Trapped

                                    

                                          
Espio's P.O.V
                          
Inner peace... Inner peace... don't think about him... just get over him because it's not going to yourself any good. Get out of my head you stupid crocodile! You adorable, cute, sweet, and strong crocodile! "Ugh!" I snapped, coming out of my trance. I felt tears form in my eyes, stinging them since they were dry for sobbing earlier. I looked down at a picture that I ripped up from earlier and I put the pieces together to make it full again. It was Vector giving me bunny ears while I smiled for the camera. I felt bad for ruining it but, at the same time, it helped. My stress, overwhelming. My head, pounding. My heart... shattered. Everything hurt.
                          
"*Knock knock*  Mr. Espio?*Knock knock* Are you there?" The sudden knock startled me. I got up from the mat I was sitting on and went to open my bedroom door.
                          
There at my door, were Charmy, Cream, Tails, and that little Chao named Cheese. "Oh, hello there little ones. May I help you?" I asked, surprised to see them. All of them each had a small pack on their shoulder, seeming to be ready for some sort of trip. "Hey Espio! We knew you'd be home! Or, at least I did! But anyway, we wanted to go on some adventurous expedition and we need someone really cool and brave to protect us from any danger!" Charmy explained to me. 
                          
For some reason, I just didn't know what to say. Did I really want to go out and do this? After everything? "N-No one else can go with you?" I asked just to be sure. "No, Mr. Shadow told me he wanted to work on other stuff." Cream replied. "Sonic also said he was busy with a couple of other things, so he couldn't come." Tails replied. I sighed in defeat, knowing there wasn't any way I could avoid this.
                          
"Alright, I'll go with you." I groaned. They cheered happily and were all smile as they raced to the door to head off. I grabbed my katana, a few smoke bombs, and my lucky pendant that was shaped like a dragon. Maybe I'll get lucky today... As I gathered the final items, we all walked off to the forest that they wanted to go to. Everything about the travel was fun. They found a river where they hopped all over the rocks. They even found tadpoles in one part of the lake. We found some wonderful stones in another creek that were all sorts of different colors. The whole setting was peaceful. Just what I've needed lately. I showed them the martial arts I use to defend myself from the rocks on the waterfalls, teaching them anything they might need to defend themselves.
                          
I'm glad they asked me to come, I guess they did know how to help me after all. Suddenly, Cream let out a huge gasp. "WOW! That looks so cool! We have to explore it!" she cheered. "Yeah let's go!" Tails cheered. "Wait up guys! Haha!" Charmy giggled and flew after them. "Chew chew!" the small Chao said, following them.
                          
It was a large underground tunnel that reminded me of those taverns you can find in the mountains. I wondered what might happen if we did go in but, clearly, there wasn't anything I could do to stop these four. I took in a deep breath and followed them into the tavern where everything was pitch black when we walked in. I turned on my flashlight and handed my phone to Tails so they could use the light to see too. Everything about this setting was absolutely beautiful.
                          
Small waterfalls fell through the small cracks inside the tavern. The rocks reflected different colors off when we shined our lights on the rocks. "It's so pretty!" Charmy gasped.
                          
The whole formation of the rocks was amazing! It was as if Mother Nature had a hidden world just for us. Everything was going well. We spent a long time just exploring, looking around at all these formations, and the small waterfalls that were giving us fresh water to fill up our water containers with. It tasted better than the actual bottled water. Who knew. Right as I filled up my container, I looked over to see all four of them playing around in another section. "Ooh! Look at this rock!" Charmy awed, picking one up. "That's so pretty! Check this one!" Tails replied. "Chew Chew! Choo Chew!" Cheese said, holding their rocks for them.