Windy Valley - Winds of Change

[Xeric]

Windy Valley. A place of beauty and wonder; the perfect place for an explorer; the spiraling walkways levitating in the sky, the invisible roads made of nothing but wind and the endless tornado that has been going for as long as anyone can remember.

This happened to be the favourite place of a certain armadillo. The cold, strong winds blew as always but it didn't seem to bother him.



"It's been a while since I've been here.." he thought to himself.

After essentially being wrote out of existence by the Timer Eater a week earlier, he felt life needed to be lived to the fullest after all, it can be taken away as fast as it's given. He decided to visit of as many of the Wonders of the World as he could, starting here.

He stood in awe of the towering tornado. It's just a shame he didn't have anyone to share the beauty with.

[Tony]

... save for the fact that someone was indeed sharing the view.



He wasn't exactly the stealthiest of individuals, but given his readily apparent size and strength, in the face of danger, there was really no need to sneak around anyway. Making some rather obvious clump-clumps with his giant feet, Vector the Crocodile took his place beside Mighty, before dropping an absolutely enormous hiking pack onto the ground.

Perhaps it was just a trick of the noise swirling all around them, but the armadillo could probably have sworn that the ground shook about just then. Just how heavy was that thing?

Vector stretched before taking his seat upon the gigantic traveling sack, and he shot one of his toothy grins over to his comrade. "I kind of had a feeling you'd be here, old buddy. What bring's ye? Thrill of adventure? Literally breathtaking scenery? Fond memories?"

... was that Earl Grey he was drinking all of a sudden?

"Tell Uncle Vector all about it. ... No, please do, trekking up here was hell t'do, and I don't want to move for a little while. Tea?" A spare cup rested in the palm of his other enormous hand.

For being a hardboiled detective, he was certainly enough of a mystery to warrant investigation on his own person some days.

[Xeric]

The armadillo jumped at the sudden appearance of the Crocodile. "Bwa--! V-Vector! I n-nearly jumped out of my shell.. jeez."

He took the cup of tea from his old friend and looked up at him with a confused face.

"I could ask you the same questions.. I've never known you to be this.. active." He joked. He blew the heat from the top of his cup and took a sip.

"Honestly.. i'm in a bit of a rut.. and this is the place I come to think, I guess." He shook his head. "Things were so simple back in the old days; My first adventure with Sonic and Ray, adventuring with you and the rest of the Chaotix. Being wiped from existance by that Time Eater thing really knocked me sideways.."

[Tony]

"Ehh, things never stay simple fer long once the good Doctor gets involved." He tilted his head back and drained that teacup before pouring himself a second helping. "It's a good thing that Sonic and... uh... himself set things straight after all o' that. Well... as straight as he could get it, anyway."

There was a small pause before Vector continued as he eyed the tremendous tornado.

"Ahem, that is to say, uh... Theee... Detective Agency is temporarily closed for the time being. Those of us in business kind of decided that we needed a bit of a ... holiday... after the time travel ding-dang shenanigans. ... It's kind of why I'm out-n-about! Needed the breath o' fresh air, some new horizons, and, uh..."

There was another brief pause.

"... We kiiiinda couldn't get our rent together for the office building so they kicked us out. Apparently, landlords don't really budge if the payment is late due to timelords."

[Xeric]

"Same ol' Chaotix.." he chuckled. He finished his tea, and passed the cup back to Vector, hoping for another helping.

"So what've you got planned then?" he questioned. "I'm sure you've got a loads you want to do during your.. extended vacation."

Mighty paused and thought to himself. What did he have planned? This was supposed to be the first day of the rest of his life and he had no idea what to do next.

[Tony]

"Honestly?" The crocodile sat there, thinking quietly to himself as he poured another cup for his pal. "... I really just want to go back to work. I'm a detective, y'know? It's in my blood, good sir!" Passing the cup back, vector made sure to provide himself with seconds as well. As he drew another sip from the steaming beverage, he gazed upward toward the top of the tornado in the distance, almost longingly. "I gotta find a way to get my agency back together."

He coughed on his tea a bit - didn't quite swallow it right, apparently.

"A-actually! There -is- a way I can probably get it back, while we're on the subject -- but I only got about a month to do it."

He downed that cup in one fell swig.

"Ahh~. ... And since I can't seem to get a hold of the other guys right now, I actually came lookin' fer you for a... minor proposition!"

[Xeric]

Mighty took the cup back and took a sip of his second helping. He looked up at his croc companion with a raised brow.

"Ohh? ...and what would that be?"

[Tony]

"Well," began the crocodile as he began pouring his cup full once again, "I may actually have a shot at scorin'... a free house! As in, all-bills-paid, all-utilities-taken-care-of, free-as-free-gets HOUSE! Under one condition -- The landlord of the area wants me to put my sleuthin' skills to the test and solve the mystery surrounding the building."

After one more sip of his tea, he set it aside and leaned in reeeeal close to whisper, as if there were prying eyes (or ears?) within their personal space. "They tell me that th' house is haunted."

After a rousing bit of laughter - the sort that one would save for a bad joke - the reptilian detective gave Mighty a wink and a smile. "They tell me that if I can clear out the place of the so-called infestation, I can have it -- And from there, I can turn it into a new agency! But most of the old crew's kinda dispersed, like I said, so I gotta have at least -one- other helper on this case. ... For the sake of looking official on the job, I mean."

He sighed, and looked towards the eternal tornado with a smirk. "This should be the easiest case yet, I figure. Would you like to help me out with it? Maybe even come back t'work with us? Like them good ol' days?"

[Xeric]

Mighty looked up at Vec, and grinned. He knew all along this was coming. Even though he was trying to move on with his life, maybe taking a few steps back wouldn't be a bad thing, at least until he got back on his feet.

"Ya know what, Vec? Sure. Let's do it." He held out his hand, gesturing to shake.