Chaos Bond

Lost Treasures Found

Bobbing up and down went Vector's motorboat, over the waves, some 40 to 60 miles off from the Emerald Coast. They had shut off the motor and were just having a drift for a little bit while Vector read his book and Charmy sat at the prow with a fishing line. His music player was beside him but it had run out of life an hour ago so the bee, now a full 20 years old, had resorted to singing his own tunes.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5," he sang, "Once I caught a fish a-live. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Then I let it go a-gain." He paused for a second to see if Vector would say anything but he didn't. "Why did you let it go? Be-cause it bit my fin-ger so. Which fin-ger did it bite? ... This little finger on my right!"

"I'll bite more than jus' yer finger."

There was the complaint that Charmy had been waiting for. 20 years wasn't really enough time for Charmy to 'mature'.

"You know, Vec," he sighed, inhaliing the sea air, "I was kinda hoping we'd go fishing on a lake or something. What am I going to catch way out here in the ocean?"

"We ain't after the little lake fish, Charmy. We're here fer a REAL feast," Vector licked his teeth. "Maybe a Marlin or something. A fish that'll knock Espio off his feet when he gets back."

Charmy glanced doubtfully at his little fishing line.

"With this, I'd call myself talented if I was able to catch an old boot. Probably should've brought a net or, you know, an experienced, real-life, fisherman."

Two years ago, the Chaotix had discovered a jungle tribe way out in the East while they were on the trail of a bandit. The tribe had been a little community of mostly chameleons like Espio but a family of geckos and a salamander had been accepted among them it seemed. Once the Chaotix had helped them with a particularly stressful fight with a rival tribe of snakes, they were given assured friendship and hospitality. One of the Tribe members had taken a liking to Espio and had requested that the Matriarch of the Tribe agree that he be allowed to stay if he so wished.

Espio had agreed to stay and help train their defence force but only for a little while - his first duty was to the Chaotix and to his place as one of the Sonic Allies.

"He sure is taking his sweet time over in the jungles, isn't he?" Charmy commented and he could sense the toothy grin on Vector's face.

"Ah, ya know why THAT is."

Charmy cleared his throat and mimiced the voice of the tribal chameleon.

"'Oh, thank you for helping to save my people, brave warrior. You're so quick and nimble! I'm falling for you hard!'"

"Naw, Charmy," Vector tutted, "they didn't say that exactly."

"Nah, it was something subtle like 'Won't you stay and teach your skills to our inexperienced soldiers so we aren't left defenceless?' but it was said with a ton of hidden subtext which was something along the lines of 'Can you stay so I can make out with you up in my treehouse shack? Also, marry me.'"

The two of them laughed very loudly out on the open sea, where no-one but the gulls were around to hear them.

"Well, he's a good looking guy so you couldn't exactly blame them," Vector pointed out.

"Don't reckon Esp was all that interested anyway," Charmy shrugged. "Jungles are great and all but there aren't many mysteries to be solved there."

"Even Detectives retire eventually."

"Ha! Yeah right! Knowing you, Vec, you'll be a least a hundred- AH!" Charmy cried as he bumped his music player off the side and watched it go plunk into the water. "My music player!"