Espio the Chameleon - Who am I?

Heartbreaking questions

Everything was quiet. Almost too quiet. Espio slowly moved amongst the trees of this weir jungle he woke up in. He spent hours wandering around. He also stayed camouflaged not wanting any more nasty surprises. "Where am I? How did I get here? And why... why does this place look so... familiar?" Suddenly he heard something in the bushes nearby. As if on instinct he reached for where he would keep his kunai and shurikens. But he didn't have his gloves and so no weapons. He climbed the nearest tree and watched as a standard issue Badnik came out of the bush (think Pawnbots from Heroes). Espio's eyes widen. Espio was scared and not just of the robot, everything around him was scary. He felt uneasy. It was just one bot but would he be able to defeat it? He stayed in the tree not moving a muscle and praying as he shivered with fear. The Badnik finally left the area after what felt like hours to Espio. He didn't move for another five minutes after it was gone. When he eventually got down he was shaking, barely able to keep himself on his feet. He started walking, carefully and slowly knowing he has to find his way out of there. He was in danger; he could feel it and he had scars to prove it. Another thing he felt was his body, his arms, his feet, his torso, his face and his head were all aching. He didn't however dare to un-camouflage to see what was wrong. "What happened to me? Some are fresh for sure, but... some of them I saw when I woke up." He suddenly heard other bots marching towards him. He froze. He didn't un-camouflaged, he didn't move, he felt like he couldn't even breathe. Three bots came marching towards him. Espio felt like sneezing which alerted them to him. They started shooting, hitting him several times but he still didn't move. He was completely paralysed. He collapsed onto the ground and as they shoot him, he cried: "Please, stop! Stop! Please!" Big tears rolled from his eyes.

"HA, HA, HA!!! Look at you; you used to be so brave. And now you're just a little, scared chameleon. HA, HA, I'm a genius, my plan can't fail." A voice sounded from one of the robots. "What are you talking about?" Espio asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Unfortunately you won't. You won't know anything anymore. Thank you, little chameleon, you've been such a great gunny pig. Now it is time for you to rest... forever."

More shots were fired at Espio. He was in pain, he cried, he was going to die. But then "INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" sounded all around as red light begin to flash. The robots stopped attacking and they all started moving in one direction.

Espio laid there on the ground, shaking. He could taste the blood in his mouth as he bit his cheeks from the pain. He tried standing but he felt an intense, sudden pain in his leg and chest. He had to stay laying there. Horrible thoughts of pain and fear and torture flooded his brain. It was awful. Was he going to die? He was, wasn't he?

A mighty roar sounded thrusting Espio out of his thoughts. He stayed camouflaged as he watched someone approached him. A big, green crocodile and a small bee went to where he was. The crocodile had a gold chain around his neck and headphones. The bee wore a jacket and a helmet with goggles. Espio once again shook. "Espio! Espio! Where are you? Espio!" They called out.

"Es-Espio?"

"Espio! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" shouted the bee. His wings were covered in pollen and as he flew over Espio some of it fell off, making the chameleon sneeze again. The two other animals turned his way and Espio knew it was pointless to hide. "Espio?" they both said surprised as Espio revealed himself. He was on his knees, with bruises covering his body, blood stains on his skin, big, teary eyes, naked and he looked scared. The bee cheered and hugged him tightly: "ESPIO!!! YOU'RE OK!!!" Espio pushed the bee off, making it land on the ground. The bee and the crocodile looked at him wide-eyed, both showing not only great surprise but also a great deal of concern in their eyes. The crocodile went closer to him. He got on his knees and reached out his hand. "Hey, man, what's wrong? What happened to ya?" he asked softly. Espio didn't answer; he just stared blankly at the animals in front of him. "We have to get ya out of here. Come on." Espio didn't move, he didn't take the hand that was offered to him. "Espio, what's wrong?"