(AN: Well, here it is. The chapter I teased a few days back. I wasn't kidding when I said that if this was apart of the last chapter, it would be over 20k words. In fact, I think it would be 30k words. There's a reason I split it up, and frankly this may have been one of my favorite chapters to write. I don't know what else to say, other than I hope you enjoy.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking a break from writing for the rest of the week while I focus on writing a commission for a friend.)
cw: misogyny, homophobia (including the usage of slurs).
SUNDAY
It was about five thirty in the morning when a loud ringtone filled the dorm room with noise.
Vector groaned in his bed as he turned, with Espio quickly opening his eyes not too long after the noise. The chameleon sighed, turning in his bed as he felt Vector below him shift. Espio could see that light had only begun to rise from outside the window, and as much as he wanted to get up to get started on his day, perhaps getting in a bit of meditation and early morning training, he also wanted to sleep in at the same time.
"Hullo?..." Vector said below him as Espio began to close his eyes as he rest on his pillow. There was a couple of seconds of silence before…
"W-What?! Whaddya MEAN?!"
Espio was quickly up as he noted the… fear in Vector's voice. He quickly scrambled to the side of the bunk bed, seeing Vector in only his boxers quickly get up from the bed as he held his phone in his hand.
"When did this happen?!" he said, pulling out a pair of pants from his drawer as he continued to stay on his phone.
"Ya mean, coach found it first? Oh no… aw FUCK!"
"V-Vector?..." Espio called out as the crocodile looked up. He held up a finger to the chameleon as he turned back to his phone.
"Hold on, I'm getting' dressed right NOW. Fuuuck, this… I can't… no, I WON'T believe it until I see it!"
He was seconds from putting on a new shirt as he grabbed his phone. "Knux, no one can get into the stadium after hours! It… it just isn't… it isn't possible!"
Now Espio was getting concerned with how frantic Vector sounded. He quickly got down from the top bunk, staring at his roommate who put on a new shirt, grabbed a pair of sandals, and threw on his team sweater.
"Nah, I ain't even gonna shower, I got no time-"
Espio grabbed Vector's sleeve, pulling the crocodile back. He turned to face Espio.
"Espio, what is it?! This is urgent!" he said.
"W-What… what is… is gu-gooo… ehh… going… o-on?" he asked.
Vector sighed. "I… I dunno…" he held his forehead. "Knux just called me and said that when Coach arrived to the field this mornin' to get ready fer practice, the entire place was TRASHED. Not just the field, but the stands AND the locker room too. The entire place had trash everywhere, the locker rooms and the stands are spray painted, even the ticket booth and snack stands had… urgh… urgh, I can't even say it… I feel sick thinkin' 'bout it…"
Espio only caught a few words of what Vector said, but something about the way he was acting told the chameleon that something WASN'T right. The chameleon looked up at his roommate.
"W-What… what do… do you want to do?... Ehh, is that how you say it?" he asked.
"Close, but yeah," Vector nodded. "It ain't got nothin' to do with ya, Espio. I'm sorry fer gettin' ya worried, but I think this is just a thing us jocks need to deal with fer now. If… if it's actually happenin'…"
"N-No… I… I want… want to… eh… how do you say that word…"
"Wanna go with me?"
"Ah!" Espio nodded his head quickly.
"Ergh… I dun wanna involve ya with this… but I suppose if ya really want to that bad…"
Vector opened the door. "C'mon, let's go."
Just as they were about to leave, Espio put his hand on Vector's bicep. The chameleon looked at him before leaving, following behind the crocodile once he started to head forward.
It was still very early in the morning when the two walked out of the A building and on the main back campus, heading towards the stadium in the distance. Walking off the campus and heading to the parking lot, Espio noticed something hanging off the front of the stands and flapping in the wind.
"CHEATING FUCKS PLAY HERE"
Espio wasn't sure what the sign said, so he turned to face Vector, only to see the crocodile shaking in anger and gritting his teeth. He then quickly began to speed towards the stadium, leaving Espio behind as he followed behind his roommate. As Espio looked around, he started to smell something rancid in the air.
"What… is that?" he asked himself as Vector opened the gate for him. With the two entering the main stadium, they were horrified at what they were looking at. Just as Knuckles said, the entire field was trashed, with nearly all the equipment that the Badniks used during practice all destroyed and laying in a pile in the middle of the field. Trash was strewn over the place as Espio turned his heads towards the stands, seeing something written that he could only briefly make out.
"FAGNIKS'
Espio turned his head, thinking they must have misspelled Badniks. The other side of the stands didn't have anything to read but had some kind of symbol that Espio didn't recognize. There was two circles next to each other, with an oval in the middle of the two. As he turned his head away from the sight, he looked back at Vector, whose anger now was starting to boil over as he began to breathe heavily.
"V-Vector?" Espio questioned, but it wasn't enough, as the crocodile ignored him. He started making his way towards the locker room, with the chameleon following behind him. Espio was now only getting more concerned as they walked for almost a minute towards the locker rooms, entering inside as they opened the door with a splash of blue paint on it. As the two reptiles entered inside, the saw that the entirety of the team was now inside, and had turned their heads when they noticed the two enter.
"V-Vector…" Thrash said when he noticed their quarterback. However, Vector wasn't in the mood for small talk as he immediately smashed his fist into the first thing he saw, which happened to be the side of Bull Bones' locker.
"WHAT… HAPPENED?!..." he growled, looking up to see the state of the locker room. Not only was it too also trashed, but the smell was even more rancid than it was in the field, and it seemed like several lockers were smashed and spray painted, with messages such as general swear words, to worse things such as slurs.
"That's what I want to know…" Coach Augustus suddenly said as Espio immediately moved out of the way for the polar bear coach. The team moved to the side as he entered the room, surveying the vandalism as he grabbed the pencil he always had on his ear. He then began to shake his arm, quickly snapping the pencil in half.
"Who… who was it…" he said. "Whichever little SHIT DID THIS, FUCKING SPEAK UP!"
The Badniks players all looked at each other, them too also unaware about who the vandals were.
"You mean to tell me that none of you did this, and that this was the work of… of SOMEONE ELSE?! THAT SOMEONE COULD WALK ONTO OUR CAMPUS, AND… AND DESTROY EVERYTHING?!"
It was the angriest Espio had seen Coach Augustus, and by now, it was starting to scare him.
"I concur, Coach," Connery said. "I don't believe any of us did this. Look at the graffiti, this has to be someone with a grudge against us."
"Shut your FUCKING MOUTH, Connery!" the polar bear screamed back. "I don't give a SHIT about who caused it or not, if I find out whoever did this, they're frankly gonna be fucking BEGGING for death!"
The horse looked startled when he was yelled back at, which did make Espio smile a little bit. However, Espio's smile faded as Coach Augustus entered his office, grabbed the clipboard he always carried, and yelled loudly as he threw it against one of the lockers, causing it to shatter upon impact. He quickly turned around and left the locker room, not before the chameleon noted the pained expression on the polar bear's face, and how… red his face had become. Espio wanted to call back for the coach, and upon seeing everyone turn around, the chameleon left the locker room and had started to run towards the polar bear. Despite being in geta shoes, he tried to run as fast as he could. With the clacking of his shoes on the concrete, Coach Augustus finally noted Espio as he turned around.
"Y-You…" he said, wiping his face as he spoke in a soft demeanor. "Espio, I… just, leave me alone…"
"I-I…"
"ENOUGH! I… I need time to myself. I need to report this to the headmaster, as well as report this to Snively and the other janitors so they can pick this up. No, I don't think it was any of my boys. If it was, I wouldn't have left and made sure that at LEAST one of them cracked. I'm thankful you want to help after everything you've done for the team but… leave this one to people like me. Besides I…"
He turned around. "Don't see me like this…"
The polar bear walked out of the stadium as Espio's face fell. He walked back to the locker room, which upon opening the door, the teammates were in the middle of a brief debate.
"So, who the fuck do you think did it?!" Rudy questioned.
"I don't care whoever did it, anyone who writes 'Fagnik' anywhere near me, you better hope you have health insurance otherwise I'll make sure you get fucking hospitalized!" Monk said, cracking his knuckles. "That's fighting words right there!"
"Guys, that's enough!" Rotor said. "This isn't about who did it, we should at least try to clean this up before-"
"Why should we clean up someone else's shit?!" Brawny questioned. "They have beef with us, why don't they face us like men instead of acting all fucking cowardly and pulling this shit?!"
"So, what, you're saying a rival school did this?" Connery added. "You honestly don't think it could have been someone from the school? When they're the ones who could have more access to this place?"
"Why the hell would they trash this place? As far as I'm aware, the sign atop the stands is clear that it's a rival school!"
"Vector, what do you think?" asked Knuckles. The room was silent for a bit before the crocodile spoke.
"All I know is that… whatever little punk thinks they can get away with this, once I get mah hands on them, I'm gonna KILL them!" he said. "Ya dun mess with the Badniks and think yeh can get away with it!"
Espio had heard enough. The voices of the Badniks players were a mix of terrified, angered, and mournful at what happened to their beautiful field. But as the faces of Coach Augustus, the players, and more importantly, Vector, flashed into his mind, Espio retreated out of the locker room as he looked at the rising sun.
It had been some time since he had helped people out with personal issues. Sometimes back in Gojo, if there was someone like a thief, Espio would be there to stop him until some of the Shinobi clan guards would take the man into custody. Now that he was on his own, the chameleon knew that all the training he had done had come to this moment.
He dug into his hakama and pulled out one of his kunais, closing the palm of his hand before looking back into the sky.
"Vector… for the sake of your coach, your team, and more importantly, you… I shall find the one who did this… I promise you as a ninja of the Shinobi Clan…" he said in his native language, closing his eyes. He then began to walk off the field, knowing his work had to begin now.
Since it was still very early in the morning, Espio knew it wouldn't do much good to look for intel. Remembering what his mother and his senseis taught, it was important to gather intel with as many people around as possible despite heightened risks due to how much information could be leaked with so many people around.
Knowing he had a large task in front of him, Espio decided he would spend the first few hours after the initial call meditating, ridding his mind of negative thoughts and how upset Vector was seeing the state of the locker room. One the clock hit 9 am, the crocodile still hadn't returned, but Espio knew it was still time to go regardless. Getting up from the floor, he knew that since it was early, there would be a multitude of people but where else: the Dining Hall.
As he walked through West Hall and made his way through the A building, the chameleon noticed a few students with their phones in front of their friends' faces, talking about 'vandaalysum' or whatever that word they were saying was pronounced. It only got more prominent as he left the A building and headed onto the main campus, with many people sharing the information and texting as they walked towards breakfast.
Once the chameleon reached the K building, the noise level increased tenfold as the hot button news seemed to be the vandalism, which was now reaching every student who had a phone.
The chameleon looked around, wondering where he could start. He wasn't in the mood for breakfast, and he felt like asking any random person wouldn't lead anywhere. So, the best thing was to first ask people he knew.
But with Vector and his teammates gone, the list of people he knew had gone down. Even Mighty was nowhere around, so Espio was left scouting out whoever he recognized in the sea of people. Too many of them seemed like people Espio didn't recognize, but there was one group of people that had a familiar face sitting at a table in the main student lounge.
So, deciding to leave the dining hall for later, Espio walked over to the table, where he saw Mark and a bunch of unrecognizable people sitting at. A lot of them had food in front of them, but it seemed to not be what they were interested in, as Mark and a blue nutria in front of him were holding what looked to be… fuda?
"Okay, so it's my turn…" Mark said in his usual nasally voice. "Alright, so I'll begin. First, I'll activate my Mist of the Rainmaker card. This card allows me to, at the cost of five hundred HP, play one monster from my hand, but any effects it has are negated, and I can't attack with it, nor use it for evolution plays until the end of my turn. So, I'll go ahead and take five hundred HP…" he began to write something down on a piece of paper. "…and I'll play my Rainmaker Shaman card-"
"Wait wait wait," the nutria said. "I'll block your activation with my negation card, Declaration of God. I can pay half of my HP and negate your Shaman."
"Ugh, seriously Dave? I went through all my negation cards because of that stupid Colossal Dragon you own!"
"I told you, maybe you should get another copy of Declaration of God!"
"The card is so expensive right noooooow! Ugh, fine. Well in that case, I'm going to go ahead and play two backrow cards, and finish my turn by activating, 'The Early Bird Gets the Worm', which can allow me to place a counter on it during each turn and can allow me to draw two cards once I have two counters-"
"Uh, Mark?" one of the tapir's friends, a giraffe, said as he too was playing the same fuda game. "Someone's kinda just… staring at you…"
The tapir turned his head and gasped when he saw Espio.
"Oh, Espio! Here you are!" he said.
"Wait, Espio?" the nutria asked. "Oh… this is the friend from Northern Mobius you talked about?…"
"Wait, he's REAL?!" the giraffe male said. "I thought you just made him up cause like… there's no way someone from Northern Mobius would come here…"
"Don't forget, Norris," the mole in front of the giraffe replied. "Mark told us he's never seen anime before coming to this school. Don't expect him to be TOO much like us. He only just started watching his very first series."
"I know I know, but still… how exciting! We get to finally meet him! And maybe I can ask him to translate that Rin x Yoichi doujin I found online and-"
The chameleon looked over at the tapir. "W-What… what are… you… du-doing?..."
"Oh, we're playing Warriors and Wizards! It's a card game that all us play! Wanna play?" Mark asked as the chameleon picked up the top card of Mark's deck. It was green and had a few words and a picture on it.
"Actually, wait wait wait, while I'm here, why don't I introduce you to the gang?" the tapir added. "Okay, so right in front of me is Dave. He's a worker at the Meh Burger a mile from here and always hooks us all up with free food."
The nutria smiled. "Don't forget, I always ask, 'Do you want fries with that' at least once a day. So, don't be surprised if I ask you that…" he said.
"Okay, and next is Norris," Mark pointed at the giraffe, who pushed up his glasses. "He and I always get into the biggest anime discussions like, EVERY week, and he's seen a lot more than me!"
"It's an honor to meet you… was it, Espio? Well, even if I'm wrong, it's an honor to meet you, Espio-sama," the giraffe bowed. Espio was taken aback by this gesture.
"Y-You… you know Japanese too?" he asked.
"What? What was that?"
"…never mind,"
"Okay okay, last one," Mark said as he pointed at the mole. "So, this guy right here just goes by the name, Hacker. We dunno his name since he never tells us, but that's what he wants to be called. So call him that! There's a few more that come by but usually in the mornings, it's just us! My friends really have been wanting to meet you for some time!"
"Aw, I kinda wanna buy Espio breakfast now," Norris said. "It's the best thing to do for him to welcome him aboard our group."
"Don't make him feel like a king just yet," Hacker replied. "I don't wanna spoil the guy! Let's just… treat him like we do anyone else!"
"What are you here for, Espio?" Dave asked. "You don't seem to look lost anyway."
"A-Ah!" Espio perked up, remembering what he was here for. "M-Mark… d-do you know… wu-what… ha… how do you say that word… happ… happ…"
"…happened?" the tapir turned his head.
"Y-Yes! Do you know what… happ-happened?"
"What happened?" Mark asked. "Do you guys know what he's talking about?"
"Not a clue," Norris replied.
"I think he's referring to what happened on the Football field," Hacker replied. "I saw it on my social media feed this morning. Apparently, there was some very heavy vandalism committed, and no one knows who caused it."
"I mean, it's jocks. Should we really be crying over them?" Dave asked. "They can get over it."
"Well, Espio IS friends with some," Mark replied. "His roommate is apparently the quarterback of the football team. At least, that's what I saw."
"You mean to tell me the jocks already got to him and we can't claim him as one of our own?!" Norris questioned, hands on his head. "Oh, how DARE they! First, they shoved me into a locker in middle school, then violently beat me up like something out of a movie from thirty years ago in 10th grade, and NOW when I finally get to meet someone from Northern Mobius, he's a jock?! Oh, my day is so RUIIIINED!"
Norris began to cry as he covered his face, Espio only turning his head in confusion.
"Just… give him a minute, Espio," Hacker replied as he bit into his breakfast bagel and placed his fuda down. "Well, what I can say is that I wouldn't know who caused it. We don't really keep up with stuff like that."
"Still though, why do you wanna know who did it?" Mark asked.
"F-For… for Vector…" Espio replied.
"Ahhh, revenge story," Dave replied. "Maybe he could be like the Masked Samurai!"
"Uh, which one?" Hacker added.
"…season 23 Masked Samurai."
"What is it with you and season 23?! You're the only one I know who liked that season!"
"Hey, I'll have you know that the romance 'subplot' you like to complain about is very detrimental to the story, and part of the reason why Kengou takes up the mantle of Masked Samurai! I cried at the end and-"
As Hacker and Dave continued their debate, with Norris still crying, Mark turned back to his friend.
"Yeah… sorry we couldn't be of much help, Espio. Still, good luck. I can tell that you're not happy that it happened. I always thought stuff like that was done to us nerds but now that it's the jocks that are getting dunked on, well it's a bit hard to believe. Still though, I frankly have a lot more sympathy cause I know you really like Vector."
Espio nodded. It seemed like one of his closest allies wouldn't be of much help.
"T-Thank you…" the chameleon said as he walked away, hearing Mark say, 'Okay dude, are you done debating so we can continue our duel?'
With his stomach growling due to not having breakfast, Espio wondered who next he could talk to in regard to intel. As he entered the Dining Hall, he figured a quick breakfast would be good enough, something he could eat fast. And so, with everyone talking about what was going on, Espio got himself a strawberry yogurt cup, one of his favorite foods that he ate since coming to the Outside World.
Getting out of line after paying with his meal card, Espio noticed that the usual table he sat at with Vector was entirely empty, as the Badniks were likely busy not only cleaning up the field but in shock as to what happened. The chameleon couldn't blame them, but as he sat down at the table by himself, he began to look around the large room. There were many people he didn't recognize, too many to frankly keep track. While there was the occasional person that he saw in one of his classes, no one TOO recognizable popped out towards him. That was until he saw a familiar red shell in the middle of the sea of people. Espio got up from his seat and saw that the red shell belonged to Mighty.
Grabbing his spoon and yogurt cup, he made his way over to the armadillo, who was sitting with a familiar rat.
"M-Mighty…" he said as he reached the table. The armadillo and rat turned their heads and noticed the chameleon.
"O-Oh, Espio!" Mighty replied. "G-Good morning… sorry, I'm a little outta it today…"
"Oi, I know what happened is terrible, mate. Even if we aren't rugby players. We still gotta stand by them," the rat said. "But even still, it sure is Espio! Ha ha, how's mah good friend doing?"
Espio turned his head. The rat seemed to be very friendly and knew his name. It was then that it finally hit him who this was.
"A-Ah! Y-You are… are Ma-Ma… eh…" he said.
"Munch! Dontcha remember? I'm friends with Bow and all them?"
"Ah, Munch! Y-Yes! I ri… no… rem… rememmb… oh… Ah, r-remember! I remember you!"
"Ah, glad to see ya didn't forget, mate!" the rat said as Espio sat down. "We've been hopin' that yeh'd come back, Bow and the gang really miss ya but it doesn't seem like yeh've been around the rec center a lot since we last saw ya. Eh, don't worry about it! It's still y'er choice at the end! Still, how ya been, mate? It's been so long!"
"I-I… I am ee-eating."
"Ah, strawberry yoghurt! I'm more of a blueberry guy, but our coach told me to stay away from dairy for a bit since the season started. A shame, it sure brings me back 'ome when I get to have some..."
"Yeah, Coach Ripple has been getting on people about that. Dare I say more than Coach Augustus," Mighty replied before sighing. "Man, I sure hope he's taking things well. I haven't heard from Knux today at all since he woke up super early, but I can imagine that he didn't take today's news too well."
"I saw the news earlier with Buck," continued Munch. "He thought it was absolutely juvenile and thought 'hoever did that should turn themselves in so they can truly think about what they did. I mean, come on, it's so childish but also so hateful too! Like, did yeh see that message on the stands?"
"Ugh, don't remind me."
"That totally ain't okay. It ain't enough to completely trash an entire rugby stadium, but ya gotta add homophobia to it too? Tch! Whoever did that must be such a bloody gammon..."
"Seriously. I'm not gay or anything myself, but that's not just disrespectful to the football team, but also to the plenty of LGBT people who go to this school."
"Ya said it, mate."
Espio continued to eat his yogurt, listening in on the conversations of Mighty and Munch, but once he was finished with his breakfast, he remembered what he came here for.
"A-Ah, Mighty… d-do… you know what happ-happen… happening?... no… happened! Yes, do you know what happened?" the chameleon asked.
The armadillo turned to face the chameleon. "I thought you knew, Espio? Oh… unless you mean like, who did it. Well…" Mighty turned back to face Munch. "I think it has to be someone from another school if you ask me. It wouldn't seem like someone from our school. The problem is, there's plenty of colleges in Central Mobius."
"Wouldn't they be able to use those camera things around the campus?" Munch asked. "Sorry, still not used to them even after a year..."
"That's the problem, for some reason, the inside of the locker rooms and football fields don't have cameras. You think that with all the money they blew on renovating the places, they would install cameras. But they just… don't."
Espio's eyes lowered as Mighty continued to speak. Of the only clue he had so far (that he could understand), it was that the culprit wasn't from Mobius U.
And so, he got up from the table and bowed.
"Mighty, thank you," he said, before turning around to throw away his trash, Mighty and Munch turning to face each other.
"You're… welcome?" the armadillo said.
In front of the trash can by the doors, Espio continued to monitor the dining area, seeing who else he could question about who may be responsible so they could be brought to justice. There wasn't many people he could go off of, but as he walked past Mighty's table, he noticed a familiar green bird sitting at a table with two other birds by him. The chameleon bounced when he saw him, remembering him as Jet, the man who confused him on multiple occasions.
"Can I trust him?" Espio thought to himself as he walked towards the table. Well, it wasn't like he had much of a choice…
And so, as the reptile inched closer to the table, he noticed the hawk turn to face him, a grin forming on his face.
"Well, look who it is!" Jet said. "If it isn't my favorite chameleon, back again to see his ol' buddy, Jet!"
Espio was confused by the friendly tone but knew to keep on guard in case Jet tried any of his trickery again.
"Is there a reason you're here, or are you lost?" the swallow girl to Jet's left replied. He didn't know her name, but according to Vector and Knuckles, Mighty seemingly was in love with her.
"E-Eh…" Espio twiddled his thumbs. "I… I was… wanting to know who…" he breathed through his teeth. "…who… d-di…"
"Stop with the stutterin', kid!" the large grey bird to Jet's other side said. "You aren't that nervous, are you?"
"Well, at least he can speak more coherently than when we last saw him, Storm," the swallow replied.
"What I should be asking is, 'Are you here to waste my time?'," Jet added, turning his head away from the chameleon.
"…who did… did the… eh…"
"Did the?..." Storm asked. "Did the WHAT?!"
"Oh, he probably means that thing on the football stadium," the swallow replied. "You know, all those messages."
"Oh, THAT?" Jet questioned. "You wanna know who did that?"
Espio bounced in place and nodded quickly. "Y-Yes! Yes, I… I want to… to know!"
In that moment, the hawk grinned. "Well, why didn't you say so?" he then got up from his seat and put his hands on Espio's shoulder. "In fact, I know exactly who might have done it! It was…"
Jet placed his finger on the tip of his beak. "Okay, so I dunno if you've seen him, but there's this large purple cat guy that's always around campus losing his frog. I dunno if he even goes to class at all. But last night, I saw him hanging up the sign while taking a walk! I didn't tell anyone because I wanted you to know so you can go and find him!"
Espio's face changed, going from surprised to angered. "I… I see…" he said, feeling the kunai in his hakama. At last, he finally found the culprit… "T-Thank you," he proceeded to bow before leaving the three birds. Confirming that he was out of hearing rang, Jet began to laugh.
"I swear, that kid has been around here for months and yet he's STILL that gullible?!" he questioned. "Oh man, I'm SO gonna have fun. I dunno if I can even top this one. Bets that he's gonna kill that cat."
"You think so?" the swallow replied.
"Eh, do you think anyone would really care, Wave?"
"Besides, how does he keep falling for it every time?" Storm asked. "Even I'm not that stupid!"
"Exactly!" Jet added. "But man, I better try to come up with something better. Once he realizes it wasn't that cat, I doubt he'll trust me anymore…"
Sitting alone wasn't a common occurrence for the student named Big, a large purple cat who often did a lot of his assignments on a bench outside of the B building, accompanied by his pet frog. And today was no different, as the cat had just turned the page of his notebook to finish up the rest of his Algebra 101 homework.
"Don't worry, Froggy…" he said. "All we need to do is finish our Biology homework, and we can eat lunch… Don't get feisty…"
As he pet Froggy, something swooshed past the cat's arm, crashing into his bottle of water and spilling water onto his notebook.
"W-What the?!..." Big questioned before he looked up to see a strange person staring above him, murder in his eyes.
"You… ha-hurt… Vector…" Espio said, pulling another kunai from his haori and pointing it right at the cat. He began to breathe heavily. "Rrr… koroSHITE YARU!"
He began to quickly rush towards the cat as Big stood up, grabbing his notebook and holding it over his face.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaugh!" he screamed, closing his eyes out of fear. In that moment, his books fell onto the floor and Froggy hopped off Big's leg, jumping away from the two.
However, Espio was mere steps away from slashing at the cat when he realized something. This enemy… was shaking. He wasn't trying to fight back, he seemed scared out of his mind, and most importantly, he was whimpering. Enemies… never acted like this…
Espio backed off a bit as Big slowly lowered the notebook down from his face, looking at the chameleon with fear in his yellow eyes.
"W-Who… who-who a-a-are you?..." he said. "W-What… what do you want?... P-Please… please don't hurt meeeee!..."
Now the cat was beginning to cry, and Espio was confused. He was never taught what to do should the enemy start to cry. In fact, crying was always discouraged by the teachings of the Shinobi clan. This… wasn't normal behavior.
"Do you… r-reallly… ha-hurt Vector?" Espio asked.
"I-I… do-don't know who y-yo-you're talking abou-about!" Big sobbed. He then looked down and gasped. "N-No! Froggyyyyyyyyyyy! You ran off agaaaaaain!"
Sniffing and rubbing his eyes, the cat began to follow the frog, chasing after him. Espio could only watch from afar.
"…I don't know why… but I don't think that's the culprit…" Espio said to himself. If he truly did just make a random student cry and fear for their life… Espio knew he had to make amends eventually.
Still, it was another dead end. Who else was there he could talk to? He already did Mark, Mighty, and Jet and his friends, though there was STILL the case of Munch's friends in the I building.
Somehow remembering how to get there, the I building wasn't as packed as it was when he last arrived there, but there were a couple of students working out. None of Vector's teammates were there as expected, so with not much choice, Espio headed to the extra room in the Rec Center and found who he was looking for. Bow and his friends were once again by the archery targets, however, they weren't doing any archery.
With how solemn the group looked, Bow notably perked up when he saw Espio walk in.
"Oh, mornin'!" he said. "Oi, yeh three, Espio's here!"
Buck, Alan, and Thorn looked up to see the chameleon staring at them. Their faces changed as they ran towards their friend.
"Espio!" they all said in unison.
"It's quite lovely to see you this morning, Espio," Buck said, smiling. as he adjusted the necklace he wore of something Espio couldn't recognize. "How have you been since we last saw you?"
"G-Gu… Good…" Espio said.
"See, mates?" Thorn added. "Espio's been gettin' a LOT better in English since ya last saw 'im! I've overheard 'im talking with Vector a few times!"
"He keeps this up, and I really may need to find a co-singer!" Alan said. "But alas… even today, my lute strums to sadness around campus."
Bow then walked up to everyone. "Oi mates, let's cheer up! Whoever did that was a massive wanker, I know, but I'm sure the uni is gonna figure out who did it!"
Alan sighed. "I know we should be positive, but incidents like this remind ya that hate truly does exist in this world. Hear me out on this, I've been thinkin' 'bout this one…"
The black quail strummed his 'lute' as he began to slowly sing.
"Seventh day of the eleventh month…
The squad of sports had a hunch,
The sanctuary of play was ruined,
As everything around them was roughened,
The tears of sportsmen sorrow,
As soon they face a new tomorrow,
For their future looks fawny,
as we all weep: A-hey nonny nonny…"
Thorn looked solemn. "That was really brilliant, Alan… But… but it just… it isn't right."
"The messages of hate are something Solaris shall judge," Buck said. "He forgives all who sins, but it's important that one realizes the mistake they've done so they first can forgive themselves. After all, He did not give his life for His creations to fight and hate."
"I just wish we knew who did it…" Bow said. "It feels weird, we aren't connected to rugby in anyway and yet… and yet this thing felt like an attack on all 'o us. To the ones that play different sports, and to the ones that don't play sports at all. After all, at the end of the day, we do this for recreational play, no?"
"Some people choose to take their love for the sport too far to a point where they put down others," Alan said. "Where we're from in Mercia, all sports are enjoyed by one another, and while competition exists, if we forget to have fun, then we have no reason to play the sport. But those folk in the bigger cities don't understand that."
"We arch because we have a good time doing so," Bow added. "That's the most important thing, innit?"
Espio nodded, realizing that they were forgetting he was there. But then, he looked at the group.
"O-Oh… y-yes… do you know… who… who…" Espio said as the group paid attention to the chameleon. "Oh, how do you say that word…"
"Do we know who did it?" Thorn asked.
"Y-Yes! Do you know?"
The four looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"No, we dunno either," Bow said. "I assume yeh asked a few people?"
Espio nodded.
"Yeah… we're sorry, Espio. Since it happened at night, no one likely knows who did it. And frankly, we dunno why they'd do it either. I wish we had more to tell you, but I'm sure yeh likely have heard plenty of people say they didn't know."
"Why don'chu you try to ask a uni official?" Alan suggested. "Earlier before we came here, I saw a bunch of the staff making their way to the K buildin', likely having some kind of meetin' about what happened. Anyone could suffice, not just a professor but anyone involved in the uni in general. Like… Thorn, is Blaze here?"
"Yeah, I saw her when I came back with our breakfast."
"Why don't yeh go into the main Rec Center area and talk with Blaze? I'm sure she can tell yeh something."
Espio sighed. It was another dead end, but this time, he hoped this lead somewhere.
"Thank you…" the chameleon said as he bowed, surprised that he was able to say it clearly.
"Sorry we couldn't be of much help," Thorn said. "Still, I hope yeh can find out who did this."
Buck walked in front of the chameleon and placed the palm of his hand on Espio's forehead.
"May Solaris bless you on your journey, Espio. He shall guide you as you continue to work to solve this mystery."
"Be sure to come back to us, okay?" Bow asked. "We missed yeh a lot and we're chuffed to have yeh around!"
Espio nodded, feeling the same sentiment. He then left the area, but not before overhearing Alan say, 'Okay, now how long will it take Munch to arrive?"
Leaving the side room, Espio remembered the face of the familiar lavender cat, the same cat who attended him on his first day at Mobius U, and the one who prevented him from tripping while using some of the… running machines he was staring right at. But, she didn't seem to be anywhere…
Just then, Espio turned his head to hear a feminine voice chew out someone.
"Look, I'm not in the brightest fucking mood, okay?! Either you use the exercise ball like it was intended or I'm gonna THROW you two out!"
The chameleon saw Blaze chewing out two students, one of which was carrying a spherical object in his hands before letting it bounce on the floor. Espio gasped as he walked up to the cat.
"What do you- oh…" Blaze was about to yell until she noticed who it was. "It's you… that transfer student from Northern Mobius. What was your name again?..."
"My name is.. is… Espio."
She snapped her fingers. "Right, that's what it was. Espio. My bad for forgetting. What are you doing here? Need some help using the equipment?"
"N-No… d-do you know what happen-happened! Yes, happened!"
Despite his stress, Espio was pleased with him being able to correctly say 'happened'.
"What happened? What do you mean?"
"The… the foo-football-"
"Oh, THAT. Say no more, I already know what you're talking about. You probably wanna know since you're friends with Vector, right?"
Espio nodded as Blaze sighed.
"In truth, I wish I told you I knew. When Coach Augustus first discovered the message, he informed the headmaster and pretty much all the school staff had to meet up in the K building to discuss what happened, myself included. Since the locker rooms don't have cameras, we weren't able to determine who did it. If you ask me, I think a rival school who has beef with us did this. This isn't the first time something like this happened. This happened to Spagonia University a few years back. It was a pretty publicized case when it happened."
The cat proceeded to look at a few people using the bench press. "But… that's all I pretty much have. The headmaster as well as a lot of the senior higher ups are the ones calling the shots for now. I was just told to keep an extra lookout on the I building today and to report any tomfoolery to the headmaster immediately. It seems they really wanna catch whoever did this as quickly as possible. If you ask me, I don't think a single person did this. It had to have been a group."
It wasn't much, but Espio notably bounced when he heard that. If he remembered his English lessons, a group described a gathering of people. So, does this mean that multiple people did this?...
"Blaze, how do you say that word?..."
"Hm? What word?"
The cat looked at the chameleon, confused. "Are you trying to say something but don't know how to say it in English?"
Espio nodded.
"Fine," Blaze brought out her cell phone, tapped on it a few times and shoved it into Espio's face. "Here, speak into it. It'll translate for me."
Espio was taken aback but decided to give it a shot. "Do you know anyone else who might have information?" he asked in his native language. There was a moment where Blaze brought the phone back to her before nodding. "
"I see… I see…" she said. "You know, if there would be anyone else that knows, I would say ask your RA, Sally. She's rather close with the headmaster, and provided that she isn't still in the meeting with the staff, I'm sure she'll know something. Just gonna warn you, she's probably gonna be TEN times crankier than she's usually is. So, don't be shocked if you don't get an answer."
The name Sally rung in his mind, and it was because last month, a brown chipmunk woman calling herself 'Sally' entered the dorm one night to look around the room. Espio wasn't sure what to make of the woman, but did she really know?
"Thank you!" Espio bowed once again as he parted ways, knowing where to go next.
Opening the doors to the A building, Espio soon made his way to the stairs as he knew where he needed to go next. As he reached the second floor of the A building however…
"Out of the way!" a girl said as she flew past Espio. The chameleon was able to dodge out of the way in time, but not before the girl came back and looked at him before making a face.
"Eugh, what are YOU doing here?!" Jewel said, making a face. "If it's to bug me, I'm off-"
As much as Espio didn't like Jewel due to the ways she treated him, sometimes on the battlefield, making friends with your enemies could be a key to victory. And plus, if he recalled from what Valdez said, Jewel was very close to the staff of the school. Could she really know?
"W-Wait, Jy-J… Jewel…"
"Ughhh, what?!"
"Do you know what happened?"
"Wow, I said that really good…" Espio thought to himself.
"Of course I do! Obviously, someone against our school thought it was a good idea to trash the football stadium and destroy a bunch of our property! I need to go meet with your RA, Sally. She's the main RA they have pending the investigation into what went down. I know you're friends with our quarterback, but why don't you just let us professionals take care of this?"
"It's… it's for… for Vector…"
"You really owe him a favor THAT much? Hmph, well, I do suppose you busted your butt off redoing our project even if I know we're gonna fail, but if you wanna help THAT bad, I'll take you to meet Sally."
She grabbed her bag off her chair and opened the door. "Well? Come on then."
Espio followed behind as the jewel beetle closed her door behind her.
After reaching West Hall and going to a door that Espio wasn't familiar with, the beetle knocked on the door as a few seconds later, an unfamiliar face appeared.
"Oh, Jewel. You're here…" the chipmunk woman said.
"Of course, Sally!" Jewel replied in her innocent tone. "You know I care about this school too much to see it being defiled!"
"Well, I suppose that makes two of us," Sally then turned her head towards Espio. "And… who is this?"
"Oh, this is my…" Jewel bit her tongue. "I mean… this is the ROOMMATE of the football team's quarterback, Espio. He wanted to know who's responsible for his sake."
"Well, look at you, aren't you such a good friend. If only we could all have one."
Espio bowed, not catching Sally's sarcasm. "It is g-good to meet you…"
"Oh, no need to act formal. Heaven knows that LIFE isn't formal for me… anyway, come on in you two."
The two entered Sally's personal dorm, a smaller room with only one bed, but with various things strewn all over the floor. Espio noticed multiple bags of chips on the floor, all empty and thrown without care.
"D-Do you know-" Espio began before getting cut off by Sally.
"To answer that question, the truth is, I don't know," she replied. "However, if you had to ask me WHY it was being done… why don't we take a look at that banner that was hanging off the stands."
"That… cheating… you know… f-words play here?" Jewel asked.
"Exactly. Probably just a school salty that they lost against us. You know how common sports rivalries are in college sports. The issue is, we've won against three different schools, but it could be just about ANYONE."
"Do you think it could be someone on either of those schools' sports teams? Like, maybe they were mad about their bad performances and they took it out on our campus?"
"Could be, could be not. Again, I wish I had all the details, but right now from what I was last being informed, the Headmaster already called not just the janitors to clean it up, having the entire team helping them out, but also the police have been called too and that they're looking for any clues."
"HAVE there been any?..."
"So far, there's only been one hint. You don't know him, but there's a student that stays in this specific dorm area, a large purple cat named Big. He mentioned that last night when he was looking for his lost frog after being woken up at four in the morning, he saw the banner being hanged but didn't think much about it to focus on finding his frog."
Espio jumped when he heard the phrase, 'large purple cat'. Remembering his lessons on colors and names of animals, 'cat' was the English word for 'neko'. And if he wasn't mistaken, he DID come across a… purple cat…
The fuchsia chameleon turned his head away from the two girls.
"Well, is that all you wanna know?" Sally asked.
Espio turned his attention back to Sally. "Y-Yes."
"No!" Jewel said. "He can go, but we still need to talk about things regarding this incident."
"I know you like to help the staff, Jewel, and its much appreciated, but trust me when I say we've got this under control. Trust me, no one in this dorm is gonna test me, I promise it."
"Well, I care about the integrity of this school! If we can both work together, we can further not only solve this case, but you can have someone on the lookout-"
As Jewel and Sally continued their squabble, Espio slowly left the room, making sure that they didn't notice that he was opening the door and closing it. As he stepped away from Sally's room, he put his hand on his chin.
"…a rival school…" Espio said to himself if he heard the phrase right. Revenge is a subject he was VERY familiar with, as it was a common motivation for his ancestors during the wars of centuries past. And while the perpetrators of this incident may not have been waging a war with weapons, they were waging a war against Mobius U, the football team, and more importantly, Vector, with what they did.
But there was still something Espio didn't know… who did it?
It was coming close to around lunch time, and Espio STILL had no clue as to who the perpetrator was, and with his limited English, the clues he did have seemed to only warp around in his mind. He had spent the rest of the morning walking around campus, hoping that someone would give him an answer, but either they were busy, weren't interested, or told him the same things everyone else had. He had even tried to look for Sonic and his siblings, but he couldn't find them anywhere on campus.
And so, after passing by the football field, witnessing the banner being taken down as well as several police standing by the area, including Officer Wachowski, the campus police officer he saw after leaving the Halloween party, the chameleon had even left campus on his own for the first time, still maintaining some distance from the school so that he wouldn't get lost. He hadn't seen Vector in all day, and he was starting to become sadder the more he thought about Vector's reaction to the entire ordeal.
"You don't deserve this…" he had said in front of the Gerald Robotnik Memorial Fountain, looking at his reflection in the water. "You're too good of a person for this to happen to you and your friends…"
With the clock at Sub Station II hitting 12:45, Espio sat by himself in a stall with nothing in front of him. He sighed, wondering if he'd be able to figure out this case. Never before had something ever manifested like this…
"Sir?"
Espio looked out the window in front of him, seeing the multiple people and cars pass by.
"Sir?"
The chameleon looked up to see a white koala standing by his table.
"Are… you going to order something?" she asked. He knew he was hungry, but Espio knew his meal card wouldn't work here since he was off campus.
"N-No… no…" Espio said, trying to remember the English word for money.
"No?... Are… you okay?"
Espio shook his head.
"…I remember you. You came in with Vector a few months back. Here, hold on right there."
Espio continued to stare out the window, the noises around him tuning like radio silence in his ears. He ignored the world around him, ignoring the sight of the fan blades spinning, the front door of the restaurant opening and a pile of people coming in, the voice of Maria saying, 'Good afternoon, how can I serve you today?', the same koala girl from earlier putting down a cup in front of him and her saying, 'Here, have a free water on the house. You look like you need it,', and the pile of feet sitting down behind him.
Espio took a few sips of water, his hearing now coming back to him as he heard the snickers and loud, gruff voices of the people behind him.
"For Gaia's sake, this place looks like such a shithole," one voice said. "No wonder it's front of Mobius U, sums up that entire place, complete trash!"
This elicited laughs from the others.
"How did you manage to even survive two years there, Diesel?" another voice asked.
"Bein' weak, that's for damn sure," yet another voice replied.
"There's a reason my uncle doesn't come around that place for Military stuff," yet ANOTHER voice added. "He isn't going to some kinda dump, that's for sure! Plus, he likes to support his favorite nephew, so no way is he going to recruit at some low-end rival school!"
"Admittedly though, we should think about getting out of here," another voice added, this voice having a different accent compared to the other ones. "Who wants to bet they're doing an investigation on-."
The same voice that asked that 'Diesel' person a question spoke up again. "Argh, don't be such a fucking pussy, Jun. They aren't gonna do anything to us if they never figure it out."
Something in Espio's mind flashed when he heard the conversation. What… were they talking about? As to not get their attention, Espio began to close in on their conversation but continued to have his back turned towards the group.
"Wait wait wait," the same voice said. "Here comes that piece of ass. Watch this."
Espio listened in on the conversation more closely as he heard the same girl who served him earlier say, "Okay, so who has-"
There seemed to be some more noise and shuffling from behind him for a couple of seconds until the girl said, 'Okay, well enjo-"
Suddenly, there was the sound of a smack. This now gained Espio's attention as he turned around, seeing a brown dog sitting by the end side of the table behind him quickly swiping his hand back to his side as the girl put her hand on her buttocks. Anger clear in her face, she turned around red in the face.
"E-Excuse you?! In what world do you think that's appropriate?!" she yelled.
"Why the hell are you yelling at me for?" the brown dog said, raising his well-built arms above his head. "The hell did I do?"
"Cute, considering that you're at the edge of the table! No, you know what? I'm not arguing with you. Out, all of you out NOW!"
"For fuck's sake, lady, I told you I didn't do shit! Now why don't you go buzz off and let us enjoy our lunch."
"Because you think sexually harassing me and cursing me out is how you treat your servers?! Now, if you don't mind, if you're done having fun, get the hell out of here. NOW. That goes for all of you too! I'm not playing at this point! Continue to linger here and I WILL call the police!"
The dog sucked his teeth in, jeered at the koala, and spit on the floor. "Tch, fucking bitch."
He got up from the table as the rest of his friends followed suit, taking the trays that came with their order along with them.
"You're gonna have to give that back too!"
One of the friends of the dog, a white wolf wearing a sleeveless blue vest, flipped the worker off as they all piled out of the restaurant. Espio noted that this group of people were made up of various different features, one was the white wolf and the brown dog with the same white, sleeveless shirt he had seen Vector wear a few times whenever he came back from the I building, protein shake in hand. There was also three other people with them, the largest of the group being a yellow ox with the baggiest clothing out of the five, a monkey with various dark patches around his clothes, and a bear with a black leather jacket and boots.
Something about the five gave Espio a bad feeling, almost as if there was something drawing him in to them. And there was that… interesting thing they said.
As he heard the worker tell her Overlander friend if she should call HR to report what happened, Espio left the restaurant, keen to figuring out who these strange people were.
It wasn't long before Espio managed to catch up with the group, using his Chroma Camo abilities and crawling on the floor as quietly as he could as he managed to get within earshot of them. Despite the loud fountain by them, Espio slowly raised his head up as he heard the group speak.
"…gotta say, for as much of a shithole this city is, this food ain't half bad," Espio saw the white wolf say.
"Still though, did that bitch really kick us out?" the brown dog replied. "It's one fucking slap, you're really gonna cry 'harassment' over that? Tch, I tell you, so many fucking girls have their panties deep in their cooch. One day, feminazi shit takes over colleges, and the next day, we got girls gettin' triggered, crying harassment just because a guy looks at her differently. I tell you, this world is turning to shit. Didn't you see how hot she looked?" the dog took another bite from his sandwich. "Rrrr… At least wanted to fuck one bitch before we left here…"
"And what, get her pregnant?" the monkey said as the group began to laugh, all except the dog.
"Oh, fuck off, Sarge! You don't REALLY believe that shit, do you?"
The bear looked confused as he turned to his friends. "What do you mean, that shit?"
"Right, you don't know!" the wolf said. "So the thing about Sleuth here is that-"
"Ah ah ah, he doesn't have to know shit!" the dog cut him off before the wolf snarled at him.
"I'm talking to him you dolt! Anyway… as I'm sure you know, Sleuth REALLY likes to get a lot of pussy. Like, a LOT. And the thing is… he does it without a rubber too."
"Without a rubber?!" the bear questioned. "Wait, HAVE you got a girl pregn-"
"I haven't and so many people are convinced I have!" the dog yelled back. "The difference is that I know when to fucking pull out!"
"Not except for Hershey," the wolf snickered as he took a drink from his drink. "Not only did she cheat on her boyfriend with you, but you got her pregnant! Like, seriously dude?"
"It was just ONE time and I paid her money to get an abortion! Look, knocking up bitches sounds fun IN CONCEPT, but as soon as she pushes out a shitstain outta her cooch, I'm out! There's a reason I pull out, and that's because kids are nothing more than a burden I ain't dealing with ever! I already barely get money as is with my online rap career, you think I have money for kids?! Besides, with a rubber I feel restrained!"
"That sounds less like a compliment and more like you complaining!" the yellow bull said. "Besides, you've heard the rumors. Even me, a transfer student, is aware of them. What was it? Nine girls you've knocked up at this point and you refuse to pay child services?"
"Oh, fuck off, Jun! Not only do you know that ain't true, you can't even get any bitches on your dick so don't think you got some kinda own on me!"
"If anything, telling us all to fuck off sounds more like you're insecure."
"You wanna fuckin' go then, eh?! Is that it?!"
"Calm the fuck down, you two!" the white wolf said. "Look, if you REALLY want to that bad, we can try to pick some girl up before we leave if it makes that limp dick of yours happy, Sleuth. Besides, it's best we left this dump as quickly as possible. We don't have any updates on what's going on at that dump of a college, but I know they're probably super pissed!"
"Tch, serves them right. You don't make a mockery of our team and get away with it," the bear replied.
Something in Espio clicked as soon as he heard the last two people speak. Did… did they know what happened? And furthermore… why were they speaking like that?
"Come on, do we really gotta leave? I wanna see those little triggered faces of theirs, crying like a bunch of fucking snowflakes when they see what we did to the place," the brown dog, seemingly named Sleuth, replied. "Gotta say, thanks for coming up with that Fagniks idea, Drago. You ask me? That sums up that entire team right there. Ain't that right, Diesel? Wasn't your freshman year two years ago being on the Mobius U team just the worst before you came to us?"
It was at that moment that everything around Espio stopped. The world around him turned colorless, and the silence in his ears was growing ever so larger. Everything, including time itself, came to a halt at that exact moment the words passed from one side of his ears to the other. Even if he still wasn't fluent in English, there were a few key phrases that made him stop.
They… they knew… they knew about what happened…
Because they did it…
Espio kept his mouth shut as the world around him came back to life. He looked at the group of five, trying to remember faces, names, and descriptions. There seemed to be Sleuth, the brown dog with the white sleeveless shirt, Jun, the yellow ox with the largest stature of the five, Diesel, the brown bear wearing clothing made up of the same leathery material that the Gossamer Clan produced back in Tsunoda, and 'Sarge', a tall ape with all the strange dark green patterns over his clothes. There was also the white wolf with the blue clothing, and judging by the name used by Sleuth, it seems that his name was Drago.
At that moment, his anger was only starting to boil. These people, beyond rude in their mannerisms, language, and demeanor, were the people responsible for hurting the team. Hurting Vector…
It took all his power to stop himself from revealing his location to bring justice to these criminals, all of them laughing at what they had done to the stadium.
"As long as no one catches us," the white wolf said as Espio could hear clearly again. "We can look from afar and then get the hell out. You think that's gonna bring down their morale during their next game?"
"One thing's fer certain, Drago," Sleuth replied. "We have GOT to win our next game against Winterberg next week. Two fucking losses in a row, and I'm frankly getting SICK of coach's bitching. They're fucking cheap fucks too, no wonder why we keep losing!"
"We do all this training and for what?" Jun picked at his teeth. "For us to get yelled at after a two hour game? Nah, fuck that. I'm here to win. I didn't transfer from home to be a loser. I transferred cause I'm gonna show the football world that a legend can come from anywhere!"
"Ha, are you the guy that should be bragging when in your very first practice, you still didn't understand the game so you thought you scored a point when you didn't do what you were told and ran to the other side of the field?" 'Sarge' replied.
This elicited more laughs and hollers from the group as the ox turned away. Espio had to duck under his hiding spot, realizing that it was now becoming far too dangerous to stick so close to the enemy.
"Well come on, let's go!" Drago said, getting off the bench. "I tell you, if they cleaned up EVERYTHING, I'm gonna be so pissed."
"Hold on, dude! Lemme finish my chips…" Sleuth said as he nonchalantly threw a few chips into his mouth and chewed.
"This ain't the time you mutt! We can eat on the way there!"
And so, as Espio heard the group clamber on their feet, he slowly raised his head up as he watched them leave, seeing them stare at the tray that Drago stole from the restaurant. They stopped to look at it for a second before throwing it into the fountain.
"You have no care for anything, do you?..." Espio said to himself as he continued to follow the group.
After almost twenty minutes of walking, the five stood in the very edge of the parking lot of the stadium, watching as various janitors were moving all over the field. Trash bags everywhere, one of the janitors started up some kind of machine and began to spray off the 'FAGNIKS' message on the bleachers.
"Oh, come on!" Sleuth complained. "If you're gonna fucking remove SOMETHING we did, don't let it be that!"
"What, not even the dick I drew was good enough?" 'Sarge' said, elbow bumping the brown dog.
"You wanted to put our school's emblem, Sarge," Jun replied. "I had to talk you out of that one. And speak of the devil, it seems… they removed what you spray painted."
"Ugh, this blows. How much do you wanna bet they haven't gotten the message yet? I don't see any of those cucks crying their asses off!" Drago complained. "You know how those Mobius U sports fags are. They don't even bother trying to hunt us down themselves, they think THIS is how they solve things."
"What do you say then, Drago? Shall we return?" Diesel asked.
The wolf put his finger on his chin. "Well, we need to think. They likely have cameras and shit in there now, so we'll likely need to cover ourselves up in everything. Masks, dark clothing, the works. And I think THIS time, we need to do something worse than the stadium…"
Drago turned to the school. "Yeah… I think I'm getting ideas as to what we could do…"
"Molotov the place?!" Sleuth excitedly said. "Come on, Drago! Just this once!"
"Well, I'd rather not like to be sent to jail for decades, but I think that our little show shouldn't just be at the stadium. Why not at those cars there, why not the exterior campus? Why not torment this entire school, never finding out who was responsible?! It'll be the second coming of the Crisis City Destructixes!"
"Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about! And if anyone tries to suspect us, my uncle will definitely bail us out! Thanks to his military connections, he has a lot of power with the colleges around Central Mobius," Sarge added. "Oooh, man I'm getting pumped!"
"Come on, Drago! Let's get outta this dump. But first…" Sleuth said. "Can we PLEASE pick up some bitch to fuck?"
"Fucking Gaia, Sleuth," Drago shook his head. "Are you ALWAYS that horny?! If it means you won't hump my backseat, then sure we'll pick up the nastiest, sluttiest girl you could pick up in this hellhole for the cheapest price you can think of, just for you!"
Everyone but Sleuth snickered as the dog sneered at the wolf. "Oh, keep fucking talking, the only thing I'm concernin' myself with is-"
"MATTE!"
The five were just steps away from getting off the stadium parking lot when they were stopped by a voice. They quickly turned around.
"Who's there?!" Drago questioned.
Their eyes explored the parking lot, which only had a few cars around.
"This ain't a fucking game! Whoever said that, come out in front of us like a man!" Sleuth threatened. In that moment, a kunai was thrown at the feet of the five Destructixes players as they took a few steps back.
"Now you're getting weapons involved?!" Sarge added. "Whoever you are… this means WAR!"
Sleuth dug deep into his pocket as he grabbed his pocketknife, unsheathing it as he got into position. Just as Drago unsheathed his claws, Jun noticed the knife in question and picked it up.
"Oi, what the hell are you doing, Jun?!" the dog growled as the ox examined the kunai.
"…this knife…" he said. "I recognize it. I've seen it back home in various weapon shops."
"So what? This thing one of those fancy Northern Mobius knives?" Drago questioned. "Who gives a fuck! Someone's trying to attack us, so if they want a fucking fight, they better stop being a pussy and show themselves!"
In that moment, there was a flash of smoke as the five got into a stance. In that moment, Espio revealed his location to the five, holding a kunai towards them.
"W-Who the fuck are you?!" 'Sarge' questioned.
"How… how dare you… hurt Vector…" Espio said, walking closer.
"You better step the fuck back if you know what's good for you, you little shit!" Drago questioned. "What's your little game, eh?!"
"He said a name, didn't he?" Diesel added. "Vector, was it?"
"What, that croc quarterback loser?" Sleuth replied. "The one who got multiple plays over you during our game against Mobius U, Drago?"
"You mean to tell me this little shit here is friends with Vector?! Don't make me laugh! Even if you are or not, that pathetic fuck deserved what he and his little team got to him! He chose to not just embarrass me, but my team. And you don't FUCK with either of them!" Drago yelled, spit flying over the air.
"You villains… I shall never forgive you…" Espio said as he got into position.
"What, you really gonna fight us?! Is that what you want, eh?!" Sleuth taunted. "It's five against one. If you want us to knock yer fucking teeth in, then by all means…" he lowered his pocketknife and cracked his knuckles. "Come on, take your first shot!"
In that moment, Jun threw the kunai back at Espio's feet as he quickly dodged out of the way, hand on the ground. He looked up to see the ox.
"…so… you're from Northern Mobius too…" Jun said, this time, in Espio's native language. He didn't think that the ox too could be from the same land he called home, and yet… acted NOTHING like it. The chameleon got up from the floor and looked up at the yellow ox.
"How dare you revoke what you've learned from our homeland?!" Espio yelled.
"OUR homeland?! Look at you… you look NOTHING like what I'm used to. I clearly must have missed some kind of summer festival if you feel that's how I want to look."
"Jun, stop speaking that fucking… I dunno, Chinese or whatever the hell you speak. What the hell are you two saying?!" questioned Sleuth.
In that moment, Jun reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and cigarette, with Espio still waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"…am I mistaken in thinking that you could possibly be from those areas meant for pure traditionalism?" the ox asked the chameleon. "There's a reason I came here to Central Mobius. Once I learned my love of football, I knew I was always meant to be here, not at that hellhole of Northern Mobius where the way I express myself is considered criminal!"
"And you think acting like a hooligan, and… and hurting my friend is how you achieve your expression?!"
"Enough already!" Drago said. "Listen here you little punk. At this point, we would have already beaten your ass to the fucking ground, especially with shrimps like you. So, unless you want to get the shit kicked out of you, I suggest you hightail it out of here."
"You… won't… rrr… I don't know how… how to say that w-word…" Espio said. This response created laughs from everyone but Jun.
"Oh man, you really are gonna try and be dark and threatening when you can't even say English?!" 'Sarge' laughed.
"Ha, no wonder you came to Mobius U, because they only allow pure dunces such as yourself!" Diesel added.
"Ha ha haa! Hey, hey alien! Why don't you just go back to your country and find someone who'll believe you there!" Sleuth laughed, causing Espio's scales to grow a mixture of red and pink. "Oh wait! I bet no one would wanna listen to whatever shit comes from your mouth!"
"Get fucking lost, kid!" Drago added. "You're frankly WAY too funny for us to beat up! At this point, you might as well-"
In that moment, Espio in anger, grabbed the kunai off the ground. In a flash, everyone stopped laughing as Sleuth pulled out his pocketknife again.
"Ah, so you do wanna fight, ya little SHIT!" he yelled, rushing towards the chameleon with the knife. In the moment that he swiped, Espio quickly raised his kunai in the air and blocked Sleuth's knife. In the blink of an eye, he brought the two knives down and stared at Sleuth in the eye.
"W-What?! How… how the fuck are you stronger than me?!..." he questioned as Espio wrestled the two knives away from him. The chameleon, slashed the kunai blade against Sleuth's, causing it to spark as he took a few steps back. The dog continued to swipe at Espio, who in return blocked each attack.
"Hey, back me up guys!" Sleuth yelled behind him as he was distracted, Espio was able to swipe at Sleuth's arm, causing not only him to drop his knife but also drew blood from his cut arm. The dog yelled in pain as he dropped to the floor.
"Now you fucking asked for it!" Drago yelled, rushing towards Espio as he jumped at the chameleon. Protruding his claws, he swiped at the chameleon as he tried to counter each swipe, only for his arms to get continuously cut. Like Sleuth, Espio dropped his kunai as Drago punched his side. Espio took a few steps back in pain as he watched Jun run towards him, horns pointed directly at him. The chameleon was able to get out of the way but was not expecting Jun to extend his arms, catching it in Espio's throat and causing him to fall to the floor. As he did, the yellow ox quickly grabbed the chameleon and put his arms and legs around the chameleon's, holding him in place as he struggled to get out.
"Allow me!" Sarge said as he ran towards the two, jumping in front of Espio and punching him in both the gut and face, laughing as Espio let out grunts of pain, followed by sweat and eventually, blood. The chameleon could only take each hit as he pondered what his next plan was, seeing stars and double figures in his eyes.
"One more, you little SHIT!"
Sarge was just moments away from finishing Espio off with an uppercut to the head before Espio moved his head out of the way at the last second, causing Sarge to miss.
"Sarge, what the fuck?!" Jun yelled. In that moment, with Espio feeling the ox loosen his grip, he remembered one of the best ways to stop an opponent, using a joint lock. And so, with his right arm, he pushed up Jun's arm and locked one of his joints, causing the ox to scream in pain as he let go of Espio.
"J-Jun's our strongest guy!" Sarge said. "Who… who the fuck are you?!"
Espio rushed towards the monkey, swiping with his elbow at Sarge's elbow and his joints. The monkey tried his best to dodge the attacks, even attacking to kick Espio in the groin, only for the chameleon to grab the monkey's leg and threw him onto the ground. In that moment, Espio realized that both Jun and Diesel were coming his way, so he left Sarge where he was and focused on his next two enemies. Jun grabbed the pocketknife Sleuth dropped and came charging towards Espio.
"DIE!" Jun yelled as he swiped at Espio, seconds away from stabbing him only for the chameleon to jump out of the way. However, Diesel crashed into him from behind, bringing Espio to the floor as the ox and bear stood above him. They held their foots up and began to smash it against Espio's body, kicking it over and over again as the bleeding chameleon soon began to suffer more under the two's attacks.
"Time for me to rip that horn off your face!" Diesel growled as he lifted his leg up above Espio's face, only to be shocked when the chameleon put his hands together, causing a cloud of smoke and obscuring the two's view.
"W-Where'd that shit go?!"
"That move… he… he couldn't be…" Jun coughed. "A-A ninja?!"
"What the fuck…" Diesel coughed into his arm. "…do you mean ninja? Like, the movie ninjas?!"
In that moment, Espio was able to use his Chroma Camo ability to come behind Jun and grabbed under his armpit. While the ox was FAR too heavy for the chameleon to lift up, he was able to catch him off guard and caused him to tumble face first onto the pavement. Espio was able to go behind Jun, held his arm around Jun's neck, and while the ox tried his best to undo Espio's grip, in spite of getting close, the chameleon threw a punch to Jun's temple, knocking him out. Another poof of smoke and Espio stood atop of Jun's unconscious body as Diesel soon noticed the knife.
However, before he could grab it, Espio threw a shuriken as Diesel's arm, causing the bear to howl in pain and swipe his arm back. The chameleon then ran up, pushed an extended hand towards Diesel's stomach, and then lifted his leg and kicked him in the face with his geta. Blood and spit flew out from the bear's mouth as he fell to the ground next to Jun. While he struggled to get up, both Sleuth and Sarge were now fully up.
"D-Dude! That little shit just beat up Jun and Diesel!" Sarge questioned.
"We aren't gonna let him make pussies of us!" Sleuth replied as he put his hands on the collar of his tank top, ripping it in half like paper and revealing his very toned and muscled body. Espio wasn't fazed, only getting into position as the monkey and dog rushed the chameleon. In that moment, Espio was able to jump up into the air and onto one of the car's hood, causing its alarm to turn on. Sleuth was able to grab onto Espio's leg with his free hand, smiling as he did.
"Got you!" he said, throwing Espio off the hood and onto the ground. Sarge was the first to pounce, once again kicking Espio before the chameleon rolled over, getting up despite being unbalanced.
"Ha! Now he's feeling it!" Sleuth said. "Come on, Drago! Don't you wanna kick the shit outta him too?!"
"If he somehow brings you two down, then I'll make sure I end him. But I know you two are gonna win. So, knock that little shit out, and let's make sure we bolt the hell outta here. Those Mobius U fucks are gonna come checking what's going on soon if it wasn't for this damn alarm! So, hurry the fuck up!"
Sarge and Sleuth nodded as the dog was the first to come attacking, pushing the chameleon only for him to throw two punches downwards and upwards. Espio wiped the blood from his lip as Sleuth was about to hit again, but in that moment, Espio slammed his geta on Sleuth's shoe, causing him to yelp in pain.
"Do something, Sarge!" he said. The monkey ran towards Espio's side, but seconds before he could throw a punch, the chameleon grabbed Sleuth's sides and pushed him to the side, using the dog as a human shield against the monkey. He hit Sleuth's naked back as he growled.
"That's me you fucking idiot!" he yelled. Only for Espio to swipe at the side of neck with a chop. Sleuth took a step back before the chameleon punched his throat. Due to all the pain, Sleuth fell onto the ground as once his frame fell to the ground, Sarge took a step back in fear as Espio looked at him with the desire to strike back in his eyes. Espio let a yell out as he began to chop at multiple parts of Sarge's body. While he tried his best to block them all, there were so many at once and in such a quick succession that soon, the monkey could no longer keep up and found himself being pelted with chops to his body. With one final yell, Espio punched the middle of Sarge's body, causing him to cough up saliva and fall to the ground.
Espio turned around as he looked at Drago, the only remaining member of the Crisis City U team still standing.
"So… looks like you're more a fighter than I thought…" the wolf said. "But playtime's over…"
Espio spat blood onto the ground as he pulled out another kunai, and with that, Drago rushed towards the chameleon. First punching him, then slashing his arms with his claws. It seemed that the wolf had the upper hand at first, as he was able to bite the chameleon's right arm and dug his sharp fangs into Espio's arm. The chameleon cried out in pain only for him to punch the top of Drago's head.
Letting go of his grip, Espio held onto his kunai as he swiped at it towards Drago, who dodged in quick succession. With one more swipe, Drago grabbed Espio's arm and dug his claws into it, drawing more blood from it.
"Little SHIT!" he yelled, kicking Espio to the ground and caused him to drop his kunai. Drago jumped atop of him and began to punch down on Espio, beating him down to a pulp as Espio's face was now covered in blood and bruises.
"You… fucking… ASKED FOR THIS!" he yelled, beating down with both hands as Drago's hands were now starting to get covered with Espio's blood. Before the final punch could be thrown, with the last of his strength, the chameleon grabbed onto Drago's arm, and with the wolf's hands open, Espio used his free hand and grabbed onto Drago's fingers, using a looked down upon move in judo: small joint manipulation.
Pulling back Drago's index finger, the wolf howled in pain as he quickly got up from Espio's bruised body.
"W-What is this?!" he yelled, holding his shaking arm up towards the sky. Espio got a glint in his eye as he began to spin in place, both arms extended and one leg raised up, he spun himself into the wolf and crashed into him, smacking his neck, side, and knee as he fell onto his free knee. With all his friends no longer able to save him, Espio undid his spin and grabbed the kunai he dropped due to Drago kicking him to the ground.
At last, as he looked at the crowd that he defeated, Espio knew not only was Vector's pain avenged, but so was the team's, so was the girl back at Sub Station II who was harassed… So was… the entire university itself…
In one flash, with blood over their bodies, Espio was able to get the wolf into a chokehold and raised the kunai up to his neck, both of them breathing heavily.
"Y-You… you f-fuck…" Drago breathed. "W-Who… are you?..."
"…my n-name is Espio. S-Su-Son of B-Bride of the Constant Vigil-"
Before the chameleon could continue, he looked up to see a large crowd of people now surrounding them. More and more people rushed towards them, a large amount of the crowd holding up their phones in front of the scene in front of their eyes for some reason. Espio looked around to see that the crowd was made up students, some faculty and staff, and-
"ESPIO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YA DOIN'?!"
Espio gasped as he heard a familiar voice. Some people in the crowd were pushed out of the way as the chameleon saw Vector, followed by Knuckles and Rotor appearing in front of him. The chameleon was lost for words, until he heard.
"Freeze!"
Espio looked up to see everyone moving to the side. As they did, Officer Wachowski pushed past the crowd, holding up some kind of weapon at the two.
"What the… what the hell happened here?!" he questioned as he looked around the parking lot. In that moment, Drago held up his hands as Espio looked confused. What was going on? "You! Hands up! NOW!"
Espio didn't know what to do. What was Officer Wachowski wanting him to do? And why was Drago holding his hands up?
"Espio… just… just calm down…" Vector said, holding up his hands. "Just let the wolf go… Ya dun have to do this…"
With the crowd staring at him in silence as they continued to hold up their phones, Drago in his arms barely conscious, Sleuth and Sarge behind him groaning in pain, and Jun and Diesel still passed out, Espio's mind was at a rush.
"Didn't you hear me?!" Officer Wachowski yelled. "I know you can't speak well, but surely-"
It was too much as this point, as Espio let go of his chokehold and began to run off. The crowd gasped as Officer Wachowski grabbed the walkie talkie on his shirt.
"Alert to all security and all police regarding the vandalism investigation on campus! An assault just took place near the stadium parking lot and the perpetrator is escaping on foot! Repeat, the perpetrator of an assault near the stadium parking lot is escaping on foot! Help me locate him!"
Espio breathed harder than he ever had in his life. Never once did he think that the training he had done for years and years would finally come into practice. But here he was, running away as fast as he could from Officer Wachowski. What was he to do from here?
If he remembered what his senseis taught, if you were caught, reinforcements were likely on the horizon as well. This must have meant that Officer Wachowski had reinforcements, and this proved to be true as once Espio stepped foot on the back campus, multiple men in orange and red body suits and helmets came running towards him.
"Police! We have you surrounded!" they yelled. "Put your hands in the air NOW!"
Espio looked around. Even if he used his Chroma Camo here, they would still know where he was. So, he had only one thing to do.
With the suited men stopping and pointing their weapons at him, Espio threw one of his shuriken's to the side and creating a distraction. As they shot out some kind of strange object from their weapons, Espio moved to the side and ran off towards the K building, with the suited men following behind him. He made sure not to look back as he looked from both sides, making sure that no one would be appearing in front of him.
After passing by the K building, Espio found himself at the front of the campus all alone. He knew he only had seconds to spare, and once again, remembering his training, the fuchsia chameleon remembered that blending into your environments was one of the best ways to hide from enemies not just when sneaking into enemy territory, but also hiding when even Chroma Camo couldn't save you.
And so, the chameleon quickly climbed up the steps leading up to the A building, just in time to hide behind a pillar and hearing the footsteps of the multiple officers from behind the marble pillar from below.
"Where did he go?" asked one of the voices. "You know this campus better than us, Officer Wachowski."
"I didn't expect he would be so fast…" Officer Wachowski replied. "Okay, it may be best that we split up and explore the entire campus. If you find him, don't alert him. Try to find a way to subdue him first, then call for us over the radio."
"Right!" said a multitude of voices as footsteps clambered over the concrete pathways. Espio took a few deep breaths as he felt a sudden pain.
"N-No… not here…" he said in his native tongue, holding his side. All the attacks he took from the Crisis City U players were now catching up to him. He knew it wouldn't be long before someone caught him, and looking at the pillar in front of him, there was only one thing he could do as he heard someone beginning to climb the steps up to the A building. Lowering his eyes, Espio put his hands on the pillar and began to climb it, moving one hand and foot up, then the other as quick as he could. Thankfully, with him being a chameleon, he was able to master this move back during his training days at the Shinobi Clan's Ninja School earlier than to the rest of his classmates.
With him reaching the top of the pillar, Espio saw one of the officers from earlier at the base of the building, looking inside the A building. With him trying to silence his mouth and breathing as best as he could, Espio extended a hand out to the ceiling and began to crawl along the roof, looking over his shoulder to see the officer with his hand on his side. Espio wasn't sure how long he could stay on here, not only because he knew he couldn't stay here all day, but there was the fact that even though he still, he could feel blood pumping throughout his body, and the throbbing pain all over his face and his body wouldn't go away… in fact, it was only getting worse the more he continued to stay there.
"I… I can't… I can't let go…" Espio thought to himself as he continued to stay hidden, but his arms were now shaking, and so were his legs too. And while he never had this issue before, his head was now starting to throb. Even so, he knew the best thing to do was to wait until the officer left, and then he would go back onto the ground, then try to find a tree to hide in until the enemy left or, if it had to go THAT far, they were all beaten.
In that moment, Espio wiped his face with his haori, knowing that getting them dirty with blood was heavily looked down upon back home, but he needed to do everything to make sure he wouldn't be caught. However, as soon as it was wiped off, another stream of blood drooled down from Espio's mouth and onto the floor. The officer below looked around, staying still where he was when the blood in question dripped onto his shoulder. He immediately felt it and reached over towards his shoulder.
"What the?..." he said, pulling his hand back to see blood. Espio knew that he was now caught, and quickly scrambled to the other side of the roof to escape, knowing there was no time to chant the incantation for his Chroma Camo ability. Just seconds after he tried his best to sneak off-
"HEY!"
Espio jumped, and as a result, he lost the concentration he had. Losing the grip on the roof, he fell onto the ground as the officer rushed towards him. The chameleon tried to get up, but the officer shot something towards his direction. It attached to his body and jolted out some kind of feeling that caused Espio's muscles to lock up, and a VERY sharp tingling sensation overcame his body. The chameleon screamed out in pain as something pulled itself off Espio's body, and he fell to the floor barely clinging onto consciousness. The officer got on his knees and grabbed Espio's arms, who could barely even fight back.
"You're under arrest for assault and evading arrest by Article C. 124 of the Central City Penal Code!" he said, placing something on the chameleon's wrists. He didn't know what it was, but as he tried to move them, they were locked into place. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions and or during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time."
Espio didn't know what the man was talking about, but at this point, he could barely listen anymore. He couldn't move his arms, he was stuck where he was, and he could barely see and hear the officers and footsteps around him as he tried his best to cling onto life.
The doors to the A building burst open as a sea of students came running out, many of them holding up their phones to record that… strange chameleon kid they sometimes saw around campus being hauled off by both police and Officer Wachowski in cuffs towards a police car. Amid the sea of people, a majority of them were being pushed aside by a large, reptilian hand.
"E-Espio! ESPIOOOOO!" Vector yelled out as he pushed more students out of the way, trying his best to reach his friend passing the sea of students. He even caused some of the students to drop their phones while recording, causing them to loudly curse at the crocodile, but he didn't care. Once he pushed past a group of freshmen, Vector ran past the Gerald Robotnik Memorial Fountain and stopped as he watched Espio being placed into the car, turning his head towards the crowd.
"Espio…" he said softly, his face falling as he realized he was too late. The squad car's sirens began to start up as Knuckles and Mighty appeared next to him.
"W-What the hell is going on?!" Mighty questioned. "Why is Espio…?"
"I dunno, okay?! He was just… about to attack someone and just… just ran away…"
"Ran away?!"
"I was there with Vector and Rotor when we found him," Knuckles added. "The dude was really beat up alongside these five other guys. When Espio ran away, a bunch of people chased after him, but some of us stayed behind. We found out thanks to ID's on those people by Espio that they're students from Crisis City U. An ambulance was called for them but… that's all we knew until now."
Vector looked down at his feet as he saw another person trying to burst through the crowd. He looked over to see Mark, Espio's nerd friend, who was followed by a giraffe, nutria, and a mole, all of whom looked similar to the tapir himself.
"T-There he is!" Mark pointed at the squad car, which was now beginning to leave. "Espioooooo!"
"Wh-what's going on?" the nutria asked. "We had to pass by such a huge crowd…"
"The cops took my friend, Dave!"
"Y-You mean they took Mr. Espio?!" the giraffe questioned, hands on his face. "B-But why?! We only just met today! He can't be a criminal!"
Criminal…
Was that why they took away Espio? That couldn't be… Espio was ANYTHING but a criminal. On the contrary, the chameleon did everything in the name of good… Learning English, being friends with him, cheering for the crocodile during games, everything…
And now, a horrifying thought was entering his mind. Was… Connery right? Was Espio actually trouble?
He shook his head. No, no that could NEVER be true. It was just Connery's direct bigotry, no matter how many fancy words he tried to use to not make it seem like it. And most importantly, he KNEW Espio. He would never act like this…
In that moment, as the car drove off campus, Vector noticed a familiar chameleon in front of the crowd, which was now starting to disperse. He squinted his eyes, seeing that it was Mr. Valdez, Espio's personal translator as well as head of the Department of Foreign Language Studies. He simply stood looking at the distance, and Vector knew that he had to say something to him.
And so, he walked off towards the blue chameleon, with Knuckles and Mighty following behind. When the crocodile reached Valdez, he noticed the man looking down at his feet and shaking his head.
"…did it have to come to this? Why did it have to come to this?..." he said to himself over and over again.
"Mr. Valdez?" Vector said. He wasn't sure just what to say in this situation. After all, how do you respond when someone you knew your entire life was just arrested in front of your eyes? So, he went with the best thing he could think of. "W-What… do we do know?"
Valdez looked up and turned to face Vector. "Mr-Mr. Vector…" he said. "I… I'm sorry. I know you wish to help him, but until I can find out what station Espio is being held in… I… I can't do anything…"
There was a hollowness to Valdez's voice, almost like he was in too much shock to express any kind of emotion. Vector's face fell as he kicked the ground.
"Damn…!"
"I… I have to make some calls. Excuse me…"
Valdez walked away as the three looked on, watching the chameleon move further away from them.
"So, what the hell do we do now?!" questioned Knuckles. "We can't just let Espio fend for himself!"
"That's right!" added Mighty. "We need to find out where Espio's being held so we can at least visit him!"
Just as Vector was about to open his mouth, Mark and his friends walked up towards them. Everyone but Mark seemed to be uncomfortable being around jocks, so the tapir did the talking for them.
"…Vector… I… I know that us nerds are radically different from you jocks…" Mark said. "B-But… but Espio's our friend. Can I join you?"
Vector closed his eyes before nodding. "…yeah. Yeah, ya can."
8:21 P.M.
Espio sat by himself in the cell that the officers placed him in. The past few hours were a blur for him. Starting from when he was placed in the car, as soon as the officer closed the door behind him, and with how small the back of the car was, the cuffs on his hands, and how there was something blocking the front of the car, the chameleon freaked out until he blacked out. He was unsure about what happened in the past few hours, but when he woke up, he found himself in a cell with his weapons gone.
At first, he tried to escape, and used all his strength to pull the bars open, but it was to no avail. As soon as he tried to open the bars, the beaver policeman near him got up from his chair and walked towards him. He told the chameleon about what he did, but in truth, Espio didn't understand what he was saying.
And now, here he was, simply sitting on the bed by the wall, fully given up on pulling his chains. At this point, he tried all the ways he could to escape, but with no weapons, and not being able to concentrate to perform any of his ninja moves, it felt almost futile to resist. The only thing he could wonder now was… what can he do? How was he going to get out? How could he explain this to Valdez, to Mark, to… to Vector…
And most importantly… if Gojo lost its heir to whoever these people were… what would his mother think when she found out he and Valdez had disobeyed her?
At the same time, the beaver policeman sat on his chair at the Central City Police Department station, reading a technology magazine. He looked over at the clock and saw that he only had an hour left until his wolf partner's shift began. Sighing, he went back to his magazine, hoping that his shift would be over.
That was, until the doors to the station opened.
He looked up to see a blue chameleon running quickly into the station, breathing heavily as he stopped in front of the desk. The officer put his magazine down and put his hands together.
"Excuse me, sir… how can I help you today?" he asked.
Valdez took a few deep breaths before looking up. "Y-Yes… I was just told that you have-"
It was then that the blue chameleon looked up to see Espio in a cell a few feet away from the officer's desk.
"E-Espio!" he gasped, as the fuchsia chameleon looked up. He watched as Espio ran over to the bars, trying to reach his hands out.
"Is… that boy your guardian?" the officer asked.
"I-In… in a way… Well… sort of…"
"What is this supposed to mean?"
Valdez shook his head. "Regardless… I was told that Espio here was sent here. Sir, please… Please, I beg of you to release him…"
The beaver looked at Valdez. "…can I get a name?"
"A-Ah, yes. My name is Valdez the Chameleon, head of the Department of Foreign Language and Study at Mobius University."
"And… your connection to the boy?"
"Espio is a family friend of mine."
"I… see…" the beaver turned to his computer. "Well, Mr. Valdez, in regards to your request to let him out, I frankly think you need to understand a few things. Currently, as of right now, Mr. Espio has been charged with aggravated assault, evading police on foot…"
He then lowered himself and opened up a drawer. Valdez looked concerned as he did.
"…and while concealed weapons aren't illegal in Central City, perhaps you would like to explain this?"
The officer brought out a plastic baggy filled with Espio's kunais and shurikens. The blue chameleon's eyes widened as he now began to sweat.
"I-I… I can-"
"I don't think you understand, and neither did he. When I tried to let him know what was going on, he couldn't understand me. Is he a native English speaker?"
"N-No! That's why I have to make sure he's let out! He can't… he can't be sent to jail!"
"I think you'll find, Mr. Valdez, that holding up someone with one of these knives and fighting a bunch of people in a public space ISN'T what I call a good look. If you're his… family friend, why were you not with him today?"
"I-I… I want the boy to be more independent, but I don't want him to do stuff like this!"
"What do you mean… independent?"
"It has to do with his upbringing-"
"Ahh… a problem child?"
"N-NO! It's just-"
"Well, speaking of that, perhaps there's another mystery you'd like to help up solve. We contacted Mobius University in regards to anyone we could inform about this. The only number we could find was yours. Does he not have any family we were able to contact?"
"N-No… no, officer. See, you must understand-"
"Does it have something to do with what that Headmaster Robotnik told us? That it has to do with some place in Northern Mobius? You see, while attempting to gain any information on him such as criminal records, ID, and the like, we were unable to get ANY information. We had to resort to calling the Northern Mobius Embassy to see if they had any information on Mr. Espio, but even they didn't have a single file on record for him. Perhaps you also have an excuse for why he doesn't have one?"
"Look, officer. The reason Espio doesn't have one… ugh… I question if you'll believe me…"
"Well, considering he's dressed like that and carries… THAT with him," the officer pointed at the baggy of weapons. "I assume there's a reason?"
Valdez sighed. "You see… Espio was born in Northern Mobius. However, he was born in an area that's completely independent from the government of Northern Mobius government. Even I too was born in this village, and I can provide you my ID number as proof, as when I moved to Central Mobius and gained my citizenship, I applied for a birth certificate and listed the village both Mr. Espio and I were born in-"
"Okay okay okay, you've lost me. So, what you're saying ultimately is that there's virtually NO information on file for Espio."
"Yes! There is nothing! Where he's from, the leaders of his village don't believe in citizenship and very rarely do the Northern Mobius government get themselves involved with those places. It's how those villages have lived for hundreds of years."
"Well, perhaps tomorrow we can discuss this with the Northern Mobius Embassy during questioning to see if you're telling the truth. But as of right now, getting back on topic, I would tell you that things don't look like they're in favor for Mr. Espio. Currently, with his assault charge and his misdemeanor for evading the police on foot, if he's found guilty, Mr. Espio could be facing five years in prison and a thirty thousand, five hundred mobium fine."
Valdez gasped, already feeling dizzy. "N-No… n-no you can't…"
"Well, we'll see what the jury thinks, because we were able to set up a trial date for January 12th. Frankly, I think you better explain to him that he may not be going home for quite some time due to how much trouble he's in, thanks to all the evidence at the scene. Hell, frankly if you ask me? The best-case scenario is that he gets deported back to Northern Mobius, because I doubt these charges would get dropped."
"D-Deportation?! N-No, I beg of you! Please! Espio CANNOT survive prison! He has VERY little knowledge of English and of the laws of Central Mobius! You don't know what you're doing!"
"On the contrary, Mr. Valdez, the police DO know what they're doing. Sentencing a criminal."
The beaver's look became filled with seriousness, and Valdez felt his knees turn to jelly.
"T-Then… then tell me I can let Espio out at least…"
"Well, at least you're lucky there. Mr. Espio's bond has been set at twenty-five thousand mobiums. Should it not be paid by this time tomorrow, we'll take Mr. Espio to Central City State Prison where he'll remain until his trial date."
Valdez almost wanted to throw up. Not only did he not have that kind of money, but he COULDN'T let Espio stay there. He knew that the chameleon would never survive the prison, not just because of its inmates, but the guards seeing him as a threat due to how Espio was hardwired to see enemies after years of teaching from both the Bride and the senseis of the Shinobi Clan's Ninja School.
"You look pale, Mr. Valdez," the officer said. "Shall we get a seat for you?"
"P-Please… please I beg of you… please reconsider this-"
"I told you already, Mr. Valdez. This will be up to the jury whether Espio will be found guilty. So, unless you would like to post Espio's bail now, he'll be staying here for the next twenty-four hours."
At this point, Valdez didn't know what to do anymore. He didn't have this kind of money now, and with how things were looking, Espio could very well be sent to jail. What would the Bride say if she found out? He shuddered, not wanting to think about it.
"Can I ask one more thing?" the blue chameleon asked. "What of the boys Espio was with? You claimed he assaulted them, but I don't believe it."
"Ah, them. Well, while most of the information is confidential with the public, after treating them at a hospital, we found out that they weren't from Central City, but instead, Crisis City. They almost refused to be identified, however, we found out that they were related in connection to a vandalism incident on the Mobius University campus, and we found incriminating evidence in one of the perpetrators cars. After the hospital treated them, we sent Mr. Drago Wolf, Sleuth Dawg, Jun Kun, Diesel Bear, and Sarge Simian back to Crisis City where authorities will likely charge them there. But I don't see what this has to do with Mr. Espio."
The blue chameleon stayed silent, only looking at his feet. The beaver was right, he thought that maybe if he learned something about them, maybe it would reflect good on Espio and he could be let out. But… it seems like he HAD to post bail…
"Well, if that's all the questions you had…" the beaver said. "And you cannot post bail, I highly recommend that you please leave."
Valdez said nothing, only keeping his head down as he walked out of the station.
As he walked out of the station, four people in particular were waiting for Valdez to leave: Vector, Knuckles, Mighty, and Mark. They got up from the bench outside the station.
"There ya are!" Vector said. "So? What happened?"
Valdez continued to keep his head hung. "…Espio has been charged with assault and evasion of police, and he's facing years in prison and a hefty fine. If we want to release him… it's twenty-five thousand mobiums."
Everyone around the blue chameleon gawked.
"T-Twenty-five THOUSAND?!" questioned Knuckles.
"D-Do you have that kinda money, Mr. Valdez?" asked Mighty. The blue chameleon shook his head.
"Ergh!" Mark kicked his foot on the ground. "It's always about money when it comes to the police… they refuse to listen to anyone and prefer to rake in money as much as possible while they arrest anyone who questions their authority even when it's for a good reason! Did they even listen to you?"
Valdez shook his head.
The tapir sucked his teeth. "Man, I knew it! This is what happens when people bootlick the cops…"
"You sound like you've believed this for some time," Knuckles said.
"Well, my thoughts on the police have changed ever since I joined the O.O.T.S server online."
"O.O.T.S.?"
"The Organization of Online Tapir Socialists! What, just because I'm a nerd doesn't mean I can't have class awareness!"
"Hey, better not let Connery know about this…" Mighty whispered to Knuckles.
However, Vector was left all alone to his thoughts as he looked at all the passing cars, the darkening sky, and the wind blowing in his face. His body was starting to feel sluggish with how cold it was getting, but it wasn't colder than how his heart felt seeing Espio in that moment. The scene of seeing him being taken in a cop car played in the crocodile's mind over and over again. He didn't know why it had to come to this.
Since they arrived to the station, Rotor texted him and Knuckles continuous updates since what happened, such as the stadium now being completely cleaned, to the perpetrators not only being from Crisis City U, but also football players. In fact, it was the quarterback of the team that lead his fellow teammates in vandalizing the place.
While he was glad that they were caught and would be getting their just desserts, he didn't want Espio to take things THIS far. He was thankful for the work he had done and the thought that he wanted not just his team to feel better, but the crocodile specifically, but…
"Why…? I didn't want ya to put yerself in danger…" Vector said to himself. "I didn't want the cops to have ya…"
Even if the Crisis City players were responsible, the crocodile couldn't help but feel like this was his fault. And now, Espio was being held up for ransom.
As Knuckles tapped his shoulder and told them they were leaving, as none of them had remotely enough money to post bail, Vector continued to look at the rising moon in the blue and black gradient sky.
"…yer too nice…" he thought to himself. "Yeh'd do anythin' fer me, huh? Even if it means goin' to jail…"
END OF CHAPTER 12
