Espio the Chameleon

Espio was a member of the Shinobi Clan from the Dragon Kingdom. At some point he left that region and settled on the Floating Island with the chameleon community in Rainbow Valley. His purpose in going was to observe Knuckles on behalf of the Bride of Constant Vigil, as other Chameleons had observed Knuckles' forebears. His orders required that he observe Knuckles and report any "dangerous" decisions he made to the Shinobi; he was only to reveal himself if the situation were dire.

Deeming the situation necessary, Espio joined the Chaotix when Dr. Ivo Robotnik's lackey Renfield T. Rodent had successfully captured the Knothole Freedom Fighters in the House of Mirrors section of Happy Land theme park. Knuckles the Echidna, requiring assistance to defeat Metal Sonic, enlisted the help of Espio along with the rest of the group that became members of the Chaotix: Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee, and Mighty the Armadillo, along with one-time members Heavy and Bomb. After successfully capturing Renfield T. Rodent and forcing Robotnik to flee, Espio became a regular member of the Chaotix; despite his orders, the group eventually became his friends.

Though uneventful at first, the position led him and his teammates to be captured by the mysterious Archimedes. Transported to the Grand Conservatory, Espio and the others learned Archimedes' true identity as Knuckles searched for them. All of them were soon menaced by Enerjak, a distant relative of Knuckles' gone mad with the absorption of eleven Chaos Emeralds. Espio and the other Chaotix were brainwashed by Enerjak, and forced to fight Knuckles and Archimedes after the latter two returned from being exiled to Sandopolis. Fortunately, Knuckles was able to overpower his out-of-sorts allies and defeat Enerjak, releasing them from his control.

When Knuckles departed Angel Island briefly to help stop Mecha Sonic, a Roboticized version of Sonic the Hedgehog, Espio and the other Chaotix were attacked by a group of criminals known as the Fearsome Foursome. Engaging Lightning Lynx, Espio was briefly surprised by his attacker's superior senses, but proved more than a match for him and his teammate Sergeant Simian with some help from Mighty. The heroes were then attacked by the Fearsome Foursome's employer, Mammoth Mogul, who wanted to steal Angel Island's Chaos Emeralds. Luckily, Espio and the others proved too much for the villains, and forced them to flee.

The Chaotix faced no major threats again until after the Ultimate Annihilator erased the barrier between Mobius Prime and the Twilight Zone, freeing the Dark Legion, a group of cyborg Echidnas founded by Dimitri's descendants, to begin their campaign of domination. After battling these enemies valiantly, the Chaotix were able to drive them from their headquarters. However, they soon faced the return of some old foes, Mammoth Mogul and the Fearsome Foursome. Using his magic, Mogul disguised his minions as members of the Freedom Fighters to trick the Chaotix and the Chaotix to trick the Freedom Fighters, all in a bid to lay hands on the Sword of Acorns that Knuckles had recently retrieved. Though initially the two forces were fooled, Sally Acorn and Archimedes were able to cease the infighting and get the two groups to cooperate. Espio joined the others in attacking and defeating the Fearsome Foursome and Mammoth Mogul, only for the latter to escape with the Sword. Espio, however, soon found himself faced with other problems: the return of the city of Echidnaopolis and the uneasy alliance between the Chaotix and a rogue Dark Legionnaire named Julie-Su.

Once the Echidnaopolis crisis had been resolved, Espio joined his friends in exploring the city, often hanging out at the local food court. Not long after Enerjak, aided anonymously by Mammoth Mogul, returned to seek his revenge. Seemingly betrayed by Julie-Su, Espio and the others were taken prisoner by the Dark Legion, who had fallen under the command of their ancestral hero; Espio, along with Vector and Mighty, was left to die in the desert, though he tolerated it better than the armadillo did. Rescued by Knuckles, they returned to Echidnaopolis just in time to save Dimitri from death after Mammoth Mogul used the Sword of Acorns to drain his powers. Espio joined in the fight against the newly empowered Master Mogul, but the day was only saved when Hyper Knuckles, Super Sonic, and Turbo Tails defeated Mogul, while Locke and Sabre sealed him in the new Master Emerald.

While Knuckles left to aid the Lost Tribe of Echidnas, Espio and the Chaotix were deputized by Echidna Security Team Constable Remington; Julie-Su, freed from prison, was assigned to work with them. Espio thought she could be trusted, reasoning that while she was with the Legion she had the opportunity to kill them but didn't. The group was sent to investigate their old enemy Renfield T. Rodent, who had refurbished his old theme park and begun tainting the food with an experimental seasoning designed to cause addiction and thus bring patrons back for more. Renfield accidentally put too much of the ingredient into some of his food, and the resulting overdose killed Charmy's friend Mello. The Chaotix themselves ended up succumbing to the same overdose while investigating the park and were hospitalized; Espio was the third to recover. He, Mighty and Vector soon learned that Remington and Julie-Su were attempting to bring Ebony Hare, the man working with Renfield, to justice; when Ebony attempted to shoot Julie-Su, he was ambushed by an invisible Espio. The crooks were soon arrested.

Following Knuckles' return, Espio and the rest of the Chaotix found themselves with no enemies to fight for a time. That ended when the Dark Legion resurfaced yet again, this time attempting to seize control of Angel Island through crooked politics; their plans soon failed. Not long after, Espio received a letter announcing Charmy Bee's engagement to Saffron and shared the news with his friends; this lead to him running a bet against Vector that the later would be able to get a date in time for Knuckles' upcoming birthday party, which they all later attended. Espio was among those attempting to help when Knuckles found himself switching bodies with Sonic due to a teamup between the Dark Legion and Robotnik.

When the Master Emerald was shattered, Angel Island crashed near the Mysterious Cat Country, and Espio was soon captured by the cats, leading to the imprisonment of the rest of the Chaotix. It was only Locke's timely intervention that resulted in them being freed.

In his early plans for the Floating Island, Dr. Eggman managed to capture Valdez - a member of the Secret Service and Espio's friend. The newly roboticized Valdez was arrived in Rainbow Valley and captured many of the local chameleons - including Espio and Valdez' shared acquaintance Liza. He proceeded to use extortion and threats of roboticization to force Espio into leading Robotnik's troops to the island's Chaos Emerald. With little choice, Espio was eventually forced to trick and destroy Valdez, deciding that after his actions he was no longer his old friend. Soon Espio was up against the Dark Legion again, but this time he and the Chaotix - except for Julie - were all transported to the Twilight Zone by the Quantum Beam.

Espio was soon brought back to Mobius, together with the other natives of Angel Island, by Chaos Knuckles. Having little to do with the attempted reunification of the Echidnas, he played an equally small role in Chaos Knuckles' battle with Mammoth Mogul, which resulted in Knuckles' death. Like the other Chaotix, he was present at Knuckles' funeral. Soon afterwards, the other Chaotix found themselves telling a grieving Julie-Su stories of their early days with Knuckles, though Espio was silent about his own past. Espio was quick to join the assembled forces against the alien Xorda, and there was witness to Knuckles' miraculous return.

When Sonic returned from his year in outer space, he discovered Espio to be highly proficient in ninja arts including the use of throwing knives and shuriken, non-camouflaged stealth, and close-quarters combat. He used these skills while infiltrating the Eggman-converted Golden Hive Colony with NICOLE to learn what became of Charmy Bee's people. After discovering that there were no survivors present, Espio set the place to self-destruct, figuring that if Charmy couldn't have his home, Eggman wouldn't either. Later, during the wedding of Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie Rabbot, Espio infiltrated the heart of the Eggman Empire, discovering the Egg Beater battle suit and plans to attack Knothole. As he raced to escape so that he could warn the others, he was eventually cornered, captured and sent to the Egg Grape Chambers. His absence was noticed by his friends, but they also felt it would hurt Espio's pride if they went looking for him. However, when Knuckles was starting to get more worried, Knothole was attacked. During Eggman's destruction of Knothole, all of the other members of the Chaotix and the inhabitants of Knothole were teleported to the Egg Grape Chamber. However, he and the rest of the Knothole Mobians were soon rescued by Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy Rose, and NICOLE and were teleported to New Mobotropolis. Following this, Espio went with Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix to help him overcome his guilt earned while he was Enerjak.

In the aftermath of the Enerjak crisis, Espio and the rest of the Chaotix launched an assault on New Megaopolis to take out the Dark Egg Legion and destroy one of Dr. Eggman's communications relays, in which they succeeded. Later, after the Suppression Squad's defeat, Espio and the Chaotix joined in the confrontation with the Eggman Empire. During the assault, both he and Mighty were trapped by the Legion's laser fire and found themselves being saved by Charmy, Saffron, and Ray. When the Chaotix and Freedom Fighters came across a strange barricade made of debris, Espio investigated the one opening within the wall, reporting that it seemed to be wide enough for a single person at a time, leading it to be suspected as a trap. After Mighty and Bunnie later broke through it, Espio and the others entered to find Eggman defeated and they all returned to New Mobotropolis to celebrate.

During the celebration of Robotnik's defeat, Espio spent time at his house meditating, but was disturbed by the sound of Monkey Khan's thunder. Feeling that something bad was about to happen, he rushed to the coliseum while asking NICOLE for an update. Before Espio could arrive at the coliseum, he encountered Lightning Lynx, who claimed that he quit the Destructix and came to see Espio for "clan business." Lightning revealed the Clan Wars had ended with the Bride of Four Houses having slain the Bride of Rich Nights, forcing all other clans to submit to her control. Espio harshly dismissed this as a lie, but Lightning then gave Espio a message entrusted to him from the Bride of Constant Vigil of the Shinobi Clan. Upon reading his new orders, Espio reluctantly submitted to the summons and departed with Lightning to intercept Sonic and Monkey Khan as they headed towards New Megaopolis. Before he left, he began to tell NICOLE to relay a message to Knuckles, before changing his mind and saying goodbye. Arriving in New Megaopolis, the two ninjas joined the fight against Sonic and Khan, forcing them to retreat.

The Iron Dominion later sent Espio to steal the Master Emerald, which led to a confrontation between him and Knuckles. Espio made no effort to hide himself as he approached, but after a brief scuffle, Espio eventually had Knuckles at knifepoint. Knuckles asked in bitter disbelief if Espio would really steal the Master Emerald, but Espio in turn asked him if he would have to kill Knuckles in order to do so. Knuckles replied that Espio should already know the answer to that question and stated that he would give up everything to protect the Emerald. Hearing this, Espio concluded he has conflicting orders and released Knuckles. However, before he could leave, Knuckles insisted they talk, saying he couldn't help if he didn't understand the situation. Espio hesitated, but eventually gave Knuckles some details concerning the clans, his own status within them and that of Lightning Lynx. Warning Knuckles to beware the Iron Dominion, he faded to invisibility and left. Having "failed" his mission, he was called back to the Dragon Kingdom by the Shinobi Clan, prompting the Iron Queen to send the Bride of Conquering Storm to get the clans in line.

Later, after negotiating with the Raiju Clan, a party led by Monkey Khan and Sally were contemplating how to locate the Shinobi Clan when Espio appeared to offer his help. The group was initially distrustful, but Sonic felt that as a former friend, Espio deserved a chance to explain himself. The chameleon explained that the Bride of Constant Vigil had been observing their efforts and wished to meet with the group, and so he had volunteered to act as a guide. However, Sally claimed that his word was no longer good enough. Thinking a moment, Espio then offered that there would be no more secrets, and so volunteered to offer up any secrets he knew about the group so that he would no longer have any advantage over them. Sonic found this dubious, claiming that as the heroes they're "squeaky clean," but offers to humor the chameleon. He was then shocked when Espio mentioned "The Sneak," referring to the hedgehog's once-used secret identity, and Sonic backed down, muttering. He then told Tails about "Super Captain Fox-Man," Tails' self-starring comic series, to which Tails claimed no one was ever supposed to read, and adding that he was just a little kid at the time he wrote it. Sally is caught by surprise when Espio claims to know the location of her royal birthmark, which Espio explained that he'd wanted to check her brother Elias' claims following his return. Monkey Khan was then told that there were other "Khans," a claim that only confused and annoyed the monkey. Sonic, however, returned to the point, asking how Espio's knowledge of their secrets was meant to gain their trust; Espio replied that to the Shinobi, knowledge is everything, and the fact that he knows such details only comes from doing his job. Sally asked what exactly this job is, but Espio once again said that the Bride of Constant Vigil would reveal everything; he offered the group blindfolds so that he could lead them to the meeting place. With no other options, the group agreed, and Espio thanked them for their trust. When they arrived within a hidden cave, Espio removed their blindfolds and left them to solve the puzzle of "The Way of the Blind," saying that if they made their way through they would then meet with the Bride. He then disappeared from view. When the group arrived in the Bride's chamber, they found Espio serving her tea. After agreeing that the Shinobi would no longer serve the Iron Dominion, Espio was finally allowed to explain himself. He told the others that he had been sent to monitor Knuckles' actions as Guardian on behalf of his clan, as had been done with the previous Guardians. He explained that his mentor Valdez had introduced him to Rainbow Valley, and that he was meant only to observe Knuckles, not work with him or become his friend. While Constant Vigil said that Espio had broken taboo, he had made the right choice; Espio, expecting disappointment, was caught by surprise. When Constant Vigil ordered him to return to his station, but with permission to act as he saw fit, he was overjoyed and said "Thank you, mo-" before catching himself. She also ordered him to retrieve the Fan of Fen Xing before returning to New Mobotropolis. He and Sonic exchanged high-fives before he left.

As per his orders, Espio arrived in New Mobotropolis, bearing the blessings of the Shinobi and Raiju Clans - as well as the Fan of Fen Xing -to Sonic and Monkey Khan, who used the magical weapon to defeat the Iron King. A week later, in response to recent events, Knuckles gathered the Chaotix on Angel Island to discuss recent events and reaffirm the group's trust in one another. With Constant Vigil's permission, Espio was allowed to explain his actions and his original mission, as well as to reveal information that he had gathered about his teammates during their time together. Vector was quick to deny Espio knowing anything about him, but Espio then revealed that he knew Vector was from Downunda and that he had adopted a different accent to hide this. When Knuckles reacted angrily to the news that Espio had known about the Brotherhood all along, Espio replied that he had known of their existence, but had been given no other details. Things went from bad to worse as first Espio's attempts to jog Charmy's memory failed, and then Mighty stormed off in response to the news that his parents were dead and his younger sister was part of a Dark Egg Legion chapter. Espio was deeply upset by the pain he had caused his friend, but the next morning Mighty a warm farewell as he left to find his sister.

Espio's First Appearance