Note to readers: Dear readers in case you don't get some stuff

I wrote I'll explain something to you. I don't own Knuckles

Chaotix so I don't know much about Espio. What I do know I

learned it from playing Sonic Heroes. So I'm guessing. And I

don't know anything about the place where they live so I'm

guessing there to. I hope you like it anyway.

Chapter 1

Memories

It was dark and all was quiet. The moon was high in the sky and

a light breeze lazily blew the leaves of the elm trees.

A small figure stole across the field. He was headed to the

building a short distance away which was bathed in moonlight.

The little creature hid in the shadows by the left wall so not

to be seen. When he was sure no one could see him he climbed in

a window and crept into the kitchen.

He looked through the pantries until he found a loaf of bread.

He took it and stuffed it in a little bag. He also grabbed an

apple and a few strawberries and put them in the bag too.

As he began to sneak out of the house he stumbled over a stool

then slammed into a display. Before he could stop it from

falling the vase fell to the floor with a loud crash!

He panicked when he heard the sound of running footsteps and

tried to make a break for the door.

Before he could get to it, however, he tripped and somehow got

tangled up in a throw rug.

As he tried to free himself, someone shouted, "FREEZE!"

"Espio. HEY ESPIO!" a voice shouted breaking into the chameleon's

thoughts.

"Huh?" Espio said looking over at Vector the crocodile. "did you

say something, Vector?"

"Nevermind," Vector said leaning back in his chair behind his desk. "Your minds

not on you work it's off somewhere in outer space."

"Sorry," Espio apologized, "I was thinking about something."

"Yeah? Who is she?" Vector asked a prying grin on his face.

"What?" the chameleon asked," who said I was thinking about a

girl?"

"You don't need to hide it from me. You can tell me anything.

I'm your friend," Vector said leaning forward. "who is she?

Amy?"

"No."

"Tikal?"

"No."

"I may be going off the deep end, Cream?"

Espio's eyes grew wide in horror. "No!"

"I've got it!" Vector exclaimed banging his big hand down so

hard on his desk that Espio jumped. "it's ROUGE!"

"NO!" Espio exclaimed.

"Then who is she?" Vector asked. "you aren't going out with

Vanilla are you?"

Espio, who didn't want to be part of this conversation anymore,

grabbed some pieces of paper off the desk and began filing them.

"It's no one," he said absently. "it's not important."

Vector watched him for a few minutes. "Oh, okay if you say so.

But if it's not important something must be."

Espio looked over at his boss. "Uh, how can you tell?"

"Because you just filed the Ds in the X section," Vector said

pointing.

Espio looked down at the papers then at the file cabinet.

"Oops," he said embarressed.

The ninja re-collected the papers and began to file them in

another cabinet."I think you should have a seat," Vector said

after a long pause.

"No thanks," Espio said. "I have work to do."

"You've been doing a lot of work around here lately," Vector

said, " maybe too much work. Now I think you should take a

break. You seem tired."

"I'm not tired," Espio objected slamming the file cabinet shut

and opening another one.

"If you're not your hands must be," Vector said.

"Why?"

"You refiled the Ds in the Qs and now your pulling out Charmy's

old Christmas lists and writing 'Denied' on them," Vector

explained.

Espio's face turned red.

"I, uh, think I'll just-"

"Take a break," Vector finished pointing to the chair in front

of his desk. "now sit down. I need to talk to you about

something."

Espio grudgedly did what he was told.

Vector leaned across the desk and looked the chameleon in the

eyes. "Now Espio, I realize you've been doing a lot of work

around here lately, but you need to slow down otherwise you're

gonna wear yourself out."

"I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind," Espo said.

"I know but maybe you should take a break from your work or take

a break from your thoughts. I realize they don't hinder your

work, they do just the opposite, but you really need to slow down

a little."

"I am fine," Espio insisted. "and if my thoughts aren't

interfering with my work then why should I stop?"

Vector knew Espio was right. He leaned back in his chair. "Maybe

you're right," the crocodile said. "but if you over exert

yourself it's not my problem it will be yours."

"I realize that," the chameleon said. "now, can I go? I still

have a lot of work to do."

Vector sighed. There was just no talking to some creatures. "All

right, go ahead," he said waving his hand in dismissal.

"Thank you, Vector," Espio said as he stood. "I'd better get

back to work now."

As the crocodile watched the chameleon go he could only shake

his head. That boy really needs to stop exerting himself, he

thought, otherwise he won't even be able to get out of bed in

the morning.

A little later as Espio was busy rearanging Vector's files. his

mind returned to what he'd been thinking about before...

He froze.

A light came on and someone walked over to him. A hand grabbed

his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Who are you and what are

you doing here?" a voice demanded.

He looked up at the person .It was a chameleon just like him

only older. "M-my name is Espio," he stammered, "I only wanted

some food. I didn't steal anything else I swear."

The guy stared at him. "You're not much of a thief," he mused,

"food is for ametures."

Espo stared at him wide eyed. "What?!" he exclaimed. "are you

a...?"

The older chameleon grinned at him. "Yup, you guessed it. I'm a

thief too."

Espio blinked. "Really?"

The older chameleon nodded. "Yes, and if you want I can teach

you to be a better thief. One who steals more than just food."

"You could?"

"Yes, and you can stay here if you want as well."

The younge chameleon thought that over a moment then nodded.

"Okay."

The older chameleon began to lead him up the stairs. "Where are

we going?" Espio asked nervously.

"If you're going to be staying here you need a room to sleep

in," was the answer.

"Oh."

The older chameleon led him to a small room at the end of the

hall on the second floor. "This is your room," he said opening

the door.

Espio entered and looked around. He saw a bed near a window. It

looked welcoming. He walked up to it and lay down. The instant

his head hit the pillow he fell right to sleep.

000000000

"Espio!" a high pitched voice shouted startling the chameleon.

Espio let out a yelp and dropped the papers he'd been holding,

causing them to scatter all over the floor.

"Hey watch what you're doing, Espio!" Vector shouted frying the

ninja's nerves.

That caused him to knock over a lamp. It fell to the floor and

shattered. Vector glared at him and Charmy started laughing.

"Sorry, Vector," the chameleon said kneeling down to clean up

the mess.

Espio looked up at Charmy who was hovering over his head still

laughing. "Charmy, that was the worst thing you have ever done," he scolded.

Charmy stopped laughing. He blinked surprised. "Hey, don't blame

me," the six-year-old bee objected defensively. "it's not my

fault you were just standing there scribbling on a piece of

paper and staring into space with your mouth hanging open."

"You didn't have to shout," he pointed out.

"I didn't at first but when you didn't answer I had to," Charmy

explained.

Espio ignored him and resumed picking up the papers.

Suddenly a draft blew through the office and a few pieces flew

out the window. Espio quickly got to his feet, set the other

papers on the file cabinet, and rushed out of the building to

retrieve the others.

He chased the papers into the forest. When he finally caught up

with them they were resting on a rock. Just as he reached for

them the earth gave way under his weight and he fell down the

hill he'd been standing on. He tumbled for a moment then landed

on his behind in muddy soil.

"Ow, my butt!" he groaned rubbing his fanny as he got to his

feet.

One of the papers floated down to him and he grabbed it before

it fell into the mud. He saw another one that had landed on a

rock a few feet away and reached for it. The instant he grabbed

it he fell face flat into the slop.

"This just isn't my day," he moaned as he stood up again.

He spotted two more loathsome papers in a tree a few feet away

and began to walk toward them. Instead he slipped for the third

time and slid further down the muddy slope on his back.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" he screamed seeing the big tree begin to

loom in front of him.

Before he could stop himself he slammed into the tree and found

himself doing a head stand.

The last two papers fluttered down and landed in front of him.

Espio sighed in annoyance and glared at the offending papers. As

he reached out to grab them his body flipped forward and he

landed right on top of them. "OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" he moaned

in frustration."why does this keep happening to me?"

Espio pushed himself up on his hands and knees and leered at the

papers which were now as dirty as he was. "Vector isn't going to

be very happy about this," he said picking them up.

Espio slowly got to his feet and stared up at the way he'd come.

Oh, man! This is going to take me forever to get back up, he

thought, but I'd better or I'm in trouble.

The chameleon then began the paralous track back up Mud Hill.

With a lot of slipping and slidding he finally made it and

walked exausted back to the Chaotix Office.