Chapter 3: Baseball
"Tangle's log, day… I've lost count at this point.
Things have been pretty nice since I met up with Sonic and the others. Not long after I starting living here, Chris' parents decided to hold a house party, so we had to stay hidden in Chuck's lab… with little success mind you as Cream I guess didn't really want to do that… anyways, after that was all done, Ella and Tanaka found out that we have been living here, and they were very open to the idea… thankfully. They've been really nice to us, and have even been teaching Amy how to cook.
That being said, it hasn't been perfect. Eggman is still being… well, from what I can tell, Eggman. Pretty quickly after the house party, he began sucking up these 'satellites' in space. It basically made it so we couldn't watch TV… well, we could, but they were all these dumb shows that he made.
By the way, TV is just this thing that let's you look into other peoples lives I guess? Though sometimes they try and put on some kind of show. Cream's been really liking this show with a big purple guy, I forget his name.
Anyways, back to Eggman's whole thing. Sonic and Tails attempted to fly up into space to try and stop him, but it didn't work out the first time, so Tails completely rebuilt his plane in like… a day. That dude is actually incredible! Well, me and Chuck helped out. I didn't really know anything about what they were talking about though, so I just helped them grab tools and stuff with my tail.
So now, we have the X-Tornado. It's really cool, and was easily able to stop Eggman's plan… but there is just one issue with it… the cockpits are a bit too tight for my taste… maybe I'll talk about THAT some other time. Thankfully, I've been able to just ride on the outside for now. The amount of traction my shoes get on that plane is really surprising…"
"You don't want to ride in the cockpit?" Tails asked.
"N-Nah, I'd rather ride on the outside." Tangle said as Amy and Cream finished loading up the X-Tornado. "Feel the wind as we fly, you know?"
"I get it, Sonic likes riding on the outside too for the same reason." Tails said. "Ok, just make sure you hold on tight when we take off. It's pretty tough to hang on the first time."
"You got it!" Tangle said.
"Anyways, a couple of days later, we ended up going to the beach. Eggman tried to take over a resort nearby, but Sonic and Amy were able to take care of that easily. After that, it was just fun in the sun for the rest of the day.
Oh yeah! I've been practicing a lot with my tail lately! I mentioned how I helped grab some tools before, and that helped me be a bit more precise with moving it. Today, I am planning on trying to work on that a bit more. Tails said he's going to go for a test flight in a bit though, so I guess I am on my own for now.
Forgot to mention, since Tails is a bit of a tail expert, he's kinda been coaching me on using mine, which has been really helpful.
Anyways, not much more to say, so I better get practicing!"
When Tangle finished writing, she put the notebook away and began to head outside.
"Hey Tangle! What are you doing?" Amy asked.
"Just gonna go out back and get some tail practice done." Tangle said.
"Oh, well, Tails already left for his test flight if you were looking for him." Amy said.
"Nah, it's fine. I can practice on my own." Tangle said. "Anyways, what are you doing?"
"Oh, right. Ella wanted to teach us all proper dining table etiquette tonight, and I was just telling everyone about it." Amy said.
"That sounds… really boring…" Tangle said.
"It might be, but you never know when it could come in handy!" Amy said. "So you should probably come and at least listen for a bit. Even Sonic agreed to come!"
Tangle sighed at this. "Fine, but I want to get some practice done first."
"Of course! Let us know if you need us!" Amy said as she walked away.
"Alright, let's get to work!" Tangle said as she began to get set up for practice.
A couple of hours later, she wished that she went on that flight with Tails.
"That's right! You're all such smart good children!" Ella said in praise of Amy, Cream and Cheese.
"I still don't get the point of this…" Tangle said as she took a bite out of her food.
"You never know when you will be eating out in a fancy restaurant Tangle!" Amy said. "You don't want to be rude in that kind of setting, do you?"
"I was kinda hoping we could get home as soon as possible to be honest…" Tangle said, still worried about Jewel back home.
"That is something we can agree on." Sonic said as he took a bite out of an apple.
"Sonic, that is bad manners." Tanaka scolded.
"Seriously though, why does Tails get to pass on this?" Tangle asked.
"He HAS been gone for quite some time… I hope nothing happened." Chuck said.
At that very moment, the group heard the sounds of a rocket flying into the room.
"Hello!" The Messenger Robot said as he floated into the room. "I have a message for you from the great Dr. Eggman!"
"An Eggman robot?!" Tangle asked.
"Eh? Who's this girl?" Messenger Robot asked. "You new? I didn't see you the last time I was here."
"Uh… yeah, name's Tangle." Tangle said.
"That's just the messenger robot, don't worry, he doesn't do that much harm normally." Amy said. "He mostly just delivers messages… that typically explode."
"… So take cover, got it!" Tangle said as she hid behind the chair.
"Wow… rude." Messenger robot said before the small TV in his hands lit up.
"Hey Sonic! Look out the window!" Eggman said.
"Window?" Sonic asked as he walked over to the window and opened it.
In the distance, they could see a large pillar of light.
"What in the world?!" Tangle asked.
"That's the light of a Chaos Emerald!" Cream said.
"And from the looks of things, there's more than one." Sonic said.
"At the base of that light should be multiple Chaos Emeralds!" Eggman said. "That location is…"
He then disappeared from the screen, only to come back in… a baseball uniform?
"Diamond Stadium!"
Chuck and Tanaka both looked really excited at this revelation.
"I'll pay you back for everything with this white ball!" Eggman said as he held up a baseball, before the screen went blank.
"Now! This robot will automatically hit a thousand baseballs!" Messenger robot said as he pulled out a bat.
"… Say what now?" Tangle asked.
Messenger Robot then began laughing as he sent hundreds of baseballs hurdling around the room.
"WHOA!" Tangle shouted as she took cover under the table, while everyone tried dodging the baseballs.
Thankfully, Ella stopped the robot before he could do much damage, and threw him out of the building.
"We gotta get going!" Sonic shouted as everyone rushed out of the building and into Chuck's Car… though Sonic opted to run instead.
"… Wait, when did Tanaka get the time to change?!" Tangle asked.
When everyone arrived, Eggman was already in the stadium. What caught Tangle by surprise was the fact that Tails was also already there, along with some red dude she didn't know.
While Sonic and Eggman talked, the red dude walked over.
"So, who's this?" He asked.
"Tangle, nice to meet you." Tangle said as she put her hand out.
"Knuckles." Knuckles said as they shook hands.
At that moment, a shadow covered the group as they looked up to see some kind of ship. The ship then dropped a group of nine robots onto the field.
What happened next was what Tangle considered to be the craziest thing she had seen since she arrived in this world.
They were all agreeing to wager the two chaos emeralds on a baseball game.
"Uh… is this really a good idea?" Tangle asked.
"Don't worry about it, we'll win just fine." Sonic said with a grin.
"It could be a lot of fun!" Amy said. "Definitely a welcome change from fighting robots."
"Are you all stupid?!" Knuckles asked. "This is the fate of the entire planet we are talking about here!"
"Geez, don't be a spoil sport…" Eggman said.
"You really are lame Knuckles…" Amy said.
Everyone then proceeded to make fun of Knuckles, with even Tangle joining in.
"Seriously, are you really such a kill-joy?" Tangle asked. "Not a good first impression dude…"
Eventually, Knuckles relented, and even made a claim that he would hit a home run during every one of his times at-bat.
And so, the game began.
The game itself went… weirdly.
The team of robots that everyone was up against was flat out ridiculous. They pitched incredible fast-balls, hit the ball really hard, and just overall had incredible physical abilities.
Yet somehow they were able to keep up with it.
Knuckles, true to his word, had just hit another home run, scoring three runs, since Cream and Cheese were on base from getting walked.
So now, at the bottom of the final inning, with two outs, they were only down by one run.
And it was at this point that they noticed that they had gathered a bit of a crowd.
"Well… that's something I guess." Tangle said.
"This really isn't a good situation though…" Chuck said. "We were able to tighten the gap, but if they get one more out here, we lose…"
"We'll be counting on you, Tangle." Sonic said.
"Right…" Tangle said as she grabbed a bat.
She then looked back towards everyone.
"I promise you guys, I will score the tying run." Tangle said. "You can count on that!"
"That's the spirit!" Sonic said. "Give it your all!"
Tangle then went up to home plate.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Knuckles asked. "We don't really know what she's capable of, do we?"
"True, but I can tell what she wants to do here." Sonic said. "She wants to prove herself, prove that she is capable of helping us. Who am I to deny her the chance to do that?"
"I guess…" Knuckles said.
At this moment, Eggman walked over.
"Been meaning to ask, who's the new girl?"
"That's Tangle, she got caught up in Chaos Control." Sonic explained.
It was at this moment that the first pitch was thrown, with Tangle barely missing the swing.
"I see…" Eggman said. 'She must of been the one who led them to my base!'
He then got a wicked grin on his face.
'Time to teach her a lesson…'
"Time out!" Eggman suddenly shouted before the second pitch was thrown.
"Huh?" Sonic asked.
Eggman then walked over to the pitcher and whispered something.
Sonic walked over to Tangle as well.
"He's up to something, keep an eye out." Sonic said.
"Gotcha." Tangle said.
Shortly after, the game resumed.
'Alright, this is it. Time to prove myself!'
The robot began his wind up.
'I am going to get on base, then I am going to do my thing and score that run! I am going to prove that I belong with everyone! I am going to win the game for them! I AM GOING TO-'
"TANGLE WATCH OUT!"
"Huh?"
THWACK
The group could only look on in horror as pitch struck her in the left temple, sending the poor lemur flying back and onto the ground, completely out cold.
"Tangle!" Tails shouted as he rushed over.
"AH! I SAID A SLOW BALL YOU IDIOT! SLOW! BALL!" Eggman shouted.
At this point, the crowd began booing.
"HEY!" Tails shouted at Decoe. "That was clearly on purpose!"
"Yeah, you're right." Decoe said. "Pitcher robot is kicked from the game!"
"Oh… that was easy." Tails said as the pitcher robot sulked off of the field… only for another robot just like him to drop down from the ship and take it's place. "… Should of seen that coming…"
"Someone get her some ice! Her head is gonna be really sore when she wakes up!" Chuck said as Tanaka went to do just that.
"Well hurry up and get her off the field!" Eggman said. "We have a game to finish!"
"We are NOT playing again until she wakes up!" Amy said. "This is your fault, so deal with it!"
"Oh come on, we are one out away!" Eggman said.
"Doesn't matter, a player is hurt on the field, so we have to make sure she is alright." Chuck said. "Deal with it."
"Grrr… fine!"
And so, the game was put on hold until Tangle woke up.
After a couple of minutes…
"Ugh…"
"Hey! I think she's waking up!" Amy said.
At that moment, Tangle's eyes slowly opened.
"What happened?"
"You got hit in the head pretty hard." Sonic said. "Don't worry, we put the game on hold for you."
"Oh… ok… ow…" Tangle said as she rubbed her left temple. She then got up with Amy's help.
"Gimme a minute…"
"Take your time." Tails said.
After a moment, she managed to collect herself. "Ok, I'm good."
"Alright, go take a seat, we can…" Chuck started.
"Hold on, isn't that called a 'Dead ball?' And doesn't that mean I go to first base?"
"Uh… yeah?" Chuck said.
"I still have a promise to keep, don't I?" Tangle said.
"Hold on, you can't expect me to believe you can run like that, can you?" Chuck asked.
"Who said anything about running?" Tangle said. "Don't worry, I got this!"
"Geez, it's a miracle that you are still standing right now, and you want to keep playing…" Chuck said.
"Jewel always said that I had a hard head!" Tangle said with a laugh. "Ow ow ow… ok, laughing hurts…"
"… Alright, we're counting on you." Chuck said as Tangle walked over to first base, but not before whispering something to Sonic.
"Play ball!" Decoe shouted out as Sonic went up to bat.
Eggman then began to laugh.
"You all seem to not of realized the genius part of my plan here!" Eggman said. "With someone on base in front of him, Sonic can't use his speed at all! He's completely stuck!"
"Oh? Am I really?" Sonic asked.
"Uh… yeah?" Eggman said.
"We'll see about that." Sonic said
Sonic then did something that caught everyone off guard… he just stood there. He didn't get ready to bat, he didn't really do anything.
"What's he doing?" Chris asked.
"Wait… what's Tangle doing?!" Tails asked as he pointed to first base.
That is when they realized what Tangle had planned this whole time, as her tail was currently stretching all the way to second base as the robot threw the first pitch.
The robot behind home plate very clearly saw this, and threw the ball to the second base robot, who tagged the tail.
"HAHA! WE WI-" Eggman began to shout as the tail touched second base.
"Safe!" Bocoe shouted.
"WHAT?!" Eggman practically screamed.
"She was on first base when she was tagged." Bocoe explained as Tangle casually walked to second base, tail still on the base.
"Oh come on! That has to be against the rules!" Eggman said.
"Not my fault she has a really long tail." Bocoe said.
"HA! A TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE!" Tails cheered.
It was at this moment that Eggman realized what this meant. There was absolutely no way to get Tangle out at this point… meaning…
"Safe!" Bocoe said as Tangle successfully stole third base.
"AH! WHY'D YOU TRY TO PICK HER OFF YOU IDIOT!" Eggman shouted. "JUST STRIKE SONIC OUT!"
Tangle then began stretching her tail towards home plate as the wind up began, and she was successfully able to touch home plate before third pitch was thrown.
"Safe!" Bocoe said.
"ALRIGHT!" Everyone shouted.
The game was now tied.
Tangle then walked over to the dugout in high spirits… and then promptly collapsed onto the bench.
"Someone get me an ice pack… please?" She pleaded.
"I'll get it." Tails said.
He shortly returned.
"Thank you…" Tangle said as she applied it to her head.
"No proble-"
"CHRIS RUN!" Chuck suddenly shouted.
"OW!" Tangle shouted back. "Keep it down please…"
"Oh… sorry." Chuck said. "But hey! We won!"
"Wait, what?" Tangle asked. She then saw that Sonic was standing on home plate, with Chris on first base.
"… Huh… go us!" Tangle said before laying down on the bench.
Though the sounds of the cheering crowd was not making things pleasant for her.
"Rest up, you earned it." Knuckles said. "Wait, what's going on out there?"
At this point, Tangle tried to tune out all of the noise… but Knuckles suddenly shouting at Sonic to jump, and the explosion shortly after didn't help.
Then, there was a lot of talking happening, but she didn't really know what it was about, until…
"And as for the young lady on the bench." A voice said. "Our team trainer is here, and they would be happy to check her injury for you."
"Oh, that would be great! Bring him out!" Chuck said.
Because she was able to hear that last part, she had a fairly good idea of what was happening when someone came over and began to check out her head.
"Well, that's surprising, she doesn't seem to have a concussion." The man said.
"That's good." Sonic said. "Just try and get some sleep, we'll take you home."
"Mmkay." Tangle said as she began to close her eyes.
She then heard Knuckles' voice.
"You did a good job kid, you should be proud."
And with that, she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.
End of Chapter 3
I had to write a chapter on this episode. Sports episodes of anime are always a good time in my opinion, and this is a personal favorite of mine!
Tangle getting nailed in the head is something I was debating on for a bit. I wanted her to get on base so she could do the tail thing, but I also wanted to establish that she is REALLY capable of taking a hit. The lack of a concussion proves that. So, I beat her up a bit… sorry Tangle… Anyways the next chapter is gonna cover Episodes 12 and 13 of the anime, so I will see you then!