So I'm gonna try something completely different here. I find myself struggling to write the action scenes properly and they're the most tedious part of the process, so I'm gonna write out the episodes in a more script-like style and parts of it will be from Sonic's POV. I have no idea if this will be any good, so if you have issues with it, let me know. This may allow me to write the episodes more like how I want them, as there's a heavy focus on dialogue, and I might be able to get chapters out faster.

Tails was flying the X-Tornado in the late evening hours, wanting to see how the newly-installed Chaos Emeralds work with the X-Tornado's engines. It was later on in the Springtime, and while Eggman hadn't appeared in a few weeks, they had to be ready. So far, the fox hasn't experience so much as a jolt on their flight.

"I've never seen the Tornado fly this smoothly. I should have hooked up the Chaos Emeralds years ago! Huh?"

Something within the cockpit glints in their eyes. The Chaos Emerald has started beaming inexplicably.

"What's it doing-GAH!"

The plane rattles violently. Tails wrestles with the yoke to get the plane under control.

"Grr...come on, come on!"

The plane jerks downward and lurches to the right. A stadium appears just ahead, lightning up the forest like a massive beacon. The Tornado is getting pulled towards it.

"It's got to be another emerald...come on, baby, BITE!"

The center of the stadium is in view, the green grass looks to be a possible landing spot.

"Good a place as any...huh?!"

A man runs out and waves his arms furiously, trying to get Tails' attention.

"STOP! STOP!"

Tails pulls up at the last second, the plane now somewhat stable. The noise of the engines and the rushing air nearly knocks the man over. He's middle aged, somewhat overweight, wearing a blue jacket and slacks.

"Better go down there..."

Tails lands just outside the stadium, which is gold-colored with blue streaks, shaped almost like that of the Roman coliseum. It's called Diamond Stadium, home of the Station Square Diamonds, the local professional baseball team. They walk out from the darkened tunnel beneath the place and see the interior of the stadium in it's full glory; with multicolored rows of seats, huge light fixtures that brighten the entire arena, and freshly cut, perfectly even grass. Tails excitedly flies over to first base and sees the man they encountered just beforehand tending to a lawn mower. Tails decides to get his attention.

"Uhh...excuse me? Sir? Sir, can you hear me? HEY!"

The man finally looks up and sees Tails standing awkwardly in front of him. He jumps behind his lawn mowers' engine bay in fright.

"Gaahh, stay back!"

Tails defensively stands back, not wanting to get into a brawl.

"I'm sorry! I'm not going to hurt you or anything, I just wanted to take a look around, if that's OK."

The man stands back up, feeling safer than he did a few seconds ago. Tails then explains their situation to the man, his name being Al, and the two sit in front row of the first baseline seats.

"I'm not supposed to let anyone in here without a hard card, but you're certainly an exception, little fella. I can't believe that was you flying that plane."

"Yeah, sorry if I freaked you out a bit. I was having some technical difficulties. This stadium is incredible, we don't have anything like it on my planet."

Al smiles wearily. "I appreciate it. I've been the groundskeeper at Diamond for thirty years now."

"30 years? You must really love it here."

"Absolutely. But this is my last season, looks like. The city's building an indoor stadium with artificial turf. No need for a groundskeeper when the grass won't grow. They'll probably tear this old place down sometime in the next year or so. It's hard to let go of something you've done for most of your life, but it is what it is, I suppose." He trails off. "By the way, didn't you say you were looking for something?"

"Yeah." They pull the green emerald out of their pocket and hold it up. "I'm looking for a gem just like this one. It's called a Chaos Emerald."

"Oh? Is this what you're looking for?" He pulls a cyan emerald out of his own pocket.

"YES! That's it!"

"Found it back behind a dumpster yesterday. Thought it might be worth somethin'."

The two bring the gems in close to one another, and they suddenly glow brightly, making both of them yelp. A huge beam of light shoots up into the sky.

"Good God! What is that?" Al stands up in disbelief.

Downtown, everyone sees the tower of light and is pointing at it in awe. Scarlet Garcia sees it alongside her cameraman, and they immediately get in their van to go after it. In the woods nearby, Knuckles sees the display as well. His fist clenches a tree trunk tighter.

"There's number 2."

At Eggman's base, Decoe quickly alerts the Doctor.

"Dr. Eggman! Dr. Eggman! You've got to see this, sir!"

Eggman looks up and leaps to his feet. "An emerald, it must be! Where's it coming from?!"

"Something called a 'baseball stadium'."

Eggman knows those words. "A baseball stadium? Well, then..."

He opens a glove box and pulls out a baseball, eyeing it evilly.

"Let's get down there so we can knock Sonic out of the park."

Episode 10: Unfair Ball

I was never really one for manners. Mom and dad never really bothered with 'em, so I didn't see why I should. But Ella wanted us to "eat properly", so she sat everyone down at the dinner table with some different kinds of knives and forks. Tails was still out, and I was getting worried. I didn't pay much attention to what was happening in front of me.

"So then, which fork and knife do we use for fruit?"

Amy carefully pawed at the utensils. "I think...these." Cream, Cheese, and Chris all did the same.

"Excellent. You are such fast learners."

I could feel Chris turning around to look at me. Maybe he was worried too, but he asked me what I was doing.

"I don't like Tails being out this late. They were supposed to be back 20 minutes ago! Must be quite the test flight."

And then, a shrill, robotic laugh, followed by the whirring of a small jet engine. Great, Bokkun's here.

He held the same exploding TV in his hands. "Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but Dr. Eggman's got a real important message for ya, so listen up real good!"

Tanaka wasn't pleased, he was as obsessed with manners as Ella was. "You need to learn not to trespass on other people's property, you infernal machine!"

"Oh, shut yer mouth already!" He turned the TV on, showing Eggman's smart mug.

"Good evening, my dear Sonic. You may want to take a look out your window."

Chris and I walked over to the window nearby and popped it open. There was a huge beam of light shooting up into the clouds. It was pulsating, about as wide as a silo, and a sky blue color. I knew what this was, but Chris didn't.

"What is that?"

"A Chaos Emerald. And not just one."

"That's right. And you know, I think we've had enough violence and warfare for a good while, so let's settle this like gentlemen, with a rousing game...of baseball!"

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. But he said the "first pitch" was in 10 minutes, so we had to get moving. Bokkun made sure we did with his little "gift".

"I still don't really know what baseball is, but Dr. Eggman said it involves throwing things at people, which sounds great to me!"

He fired baseballs wildly around the room, breaking plates and windows. I jumped on top of Chris instinctively, letting the balls roll off my back and spines. None of them hit anyone hard, thank goodness, as they all duck under the table. Ella then grabbed the robot by the scruff of his "neck".

"You little rat! Take your wild pitching elsewhere!" Ella threw the bot out of the house with a pitch of her own. I picked Chris up onto his feet, wanting answers as to what was going on here.

"Alright, now, can someone explain what "baseball" is?"

That was a mistake. Chuck and Tanaka were big fans of it, and geeked out. Hard.

"Baseball?!"

"Why, it's only the greatest sport in the world!"

"A test of strength and speed!"

"Played in the biggest and brightest stadiums, full to bursting with drama and-!"

Chris then summarized it quickly, to their dismay. "Basically, someone throws a ball at you and you have to hit it with a bat."

"A bat? Like the animal?"

Chris chuckled at my ignorance. "No, no, it's like...I don't know, a hammer, and it's made of wood. You score points by hitting the ball away from everyone or by running around the field."

We certainly didn't have anything like this back on Gaia. We had sports, sure, but most of them were about hand-to-hand combat. We didn't have much that involved sticks and balls. But we were gonna have to master it if we wanted the Chaos Emeralds.

Everyone piled into the car (except for me, of course!) and we all sped off to the stadium. It wasn't a long drive, but 10 minutes would go by fast.

"What the heck was that, kid?"

Tails was shaken but not surprised. "That's what happens when the Chaos Emeralds come together. I just hope a certain someone didn't see it."

That certain person saw it.

"Hehehe..."

Dr. Eggman was floating above them on his Eggmobile, dressed in a dark gray baseball uniform and holding a bat over his shoulder. Tails looked up and froze in place.

"Looks like you're all alone, my foxy little friend."

Tails took a step back. "Speak of the devil..."

The large man looked around for Sonic and the others. "Where's the rest of your gang? Don't you know what we're here for?"

Tails, of course, hadn't heard Bokkun's message. "Why are you dressed like a horse jockey?"

Eggman took offense to this. "How dare you!"

He then realized that there's no way Tails would know what baseball was, as they're not from Earth like Eggman is. "If Team Sonic won't show up, I'll just assume they've forfeited!"

"Forfeited what?"

"You know exactly what."

A tentacle with a robotic hand on the end came out from under the Eggmobile, and went right for Tails.

"You're not getting it that easily!" They rushed off to the side, but the tentacle changed directions, going straight for Al's hand. The poor man had no idea what to do. "What's going on here?!" The tentacle grabbed his hand. He groaned and whimpered as the emerald was pried out of his hand. Tails saw that they'd been played.

"Dammit, he faked me out!"

The tentacle hand came back to Eggman, bringing the cyan emerald to his hand.

"Perfect. One more to go. Hand it over, fox. No one's here to save you. Give me the emerald and I won't hurt you too badly."

"You'll have to catch me first!" They took off once more with the tentacle chasing after them. Something slashed the tentacle arm in half in mid-air, Tails turned around and saw who was responsible; Knuckles.

"That was close. You alright?"

"KNUCKLES!"

The echidna landed gracefully on the grass, looking up at Eggman with a teasing smile.

"Nice outfit, Doctor. Makes you look like the clown you are."

Eggman growled furiously. "Damn you, Knuckles! What are you doing here, don't you have Sonic to bother?"

Knuckles looked down at the fox."Let's get outta here, Tails."

Tails nodded. "Noted."

A burst of wind catches their attention, and they see Sonic rushing around the grandstands. He circles them and stops before their feet, looking at Knucklesslyly.

"Heya, Knuckles! Long time, no see."

Knuckles grunted as he usually did. I thought about lecturing Tails about being out so late, but I figured I'd save that for when we got home. For now, we had to deal with Egghead and his baseball game.

"There you are, Sonic! I already have one of the emeralds and I was just about to take the second! But now that you're all here, we might as well get this game started."

I gave him a warning. "Give us the other emerald and get outta here, Egghead!"

"Oh, I'll do just that, Sonic...IF YOU WIN!"

A huge brick-shaped spaceship appeared over our heads. The bottom door opened up and nine humanoid robots with gunmetal armor and helmets floated down and onto the field, like aliens lowering from their flying saucer. Eggman was just ahead of them. Poor little Cream was trembling at the sight of them, but Amy calmed her down. Eggman faced us directly.

"It's time for the opening pitch. Whoever wins the game takes the Chaos Emeralds."

Tails was...less than excited. "You can't be serious!"

Chuck, on the other hand, was thrilled, his Diamonds' cap sitting right on his head.

"Hold on. No guns, no rockets, no bombs, just a standard game of baseball. Well, as someone who's been watching it since he was a boy, that sounds like a great idea to me."

Tails' face disagreed. "Chuck?!"

Eggman had heard of Chuck before, calling him by his full name like he did with Chris..

"Charles Thorndyke, is that right? I've heard quite a lot about you. I'm sure a baseball game will be stimulating to that mediocre mind of yours."

"My 'mediocre mind' should be plenty good enough to outsmart anyone when it comes to baseball."

Tails was getting worked up quickly. "Why isn't anyone listening to me?!"

Eggman's henchman Decoe decided to chime in. "What's that brat going on about?"

Bocoe annoyingly replied, "Who cares?"

"HEY"

"GAH!"

"I'll have you know this stadium means a lot to my friend!" Tails could be scary when they needed to be, but Al calmed them down quick.

"Tails, it's no big deal."

"Huh?"

"One more game isn't gonna do any harm."

Chuck seemed to recognize Al. "You wouldn't happen to be..."

"Yep, I'm the head groundskeeper here. My name's Albert Butler."

"Yes, that's right! I've seen you during the 7th inning stretch! Say, you wouldn't happen to know Elmer Johnson, would you?"

"He and I don't talk much anymore."

Eggman was getting more and more impatient. "Alright, enough small talk! We have a game to play!"

Amy and Cream both knew nothing about baseball just like the rest of us. Chuck reassured us that we would be fine.

"You'll figure it out along the way, I'm sure. Everyone get changed and get ready, I've got plenty of old Diamonds jerseys with me."

The two genius coaches faced one another. "Good luck, Doctor."

"You're gonna need it, old man."

I could see Knuckles nudging Chris' arm.

"Is your gramps always this crazy?"

"He...doesn't get out a lot."

Tanaka was already suited up in his gear, doing stretches and push-ups along the first-base line. I remember thinking about how much of a tryhard he looked like, and that however this game worked, he probably wouldn't be much use.

Eggman was taking practice swings near us, which didn't make a lot of sense seeing as he wouldn't be playing in the actual game, just coaching. I saw Chris turn to Chuck.

"Grandpa, this sounds like a really bad idea. Deciding who gets the emeralds over a baseball game? What if Eggman tries to cheat?"

"That's a good point, Chris. We'll have to watch for any sign stealing."

"That's...not what I meant." Not what I was thinking either, bud.

The two scientists turned coaches got together for a coin toss. "Alright. If it lands on heads, we bat first. On three. 1, 2..."

Knuckles raised his voice and didn't watch his language. "Are you all fucking insane?!"

I thought about putting my hands over Tails' ears, but they probably knew that word already anyway, smart as they are.

"Do you realize what'll happen if Eggman wins? Chris is absolutely right, why should we trust Eggman to play fair and square? I'm not gonna stand by and let you all gamble our futures over some stupid Earth game."

But Eggman had a way to manipulate the red-head. "Oh, Knuckles, why be such a stick in the mud?"

As did Chuck. "Can't you just have fun for once?"

"Huh?"

...And Amy.

"C'mon, Knuckles, don't you wanna play?"

Cream, too. "Are you afraid of something?"

"A-Afraid?!"

And Tanaka, surprisingly enough.

"I agree, Ms. Cream. I think Mr. Knuckles is afraid of getting shown up by all of us."

"I fear NOTHING!"

And myself, of course!

"Then why don't ya play, hmm?"

Knux finally gave into his competitive drive.

"ALL RIGHT, YOU ASKED FOR IT! I'LL KICK EGGMAN'S ASS ALL BY MYSELF! LET'S GET THIS GAME ON!

EYECATCH CARD

Name: Bokkun

Nicknames: Messenger Robo

Species: Robot

Gender: N/A (goes by he/him)

Height: 50 cm (19.7 inches)

Weight: 20 kilos (44.1 pounds)

Special skills: delivering explosive messages from Dr. Eggman

Likes: sweets

EYECATCH CARD

Name: Scarlet Garcia

Species: Human

Gender: Female (she/her)

Height: 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 meters)

Weight: 128 pounds (58 kilos)

Likes: Journalism

Decoe would be the home-plate umpire. Chris went up to bat first.

"Let's play ball!"

"Of all the times to take up baseball..." I didn't have any time to try to pump up his confidence, so he just had to do whatever he could. The first pitch went by like a laser. Even I was impressed at how fast it was.

"Ah?!"

"Strike 1!"

The next two pitches were the same. Chris couldn't even swing at them.

"Strike 2! Strike 3! One out!"

Chris walked back to the dugout with his head down. "How do you even hit a pitch like that?" I clapped him on the back to try to comfort him, but he didn't seem to notice. Eggman cackled madly.

"Goohohoho! The fast balls are working like a charm! One chump down, two to go!"

Tails went up next.

"At least I know what they're gonna do."

But that pitcher bot had a trick up its sleeve, reaching all the way out with its extendable arm and lightly tossing it by them.

"Strike 1!"

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"What do you want? There's nothing in the rules saying you can't use long arms."

Tails struck out just like Chris with two more fastballs. Amy was up next, electing to use her hammer as a bat.

"This'll be a cinch."

She made use of her quick reflexes and strength and blasted it down the middle. We jumped to our feet, thinking it had to be a home run. That was, until one of the outfielders threw his teammate about 50 feet up to catch the ball just as it was clearing the outer wall.

"3rd out!"

Amy came to a shocked halt. "What? But I thought..."

Eggman pumped his fist wildly. "HAAA-HA!"

Bottom of the first, 0-0. Not too bad, plenty of time left. It's our turn in the outfield, and Amy is our pitcher. Pitcher, that never made any sense to me. Why not thrower, hurler, even bowler? A pitcher is for water, not a sport. Anyways, Amy seemed confident in her pitching abilities, as she was about everything.

"Screw batting, throwing is more my forte."

She wound it up and fired, but the ball curved slightly and smashed the robotic batter to pieces. It angrily picked itself back up and walked to first base. Amy wasn't pleased.

"Oh, come on! He gets first base when I literally struck him out?!"

"Them's the rules, Amy." Chuck knew this better than we ever would.

"Well, the rules are stupid!"

On the next pitch, the robot on first base stole second base. It leaped forward just as Amy threw the ball, and Tanaka, who was our catcher, quickly tossed the ball to Tails, who covered the base. They held the ball up, preparing to tag the robot out, but it launched over Tails and onto the base like a frog.

"Safe!"

Chuck pressed his hands to his head. "Tails, you know you can just step on the base to get them out, right?"

"What? Really? Why does this game have so many rules? How can anyone keep them straight?" I couldn't either, little buddy.

A few pitches later, the batter bot blasted the ball into center field. It's heading right for the top of the bleachers, and only I can catch it. Eggman jumped to his feet.

"Yes! That one is gone!"

Not if I have anything to say about it! I sped off right to the tippy-top of the huge screen display at the back of the stadium, held up the mitt, and caught the ball with ease. But then, Decoe and Chuck ruined my moment.

"Home run! Home run!"

"You caught it Sonic, but if it's outside the fence, it doesn't count."

Of course that's how it works. "Oh come on, why do we have to play by the rules when they keep cheating? Cut me some slack!"

After six innings, the score stands at 5-0, with Team Eggman leading. Amy is up to bat again, and this time, she knows not to smack it as high as possible. The pitcher bit throws, only for Amy to hit the ball right back at it and get obliterated. Amy takes her base with a bounce in her step.

"Sorry, not sorry! That's a hit!"

Knuckles was up next, and he smashed it right into the grandstands to score our first points of the game. Even Decoe couldn't deny it.

"Unfortunately, that's a home run."

We all cheered as Knux trotted the bases with a smug, mocking grin. The score's now 5-2. Unbeknownst to us, Scarlet Garcia has arrived to the scene and went live on SSTV. Guess she didn't have anything better to do.

"Good evening. This is Scarlet Garcia of SSTV News. We're live at Diamond Stadium where a bizarre baseball game has broken out between the infamous Dr. Eggman and Sonic the Hedgehog. We don't know how this happened, but apparently this game is for more than just bragging rights. Diamond Stadium is set to close sometime in the next few months, and now it hosts maybe it's most important game ever. The score stands at 5 to 2, we'll keep you updated as the game goes on."

During a small intermission, Chuck pumped us up as best he could. "Keep the pressure on, we need just four more! Tanaka!"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm putting in a pinch-hitter for you."

"Huh?!"

"Cheese! Get ready!"

"Chao!"

It made sense, really. Tanaka had struck out every time he went to bat, something had to change. Cheese went out there made things complicated for the pitcher. Because Cheese is so small, it had to throw at a very small strike zone. The pitcher-bot tried everything, Cheese swung at nothing, and eventually, the inevitable happened.

"Ball 1. Ball 2. Ball 3. Ball 4. Walk. Batter takes 1st base."

"Chao!"

Cheese strolled happily to first, and Eggman furiously called out the terrified pitcher.

"You worthless piece of shit! Do your job or someone else will!"

Cream was up next. She had her own plan in mind. As the pitcher wound up, she called out to it to play some mind games.

"Mr. Pitcher? Please be gentle, I've never played before...I just don't want to get hurt..."

The pitcher seized up from her puppy eyes and dropped the ball right on the mound.

"Balk. Batter takes 1st base."

"Thank you Mr. Pitcher!"

This made Egghead just a bit more pissed off. "Grrr...I OUGHTA THROW YOU IN THE SCRAP HEAP!"

Knuckles, of course, blasted the ball into the stands again. A three run home-run, the score is 5-5. We're all tied up.

"That is another home run." Decoe hid his frustration as best he could (for a robot, at least).

Chuck and Amy were the happiest of all of us. "Yes, Knuckles, YES!"

"We're tied!"

We were so distracted that we didn't see the stands start to fill with people. Chris pointed it out to us when he looked up at them.

"Everyone, look!"

People are watching with their whole families, some with baseball mitts ready to catch home runs and foul balls. It was like a real baseball game.

Chuck turned to Al."Are they even allowed in here?"

"Haha, no, but I'm sure as hell not gonna say anything."

I was up next. I decided to bunt the ball and zip to first base, knowing I wasn't the best hitter. I was on the plate before the pitcher could even think about throwing to it. Eggman threw his hat on the ground in rage.

"Strike out that brat or it's DEATH!"

That "brat" was Chris. He'd have his confidence pretty well shot by his first at-bat. His legs were shaking, he could barely even keep the bat straight up. His face didn't look too sure of himself either. The first pitch, just like before, blasted by him. He clenched up to avoid getting hit.

"Strike 1."

He looked so ashamed. "I can't keep up...we're gonna lose because of me."

He didn't even look at the next pitch. The kid had given up. I couldn't watch this anymore, someone had to help him. Seeing as he trusted me the most, I called out to the umpire.

"TIME OUT! Chris, c'mere!"

We met at the first base line. I kneeled down and put on my best caring-big-brother smile to make sure he would listen up.

"Come on, bud, you just gotta concentrate. I know you can get a hit."

He didn't seem to believe me. "He's pitching so fast. It doesn't matter how hard I concentrate if I'm too slow."

"But you know that he's gonna throw another fast ball, right?"

"...Yeah?"

"So you gotta do somethin' different. Just keep trying no matter what. Now get out there and do your best." I gave him a wink, as I always would. This seemed to get through a little bit and Chris said he'd do whatever it takes. He went back to batter's box and got ready. He looked more focused, bending his knees and gripping the bat tight. He was gonna hit this one with all he had and I knew it.

"Play ball!"

The pitcher wound up, and I got ready to run. Chris stepped forward and swung as hard as he can. There was a loud crack as the ball came off the bat and bounced down the third base line. It wasn't going far, but it was just far enough. Chris panicked and ran as fast as he could. I made it to home plate easily, but I wanted Chris to get to first base more than anything. He dived forward and slid across the dirt, touching the plate with his fingers right before the ball could smack against the baseman's glove. 6-5. We have the lead.

"Safe!"

Chris looked up from his dive and was the most excited I'd seen him to that point. He shouted, "I did it! I got a hit!"

I was as proud as could be, and gave him a big thumbs up. The whole stadium erupted in cheers, something I could tell Chris hadn't experienced anything like. And Eggman was fuming.

"DAMN YOU, SONIC! Alright, screw this. Bocoe, onto Plan B!"

Plan B, it turns out, was to detach the head of one of the robots and stick it onto mine. I felt something grab onto my quills like a suction cup, and my head felt about 20 pounds heavier.

"What the-?"

"You better run, Sonic! That robot will explode at any second!"

Chris went from jumping to joy to terrified, along with the rest of my team. "Sonic, what're we gonna do?!"

I gave it a tug, but it wasn't moving. It was stuck like glue.

"He's trying to make us forfeit! I gotta get this thing off me!"

I tried running around to see if that would free it, but it held on tight. This bot had dug into my skull.

"Tough guy, aren'tcha?"

"SONIC!" It was Knuckles.

"Huh?"

"SONIC, JUMP!"

"OK!"

He jumped up with me and brandished a fist. It looked like he was gonna punch the head of the robot off me, but I was thinking that my head would come off with it.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

But he hit it in just the right way that the head popped off like a hat, and blew up just below us.

"Oh, THAT'S what you're doing!"

I lost a few quills, but that was it. Better than losing my life.

That's when we saw what Eggman had done. "TOO LATE, SONIC!"

He had both Chaos Emeralds. He'd snatched them while everyone was watching Knuckles and I.

"You may have won the game, but I have the Chaos Emeralds! I'm the true winner here! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Our joy turned to shock and sadness in an instant. Amy stated the obvious first.

"Now he has both emeralds..."

Knuckles, being the sore loser he is, pounded against the ground in rage.

"DAMMIT! I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"

"At least we're alive, red."

"So, what?! What a fucking waste of time! I'm out of here!"

He took off after him, gliding up with a loud, "EGGMAN!"

Chris walked up to me first. "Should we go after him?"

I clapped a hand on his shoulder and sighed, frustrated but relieved that this dumb game was over. Baseball isn't for me.

"Nah, I've had enough Eggbutt for one night. We'll get those emeralds back, no problem."

The crowd roared again, and a suited man walked onto the field towards Al. I didn't know who he was, but Chuck did.

"That's...Elmer Johnson?!"

He met up with Al on the mound and spoke quietly with him.

"That was quite the game, certainly one of the best I've ever seen here at Diamond. It made me think of all the work you've done here Al, and what you've meant to the Diamonds organization for all the years."

"Thank you."

"We can't keep this place running, but I'm sure we can find a way to move the turf from here to the new stadium. And we'll need some help."

"I'd be honored!"

Chuck gathered us around for a team meeting. "Well, at least something good came out of this."

"But we lost the emeralds!", Tails shouted.

"For now. But I think we've learned a bit about working together. When Eggman faces off with all of us, there's nothing he can do to stop us. Right, Sonic?"

I smiled and nodded. "Absolutely."