"Homecoming"

Written by: Toni the Mink

All official Sonic characters (c) SEGA

All fancharacters (c) Toni the Mink, and other users (I will list as the characters are introduced)

A/N: After writing about Charmy's backstory, I was curious about other characters' as well, specifically Espio's... considering the fact that I've come across a few other stories that touch the subject. Some are humorous, one was a bit more dramatic...

I've decided to try my take on Espio's background, based off a few other stories I've come across, specifically "Chaotix: Super Detective Team" by yuski at deviantart, and "Behind Amber Eyes" by Psychedelic Hurricane here on FanFiction dot net.

WARNING: Does contain some mature content, and ergo is NOT your typically Chaotix humor...

One more thing... I dedicate this story to the memory of Jenna Nicole Keith, the authoress of "Behind Amber Eyes". I could not have adored Vecpio as much as I do today had it not been for your amazing story that we will sadly never know the ending to... RIP, girlfriend.

...

Of all the members of Team Chaotix, Espio had to be by far the most mysterious of them all. Not much was known about the ninja chameleon, not even by his own teammates. All they knew was that he was a ninja trained on Dragon Island with a strong sense of justice. That was all he would say, no matter how many times his colleagues would ask about him. Naturally, Charmy was just a child who was curious, whereas Vector simply could not mind his own business. Eventually, the two learned to respect their friend's privacy and didn't bring up the issue anymore, even though it did come up in casual passing now and then. Espio would however continue to either change the topic or ask that they drop it.

For the most part, though, Espio's past was never an issue. The three detectives, though not without their spats, got along fairly well, enough that their detective business did fairly well (despite some financial issues from time to time). Despite the ups and downs, Espio was quite content with the life he was living. He had come to consider his quirky teammates his family. He wouldn't trade his life for anything else in the world.

Especially not for his old life…

It started off like any other work week. Business was slow as usual. Espio and Vector had even placed a bet if they would get a new case that day.

It turned out Vector would be the winner of that bet. Late in the afternoon, Charmy let in a knocking client, who was a middle-aged female gecko, sobbing her eyes out.

"Come in, have a seat," Vector welcomed, leaning back in his chair and motioning the empty seat opposite of his desk. The gecko woman took a step forward before her eyes filled with more tears, and she turned away before sobbing even more.

"Give me a minute..!" she wept.

Vector nodded. "Charmy, go find the lady some tissues."

"Okie doke," Charmy flew out of the room.

As the gecko continued to cry in her sleeve, Vector quietly leaned over to Espio, standing nearby against the wall. "Looks like this could be an easy case, Espio," he whispered, "Sound o' those tears, she's cleary missin' somethin'… Maybe a lost necklace, or her pet chao ran away."

"Let's not jump the gun yet," Espio muttered back.

Charmy burst back into the room. "I couldn't find the tissues," he announced, "But I got a roll of toilet paper!"

He handed the roll over to the weeping gecko. "Th… thank you…" she murmured, tearing off a piece and dabbing her eyes.

Vector got up and made his way to the woman. "Here, sit down," he said, guiding her to the empty chair. "Take yer time. Catch yer breath. Espio, get the woman some water."

"Right away," said Espio as he headed for the kitchen. Once in, he got a glass and poured water from the sink, all while sighing to himself. That Vector… For someone who started a detective business to help others, he was always looking for the easy way out… To do as little work as possible, yet get paid as much as he could. Hopefully he'll take this poor woman seriously and do what he can to help her.

And if not, well, he'll just have to give the croc a swift kick to his rear like always. Not that that tactic sticks…

Espio returned to Vector's desk, and handed the glass of water to the lady. After taking a few sips, she started to calm down. "Sorry about that…" she murmured.

"Don't worry 'bout it," said Vector, folding his hands together on his desk, "Now what brings you here today."

The gecko placed down the water, pulled out a photo from her jean pocket, and handed it over to the crocodile. The photo was of her, standing with a younger gecko, both with perky smiles. "This girl in the photo is my daughter Marcie… She…" She sniffled, "She's been missing for over two months. I went to the police, but now they're saying there's nothing more they can do. They're tied up with many other cases, and they don't have any more leads or evidence, and that I'm better off seeking a private investigator. I've searched around, but everybody's so expensive! I'd give anything to find my daughter, but it's just not enough for them…

"Then I came across your agency… I heard you guys are pretty good. Saved a bee colony, heck even saved the world at one point! Best of all, you have payment plans." The gecko woman clasped her hands together. "Please..! Just…. PLEASE help me find my daughter!"

Espio glanced over at Vector, who looked to be mulling it over. Usually, the crocodile was easy going and willing to take any case that paid. Sometimes he was even willing to do something for free. Lately, however, the Chaotix trio were finding themselves doing hard work for very little, if anything at all. Not to mention this wasn't the first time Vector was fooled by a pouty, weeping woman…. A few weeks ago, a very beautiful and busty hedgehog female used a classic sob story to find her missing "husband", and would pay as soon as they would find him, as he had the money…

Turned out to be a hoax.

Long story, too many details…

But while Espio couldn't exactly blame Vector for being skeptical, at the same time, this woman didn't look seductive in the slightest, and more importantly, she seemed very earnest…

'Come on, Vector… Don't obsess over payment now..!'

The croc took a deep breath, then took a firm hold of the woman's clasped hands. "Mam…" he gave an assuring grin, "We'll find your daughter. I promise."

Espio smiled. Though Vector could be far from perfect, he could always count on him to end up doing the right thing. That was why he was always proud to call himself his partner, no matter what.

The croc leaned back in his chair. "So give us a little background info," he said, "Tell us 'bout yer missin' daughter."

The gecko nodded. "Marcie is 13 years old," she explained, "She was such a bright, friendly, bubbly young girl. Wasn't very popular at school, but she managed to make a few friends, and it was enough to keep her happy."

She lowered her head sadly, "Unfortunately… Her father passed away two years ago. He and Marcie used to be very close, and it took a heavy toll on her…"

Espio solemnly closed his eyes. "Our condolences…"

"Marcie just wasn't the same without her father," the woman continued, "Her grades slipped, she didn't want to go out anymore, and for the most part, she just moped around. The few friends she had lost interest in her, and she barely had the energy to get out of bed just to go to school.

"She started spending more time on the internet, trying to find places to help cope with her feelings, I suppose, find someone she could connect with."

"And did she?" asked Vector.

"At some point, she came across this person… I don't know anything about him, except that he goes by 'Crimson Shadow'. I didn't even know about him until I saw Marcie on the phone talking to him. When I asked about him, she wouldn't give me many details… I warned her that she must be careful, that she didn't really know who he was on the other side, but she became furious with me, thinking I was trying to keep her from being happy again, that Crimson was the only person who truly cared about her…

"That was enough to send up red flags for me. One day, I went into her e-mail account, and looked into the e-mails that they've been sending each other." The gecko turned her head in disgust. "I'll… spare you the details, all I'll say is that it didn't sound the least bit like young teenager talk. He was clearly much older than her. But when she found out, she was furious at me for invading her privacy, and we had a terrible fight. I grounded her, locked her in her room, and took away her electronics so she couldn't contact him again…

"But the next morning, she was gone. She snuck out her window, and hasn't been seen since." The woman started tearing up once more, "I'm afraid she might be with this Crimson Shadow creep, but I don't know where he is, or heck, even WHO he is! The police can't help, and I'm at my wits end!"

"You still got her e-mails?" asked Vector.

"I tried to retrieve them," the gecko responded, "But she changed her password on her MoboMail account."

Vector nodded. "No problem," he announced, standing from his chair and pointing to the side, "To the computer room!"

On the other side of the Chaotix's cozy house was a den, where most of the filing cabinets, as well as their computer, was stored. Vector went to the MoboMail website, and Mrs. Gecko gave Marcie's username.

"Password?" asked Vector.

Mrs. Gecko shook her head. "It used to be 'geckogirl1' but like I said, she changed it after I first got in…"

The crocodile scratched his chin. "Hmmm… If I was an immature 13 year old girl, what password would I come up with?"

"Try 'boobies'!" Charmy chimed.

Vector rolled his eyes. "I'm tryin' ta get out of MY mindset, Charmy," he groaned, "Hmmm…. Ah hah!" He quickly typed in the password field and clicked the mouse. "And we're in!"

"Impressive," said Espio, "What was the password?"

Vector chuckled. "Geckogirl2."

Espio smirked. "Figures you'd be able to think that simply."

Vector replied with a stink-eye, before turning his attention to the mother. "We'll take it from here, Mrs. Gecko," he said, "We've got yer number. We'll call you with any progress."

The gecko woman bowed her head. "Thank you!" she said, "Thank you so much."

"Don't thank us yet," said Vector as he continued searching through the young girl's account, "We've got a lot of investigatin' to do first. Charmy'll show you the door."

"Right there!" Charmy pointed at the door of the den.

Vector twitched his nostrils, "I mean take her back outside, Charmy."

"Oh right! Okay. This way," Charmy flew out of the room, as Mrs Gecko followed, bowing her thanks once more.

Vector and Espio turned their attention back to the computer. "That's odd," Vector mused, "I don't see any e-mail from any 'Crimson Shadow'…"

"Her mother investigated her account before," said Espio, "Perhaps Marcie tried to hide the evidence."

"Y'mean she deleted her e-mails?" the croc growled, "Well that's just great. Then WE ain't got nuttin'to work with either."

"They may be deleted, but the website stores deleted e-mails up to 90 days," Espio pointed at the screen, "Click on the trash icon on the side there."

Vector did as told. Sure enough, a bunch of e-mails popped up, the majority of them sent by the username 'Crimson Shadow'. "Bingo! Good thinking, Esp." He then clicked on the first e-mail. "Let's see if this guy's pic is on his icon…"

The first e-mail opened, but no photo was seen. Instead, the icon showed an image of a black scaled demon, with dark maroon lightning bolts behind it. Espio felt a shudder go down his back. Though he tried to save face, he couldn't help but be disturbed by the colors on that icon… They reminded him too much of someone that he would rather completely forget about.

"Ah, dammit," Vector groaned, "No picture. Just some cheesy lookin' icon."

"Let's look through the e-mails," Espio suggested, "Maybe we could find more details he may have given Marcie."

The two looked through each e-mail. They started off innocently enough, Crimson giving his condolences on the girl's deceased father, while sharing stories about his own parents' demise. They then went into deeper details, such as no one really understanding Marcie more than he does, and that no matter what anyone else says to her, that he will always be supportive.

It was becoming more and more grotesque. He was even starting to ask personal questions, starting with "Do you have a crush on anyone?" and eventually getting to, "What kind of things make you 'feel good'?"

Vector bared his teeth, "This is a classic pedophilia scheme," he seethed, "What a sick ass! I can't even finish reading this e-mail!"

"Eeeeeew, what does THAT mean?" Charmy suddenly squealed, after popping in from nowhere.

"GAH!" Vector quickly slapped a hand over the computer monitor, "Charmy, don't sneak up on us like that!" he shouted, "You shouldn't be reading these!"

Charmy blinked. "Why not?"

"Should we even involve Charmy?" said Espio, "This sort of case may not be appropriate for someone his age…"

Vector thought hard about it. "Well, his mom does want us to involve him in our cases. This has pretty much become a boarding program for 'im."

"I don't think Queen Bea would appreciate him being involved in a pedophile case," groaned Espio.

"What's a 'ped-o-file'?" asked the bee prince.

Espio sighed. "See what I mean?"

"Look, we ain't got a whole lot to work with, and Charmy's the best for sniffin' out clues," said Vector, "We'll just have to keep details to a minimum, that's all."

Charmy pouted, "Aw, I hate when you guys have to baby me…"

"It's for yer own good, Charmy," said Vector as he clicked onto the next e-mail. His eyes suddenly widened, "Helloooo! Got something!"

Espio and Charmy rushed over to look. Vector read it out loud, "My mom has caller ID, and if she doesn't recognize your number, she won't answer, or let me answer… Let me call you instead…

"Fine. Call this number. 555-2784." Vector leaped from his seat, "We have a phone number, boys!"

Sitting back down, he pulled up a new website, a phone directory, and excitedly tapped in the numbers and clicked "Search".

Private Number. Location Unknown.

"God dammit!" Vector slammed his fist into the desk, "This guy knows how ta' cover his tracks!"

"What if we just called the phone number?" Charmy suggested.

"Nah, can't risk it," said Vector, "Some guy outta the blue calls an obviously decoy phone, he's gonna get suspicious."

"Perhaps if we pretend we dialed the wrong number?" said Espio.

"Or better yet!" Charmy piped in, "You've just won a million dollars! Give us your name to claim your prize!"

Vector shook his head. "Yer usin' yer noggin, Charmy," he said, "But that's the oldest scam in the book. He'll hang up right away, no doubt."

Espio hummed to himself… then snapped his fingers. "I got it," he said, "Let me sit there for a moment, Vector."

The croc got up and gave his seat over to the ninja chameleon, who then grabbed the mouse and clicked on a new app on the computer's desktop, pulling up a program. "What's that?" asked Vector.

"An I.P. address tracker app Tails created," Espio replied, "He gave me a copy after your credit card was stolen and we were trying to track the culprit's purchases."

Vector seethed to himself. "I still wanna slug that little punk, runnin' up my bills and ruinin' my credit score…"

Espio opened Marcie's e-mail through the app. The program then went split screen, the top showing the website, and the bottom showing various information. He clicked on one of the e-mails. "There," he pointed, "Down on the bottom here, this is the I.P address that sent this e-mail to Marcie. I just need to run it through the locator on this app…"

He copied and pasted the I.P address on another section of the app, which had a picture of the world map on it. The program loaded for a moment, then more information popped up, as well as triangulated the location. "I've got coordinates," Espio announced, "It looks like the e-mails were sent somewhere from the west side of this continent."

"WHERE on the west side though..?" mumbled Vector.

Espio opened a new website, another map location site, entered the information and clicked search. After another moment of loading, a clearer satellite picture of the location popped up. "It looks like a small town," Espio leaned in for a closer look, "But I can't quite make it out…"

"It's too close," said Vector, "Scroll out a little."

Espio scrolled out of the map to widen the image. It took another moment to show clearer results, but once it popped up, the name of the town could be seen underneath. "Ah hah, there we go!" Vector chimed and pointed at the name, "Rainbow Valley!"

*WHAM!*

Vector and Charmy whipped their heads back in shock after Espio apparently catapulted backwards in the chair, hitting the wall, eyes widened as if they were in fear. "Th' hell's wrong with you?!" Vector snapped.

Espio blinked several times, then shook his head. "Clearly your chair is defective…"

"Whattya talkin' about?" said Vector, "I ain't never had any problems with that chair before."

Espio grew flustered. "Of course you wouldn't," he mumbled, "It's fit to your liking…"

The croc raised an eyebrow, then shook his head and turned back to the computer. "All right, let's see here…. Rainbow Valley, lemme just put our address here, and…. Damn, it's a five hour drive from here."

"We're… we're going over there?" Espio asked, sweat slightly forming.

"Of course," Vector replied, "If that's where those e-mails were sent, we gotta look around that place. That's probably where Marcie's hidin' out." He then turned and tromped towards the door. "C'mon, boys! Let's not waste any time! Sooner we get there, sooner we can find Marcie."

"Woo hoo!" Charmy chimed, floating after the crocodile, "Road trip! Road trip!"

"Wait!" Espio cried, grabbing his team mates attentions suddenly.

"What..?"

"We… we can't go."

Vector narrowed his eyes. "And why not?"

"Because…" Espio was always a quick thinker, yet for some reason, he had trouble coming up with a quick excuse. "We… we don't know anything about Rainbow Valley. Who lives there, what's where… We would practically be flying blind if we went haphazardly over and tried to find anything. We should probably do some research first."

"We can just ask questions on the way," said Vector, "Now come on. I wanna get this five hour drive outta the way."

"Five hours is too long," Espio suddenly quipped, "By the time we get there, it'll be too dark to look anywhere, places will be closed, and everyone will be settled for the night…. We'd have to turn in early anyway, the long drive will tire us out."

Vector stared hard at the chameleon. Espio returned the glare. Of all the times to be taking his cases seriously, why did he have to start now?

Finally, the crocodile sighed, "Okay, I guess ya got a point, Esp," he said, much to Espio's relief, "It is gettin' late. We should probably rest for the long drive tomorrow."

"Awww, I wanted to go on a road trip," Charmy pouted.

"We'll leave first thing in the morning," Vector announced, "Right now, you two oughta get some shut eye. Like I said, sooner we get there, sooner we can search for Marcie."

"G… good idea…" Espio muttered, standing from his seat and heading out the den.

"Night guys!" Charmy called as he flew up the stairs.

Espio looked behind himself, noticing Vector was back on the computer. "Aren't you coming, Vector?"

"In a minute," he replied, "I'm gonna take yer advice and look more into Rainbow Valley. See what we're getting' into…"

Espio felt a lump go down his throat. He had to resist the urge to plead for him to get off the computer. Vector almost suspected something off about Espio a moment ago, but so far he didn't feel the need to ask anything about it.

"Just… don't stay up too late…"

"Yeah, yeah, I won't," Vector moaned, as if Espio was being the usual nag. Had he was, he would of also reminded Vector to not stray onto other websites that would distract him and most likely keep him up half the night, regardless whether or not it was related to the case.

However, in this instance, he secretly hoped Vector would do such a thing…

As Espio went up the steps towards his room, he couldn't help but feel a wave a guilt flow through him. After all, he was nearly praying that something would happen so that he and his team wouldn't have to deal with a case… a case that involved a missing girl, who could very well be in danger. That not only went against his ninja code, but also his reasons as to why he wanted to be a detective.

Of all the places they had to go to investigate…. Why did he have to return there?