat' though they knew it wasn't his real name.

It did beg one question though- was he really a cat under that dark get-up?

Vector grinned, "At least we know a little something about whats goin' on around here." He looked to the case, "I still can't believe we went through all of that just for him to tell us to keep this thing though." Vector frowned as he swayed the case in the air, nearly smacking Charmy down.

Luckily the bee dodged it in time and grabbed a hold of it. "Yeah and telling us that we can't open it. It's just some dumb menu scripts in there. Why are they so important?" He began trying to pry it open.

"Ya mean manuscripts," He smiled at the silly young bee, " And it's completely locked buddy, good luck tearin' yer hands up tryin' ta open it."

"Team Chaotix?"

"Wha?" The group turned their attention to the blue blur that was now walking towards them with his own buddies.

"Hmph, looks like we have company fellas." Vector turned to Charmy and Espio shaking his head.

Charmy immediately took the initiative and flew over to the blue hedgehog, "Why are you guys here? Are you looking for the treasure too?"

Team Sonic all shared the same wide eyed expression as they repeated in questioning union, "Treasure?"

"How do you guys know about it?" Knuckles frowned.

The echidna knew Team Chaotix pretty well and might have figured they would take interest in some kind of mystery, but he was sure that this oddity was a bit out of their league.