Chapter 9: Team Chaotix vs. Hooligans
In the city of Boston, you can see many beautiful buildings and houses that will be imprinted in the memory of every tourist who came to this city. It was now sunny and hot, and most people were sitting in houses or buildings to hide from the bright sun.
In one of the alleys in center of the city, at the top of the roof there was an entrance to the attic. This attic was rarely used. The attic itself was made of brick and strong wood. Team Chaotix lived in this attic for a time, along with things like clothes and some food. Espio and Charmy sat on the floor while Vector went back and forth and talked about his plan to find Sonic, the others from their world and the Chaos Emeralds. As soon as the green crocodile finished talking, Espio spoke:
"Vector, I have doubts about this plan. What if the locals discover that we are anthropomorphic animals?"
"I think that they will get used to us sometime over time, and we will be celebrities. We'll be especially popular with kids because they'll think you're in a suit!" Charmy said, smiling.
"Charmy!" Espio said loudly, scolding the bee.
"You're right, Espio." Vector said, turning to them. "If the locals find out that we are made of blood and flesh, and not some people in a suit, and not from their world, it will not end well for us. Especially with the hype of Sonic and his friends defeating a robot controlled by Eggman at MIT."
"I'm more worried about Dr. Eggman attacking the people of Boston." Said the chameleon. "We need to quickly find Sonic, his friends and the Chaos Emeralds."
"I can agree with you on this, Espio." The green crocodile agreed. "But I already have a new variation of the plan."
"Which variation?" Asked the bee with curiosity.
"I think we need to be well camouflaged so that no one sees our animal features." Vector explained. "We can walk down the street, look for the blue hedgehog and the Chaos Emeralds. Do you like this format?"
"Um..." Muttered Charmy, unsure that the plan would work.
"I already doubt this plan." Espio said with a serious look.
Hearing the chameleon's answer, Vector fell to the floor in anime style before he stood up and said:
"Well, here it is... As I come up with plans, everyone immediately doubts it... I need to work on this."
"Maybe you can ask me?" Charmy suddenly asked. "I have ideas about our plan."
"Okay, Charmy." Said the crocodile. "And what is our plan?"
I already have bad thoughts about this. Espio thought in his mind, looking at Charmy with empty eyes.
The bee opened his mouth to start speaking:
"We will divide into two groups: one will be below, the second above. I think it's quick and easy."
"Might be pretty good, Charmy." Said Vector. "But who will be below?"
A second later, one thought appeared in Vector's head. He turned his head towards Espio, to the latter's concern. The green crocodile and the cheerful bee had the same idea about who would go down. And Espio was not happy about this.
Later...
On top of the roof of a residential building on the street stood a green crocodile, a bee, and a chameleon. They had camouflage clothes with them. Charmy was flying, looking at the roofs of other houses, Espio was meditating, and Vector was looking down from different sides of the roof in thought. After some time, he turned to his comrades and said:
"Espio, you can go downstairs. They won't see you coming down or your animal features."
"Okay." Espio agreed reluctantly and began to put on his disguise.
"Don't worry about it, Espio!" Charmy said, trying to cheer up the chameleon. "The main thing is that you look at the city and enjoy life!"
Espio glared at Charmy, who smiled nervously at the look. Soon he finished dressing. In addition to the coat, he was wearing a hat and long pants.
"While you're downstairs, we'll be up there and see where Sonic and his friends are or Chaos emeralds." Vector said to the chameleon. "If you come across something interesting or Sonic, come back or bring him to us at this place."
Espio nodded and walked towards the stairs of the building that led down. He went downstairs, went out into the street, and began to wander along the city street.
If you think about it, this city is pleasant. Thought the chameleon, looking around. This city reminds me of Sunshine City and Seaside City. Maybe Charmy was right. I need to apologize to him later.
While Espio was walking on the street, Charmy and Vector moved from one roof to another and searched around for Sonic. The chameleon continued to walk through the streets and looked for the blue hedgehog with his eyes. Soon he found himself on a high road, in the middle of which there was a tram line. On the other side of the highway was the Boston's art museum. Espio noticed this museum and decided to look at it out of interest. When every traffic light turned green, he crossed the main road and approached the museum. As he approached the Boston Museum, the chameleon saw police cars, a crowd of people and police officers. Inquiring what was going on here, Espio walked close to the crowd. As soon as he stopped, the chameleon heard a dialogue between a police officer and one guy.
"Have you seen these people?" The officer asked the guy.
"Yeah." The guy answered. "These guys were wearing hats and coats. They were in one of the halls of the museum, where the painting "The Artist in His Studio" is located. When I arrived in the hall, I saw one of them stop in front of a painting before he started talking to them in a whisper. I didn't attach any importance to this and went to another room. As soon as I had seen enough of one exhibit, there was an explosion, and I saw people running in panic and shouting, for example: "They have a bomb!" and "Save yourself who can!".
"A bomb?" Asked the officer.
"Right." The guy confirmed. "Until that moment, I didn't know that these were the guys I had seen before. As soon as I found out it was them, I got goosebumps."
"Everything is clear." The policeman said and left the guy to approach the girl.
"Sorry, miss." He said as he approached the girl. "Were you in that room when the incident occurred?"
"Yes, I do." She answered. "I was there when I came to look at one painting."
"Did you see these suspicious guys and that they used a bomb?" Asked the policeman.
"I saw them, I even managed to look at their faces." Said the girl. "Two of them literally had animal faces, and the third had a bird's beak, like a duck's. These aren't even masks..."
Animal faces and a duck's beak? Espio thought, raising an eyebrow and somehow this description is familiar to him.
"One resembled the face of a weasel, and the second resembled a bear's face." The girl added. "The one with the duck's beak took a bomb in the shape of a black ball and threw it right across the middle of the hall. The other one was shouting about what he was doing. I immediately ran out of there. I looked back and saw that the largest of them took the painting "The Artist in His Studio" and, together with the two, ran somewhere."
The Hooligans! The chameleon exclaimed in his mind, already understanding who was responsible for stealing the painting and causing a fuss. I need to tell Vector about it!
He left the crowd and headed to the place where Vector had previously indicated.
Sometime later...
"Hey Espio, how are you doing?" Charmy asked, noticing that the chameleon was waiting for them at the top of the building. "We couldn't find Sonic or the Chaos Emeralds. How about you?"
"I didn't find the emeralds or Sonic either." Espio answered, then he looked at them with a serious expression on his face. "But I found out that the Hooligans is here in this world."
"They are here?!" Vector said loudly in surprise, not expecting to hear it. "How?!"
"Maybe they were in our battle with Eggman in Tails' laboratory, and we didn't notice them." Espio made a theory before continuing. "The Hooligans managed to do some mischief in the museum of this city. They stole a painting there and Bean used a bomb right in the hall."
"That's just chaos*." Charmy said, groaning. "Previously Sonic with the Institute, then this! Now our safety is reduced by 50/50!"
"And if you think about it, we have a new case!" Vector said with a smile. "Let's go back to the attic for further action."
"Yes, sir!" Said Charmy and flew after the crocodile.
We can say that the fun has already begun. Espio thought tiredly and followed his teammates.
In their temporary base...
It was evening outside. Vector and Espio were discussing where the Hooligan team and their picture were now, and the plan to catch them. Meanwhile, Charmy almost fell asleep, as it was boring for him to listen to. Just as he began to close his eyes, suddenly he, the chameleon and the crocodile heard sounds from the street. Espio readied his kunai while Vector and Charmy went outside first to check out what was going on below.
When the crocodile and the bee looked down, they saw a familiar trio riding on an airy yellow motorcycle-bike. These were Fang, Bean and Bark. A purple jerboa screamed at a green woodpecker while a polar bear picked up the painting. Marvelous Queen, the same yellow motorcycle-bike and Fang's vehicle, hit a pole.
"Now is our chance." Said Charmy and wanted to fly, but Vector stopped him.
"No, Charmy, not now." Said the crocodile before smiling. "I have a better idea. We'll track where they're going and lock them up!"
"I no longer doubt your plan, Vector." Espio said with a smile, approaching the leader of their team.
Soon Hooligans gathered and started driving around, but little did they know that three detectives were on their tail.
Sometime later...
"Agrh! You idiot, bomb-mook! We almost got caught because of you!" Fang scolded Bean as soon as they entered one of the hangars in Boston Harbor.
"But I accidentally…" Bean began, smiling stupidly, but the leader of their team shut him up.
"No! No! And no! I don't want to hear your excuses, you mook! Do you remember what you did in the museum?!"
Previously…
At the top of one house, Fang peered through his binoculars at the Boston Museum. Meanwhile, Bean was playing around, and Bark was in the shade due to the unbearable sun and heat. Soon the green woodpecker turned to the jerboa:
"Listen, Fang, when will we go there?"
"I'm coming up with a plan, bomb-mook." Fang answered. "You know that they won't let us in there because of the tickets and that they will think that we are in suits. I need to figure out where to get tickets and disguises..."
"Listen, I remember that when you had your first conversation with Julia, you mentioned that you have a sister." Bean suddenly said. "Although, as far as I know, you don't have any..."
"Keep quiet." Fang said, grinning. "Yes, I lied to her all about it, so what? She is a good person with a pure soul~ and I took advantage of this to tell her what is valuable in her world."
"You know, for a thief and bandit, you're pretty diabolical." Bean said.
"Pha-ha-ha!" The purple jerboa laughed evily.
He's evil. Bark thought, and a huge anime-style drop fell over his head.
When he stopped laughing, Fang noticed three guys walking along the alley. With his sharp eyes, he noticed three tickets that one of these guys was holding in his hands.
"Bean, Bark." Fang turned to his subordinates with a sly smile. "I found it."
"What you found?" The woodpecker asked, puzzled, and Bark raised an eyebrow.
In response, the jerboa pointed his thumb at the three guys below. The woodpecker and the polar bear looked down. Bean smiled a sinister smile, and Bark looked a little worried for the three guys. Soon the gang went downstairs and quietly approached the guys.
A little while later…
The Hooligans, wearing clothes they took from three guys, and an extra one to hide their animal shapes (they stole it too), entered the museum using the stolen tickets. Fang, Bean and Bark walked through the halls, choosing an exhibit that could be stolen. Soon they reached one painting in one room. The disguised purple jerboa approached the inscription that was next to the picture and read in a whisper:
""An artist in his studio"...Hmm...Yes, that's it!"
"Boss, did you find something?" Bean asked, approaching him with Bark.
"Yes." Fang answered in a whisper and turned to Bean. "You bomb mook, speak more quietly! We need a distraction so that no one notices that we are stealing the painting. If we have more time, we will steal more exhibits and enrich ourselves!"
"Okie-dokie!" Bean said with a grin and took out an incendiary bomb.
"Bin, what the..." Before the frightened Fang could shout, Bean threw a bomb, and it exploded.
The people in the museum were very frightened by what was happening and ran away from the hall in which a bomb had just exploded.
"Bean, you idiot! What have you done?!" Fang shouted, taking the woodpecker by the feathers, and starting to shake it.
"Created a distraction!" Bean said with an innocent smile.
"I'm surrounded by an idiot..." Fang growled to himself and noticed that Bark was carefully pulling out the painting. "Well done, scarf-mook! NOW LET'S RUN AWAY FROM HERE!"
Fang, along with Bean and Bark, ran away from the hall along with the stolen painting.
Now…
"Yeah, I remember that." Bean replied with childish smile, causing Fang to slap himself in the face with his hand because the woodpecker looked like he didn't care about the matter at all.
Meanwhile…
"They are here." The purple chameleon informed his comrades. "I saw them go there. This could be their temporary shelter, like ours."
"Okay, Espio." Said the crocodile. "Let's walk as quietly as a mouse."
Team Chaotix approached a hangar with a dark blue roof. Charmy pressed his ear to the entrance to hear what was inside. He heard Fang and Bean arguing about something. The bee turned his head towards Vector and Espio and all three nodded their heads. The green crocodile came close to the doors and punched them in the middle, then he took them with both hands and pushed them apart.
"Hooligans!" Vector exclaimed loudly to the surprised Fang, Bean and Bark, who noticed that the Chaotix team was standing on the threshold. "You are under arrest for stealing a painting from a museum in Boston and using an explosive weapon in a public place!"
As Hooligans shook from the surprise, Fang walked towards them first while behind him, Bean and Bark began to prepare to fight.
"Hello, Team Chaotix." The purple jerboa told them with a wicked grin. "I haven't seen you since we were in that annoying little child's workshop."
"Tails is not an annoying child!" Charmy protested. "He is an inventor who is willing to do anything to help his friends and others!"
"Wait, were you in Tails' workshop?" Espio asked Fang.
"We were there." The jerboa answered arrogantly. "You didn't notice us, heh?"
"My theory is correct." Said the chameleon, baring his teeth.
"What were you doing in Mr. Prower's workshop?" Asked the crocodile, also baring his teeth.
"Isn't it obvious?" Said Fang. "I was there with my team to get into Julia's world and rob the her city's museum. But unfortunately, we found ourselves on the battlefield. I was dealing with the mechanisms of the portal when Dr. Eggman, trying to shoot Sonic with a laser, accidentally hit the device that controls the closing and opening of the portal. And here we are. Next to my Marvelous Queen."
Behind Fang's back, Bean and Bark rolled their eyes at how their boss cared more about his transport than them.
"That is, not only Eggman, but also you are involved in the fact that we ended up in her world?!" Espio said furiously as he readied his kunai.
"You could say so." Answered the jerboa with a villainous grin. "But I did what I always wanted to do. But we couldn't steal a few more artifacts because of Bean" (Fang glared at Bean before he returning his gaze to Team Chaotix). "How come you're already here, then..."
He pulled out his revolver and pointed them at the Chaotix. Vector and Espio looked at him with menacing eyes, preparing to fight while Charmy was nervous about having a gun pointed at them.
"Are you threatening us with your revolver that shoots caps?" Vector asked sarcastically. "You know, your plugs can't harm us..."
Before the green crocodile could finish his sentence, a bullet flew past them. A real bullet. Chaotix looked at Fang in surprise.
"You know, with time I decided that I should be more serious, and I did it." Said the jerboa, looking at the team of detectives with an evil smile. "What do you say about this?"
"Oh, no..." The bee said worriedly. "He replaced the plugs with real bullets..."
"Don't be afraid, Charmy." Vector said to the bee. "Even when he has bullets, we can defeat him."
"How friendly of you to your comrade." Said Fang. "But don't forget that I have my own too."
Bean and Bark walked over and stood next to their leader. The Hooligan and Chaotix teams entered battle. Vector fought Bark, Espio fought Fang, and Charmy fought Bean.
The battle between the green crocodile and the polar bear was somewhat reminiscent of a wrestling match. They attacked each other with their fists and threw each other to the floor. As a result, Bark hit Vector right in the face. Vector fell to the ground and knelt, rubbing his nose. Bark walked up to him and prepared to hit him again. But fortunately, thanks to his reflexes, Vector grabbed the polar bear and, like a real professional wrestler in the ring, threw it over his shoulder. Bark's head hit the ground. The green crocodile got to his feet and dusted off his hands and quickly went to get the rope to tie up the polar bear and help the others.
Meanwhile, Espio fought Fang. The purple chameleon avoided the jerboa's bullet by moving quickly, throwing kunai and shuriken at it, and Fang in turn avoided them. And so, it continued as the jerboa prepared to shoot at Espio, but instead found that he was out of real bullets.
"What?" He asked before he realized that the situation had become very serious for him. "Oh sh…"
Espio threw a kunai at him with a rope that wrapped around his body, causing Fang to fall. Espio walked up to him and bowed, like a ninja does after a fight over a defeated opponent as a form of respect, before he began to tie the rope tightly, tighter so that the jerboa couldn't get out.
"You need to think before you change your weapon to another." Espio said. "You are a treasure hunter after all."
And Charmy is doing no better than Espio and Vector. He flew back and forth and tried not to collide with Bean's bomb.
"Can you even stand in one place?" The green woodpecker said to the bee, pointing the bomb at him. "You make my aim terrible."
"Can you please stop throwing bombs at me?!" Said Charmy.
Charmy was a little panicked when he suddenly got an idea. As soon as the bomb flew towards him, the bee took it and threw it at Bean. Soon there was an explosion, but the green woodpecker, fortunately, remained alive. Then a rope with a kunai from Espio tied around him.
"Thank you, Espio!" The bee thanked his comrade and flew up to the chameleon and crocodile.
"Well, we already have criminals involved." Said Vector. "You just need to collect them in one rope and return the painting to its rightful place."
"Okay, Vector." The bee agreed. "But what are we going to do with them?"
"We can put them in our temporary base and make sure they don't do any more trouble here." Vector answered.
"Are you sure, Vector?" Charmy asked. "What if they do something while we're not around?"
"Don't worry about it, Charmy." The green crocodile said, slapping the bee on his shoulder. "We will watch them until we return to our world."
"Okay, Vector." The purple chameleon smiled. "Can I deliver the painting to the local police station?"
"Okay, Espio." Said the green crocodile. "Just be careful, okay?"
"I'm a ninja, Vector." Said Espio. "I am always careful and quiet as a mouse."
With that, the purple chameleon took the painting and walked out of the hangar, leaving Vector and Charmy with the embattled Hooligans.
Sometime later...
Espio reached the Boston Police Department. He walked up the steps of the building and placed the painting, wrapped in cardboard, by the front door before he left, leaving it there to be discovered by police in the morning.
In the temporary base of the Team Chaotix...
"We have returned!" Charmy said happily as he, the crocodile, the chameleon with the knotted unconscious Hooligans returned to the attic.
"Whuh!" Said Vector. "It's time to rest, otherwise I'm tired..."
"We need to place Hooligans first." Espio said to the crocodile, as if reminding him. "But we must make sure that they cannot hear what we are talking about, if they awake."
"Is there something you want to discuss?" Vector asked.
"Yes." Answered the chameleon. "We need to discuss our plan for meeting with Sonic and our allies, that is, friends."
"Oh, exactly!" Said the green crocodile. "I already forgot about it."
"It's okay." Espio said with a smile. "The main thing is that we returned the painting and caught the criminals."
"I was thinking that we need to hand them over to the police." Charmy said. "But because of who we are, I don't think the police will be very happy. I'm already terrified to imagine where we will be sent in the end."
"Don't worry, Charmy." The crocodile said with a smile, his hands on his hip. "I know that someday they will get used to our appearance and... They may thank us for returning the painting."
"I think this will happen someday, because you are good guys who solve cases and help others." Suddenly the Chaotix team heard a voice they knew.
They turned around to see Knuckles, Mighty, Ray (the armadillo and flying squirrel were wearing backpacks) and Honey standing at the entrance to the attic. Team Chaotix forgot to lock the entrance when they entered the attic.
"Mighty? Ray?" Espio began.
"Knuckles?" Vector continued.
"Miss Honey?!" finished Charmy.
"Hello, Team Chaotix." The echidna greeted them. "Long time no see. I see that you have captured Fang, Bean and Bark. You didn't even forget to bring the Marvelous Queen here."
"Hello, Knuckles." Espio greeted him with a smile. "Vector is the one, who quietly brought the transport here through the air route."
"I don't even want to talk about it." Said Vector, who for some reason became nervous. "Including how we get the clothes to hide out true selves and food."
"What are you guys doing here?" Charmy asked.
"We heard that you would start discussing a plan to meet with Sonic and the rest of our friends and allies." Ray answered. "That's why we were looking for you."
"True?" Team Chaotix asked together.
"Exactly!" Said Honey. "Can we begin our discussion? If anything, we can keep an eye on Hooligans and make sure they're not eavesdropping."
"They knocked out, Honey." Said Espio to her. "But thanks for that."
"Come to our base." said Vector smiling. "We are always glad to see our guests."
"Thanks, Vector." Knuckles thanked and as soon as he entered the attic, he asked the Chaotix. "Did Hooligans manage to do anything?"
"It's a long story." Charmy answered, smiling, and blinking his eye at the echidna.
Soon everyone started discussing the plan for that meeting with Sonic and the others. Then after discussion everyone left the attic. Espio took the clothes and closed the attic. The other piece of Team Chaotix clothing was held by Honey. Charmy took the food with him while Knuckles and Vector dragged the knotted Hooligans with them. The green crocodile sat on the Marvelous Queen, while placing Fang, Bean and Bark in a modular stroller. After that, the red echidna took out a ring from his bag and threw it, forming a warp portal. Knuckles, Mighty, Ray, Honey, Espio, Charmy and Vector on the Marvelous Queen with the Hooligans entered through the warp portal. After that, the portal closed.
Next time...Trouble on the highway!
This chapter was short compared to other chapters in SR2. As you may have noticed, I included a reference to the one moment from English dub of Lupin the Third in this chapter. I also wanted to mention one detail that readers may not notice. If you remember the chapter about Las Casino from SR1, then their Fang began to talk about his "tragic" past to Julia. At this time, this fanfic became a rather serious project for me after I finished my first two fanfictions Sonic Ocean Star and My Little Pony Goes to IDW, and I decided to add it to chapter 7. Over time, I concluded that this...Little cringey on my part.
Yes, this chapter confirms that in SR1 Fang lied about his past to gain sympathy from Julia so that she could talk about what is in her world. In the original, Fang was a wolf jerboa, that is, a like a hybrid. But Sega confirmed that Fang is a jerboa and that the names he previously bore as Fang Sniper or Weasel Nack were fake names to evade the police.
Also "That's just chaos" is a reference to the phrase "That's just prime" from the Transformers: Beast Wars.
On the next month there would be final chapters, that was a final to the whole SR2! There's chapter 10 that published with this chapter, that would be the start of these final chapters. See you on Friday, there I published 11th chapter of "Sonic and Tails in Mega Man X3 manga", the beginning of the final arc of that fanfic!