Chapter 01: Starting a New Life

June 23rd, 9:02 am

Emerald Coast Bus Station

"Those expecting a lovely sunny day as usual will be in for a heck of a shock this morning as the normally bright and clear Emerald Coast will be covered in clouds, buckets of rain and some light fog until the afternoon, at least. We will keep updating you as the day goes by so if you're going out, keep an umbrella prepared just in case things don't turn out well weather-wise. This is Scarlet Garcia, reporting the weather for the Neutronic News Network, signing off."

(Mood Music - Ask DNA - The Seatbelts)

The radio playing over the speakers of the bus soon changed back to playing the same ol' techno jazz it usually played in the early rain-soaked mornings as it reached the bus station where many others of its kind came and went. The large vehicle reached a stop and the doors swung open to drop off several people who came to the city of Emerald Coast to meet up with old friends and family, see the sights or to attend to personal business. Among the crowd that descended the steps was a mysterious black armadillo.

He had a athletic physique, with some rather noticeable muscles seen on his arms and stomach, was completely naked other than gloves and shoes, as expected with traditional male Mobian customs, he was carrying a satchel that contained his important belongings and finally, his head and back were covered by a giant red shell suited specifically for his body. While he considered his shell to be a pain given that it weighed about forty kilos or thereabouts and how easy it was for it to fall off at the worst of times, he was glad that it would keep most of his body relatively dry in the pouring rain so he wouldn't need any kind of umbrella like everyone else around him.

He looked around him and noticed quite a few re-unions between friends and family who hadn't seen each other in ages. They were giving each other big hugs, cheering in joy and one or two people were even crying because of how happy they were to see their loved ones again. "Mom…dad…" he thought with a solemn frown on his face. He snapped back into reality when he suddenly remembered he had something important to do and took out a poster from his satchel. He found the poster at the last bus station he was at and among all the other posters and ads seen on the wall, this particular one looked far more interesting than yet another special edition of Chao in Space being shoved into your face.

The poster showed mysterious black footsteps on a concrete floor along with an enormous magnifying glass inspecting some of the footsteps. Below was a tagline saying, "Are you sure you want to know? - Chaotix Detective Agency" along with a picture of the three members of the Chaotix, along with names under each of them. Right in the middle was Vector, a giant green reptile of some sort with massive headphones around his neck, though to tell the truth, it's quite hard to tell when you have no idea where the neck ends and the long torso begins, and a huge cocky grin on his face while giving a thumbs up to whoever's reading the poster.

To his left was Charmy, a young bee who looked about 9 with a pilot's helmet on his head and hovering alongside Vector while giving the double peace sign along with a big smile of his face. And finally, to the right was a purple chameleon named Espio. He was facing backwards with his arms folded and it was hard for the armadillo to tell if he was going for some kind of strange fan service or if he wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever was going on. The armadillo decided to pay no mind to it and focused on the most important part of the poster; an address indicating where the Detective Agency was. After reading through it, he put the poster back into his satchel and set off to find the Detective Agency…even though he had absolutely no idea what directions to take.

June 23rd, 11:25 pm

Mission Street, Emerald Coast

Well, it had taken over two hours, tons of walking and asking at least fifty people for the directions, let alone the fact that the blasted fog was making it utterly impossible to discern one street from another, but the armadillo had finally reached the address mentioned on the poster in hand. He looked up from the crumpled ad to find a sight that brought a bamboozled frown on his tanned muzzle and caused his antler-ears to droop, dumbfounded in surprise. After all, when he was heard about the Chaotix, he was expecting an enormous high-tech HQ filled with the top investigation equipment and run with a kind of unparalleled professionalism never witnessed outside of blockbuster movies…not a department store that looked like it hadn't been visited by any customers for God knows how long.

In any case, he decided to go in and find out what was going on. The empty aura he'd gotten from outside carried on through inside given the aisles stacked with incredibly tacky looking clothes, sections dedicated to beds and furniture that looked as if they hadn't been used in ages and merchandise based on TV shows that had been off the air for years. The armadillo started wondering if this really was where the Chaotix worked because it just seemed so…unfitting. Then again, the best detectives always tried to blend in and try not to be noticed so this place could possibly be a big disguise for an elite headquarters. If that was the case, it was doing a very good job at it…

After wandering through the vacant aisles for several minutes, he saw what he thought was the store's manager and figured it'd be best to ask him about the Chaotix. The manager was what looked like a red squirrel/chipmunk hybrid who looked like he weighed a hundred-and-fifty pounds and was sitting at his desk reading a magazine, looking bored out of his mind. He noticed the red-shelled stranger walking towards him and put the magazine away, putting his feet up on his desk as he asked "What do ya want?"

"I'm here to see the Chaotix." the armadillo inquisitively replied.

The squirrel started giving the armadillo a suspicious look and folded his arms, saying "I'm sorry but if you're looking to sue somebody over that ladies' swimming pool thing last week, Vector's out to lunch at the moment."

"Wait, what? Do I look a lawyer to yo - never mind, I'm looking to join the Chaotix." the armadillo said, handing the squirrel the poster from his satchel.

The squirrel looked over it for a few seconds before putting it on his desk. A few seconds passed before he finally said "Well, I guess I owe Vector ten bucks. I bet 'im that no-one would actually notice it but I guess I was wrong for once. What's ya name, kid?"

"Name's Mighty. Mighty the Armadillo!" the armadillo said, thumbing towards himself as he grinned overconfidently. "Traveller of Mobius, the strongest 'dillo in town and all-round handsome gu-"

"I get it!" the squirrel said, pushing a hand out towards Mighty. "Yeesh, I've known you for five minutes and I already want to punch you in the face but hey - at least you'll fit in just fine that bunch of 'detectives!'"

Mighty's smile grew smaller in response to that remark and felt beside himself for going a little over the top for a first impression. He was also bothered to an extent over the implications the squirrel had made but for now, he decided to ignore it for the moment and deal with what he came there for. "Anyways, my name's Ben, the owner of this dump and landlord for the Chaotix," the squirrel suddenly said. "However, you can't apply right now since they're out on a case at the moment. Sorry 'bout that."

The armadillo's antler-ears drooped once more and his weak smile broke in a disappointed frown as he slumped, mumbling "Crap…" He turned around and started walking off, saying "Well, I guess I'll be on my way then. Thanks for the help, anyways."

"Wait!" Ben said out of the blue, ushering Mighty to come back for a second. Leaning forward in an inconspicuous manner, which was odd given that they were the only two people in that entire building, the red squirrel told him "I don't know where they've gone but I do know that they usually hang out at this coffee joint near the seaside named…okay, I can't remember but if you go there, you might be able to ask about where they are. It might not help but it's better than nothing."

The shelled Mobian's smile returned to his face and he nodded eagerly as he turned around and took off for the door, replying "Thanks! I'll go right now and look for them. See ya 'round!"

"Hold it!" Ben yelled as he stood up, but Mighty had already left the building and ran down the street by the time he'd managed to get his arse off the chair, "…Don't ya need to know the directions - ah, screw it!" he said before he plopped down back on the creaky chair and returned to his magazine.

To be continued…

Message from the Author - 17/Dec/2012:

(Hello there, I hope you enjoyed my first piece of Sonic fan-fiction...or at least the first one that I bothered to upload to the internet. I know it's pretty short but believe me, things always seem much, much bigger in MS Word so hopefully the next chapter will be longer. That or I'll just fuse the next chapter with this one at some point and just change things around to suit it.

In any case, tell me what you think of it so far and please tell me if there are any improvements that can be made.

It's slow at this point but don't worry; things will be picking up pretty soon and a couple of new characters will be introduced, including an old bounty hunter and a certain fighter, if you catch my drift...

See ya next time y'all! -FrDougal9000

NOTE - 16/Sep/2013: Holy crap, it's hard to believe that 9 months have already gone and passed since writing this for the first time. Still, I'll post this here to say that this is the first of a number of rewrites I'm planning to do from this chapter up until chapter 22, mostly to clear up spelling mistakes, how characters speak in paragraphs etc. and maybe change one or two scenes that I think could've been better thanks to getting a little bit more experienced.

But don't worry, it's nothing too major; what's good about the fanfic, as far as people have told me, anyways, is still there. It's just a lil' bit better this time around. Anyways, if you've read the original versions of the chapter and checking this out, tell me your thoughts on the re-write as is. Thanks for reading the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see y'all for the rewrite of the next chapter. Until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)