Emeraldtopia Ch. 3

Chapter 3

    It was the second day of being a part of the EPD for Cream. Or rather the second day of being a meter maid.

    Shadow told Cream that she was still assigned parking duty, and for a second day on the job, it wasn’t better. This time, after putting parking tickets on some cars, the owners of the cars caught her putting a ticket on their vehicles, and none of them were happy.

    “Hey! I was thirty seconds over!” one Mobian shouted angrily.

    “Some cop you are!” another sarcastically said.

    “Come on, rabbit! I’ve already got taxes to deal with!” a third shouted.

    Cream did her best not to let the insults get to her. She sighed and whispered to herself, “I am a real cop…” repeatedly.

    As she was walking back to the kart, she heard someone shouting angrily.

    “Stop!” the person shouted.

    Cream ignored them. It was probably just another person shouting about getting a ticket. However, someone rushed over to her and said, “Officer! Help! My shop just got robbed! She’s getting away!”

    Cream faced the direction the man was pointing. She saw a female red fox dressed in a black outfit running away. She was running away with a backpack, which was probably full of what she robbed from the person.

    ‘This is my chance! I’ll show Chief Shadow that I am a real cop!’ thought Cream.

    “Don’t worry sir! I got it!” Cream told the Mobian.

    She broke into a run.  As she ran, Cream ripped off her orange vest so that her original police uniform was more visible, to signify that she was a real cop. Cream ran as fast as she could in pursuit of the thief.

    The red fox ran as fast as she could. She quickly turned back to see that Cream was following her. She growled angrily.

    “I am not going to get owned by a rabbit! I’m Fiona Fox, and I’m a master thief!” she muttered angrily.

    With a plan to lose Cream, Fiona ran into a shopping center. Since there were lots of people walking around, there would be a crowd for Cream to get through.

    “You! Stop right there!” Cream shouted angrily.

    She chased after the fox, and even when the pursuit got into the shopping center, Cream had a trick to get around the crowd. She started to flap her ears, and she flew off the ground. Cream figured out how to flap her ears like wings so she could fly, and when she trained to be a police officer, she improved in her flying skills and could fly faster than back when she was a kid.

    Fiona turned around, and when she saw that Cream was still in pursuit of her, she was shocked, but still angry.

    “Urgh! Just get off my tail already!” she shouted.

    She started to dart through the crowd, pushing anyone who got in her way aside.

    Cream did her best to fly after Fiona, and their chase ended up at a balcony. Fiona kept on running, and she even had an idea to keep Cream distracted. She spotted a female, yellow hedgehog, so Fiona grabbed her, and threw her over the rail.

    “AHHH!” the hedgehog cried.

    Cream quickly flew in and caught the hedgehog before she could hit the ground.

    “Thank you!” the hedgehog thanked her.

    “No problem,” Cream said, smiling.

    She set the hedgehog down on the ground and continued to chase after Fiona.

    Fiona made it out of the shopping center from another exit. She looked back and saw no sign of Cream. She let out a sigh of relief.

    “Finally!” she said.

    “I don’t think so!” she heard a voice shout.

    Fiona turned around, but that’s when she got tackled and caught by Cream.

    Later, at the EPD station, Big the Cat was busy at his computer, but someone came over to the counter.

    “Excuse me,” she said.

    Big got off his computer and faced her.

    “Wave the Swallow. Here to see Chief Shadow again?” he asked her.

    “Yes. I need to know if there’s any news on Jet…” she asked sadly.

    “I know, but Chief Shadow is a little busy right now,” said Big nervously.

    After Cream caught Fiona and brought her to the station, the rabbit didn’t get the congratulations she expected. Instead, Shadow was angry with her for abandoning her post and going after Fiona when two other officers were called in to take care of it. Cream tried to defend herself by stating that she was able to stop Fiona, who had stolen something from the store she robbed. But despite this, Shadow wasn’t impressed.

    Turns out, when the police checked out Fiona’s backpack, there was no cash or valuables. Instead, there were plant bulbs in the backpack, because Fiona robbed a florist shop.

    “But Chief Shadow, I don’t want to hand out parking tickets. I worked so hard to become a police officer like all of you. I want to help out like a real police officer,” said Cream.

    “Life isn’t some fairy tale where we sing a song and our dreams magically come true, Cream! You may have graduated as top of your class, but you’re not worth being a real cop,” said Shadow.

    Suddenly the buzzer on Shadow’s desk went off.

    “Chief, Wave the Swallow is here to see you again,” said Big’s voice.

    Shadow hit the reply button and angrily said, “Not now, Big!”

    He removed his finger from the button and told Cream, “Let this be a warning, Cream! You abandon your job in parking duty again, then you can kiss your badge goodbye!”

    Cream was shocked to hear this threat. She worked so hard to be a police officer, and she got a horrible job of parking duty. And when she helped out with something serious, she was given the threat that she would be fired. She sighed sadly.

    Suddenly the door opened. Wave the Swallow came in.

    “Chief Shadow. Please, five minutes of your time,” she asked sadly.

    Big came behind her and said, “Sorry chief, but I tried to stop her…” nervously.

    Shadow wasn’t cross with Big. He understood why Wave was here to see him. He softened his expression as he walked up to Wave.

    “Wave, I assure you we’re looking as hard as we can,” he told her.

    Wave looked like she was going to cry as she pulled out a photo.

    “Please, my husband Jet has been missing for ten days. He’s a florist, we’ve been married for three years, and we’ll be expecting our baby girl Skyla in four months. My Jet wouldn’t just disappear and leave me,” said Wave sadly.

    Shadow understood how worried Wave was about her husband. He had a wife named Rouge the Bat, and she was currently away studying an archeological site for her class at a university.

    “Wave, we’re searching as best as we can. All of our officers are doing their best with the missing Mobian case, and I assure you that one of them will find your husband,” said Shadow.

    “I can find your husband, Wave,” said Cream.

    “What?” Shadow asked angrily.

    Wave smiled at Cream and said, “Oh, thank you!”

    She gave Cream a quick hug, then handed Cream the picture of her with Jet. “Please, take this. Find my Jet, and bring him home to me,” she said.

    “I will, and I promise,” said Cream.

    “Uh Wave, will you please excuse me for a minute, while I talk with Officer Cream,” said Shadow.

    “Of course,” said Wave. She turned to face Cream again and said, “Again, thank you,” and left the room.

    Shadow closed the door behind Wave, and as soon as it was closed, he turned around to Cream and told her, “You’re fired…”

    “What?” Cream asked with a confused look.

    “Now, I’m going to open this door, and when you go out there, you’re going to give Wave back that photo, and tell her that the case will be handled by a real police officer!” said Shadow.

    He opened the door, but to both his and Cream’s surprise, Wave was talking with Sally Acorn, the assistant mayor.

    “Wave just told me that Officer Cream is going to be taking the missing Mobian case. This is quite the news! I’ll tell the mayor right away!” said Sally. She pulled out her phone and started to send a text message to the mayor.

    “Uh, Miss Acorn, let’s not tell Mayor Storm just yet,” said Shadow. He sounded a little nervous as he spoke.

    “Done!” said Sally. She held up her phone as proof.

    Shadow sighed in disgust as Sally walked up to Cream and said, “I believe that the case is in good hands. I know you can crack this case, Officer Cream.”

    “Thank you, Miss Acorn,” said Cream.

    “Oh please, just call me Sally. And if you need anything I can help with, just know that you have a friend at city hall who can help you,” said Sally.

    “I will. Thank you again, Sally,” said Cream.

    Wave and Sally bid farewell to Shadow and Cream. As soon as they were gone, Shadow sighed. He turned to face Cream and said, “Alright Cream, I’ll give you a chance.”

    “Really? Oh thank you, Chief Shadow!” Cream excitedly said.

    “But… you have only forty-eight hours. Two days, to find Jet the Hawk. If you strike out, then you hand over your badge and leave the force forever. Deal?” said Shadow.

    The smile faded quickly from Cream’s face. She didn’t like how her job was being put at stake like this, especially with such a short amount of time. But she wasn’t going to back down. This was her chance, and she was going to do her best to solve the case. If she fails, she’ll know that at least she took a real case before she lost her job.

    She nodded her head in determination and said, “Okay. Deal.”

    After leaving Shadow’s office, Cream walked down to where Big’s desk was and asked him for a file that had the last known sighting that Jet the Hawk was spotted at.

    “Here you are, Cream. All the info on the missing hawk,” Big said, as he handed her the file.

    Cream took the file and opened it up on Big’s desk. All there was in the file, was a photograph of the last place Jet was spotted at. There wasn’t much to the photo. It showed Jet walking somewhere in the city, holding a brief case in one hand, and a popsicle that he was eating in another.

    “This is it?” she asked with a shocked look.

    “Yeah. I’m afraid so. And since you’re new, you don’t have access to anything else. I’m sorry it’s not much,” said Big.

    Despite this, Cream wasn’t going to quit. She had to do her best and see where this photograph could lead her. She examined the photograph as best as she could.

    That’s when she noticed the popsicle that Jet was eating. She knew that popsicle from her encounter with a certain someone the day before. She looked around the photo, and she saw a familiar, twin-tailed fox walking down the street, heading in the opposite direction from Jet.

    She grinned and said, “I have a lead…”

    Shortly later, Cream found him. She saw Tails walking down the street with Charmy. She quickly flew over to greet them.

    “Hey again,” she said.

    “Oh, hello meter maid,” said Tails.

    Cream ignored the insult and got in his and Charmy’s way.

    “What do you need? Did someone steal a traffic cone?” Tails sarcastically said.

    “No. I need your help with a lead on a case,” said Cream. She heled up the photo she found in the file and said, “You sold a popsicle to this hawk. Do you know him?”

    “I know everyone. And I know that there’s a parked car somewhere that needs a ticket. So I suggest that you go find it,” said Tails. “Time is money.”

    “I’m sure that your eight dollars worth of work can wait,” said Cream.

    “Hey, I make two hundred bucks a day, rabbit! Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, since I was twelve! So beat it,” said Tails.

    Cream smirked and said, “I didn’t want to, but we’re going to do this the hard way. Miles Prower, you’re under arrest.”

    “Okay, first off, call me ‘Tails’. I hate my full name. And second, what are you arresting me for? Hurting your feelings?” Tails said sarcastically.

    “No. For evading to pay your taxes,” said Cream.

    Tails stopped smiling. A look of worry started to form on his face.

    “According to these files, you haven’t been paying any of your taxes. And as a police officer who has these files, I can arrest you,” said Cream.

    “Whatever! It’s my word against yours!” said Tails.

    Cream held up the pen she was using to take down notes. She pressed a button, and a recording that had Tails’s voice play.

    “Two hundred bucks a day, rabbit! Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, since I was twelve!” it said.

    “Sorry, but it’s my word against yours. So unless you want to go to prison, you’re going to help me find this missing hawk,” said Cream. She smirked again and said, “It’s called a hustle, sweetheart.”

    Charmy fell on the ground and started laughing hard.

    “HAHAHAHAHA! She hustled you, and she hustled you good!” he laughed. After calming down, he gave Tails a pat on the back and said, “You’re a cop now, Tails. Best of luck!”

    He flew away, laughing some more as he did.

    “Start talking,” Cream told Tails.

    Tails sighed. He had no choice but to help Cream out.

    “I don’t know where he is. I only saw where he went…” he said.

    “Good. Now let’s go,” said Cream.

    “Fine then. I’ll lead the way, but don’t think that I’d want to help a cute rabbit like you. I just want to stay out of trouble,” said Tails.

    Cream frowned and blushed a bit.

    “Don’t call me cute. Just lead the way,” she said.