Chapter 5: Claustrophobia

"Tangle's log,

It's been two days since we took down Eggman's base. With us having three Chaos Emeralds now, we are in high spirits. It's looking like we might be able to go home soon… that being said, we aren't even half way there yet, so it might still be a while.

My little injury from the attack has completely healed now, and thankfully there isn't a scar… at least, not one visible through my fur. Thank goodness us Mobians heal real quickly.

Anyways, that whole thing made me realize something, Knuckles was able to easily dodge in between the lasers while charging at those turrets. There is no way I would be able to do that right now, so, I am setting aside the tail practice for a bit and working on being more agile. I'm actually taking a bit of a break from the training right now. We flew out to a field with some trees and rocks around, and Sonic ran back to the house to grab some water, so we are waiting for him at this point.

Anyways, I better do some stretches before Sonic gets back."

Tangle put the notebook in her bag and walked over to Tails.

"You really like keeping a log of everything, huh?" Tails asked.

"I figured Jewel will probably want to know everything that I've been up to when I get back, so keeping a log of it all will help with that!" Tangle explained.

"Right, anyways, looks like that's Sonic right now." Tails said.

When Sonic got closer, they immediately noticed that he didn't have the water he promised.

"Hey, sorry, but I think we should end things off for today." Sonic said. "A really nasty storm is heading straight towards us. It's already over the house too."

"Oh… alright, let's get going then." Tangle said as she made her way over to the X-Tornado.

Shorty after, they took off, though it didn't take long for them to be in the storm.

"Geez, this wind is crazy!" Tangle said.

"Yeah, we should probably get into the cockpit." Sonic said. "Hey Tails, open them up for us?"

"Yeah, sure, just be quick!" Tails said as he opened up the back cockpit.

"Wait… can't I just stay out here?" Tangle asked.

"You could, but you would probably fall off, and we can't have that." Sonic said. "Come on, you'll be a lot safer in here."

"R-right…" Tangle said as she climbed in after Sonic.

It didn't take long for Sonic to realize that something was wrong though.

"Geez, this wind must be worse than I thought, the whole plane's shaking!" Sonic said.

"Uh, no it isn't… what are you talking about Sonic?" Tails asked. "Do you really think the X-Tornado can't handle a bit of wind?"

"Wait, if the plane isn't shaking… then why does it feel like it is?" Sonic asked.

He then looked backwards and found his answer.

Tangle was curled up in a ball, and shaking uncontrollably. It was so violent that it was affecting his own chair as well.

"Tangle?! You alright?" Sonic asked.

No response.

He then got a good look at her eyes.

She looked absolutely terrified.

"Tails, we need to hurry home." Sonic said. "I think the sooner we land, the better."

"Gotcha!" Tails said as he sped up.

Eventually, they landed and pulled into the garage.

As soon as they stopped though, Tangle practically leapt out of the cockpit and began breathing heavily as she laid on her back.

"You alright?" Sonic asked.

"N-not really…" Tangle said.

"You want to talk about it?" Tails asked.

"Y-yeah… just give me a minute." Tangle said.

"Come on, we'll talk inside." Sonic said as he helped her to her feet and guided her to the house.

"Here you go sweetie, it'll help you calm down a bit." Ella said as she handed Tangle some tea.

"T-thanks Ella…" Tangle said as she grabbed the cup.

"So, what's going on with you?" Amy asked. "It's not like you to freak out like that."

"… Promise me none of you will laugh?" Tangle asked.

"We would never laugh at you sweetie, now, what's wrong?" Ella said.

"… I'm claustrophobic." Tangle said.

"Claustro-what?" Chris asked.

"Claustrophobic, it means that she's afraid of tight spaces." Chuck explained. "From the looks of things, a pretty bad case of it too."

"Whenever I get into a tight space, my mind just… shut's down… and you saw what happens to me after that…" Tangle said.

"Any idea how this started?" Sonic asked.

"No… not really…" Tangle said.

"Alright, but why didn't you tell us about this before?" Tails asked.

"I was… embarrassed about it." Tangle explained. "You are all so fearless all the time… I thought that if you found out, you would think I was weak…"

"Tangle… that's so dumb…" Sonic said rather bluntly.

"Huh?"

"Sonic! You can't just-"

"Let me talk." Sonic said. "You really think that we're all completely fearless?"

"You… you're not?" Tangle asked.

"Of course not!" Sonic said.

"There are a lot of things that scare me…" Cream said, with Cheese giving an affirmative "Chao Chao!"

"I'm afraid of Sonic getting hurt or… you know… worse…" Amy said.

They all then looked to Tails.

"… I'm afraid of-"

At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck outside.

"AH!" Tails shouted as he hid under the couch.

"…Lightning, he's afraid of lightning." Sonic said. "As for me, well, you already know that I can't stand water."

"Right… so, it's alright for me to be afraid?" Tangle asked.

"Of course it is! Nobody's perfect." Sonic said. "That being said, if you want, we could work on it a bit."

"Work on it?" Tangle asked.

"Try and get you to overcome your fear. At least to the point that a ride in the X-Tornado wouldn't cause you to freak out like that." Sonic explained.

"You… would really be alright with helping me with that?" Tangle asked.

"Of course!" Sonic said. "For now though, let's wait out the storm."

"Right… so uh, we gonna help Tails out from under the couch or…?" Tangle asked.

The Next Day

"Alright Sonic, how are we going to do this?" Tangle asked as Sonic was leading her somewhere.

"Well, here's what I think." Sonic said as he stopped walking. "The best way to overcome your fear…

is with a trial by fire!"

"Wait, wha-"

Tangle didn't get to finish the thought as Sonic suddenly shoved her into a nearby closet and blocked it from opening.

"NONONONONONO! SONIC THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" Tangle shouted as she banged on the door.

"The best way to overcome your fear is to face it Tangle! You can do this!" Sonic said.

"PLEASE! LET! ME! OUT!" Tangle continued to shout.

"Just try and calm down a bi-"

"I SAID! LET! ME! OUT!" Tangle shouted again.

"If you would just calm do-" Sonic started.

Then, he suddenly felt a large weight on his back as the door to the closet was knocked off it's hinges and fell on top of him.

"FREEDOM!" Tangle shouted as she leapt out of the closet, and laid down on her back, tears still threatening to leave her eyes.

"What is with all the noise down he-" Ella said as she and Amy got a look at the scene before them.

"…Sonic? What did you do?" Amy asked.

"Trial by fire… didn't work…" Sonic grunted out.

"Geez, you can't just force her in there…" Amy said. "Come on Tangle, let's get you calmed down, and we can try something a lot more… tame."

"R-Right…" Tangle said as Amy led her away.

"… You're helping me clean this up." Ella said.

"…Right…"

"Alright, take a deep breath." Amy said as the two of them stretched.

Tangle complied. "So, what are we gonna try?"

"Well, I used Chuck's computer, and I found something called 'Image Training.'" Amy explained.

"Uh… what?" Tangle asked.

"It's something that some people do on TV, basically, they imagine what they are fighting and have a fight with them in their mind." Amy explained.

"So… shadow boxing but in your head?" Tangle asked.

"Exactly!" Amy said. "Now, I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind."

"Right." Tangle said as she did just that.

"Now, I want you to imagine that you are in a box, a very tight box."

Tangle did just that, and she began to shake a bit. Though, Amy didn't notice this seeing as how her eyes were also closed.

"And now I want you to relax, forget that you are in a tight space…" Amy said.

"… Uh Amy?" Tangle asked.

"Yeah?"

"How is this supposed to work if I am only imagining that I am in a tight space?" Tangle asked.

Amy's eyes opened at this realization.

"…Oh…"

"Yeah… I don't think this is going to work…" Tangle said.

"Right… I'll try and think of something else. I think Cream had an idea though, so maybe go see her for a bit?" Amy said.

'Cream huh? It probably won't be so bad…'

"Uh… what is that?" Tangle asked as she reached the upstairs of the garage.

"A pillow fort!" Cream said.

"Chao Chao!"

"Uh… ok? And why is there a pillow fort?" Tangle asked.

"Whenever I had a nightmare at home, Cheese and I would always build a pillow fort like this, and it would help me not be afraid anymore!" Cream explained. "I thought it might help you with your fear!"

"You… do know that a pillow fort is a tight space… right?" Tangle asked.

"I know, you can't get over your fear if you aren't afraid, right?" Cream asked.

'She does have a point…'

"Alright… let's try it." Tangle said as she climbed inside.

"See, even though you are in a tight space, don't you feel safe and…"

Cream then noticed that the entire pillow fort began to shake.

"Uh… Ms. Tangle?"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Tangle shouted as she suddenly burst out from the pillow fort, scaring poor Cream in the process.

"Ok, so none of our plans worked…" Sonic said as he took a bite out of his apple.

"I'm sorry Ms. Tangle… I didn't think it was that bad…" Cream said.

"It's fine Cream, it was a smart idea… but this is just…"

Tangle then sighed.

"Well, I have an idea, if you want to try it." Tails said.

"You do?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, and I am very confident that this is the best way to go about this." Tails said.

"Alright, we'll be counting on you Tails." Sonic said.

"Right!" Tails said. "Come on Tangle, let's go flying on the X-Tornado!"

"Oh, alright?" Tangle said as the two of them left.

"Alright, we're in the air… now what?" Tangle asked.

"Well, I figured that we could go for flights every day for a bit, and you can try and come into the cockpit whenever you're ready to do so." Tails explained.

"What makes you think I'll ever be ready though?" Tangle asked.

"You want to beat this… right?" Tails asked.

"Of course!"

"Then you'll be ready, trust me." Tails said. "Anyways, I'm gonna go higher, so hang on!"

"Right."

The X-Tornado then began to ascend, until it went above the clouds.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever get over this view…" Tangle said, watching as the sun began to dip below the clouds, and out of view. "Have you Tails?"

…

"Tails?" Tangle asked.

She then looked towards the fox, and was shocked at what she saw.

He was out cold.

"TAILS?!" Tangle said as she carefully went over to check on him.

When she got over to him, she noticed the terribly dark rings underneath his eyes.

"Did he stay up all night trying to come up with ideas to help me? Or was it because of the storm?" Tangle asked herself.

At this moment, the plane began to suddenly descend.

"Oh no! We're gonna crash! AH!" Tangle shouted. "Come on Tails! Please wake up!"

Nothing, no response from the fox.

Then, without even thinking, Tangle opened the cockpit from the outside and climbed inside. She then carefully took Tails out from the drivers seat and put him in the seat behind her.

"Ok, so I want to go up, so I just…" Tangle said before pushing the flight sticks forward… only for the plane to go into a nose dive.

"OK! PULL BACK! BACK!" Tangle shouted as she did just that, and the plane leveled out.

"Phew! Talk about a close call…" Tangle said to herself.

"Nice work."

"Thanks Tai-" Tangle started before stopping herself. "TAILS?!"

"Was a bit touchy there for a second, but you got the hang of it just fine!" Tails said with a laugh.

"You're alright!" Tangle said.

"Of course I am! Did you really think I would actually put myself in a situation where I could fall asleep at the wheel?" Tails asked.

"Hey, I was panicking, ok?" Tangle said. "Why in the world did you do that?"

"Tangle… look around you." Tails said.

Tangle complied, and realized what was happening.

She was in the cockpit of the X-Tornado, and she was just fine. She didn't feel afraid, she felt perfectly… normal.

"I… I did it…" Tangle said.

"Yup, I figured that if you were put in a situation where you had to get in here, then you would forget about your fear and get in!" Tails explained.

"But… what if I didn't?" Tangle asked.

"Then I would of taken control and we would of tried something else!" Tails said. "That being said, I had faith in you."

"Tails… remind me to hug you when we land." Tangle said.

"Sure thing, now, you want me to take over or…?" Tails asked.

"Nah, I'm not ready to get out of here quite yet… think you can walk me through how to land as we head back?" Tangle asked.

"Sure thing."

"Hey look! They're back!" Amy said as the X-Tornado came into view.

They were surprised though when instead of doing the normal landing, the plane changed into the X-Cyclone and landed that way.

"Wait… where's Tangle?" Sonic asked.

What they didn't expect was for the cockpit to open, and for Tangle to hop out with a grin on her face.

"Tangle?!" Everyone shouted.

"YOU DID IT!" Amy shouted as she pulled the lemur into a hug.

"Yeah I did!" Tangle said.

"How did you do that Tails?" Sonic asked.

"I made her feel like she needed to do it, and she just did it." Tails said.

"Well, good work." Sonic said. "So, you're completely over your fear?"

"I… think so…" Tangle said.

"Want to test it out?" Sonic said with a grin.

"…Sure?"

Moments later

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Tangle screamed as she burst out of the closet.

"Huh… guess she just feels safe in the X-Tornado…" Tails said.

"Well, it's a start." Sonic said. "Now come on, let's get her to calm down."

"Right."

End of Chapter 5

I really wanted to do a chapter all about Tangle's claustrophobia. Don't think she's completely over her fear by the way, she's just gonna be fine in the X-Tornado for right now.

Anyways, next chapter is gonna be about episode 16, but with a bit of 14 and 15 thrown in during the log. Have fun!

See you all next time for Chapter 6!