Sonic eXcluded
I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.
Intro
It was a cloudless night over Station Square. It allowed the bright full moon to look down upon the packed streets and busy roads. It had been a lazy day of sunshine just before the sky turned dark, so there was a strong sense of peace and tranquillity.
Unless you were currently a male wrestler with purple hair, or a top female government & military agent; and were standing outside a pizza parlour.
"So, we're just going to stand outside all night then?"
"What do you suggest then, Mister '4GOT10'?"
"NOT standing outside for a start Miss Topaz!"
"Yes, well, considering the circumstances…"
"What circumstances? I thought we were supposed to be on a date!"
"Oh, and how many dates have you been on then, pray tell?"
"…Two."
"Two?"
"Including this one."
"Oh."
"And how about you?"
"This, uh, this would be my… My first."
"Your first?"
"Yes."
"Okay, so, we basically are trying to go on a date, but neither of us has a clue about dating."
"That sums it up."
"…This is getting really uncomfortable, isn't it?"
"Yes, very much so."
"Well, uh… Any ideas?"
"I was hoping you would come up with something."
"Ah."
An uncomfortable silence of awkward glances then followed between the two, and it was quite a while before Douglas picked up the courage to speak.
"We… We could always go back to my place. I mean, I'm sure Ella would cook something up for us and…"
"That sounds great, let's just get out of here!"
"TAXI!" He called out, putting a hand in the air.
Far away from this was a far calmer scene. Flying across the night sky was the Tornado X, and its twin-tailed pilot. He looked down at the readings on his controls, and smiled.
'Wow…' He thought. 'The old Tornado would never have run this well! I wish I would have installed the Chaos Emerald sooner.'
He glanced out the window, gazing out at the lights of the city. He decided just to take it out on a short flight to see if there were any bugs that needed to be worked on. As it was turning out to be, there seemed to be none.
'This has to be about the smoothest flight I've ever been on!' He thought again.
As if fate was waiting for just the right movement to involve itself in the world, just after that very thought, something grabbed a hold of the kitsune's attention. The Chaos Emerald, currently placed in a special panel on the craft's controls, was glowing. The energy from inside it seemed to be reacting to something.
'Has it picked up something?' Tails thought, before something quite worrying occurred.
The Tornado X began rock and tilt as a result of the emerald's reaction. The craft had been designed to adapt the energy from a 'dormant' Chaos Emerald, so it was unable to fully deal with the excess currently being produced.
'Oh no!' The fox thought, pulling on his control sticks. 'I can't control it!'
Despite the fact that the craft was set on autopilot, it was now heading off course, away from the outskirts of the city, and over the tops of the tress of a forest area.
Tails looked down at the Chaos Emerald again. This time, its glows were becoming stronger and more frequent. It was as if the emerald was suddenly acting like a mini-radar system.
'Is it pulling me off course?' The question was directed to himself. 'But why?'
He looked up, and saw what appeared to be a very large open-air building in front of him. Looking down, he could tell that it was a baseball field
'Wait, maybe it's another Chaos Emerald!' He thought, something triggering in his mind.
The kitsune had no time to think about that though, he had to pull the Tornado X out of the steep decent it was now in. The alternative was ploughing nose cone first into the turf.
He pulled back his control sticks sharply, just as he noticed someone running onto the playing field below. Whoever it was seemed to be waving his arms, either to get his attention or, more likely, to get him to pull up.
Luckily for both the fox and human, that was just what happened. The craft went out of its decent just moments from possible impact, and was now quickly heading upwards.
The kitsune glanced over his shoulder back at the baseball field.
"I've got to go down there!" He thought aloud
Back down on the field itself, the man who had just been waving his arms watched he craft in amazement and confusion. In all his years, he had never seen anything quite like that.
Compared to the flight problems he had just previously had, Tails found it quite easy to land the craft on the grass next to the building. Jumping out of the cockpit, he looked up at the big sign over the entrance into it.
'Diamond Stadium…' He read the sign to himself mentally. 'Sounds interesting.'
With that in mind, he kicked his tails into gear, spinning them rapidly around like helicopter rotor-blades, and took off the ground. He then headed forward into the stadium to investigate what could have caused the Chaos Emerald to react like that.
He started to fly inside, before he settled himself onto the ground after realising the situation. He was in a very dark corridor. That didn't seem like a good place to be using his tails. So instead, he started to carefully creep along it.
After all, he was all alone in a strange place. Not the most ideal territory to be charging in at full speed ahead. In fact, he was starting to get a little nervous.
'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…' He thought. 'I could go back and tell Sonic and the others about what happened, and then we can all…'
Something then diverted the fox's attention. It was not a light at the end of the tunnel, but the light coming from the top of the stairs he had now reached.
'What's that?' He thought, beginning to climb the steps upwards.
When he reached the top, he had to quickly shield his eyes from the bright light that struck his vision. After keeping his eyes shut for a good few moments, he carefully looked out through a gap in his hands. What he saw made him open his eyes wide and stare in awe.
He was looking out at the baseball field he had just flown over. The seats opposite him were far away were numerous, meaning that the stadium could contain thousands of people. The light that he had seen came from the floodlights at the outer corners of the stadium.
"WOW!" He exclaimed. He had never seen anything quite like this before. He knew that he really had to take a look around.
Spinning his tails around once more, he took to the air, before squarely landing on home base.
'This is what a baseball field is like huh?' He thought, taking a walk along the white line to first base 'I've never played baseball before. Dirt-hockey plenty of times, but never…'
Tails then noticed that he was not alone on the field. There was a middle-aged man trying to start up a driveable lawnmower over at the other end of the field. He was wearing a blue jacket, underneath which was a white shirt and a lilac tie, along with cream-coloured jeans and an orange and blue baseball cap with the letter 'D' on it.
'Maybe that's the guy I saw earlier?' Tails thought, walking towards the man.
When he got there, the man was still trying to start up the machine.
"Uh, excuse me Sir?" The fox said, trying to get his attention, but wasn't heard thanks to the noise from the engine. "Hello?" He tried again, but still no response. "YO!"
That did the trick, as the man looked up from what he was doing, and saw the two blue eyes of the twin-tailed fox looking innocently up at him.
"Ah!" He exclaimed, suddenly crouching down behind the lawnmower. "Keep away!" He was already a little worried after the near-crash experience minutes ago.
Now Tails was a little worried. He didn't mean to scare anyone.
"I'm sorry! It's just, I was just in my 'plane and the Chaos Emerald started glowing and; don't worry mister, I won't hurt 'cha!"
The man stood up a little, looking over his machine at the fox.
"Could you repeat all that again please? You lost me at 'plane…"
After five minutes of careful explaining, all the feelings of apprehension between the two were gone. They were now sat underneath the big scorecard used for the baseball matches.
"That's sure some story little fella!" The man said. "I would have never guess it was you flying that 'plane up there."
"I'm sorry if I frightened you." The kitsune said. "But I've never seen a stadium as pretty as this one before. You know, the grass is practically glowing!"
The human smiled. "Thanks for the complement! Lots of folks say that the turf here at the Diamond Stadium is the best in the world! That makes me happy, since I've been the groundskeeper here for over thirty years."
"Thirty years?"
"You bet!" The man then turned his head to look out at the field. "Only I'm afraid that today's my last day at the old place."
"Huh? How come?"
"The owner of the Diamonds wants to build a new indoor stadium with artificial turf. So this old place is going to be demolished. I tell you, leaving this place behind feels like the end of an era…" He said with a sigh, before looking back at the fox. "By the way little fella, did you mention something about an emerald?"
"Yeah!" The kitsune said, before pulling out the green Chaos Emerald he'd had hidden under his tails. "You see, I'm looking for an emerald just like this one. It's called a Chaos Emerald."
"A what? Hey, wait a minute…" The man then reached into an inside pocket in his jacket. "Is this what you're looking for?"
Tails gasped at what the human showed him.
"AH! That's it! That's a Chaos Emerald."
"I saw it lying beside the dumpsters outside the stadium a couple of weeks ago…" The man said, holding out the blue emerald opposite to the green one the fox held. "I had no idea what it was…"
Before he could continue to speak, something interesting happened. Both the blue and the green emerald suddenly began to glow and shine with Chaos Energy.
"Whoa!" Both of the emerald holders exclaimed, looking down at the gems.
Without warning, a ball of light appeared around both of the emeralds, and a bright white pillar of energy shot out from its centre into the sky.
From all around the city, the solid white column could be seen. Traffic stopped in the streets as people got out of their cars and stared at the sight. Pedestrians on the sidewalks stopped walking to point at it.
"Yo Scarlet! Do you see that?"
Scarlet Garcia looked to where her cameraman was pointing to, and nearly choked on the slice of pizza she was eating at the sight.
"What do you make of that?" He asked.
"Get the van ready." She stated. "I smell a story!"
Not only could the light be seen from the city, but from the surrounding area as well. In fact, it had caught the attention of someone sitting on the branch of a tall tree on the edge of the forest furthest from the stadium.
"What is that light? Hmm… Somethin' tells me this I gots to check out!"
"Doctor Eggman!" Decoe called out. "Doctor Eggman! You might want to take a look at this Sir!" The robot was pointing at the image on the computer screen, which showed the white light pillar coming from Station Square.
"This better be worth it…" The Doctor grumbled. "I'm missing that interesting 'Jackass' show on that 'MTV'. It's a perfect example of how moronic the people on this planet are… What? That light! I know that light, I've seen it before!"
"It appears to be emanating from the 'Diamond' baseball stadium in Station Square."
"A stadium you say? Fascinating…"
Eggman then went out of the command room, and into his own personal living quarters that was directly connected to it. He walked over to a desk covered with some dusty plans, and opened up a drawer. In it, contained a baseball bat, a baseball, and a catcher's glove.
He smiled, taking the baseball and holding it up to his eyes.
"I have a feeling that there's an emerald in the 'diamond'."
Episode 10 - A Proper Ball's Up
Part 1
"This is so romantic!" Amy stated, looking almost dreamily at Topaz and Douglas, who were sitting together at the table.
"There is absolutely nothing romantic about this situation." Douglas replied, pointing a sausage at the pink hedgehog.
"I mean, two people in love, and dating!"
"If we knew how to do date…" Topaz rolled her eyes as she said this, while Douglas laughed at the comment.
Amy, Cream, Douglas, Cheese, Topaz, Knuckles, Sonic and Chuck were all sat around the dining table, eating the meal prepared by Ella.
"Chao-Chao!"
"Here you are Cheese." Cream said, handing the Chao another slice of bread.
"You should lay off this 'loving' business Amy." The purple-haired human stated. "It's unhealthy."
"Not for me it isn't!"
"He means for Sonic!" Knuckles stated. "When you squeeze the life out of him in one of those hugs of yours."
"What do you mean? My Sonikku likes my hugs, right?"
"Uh, well, the thing is Ames…" The blue hedgehog started to say.
"Oh please! There's more chance of Cactus Jack winning the Nobel Peace Prize than there is of you and Sonic happening!" Douglas said, shaking his head.
"WHAT?" Amy exclaimed, clearly shocked.
"I agree." Chuck said under his breath.
"We need to get you people with other dates." Douglas added.
"I tried relationships before." Sonic stated. "It didn't work out."
"THAT'S an understatement." Knuckles said.
"Right, first of all we'll get you away from Sonic…" Douglas pointed at the pink hedgehog. "And hook you up with… With…"
"You didn't think this through, did you?" The echidna asked.
"Shut up! I've watched Big Brother, I can do this stuff! We'll put you with… I've got it! Amy and Tails! That'll work!"
Cream let out a shocked squeak pass through her lips, which caused Cheese to fall over and off the table.
"That's a great idea!" Topaz said. "You two would look so cute together!"
Amy, at this point, was blushing like mad.
"I never, I mean, I would never!" The pink hedgehog stuttered.
"Speaking of Tails…" Chuck finally decided to join the conversation, and change the subject at the same time. "I wonder what's keeping Tails? He should be back by now."
Suddenly, a high-pitched laugh interrupted the thoughts of all the people in the room. Bokkun flew into the room, wearing a dark-purple baseball cap with the letter 'E' on it, carrying a TV monitor.
"Sorry! I didn't know it was meal-time!" The robot said. "But Doctor Eggman's got a really important message for ya!"
Everyone in the room got out of their seats, except for Tanaka, who had just rushed in, and Douglas, who refused to consider Bokkun a threat.
"Not again!" Sonic exclaimed.
"How dare you barge in on us like this!" Tanaka said, pointing at Eggman's messenger robot. "You need to learn some manners!"
"Hah, that's what you say!" The robot said, putting the monitor down on the table.
The TV flashed into life, showing the image of Doctor Eggman.
"Good evening Sonic. I suggest that you take a look out the window."
"Window?" The blue hedgehog questioned, going over to the window and opening it. "Whoa! Check this out!"
The occupants of the room, bar Bukkon, then huddled around the window, looking out at the white tower of light.
"That's Chaos Emerald light!" Cream exclaimed.
"Is Miss Cream correct?" Mr. Tanaka asked.
"Half right." Knuckles stated. "More likely it's more than just one emerald that's causing that."
"My thoughts exactly!" Eggman said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "I want the Chaos Emeralds just as much as you all do. But using my superior intellect, and all round gentlemanly ways, I thought to myself: 'why not be a good sport about it? That's why I suggest that you all suit-up, and meet me…"
Eggman then jumped off screen, at which point the image went to black. A spotlight then provided the light, and showed the Doctor dressed up in a baseball player's outfit, complete with a dark purple jacket with 'EGG' printed across it, a baseball cap similar to the one Bukkon was wearing, and even baseball shoes.
"…At the Diamond Stadium!" Eggman concluded his challenge.
"Diamond stadium?" Tanaka questioned, clenching his fist with anger, as his glasses seemed to light up with fury.
"What for?" Chuck demanded, sounding quite angry.
"I challenge you Sonic and your friends to a game of 'winner take all' baseball!" The Doctor said, showing off a baseball, before entering into a loud egotistical laugh. The TV then switched itself off.
"This means trouble!" Sonic stated.
"He's challenging us to baseball?" Chuck questioned. "Interesting…"
"Yeah! Baseball!" Bokkun suddenly pulled out a baseball bat out of its mailbag, and some baseballs. "Here! Have some free practice!"
Without warning, Bokkun began hitting baseballs rapidly down at the group, causing them to duck under the table, jump out of the window, or in Tanaka's case, just get hit ball a lot of baseballs
"Ha! What do you have to say to that huh?" Bukkon said smugly, putting its bat back into the mailbag, and picking up the TV.
Douglas answered the question be picking up a nearby vase and throwing at the machine. The vase collided with the monitor it was holding, causing it to explode, and sending the robot hurtling and screaming out of the open window.
"HOME RUN THAT!" Douglas roared
"Douglas!" Topaz exclaimed, looking up from under the table.
"What? I hate baseball." Douglas stated.
"You never used to." Chuck pointed out, appearing from outside at the window.
"Oh, I think you damn well know why!"
"Oh quit crying and Let's go!" He said, pointing to the sky. "To the car!"
Within seconds, Tanaka (who was now dressed in an orange 'Diamond' baseball player's uniform), Amy, Cream and Cheese were in the back seats of the Thorndyke car, while Chuck and Topaz occupied the front passenger seats, with Douglas driving. Knuckles choose to stand onto the ledge of the car's side next to Douglas, holding onto the top of the door for support.
Douglas, reluctantly, and with a look of annoyance, indicating he wasn't enjoying this, pushed down hard on the accelerator, speeding out of the driveway and onto the roads, heading for the Diamond Stadium. It wasn't long before Sonic, naturally travelling on foot, over took them.
Chuck smiled to himself, adjusting his orange 'Diamond' baseball cap. It was going to be just like when he was young.
The light around then emeralds vanished, almost as quickly as it had appeared, taking the tower with it.
"Little fella, I'm hoping you have some kind of explanation for what just happened there?"
"That always happens when Chaos Emeralds come together!" The kitsune explained. "The Chaos Emeralds have a mystic connection to one another, and react when others are nearby. We call it Chaos Control, only without the powers that there'd been when all seven are together. I just hope that the wrong person didn't see that…"
"Oh, I can assure you that I saw that alright!" A voice above then said, causing them both to look upwards.
They saw the grinning form of Doctor Eggman, dressed in his purple 'EGG' baseball gear and wielding a baseball bat, standing in his Egg-Pod.
"Eggman!" Tails exclaimed.
"Well, if it isn't my foxy high-flying friend!" The Doctor stated, before chuckling to himself.
A thought struck the self-proclaimed genius as he looked down as the fox and the human. They were the only people here, apart from himself.
"Where's the rest of your team?" He said as he looked around him, to see if the blue pest and the rest of those troublesome friends of the hedgehog's were around, but they were nowhere to be seen. "It's nearly game time!"
"I don't know what you're talking about Eggman!" The fox shouted up. "But if you're after the Chaos Emeralds, I won't let you have them!"
Eggman ignored the threat, rubbing the bottom of his chin thoughtfully.
'Could it be that Sonic and his friends are choosing to forfeit the game?' He pondered mentally. 'I must say that's very unsporting of them.'
"If there's anything I can't stand more than a meddling hedgehog, then it's a quitter!" Eggman declared verbally.
"I don't know what that guy's so worked up about, do you little fella?"
"Eggman, what are you talking about?" The kitsune asked, just as confused.
"Wait! This works to my advantage!" The Doctor announced, jumping down onto the seat of his Egg-Pod and pressing a combination of buttons. "If they don't want to play ball, then I still win!"
The antenna on the bottom of the Egg-Pod retracted into the craft, and out of the hole came a red sphere with grabbing metal fingers on it, attached to a long tube. This claw then shot downwards, heading towards Tails and his human friend.
"AH!" The fox exclaimed, jumping out of the way and leaving the claw to only grab thin air.
Undeterred, the claw then turned its attention to the human holding the blue emerald.
"What's going on here?" The man questioned.
The claw instantly leapt forward, grabbing onto the human's hand that held the gem, trying to pull it out of his grasp. Against the force of powerful machinery, the man was no match for the claw, and soon enough, the claw pulled backwards, holding the emerald, while the man fell over onto his back.
"NO!" Tails exclaimed. "He's got the emerald!"
Eggman smiled, as his claw came upwards, and neatly deposited the blue Chaos Emerald into his hand.
"Finally!" He said. "I've been stuck for far too long on this planet without one of you! And now it's one down, and one to go!" He turned his attention to the twin-tailed fox who held the green emerald. "Hand it over! I've won these emeralds fair and square, so give up that second emerald before I have to use a 'forced' play!"
"I'd like to see you try it!" Was the fox's reply, as he started to run away from where the Egg-Pod was.
The claw once again shot forward, this time homing in on the escaping fox. Despite using his tails for extra speed, there seemed to be no escape from the claw. Soon enough, he and the emerald would be in Eggman's grasp…
The sound of a gunshot rattled through the air. Freezing on the spot, Tails looked behind him, and saw that the claw had suddenly exploded in a little cloud of flames and smoke.
"WHAT?" The Doctor roared. "WHO DARED TO DO THAT?"
The sound of a quite dark and sinister laugh was the next sound to be heard. This caught the attention of the human, Doctor and fox, and made them look at the figure standing on top of the side-entrance into the stadium.
The figure was a dark purple furry creature, which was holding a silver gun that seemed to shine of the light from the floodlights. He wore brown cowboy hat, with matching boots, gloves and belt. He also had a very interesting feature about him, or more appropriately, his mouth. He had one sharp tooth that stuck out from the top of his mouth, no matter if his lips were open or not.
He smiled, using his slightly crooked tail to bounce off from where he was standing, and jump high into the air, before landing expertly on the ground just between Eggman and Tails.
"Well, if it isn't Fang the Sniper…" Eggman sneered.
"The one and only!" The weasel said, smirking.
"What business do you have interrupting me?" The Doctor demanded.
"The only business I is involved with! Money! Twenty thousand in notes for each Chaos Emerald! Well, it ain't every day ya see Chaos Emeralds makin' pretty towers o' light in da sky, do ya?"
"Doing Sonic's dirty work eh?" Eggman said.
"The hedgehog? Naw, it's some Smicktor guy who's puttin' up the reward."
"Douglas?" Tails questioned.
"Yeah, name the guy! That's him, you know him?" Fang looked at the fox. "Hey! Since when was you a bounty hunter? Is everyone here after the money?"
Before Tails could answer, something blue rushed along the stands of the stadium, before rushing around the two furries, and stopping beside Tails.
"Hey Tails! Glad you could make it." Sonic said, before noticing the weasel. "Well well! Long time no see Nack!"
The weasel smirked, tucking his gun into the holster on his belt. "Heh, so it is."
"Well, if it isn't Sonic!" Eggman stated. "I thought you weren't going to show up, so I took one of the emeralds already, and I was just collecting the second! But since you're here, maybe we can play ball!"
At that moment, the occupants of the Thorndyke car ran onto the field and up to Sonic and Tails.
"Hold up Eggman!" Fang said. "You ain't collecting no emeralds! I came here for 20 grand, and I ain't leavin' 'till I gets it!"
"What do you mean? Take the fox's emerald!" Eggman said, pointing his bat at Tails.
"Hey! No reward for emeralds we already have!" Douglas said.
"Alright!" Fang stated, raising his gun at pointing it at the Doctor. "Hand it over Eggman!"
"Fang!" Knuckles said. "What are doing here?"
"Tryin' to make some damn money, if people wouldn't interrupt me!"
"You put up a reward for Chaos Emeralds?" Topaz questioned Douglas.
"Yes, and it seems to be working! I mean, look at this guy! He's cool!"
"You're only saying that because he's purple." Chuck said.
"Shut up! Purple's an awesome colour!" Both Fang and Douglas said simultaneously.
"Alright Eggman!" Sonic said. "You're outnumbered! Now give us back that Chaos Emerald!"
"All in good time my speedy little opponent! But first, I'd like to introduce you to my E-21 team mates."
"Team mates?"
"What's that?" Topaz said, noticing something behind the group.
A dark shadow had suddenly started to creep its way over the group of humans and furries. Turning around to the see what was causing it, they saw a space ship like craft hovering above them. It was black, with a metallic centre, and two purple eye-like sensors on it's front. On each of the sides of the craft, was a round disk with an antenna sticking out of the top of it.
"That thing looks like some kind of giant floating baseball cap!" Douglas stated.
"Fancy lookin' gizmo." Fang added.
The metallic centre opened up, and a white beam came out of it. Moments later, robots began slowly travelling down the beam, landing on the turf and forming up into a line in front of the group. Each robot was shaped like a small human, with dark grey arms and legs, a purple torso with 'EGG' printed on it, and a helmet-like head with a purple visor sensor and a yellow 'E' printed above it.
"They're scary Miss Amy!" Cream said, hugging onto the pink hedgehog.
"Chao!" Cheese agreed.
"It's okay…" Amy said, a little apprehensive to what was happening.
The robots had stopped coming out of the craft, and the Egg-Pod was no just above the line. The Doctor then jumped out of his transport, and was standing proudly in front of his machines.
"Behold! My Ballios baseball team! Not too shabby, eh?" He chuckled. "Now why don't we forget about all those 'pre-game' ceremonies and get to the real reason why we're all here?"
"Yeah! My twenty thousand…!"
"NO! It's now game time!"
"Let's play ball!" Decoe and Bocoe announced, suddenly jumping out from behind the line of robots.
"He wants us to what?" Douglas questioned.
"You can't have your game here!" Tails said.
"Wait!" Chuck said, standing in front of the fox. "It just so happens that old Grandpa Chuck here is a big baseball fan from way back."
"Wha?" The fox was clearly confused, as Douglas, Topaz, Knuckles and Fang seemed to be.
"A nice friendly game of baseball sounds like a great idea to me."
"But… But Chuck!"
Eggman smiled. "So, you're this Chuck Thorndyke I've heard so much about? Well, I must say that it's a pleasure to meet a fellow inventive mind like my own. You must understand what an exciting idea it is to have a ball game, especially after being cooped up in a laboratory day after day!"
"HEY! If you want to have a ball game you have to have it some place else!" Tails shouted, waving his arms. "Isn't anyone listening to me?"
"Well, if the others are up for it, then I'd be more than happy to accept your challenge!" Chuck said, not listening to the fox.
"But you can't have your game here! You'll ruin all the beautiful turf!"
"What's that loud-mouth fox getting so bent out of shape for?" Decoe asked, watching the scene.
"Who knows?" Bocoe replied.
"HEY!" Tails said, suddenly jumping over to confront the robots, causing them to fall over in surprise. "I'll have you know that this stadium means a lot to my friend!"
"It's okay little fella!" The groundskeeper said, walking over to the fox. "I mean, it's only a matter of time before this place is demolished anyway…"
"Demolished?" Douglas questioned, looking at the man. "Good. The less baseball the better."
"Hey, haven't I seen you before?" Chuck asked him, ignoring Douglas.
"Maybe during the seventh innings stretch. My name's Albert Butler, and I am the head groundskeeper here."
"Ah!" Chuck said, realising. "I thought you looked familiar, I've seen you on television! You were good friends with the owner Emer Johnson, weren't you?"
"Well, Emer and me don't really talk that much anymore…"
Chuck then unexpectedly broke into tears, covering up his eyes with his arm. "It's such an honour to think that I'm going to be able to play in the world famous Diamond Stadium!"
"STOP YOU BLUBBERING!" Eggman roared. "Let's play some baseball!"
"Uh… Okay…" Amy said.
"Baseball?" Topaz questioned. "What does this have to do with emeralds?"
"This is getting' too weird." Fang stated, shaking his head.
"How do we play?" Cream asked.
"Chao-chao?" Cheese added.
"Alright! Everybody!" Chuck announced. "It's time for the Chaos Emerald Baseball Play-Off!"
Eggman then pushed Chuck out of his way to take centre stage. "It's the first ever Eggman Intergalactic Baseball Challenge!"
"Did I mention that I hate baseball?" Douglas sighed, shaking his head.
"This. Is. Sad." Knuckles stated.
"And totally embarrassing." Topaz added. "Anyone excited by this should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves…"
Mr. Tanaka, already fully dressed in Diamond baseball gear, was limbering himself up for the big game by practicing his stretches.
"Does he HAVE to be on our team?" Sonic sighed, whilst sitting on top of one of Eggman's Ballios robots.
"Does this mean we get to play too Miss Amy?"
"I don't see why not." The pink hedgehog replied.
Tanaka was now trying another stretching technique, this time hooking the bat behind his back using the joints of his elbows, and turning his upper torso from side to side.
Eggman was practicing his batting technique, swinging at the air with his bat.
"Chuck, do you really think this whole 'baseball game' is a good idea?" Topaz asked. "I mean, Eggman could have something up his sleeve!"
"You're right Topaz. For all we know, that guy could be using a 'corked' bat!"
"…That's not what I meant."
"Well, IUSED to play it a lot in my spare time." Douglas explained to the kitsune. "It's sort of easy to understand I guess. All you've gotta do is hit the ball with that bat. Simple, huh?"
"But this isn't a good idea! Eggman could…!"
"Listen man, there's one thing that the ladies can't resist, and that's a sportsman!"
"Really?" Tails was very interested now.
"Yeah! I mean, I'm a prime example of how that works! You do well tonight, and you'll have to fight the girls off!"
"Okay!" Eggman announced. "Let's decide who starts first, shall we? Rock, paper, scissors!"
"Right!" Chuck replied, clenching his fist and putting it opposite the Doctor's.
"One… Two…"
"You can't be serious!" Knuckles stated, interrupting the two. "You do realise what will happen if Eggman wins, don't you? He won't just be winning a simple game, but the Chaos Emerald as well! If you lose Chuck then it will mean nothing but catastrophe for ALL of us!"
"I say that's stinking thinking!" Eggman said.
"Why ruin everyone's fun? Chuck added.
"What?" That took the guardian aback.
"Come on Knuckles, don't you want to play?" Amy said, leaning onto the echidna's shoulder.
"Mister Knuckles, you aren't going to be a chicken are you?" Cream asked, hugging onto his leg.
"Chao-chao chao!" Cheese stated, flying up and sitting on his head.
"ME? CHICKEN?"
"Perhaps Knuckles is simply too afraid of losing to play a little game of baseball!" Tanaka noted, while pointing a baseball bat at the echidna.
"I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!" Knuckles roared.
"Right." Sonic said, appearing in front of him. "So you'll play, right?"
"HA! NO! You won't blackmail me!" The Guardian said, pushing his way out of the circle that had formed around him. "I'm not falling for that whole 'Team-Player' stuff! You may have tricked Tails into falling for that stuff!" He pointed at the fox, now decked out in baseball gear. "But not me! And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who won't be playing!"
"Darn!" Fang said, adjusting his orange baseball cap. "I get the twenty thousand for helpin' to win this game, and I can keep all this gear! This is the best deal I've ever done!"
Knuckles' jaw dropped at the sight of the weasel in full baseball gear, but his jaw went down further when he saw Topaz dressed up in the same gear.
"Well, military regulations state I can't actually play without the consent from my superiors…" She explained. "But there's nothing against me supporting you guys."
The Guardian sighed, staring down at his feet and grumbling under his breath, resisting the urge just to smash everything in sight.
"All right… You want a team player… THEN I'LL GIVE YOU A TEAM PLAYER! LET'S GET THIS GAME GOING!"
Flip Card 1 – Fang the Sniper
Full Real Name: Nack the Weasel
Nickname(s): Fang the Sniper, Fang, The Sniper
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Likes: Money, expensive things, treasure, guns
Dislikes: Being broke, losing money, being in deep trouble
Identifying features: Purple-furred weasel, wears cowboy boots, gloves, belt and hat. Carries around a silver gun. Can use his tail to spring up to heights. Rumoured to have an air-bike called the 'Magnificent Queen'.
Flip Card 2 – Albert –
Full Real Name: Albert Butler
Nickname(s): n/a
Gender: Male
Age: 62
Likes: Keeping the turf tidy, looking after the grounds
Dislikes: Litter, pesticides
Identifying features: Usually wears a Diamond baseball cap, works at the Diamond Stadium. Can be found looking after the field and grounds.
Part 2
"Why do I have a worrying feeling that this is all going to go horribly wrong?" Topaz said, watching as Douglas stepped up to home base to begin batting for 'Team Sonic'.
"Relax! Doug's got this covered!" Sonic waved off the worry.
"At least he looks nervous." Knuckles stated. "Eggman will have engineered those robots to be almost unbeatable at this game.
"Let's play ball!" Decoe announced, dresses as a baseball umpire.
"Alright, let's get this over with." Douglas sighed, clearly not enjoying playing this, looking at the Ballios robot that was acting as the pitcher.
The robot said nothing (mainly due to the fact it couldn't speak) and drew the arm holding the baseball back. It took one step forward and launched the ball forward. In the blink of en eye the ball was then caught in the glove of the Ballios robot behind Douglas.
"Strike one." Decoe announced.
"Shit…" Douglas whispered to himself, surprised by the robot's ability.
"Damn! That's what I call a 'fast ball'!" Fang said.
"Okay! You caught me off guard with that one!" Douglas stated, pointing his bat at the pitcher. "But not this time!"
The players readied themselves again in position. The robot threw the ball again, and this time Douglas was able to swing the bat. Unfortunately, Douglas missed.
"Strike two."
The human growled in annoyance, mumbling something probably unpleasant under his breath, preparing himself for a final swing that would knock the incoming ball out of the park.
Once again, the robotic player threw the baseball, and Douglas swung his bat with a look of determination on his face.
"Strike three. You are out."
"Oh well" Douglas sighed, swinging his bat around in annoyance, and unintentionally knocking over Decoe in the process. "It's a stupid god damn game anyway, what with it's friggin' no good rules… How the hell can anyone hit a ball that fast anyway?" He cursed, dragging his bat behind him as he walked back to the 'Sonic Team' dugout.
"HA! Loser!" Eggman announced, looking very pleased with himself from his team dugout. "Okay Sonic, send out your next sucker!"
"I can see we're in for a long game." Topaz sighed.
Tails readied his bat in his hands, looking slightly confident since he knew what to expect now.
'It'll probably be another fast ball.' He thought to himself.
The Ballios robot prepared itself, holding the hand with the ball over its head, before taking a step forward and launching the ball. The problem was, the ball was still in its hand, and its arm was extending itself.
The kitsune was very confused as it watched the hand suddenly come to stop just inches in front of him, and then flick the baseball into the glove of the robot behind him.
"HUH?" He exclaimed.
"Strike one." Decoe announced.
"Hey umpire! That wasn't fair!" Tails stated.
"What do you want from me? It's not my fault it has long arms."
"So, are we allowed to cheat or what?" Douglas questioned.
"I suggest that it is only to be expected from Doctor Eggman." Tanaka stated.
"Sound like a good idea to me." Fang pointed out.
"Okay! Give me your best pitch ball boy!" Amy challenged, wielding her Piko-Piko Hammer.
"HEY!" Eggman shouted. "That's not fair!"
"Why not?" Chuck questioned. "I think it's an interesting dynamic to the game!"
The machine then launched a rather soft looking pitch towards the pink hedgehog.
"I've got it!" She announced, before swinging her hammer and hitting the ball high up into the air towards the scoreboard.
In the 'Team Sonic' dugout, the players cheered. The ball looked almost certain to be heading out of the park, giving their team a home run.
'We might not lose this thing after all.' Knuckles thought to himself, keeping his emotions to himself.
It was at that moment one of the Ballios robots picked up another, and launched it high up into the air, directed towards the ball. Holding out its gloved hand, the flying robot soon caught up with the baseball, and grabbed it.
"She's out." Decoe stated, and the robot returned back to the ground.
"Huh? But I thought…?" Amy started to say.
Eggman laughed loudly at the scene, now very sure that victory was assured, even at this early stage.
"These people are embarrassin' me man! They's crampin' my style!" Fang complained.
"Dude! Just catch the balls, we'll get these guys out, then we'll be batting again!" Douglas stated. "Which with how my luck's going, will be LOTS of fun…"
"Now I'll show them what I can do!" Amy said, taking up position as pitcher. "I'm a much better pitcher anyway!"
"I sincerely hope Miss Amy is aware of what she is doing." Tanaka, in position as catcher behind the batting Ballios robot, thought aloud.
Amy drew her arm back, took a step forward, and threw the ball with all her might. It was very obvious that the ball had a lot of force behind it. As indicated by the fact that when the ball stuck the Ballios, the machine suddenly flew apart into pieces.
"…Out?" Decoe questioned, watching some of the other Ballios come over to check on the destroyed machine.
"Sorry about that!" Amy apologised, a sweat-drop appearing on her head.
"You go girl!" Topaz called out.
Once again, Amy was pitching against a Ballios. This time, just when Amy threw the ball, the Ballios robot that was on first base ran forward. Confused by the sudden play, the batting machine forgot to swing.
"Strike one." Decoe stated.
Tanaka caught the ball, and then quickly threw the ball over the head of the pink hedgehog to the kitsune on the other side of the field. Tails caught it, and moved of the base to run the robot out that was coming towards him.
That was his plan anyway. It failed when the machine suddenly sprung upwards using extended feet into the air above Tails, only to come back down to the ground in a handstand position on second base.
"Safe."
'Losing isn't fun…' Tails thought to himself, throwing the ball down to the ground in disgust.
The sound of the bat striking the baseball rattled throughout the stadium, as the ball was sent high and far.
"It's out of the park!" Eggman announced, pointing from his dugout, while the robot that had just battled ran with all the power in its batteries around the bases.
Wasting no time, Sonic quickly ran off the field, into the stands of the stadium, and then onto the top of the scoreboard. Holding his baseball glove up, he was easily able to catch the ball. He looked very pleased with himself.
"Home run. Home run." Decoe announced, motioning with its hand.
"MORON!" Douglas shouted, face-palming himself.
"Wait to go Sonic…" Chuck stated. "You caught it. But if it's outside the fences it doesn't count."
"How says we have to play by the rules anyway?" Sonic replied. "Cut me some slack here!"
Once again, Amy was back on home base, wielding her hammer and preparing to bat. The Ballios pitcher launched the baseball towards the hedgehog. Moments later, Amy's hammer struck the ball back into the robot, smashing it to pieces much like the earlier pitching incident.
"Whoops!" Amy stated, looking embarrassed as she stood on first base. "That's a hit!"
"My god." Douglas stated. "And they say wrestling is dangerous!"
"Okay! Let's do this!" Fang stated, twirling the baseball bat in his hand. "Let's see what skills you rust-buckets have!"
"Hey Sonic, you know this guy?" Chuck asked the blue hedgehog.
"We've had issues in the past." Was the answer. "But it's just about money to him. Nothing more, nothing less. He'll bail out of anything as soon as he's gotten something out of it."
The robot threw the ball, and the weasel was able to hit it over to the far side of the field. There, two robots approached the ball as it rolled along the grass, hoping to catch it. But as they both reached for the ball at the same time, they ended up smacking their heads against one another.
"He's got first base!" Tails announced.
"And he's still going!" Douglas added.
The two robots were now very dazed from their collision, and preceded to stumble right into one another, with the ball behind them.
"He's past second!" Eggman roared. "Get yourselves into gear!"
In response to the order, a third Ballios machine ran over, jumping over the two fallen teammates, and picked up the ball. It turned around to throw the ball, but only succeeded in tripping over the other robots and falling flat on its face.
"Third base!" Chuck announced. "He's nearly there!"
The robot shook it's self back into place, standing up and throwing the ball towards the catcher at home base. At the same moment, Fang took a sliding dive towards home base, causing dust to fly up, and create a cloud around home base just as the robot their catch the ball and brought it down towards the base.
"YESS!" Eggman roared. "WE GOT HIM!"
The cloud of dust then settled down, revealing that Fang has slid far enough to place both of his hands on the base, and the robot was holding the ball just above the weasel's hands.
"Safe. Home Run."
"REPRESENT!" Douglas shouted.
"That was lucky, huh wasn't it Mister Knuckles?" Cream asked.
"He always did have weird luck." Knuckles stated, grabbing a baseball bat. "Now it's my turn."
Knuckles walked onto the field, past the gloating weasel, and took his position.
"Strike that echidna out! Do you hear me?" Eggman ordered. "They're taking far too many runs already!"
The pitcher Ballios only nodded in reply, turning to face the Guardian, and launching a strong, fastball at him. It didn't do any good, as Knuckles effortlessly swung the bat and struck the ball hard and out of the stadium.
"Sad to say, but it's another home run."
"Yeah! Way to go Knuckles!" Sonic encouraged, as the rest of 'Team Sonic' cheered the echidna.
"Copycat." Fang joked.
"That's just what we needed!" Chuck stated. "We're closing in on them now!"
"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen!" Scarlet announced, looking into the lens of the camera as she spoke. "This is Scarlet Garcia with an exclusive special live report from Diamond Stadium. There appears to be a most extraordinary and unusual baseball game happening right at this moment as I speak. The notorious Doctor Eggman with a team of robots are playing against a team comprised of the strange furry animals, including the blue hedgehog known as Sonic, and S.S.C. wrestler Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor and associates, including the retired inventor Chuck Thorndyke.
This game is happening right now, here at the Stadium, the soon to be former home of the Diamonds. This game is certain, without a doubt at least in this reporter's mind, to be sports history in the making. This is Scarlet Garcia, for SSTV News, continuing to bring live coverage of this important game."
"We have to give this our best shot!" Chuck announced. "We're just three points behind!"
"So you're sending out her?" Topaz stated, pointing at Cream, as she tried to make her way to the batting position, but was having trouble carrying the bat.
"Oh, this I gots to see!" Fang stated.
"Play ball!" Decoe announced as soon as Cream had gotten herself ready to try and bat.
The pitcher nodded, drawing its arm back. It was just about to throw the ball when…
"Um, Mister Pitcher?" Cream asked, in her most polite and innocent sounding voice. "Could you, maybe, not throw that ball too hard? I've never played this game before."
The effect of the pure innocence had a profound effect on the robot, as it seemed to blush (though utterly impossible by the laws of mechanics, physics and logic), before slowly letting the ball fall from its hand to the ground.
"Foul ball." Decoe announced. "Batter takes first base."
"Thank you Mister Pitcher!" Cream happily said, before skipping all the way to first base.
"I AUGHT TO THROW YOU ON THE SCRAP HEAP!" Eggman roared at the robot, causing it to fall over.
Once again, Knuckles had taken to the field, and once again, he'd sent the ball flying out of the Stadium.
"Alright Knuckles!" Chuck shouted. "Another home run!"
"That means we're tied!" Amy stated.
"I didn't think they had time for baseball on the Island." Sonic said.
"Heh." Fang laughed. "The Chaotix had to find somethin' to do before the whole detective thing kicked in."
"Say what?" the blue hedgehog questioned.
"Never mind."
Mr. Tanaka, who had been strangely (at least to him) left out of any batting duties, noticed something, which made him get out of the team dugout and take a look around the stadium.
"Excuse me." He said. "But there is something happening that you may be interested in."
He pointed up at the stands around the stadium. Gradually, people were appearing and taking up seats all around.
"Huh?" Chuck looked confused.
"Where did all these people come from?" Even Albert was confused.
"Forget about that!" Douglas stated. "Sonic! Come here."
The blue hedgehog came over to the purple haired human.
"Listen man, we're tied 35-to-35. It's just you and me left to bat, but if one of us gets caught out or struck out, then we've lost. We've got two choices her. One: You knock the next ball out of the park, and win us the game with a home run. Or two: You play it safe with a low ball and just zip around for an easy home run."
"What about you?" Sonic asked. "Don't you want to…?"
"DUDE! Forget me! Take the moment! Be the hero! Just go out there, and win us that game!" Douglas handed Sonic a bat. "Now go do it!"
"No problem!" Sonic stated with a smirk, before rushing over to home base.
The Ballios robot took up its stance, before launching the ball at the hedgehog. Sonic took the bat in a vertical stance, knocking the ball back away from him. The pitching robot ran forward to grab the ball, and at the same time a blue blur zipped away to first base.
'Nice!' Douglas thought. 'Option two will work just fine!'
The robot turned, and saw Sonic smiling at third base.
"…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Douglas shouted at Sonic, climbing out of the dugout.
"Relax!" Sonic said. "You can do it?"
"ARE YOU ON DRUGS OR SOMETHING?" He turned to look at his teammates. "You guys, how many times have I been up to bat?"
"Every time we've been able to Mister Douglas!" Cream answered.
"And out of those times, how many times have I actually hit the ball?"
"Uh… None I think…" Tails answered.
"Yeah, that record sucks." Fang added.
"EXACTALLY!" Douglas looked back at the blue hedgehog. "What were you thinking? The plan, what about the plan?"
"Geez, relax Doug! You can win us the game!"
"I will be LOSING us the damn game!" Douglas exclaimed again. "Damn it hedgehog! Can't you listen to anyone?"
"I want you to strike that meddler out!" Eggman ordered his robots, which all nodded in reply.
Douglas groaned in defeat, reluctantly grabbing a bat. "Yo Tails." He said.
"Yeah?" The kitsune replied.
"Give me the emerald."
"Why?" The fox asked, pulling it out from behind him.
"I'll have to hand that over when I lose." He stated flatly, grabbing it and walking over to the batting position."
"Mister Douglas seems very angry."
"Yes Cream, he does." Chuck stated. "He uh… Gets like that if… He feels… There's no way he can win, so he just admits defeat."
"But all he needs to do is hit the ball!" Amy said.
"Yeah, then Sonic will easily get to home base." Tails added.
"Easier said then done." Knuckles pointed out. "Those robots will only be using fast balls against Douglas, and we've seen how many of those he can hit."
The purple haired human sighed, taking up batting position. The Ballios opposite nodded, before throwing a fast pitch. Douglas swung his bat, but to no avail.
"Strike one."
"Come on Douglas!" Topaz encouraged. "You can do it!"
'Yeah, I bet I can.' Douglas thought. 'If 'it' is letting everybody down as usual.'
Sonic looked slightly confused at what was going on. Douglas had come through before when they needed him.
"Strike two." Decoe announced again, after another failed swing by Douglas.
"Time out!" Sonic called, before running over to Douglas. "Doug, are you telling me that you can't a hit in on a little ball? There's nothing to it!"
"That's easy for you to say!" Douglas snapped. "You're not playing the game that used to be the favourite hobby of the only person I ever cared about! Do you have any idea the memories I'm getting right now holding this thing?" He pointed to the baseball bat.
"Dude, it's not like you to make any excuses!" Sonic said, missing the point to what Douglas was saying. "So what if they've been throwing a couple of fast balls? You can't let that get you down! All you have to do is concentrate, and keep on trying! You'll nail one of those things faster than I can run the hundred metres!"
Douglas glared at the hedgehog, but it seemed to have no effect.
"Just go and do your best." Sonic said with a wink, before returning to third base.
"I hate you." Douglas said, staring daggers into the hedgehog's back.
"Play ball!" Decoe stated, once Douglas had returned to the batting position.
'These god damn morons…' The human thought, gripping his bat. 'They have no idea what hell I've been through all these past years… And they think I can all of a sudden come here just to play some damn stupid game?'
The anger was seething through him, shown by how Douglas was gritting his teeth and looking at the pitching robot with dark and sinister eyes.
'I show these fools… I'll show them all!'
No one at this moment could have possibly realised that the Chaos Emerald that Douglas had placed in his pocket was beginning to shine a little, reacting to the emotions of the human.
"Go on Ballios!" Eggman ordered. "Strike that loser out and win me this game!"
"Come on Douglas!" Chuck called. "Just concentrate! You only need to hit the ball!"
'Just concentrate!' Douglas sarcastically thought.
"Come on!" He verbally said. "Let's get this over with!"
Douglas squinted his eyes, locked onto the pitcher. He suspected that he was going down, but there was no way he was going down without a fight.
'Concentrate… All right! I'll show them concentration!'
The Ballios then launched the ball, the harder and faster than any other had done before.
That's what anyone would have expected anyway. As soon as the ball left the robot's hand, it seemed, at least to Douglas, to be moving like it had been thrown through water instead of air. It might as well have been moving along on a piece of string.
He blinked, watching the slow moving baseball coming towards him. He looked over to his team dugout to ask if they saw what he was seeing. They were anxiously looking on, but in slow motion, much like the ball.
A glance around him discovered that the whole stadium, now jammed-packed full of excited spectators, was also reacting in a similarly snail-like pace.
'What the heck?' Douglas thought, checking the clock on the scoreboard. The second hand wasn't moving.
Something else on the scoreboard also caught his attention. Actually, someone. Standing on it, was a fox clad in an old blue robe. Douglas couldn't make out whom it was, but the person was smiling, and pointing at something on the human.
Douglas looked down, and for the first time noticed the glowing emerald in his pocket.
'What in the name of all that is unholy is going on?' He thought, looking back up at the scoreboard, only to find that the person had vanished.
Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, the ball was now just moments away from him, so Douglas readied his bat to send it right out of the park.
Then the ball literally stopped. It just hung right before Douglas, in mid air. Another look around him confirmed that it seemed time had stopped, with everyone looking as they would in a picture or a freeze frame.
Douglas let go of the bat, only to find it did not drop to the ground, but also hung in the air. Looking at the ball, Douglas smirked. He didn't have any clue as to what was going on, but what sort of guy would he be if he didn't take advantage of it?
So he did, bring his arm back and punching the ball with all his might.
Time snapped back into normality. At the same time, the baseball bat dropped to the floor, and the baseball went hurtling far away and out of the stadium. The crowd gasped for a moment, in shock of what they had just seen, before everyone (bar a certain Doctor and his robotic team mates) burst into loud cheers.
Sonic smirked as he ran up to Douglas.
"Told ya! Nothing to worry about."
"Yeah…" Douglas said, still very unsure of his own sanity. "I guess so…"
Eggman screamed out in anguish, smashing up the nearest Ballios robot with a baseball bat, while Douglas slowly made his way around the bases, collecting his home run. As soon as he'd touched home base, his team mates pilled out of the dugout and onto the field, celebrating their victory.
"How did you do that?" Topaz asked, latching her arms around Douglas.
"What can I say? Just need some concentration." Was the answer.
"That had to have been the play of the year!" Albert stated. "Perhaps in the history of baseball!"
"We Thorndykes have always loved baseball!" Chuck stated, casting a knowing wink to Douglas, to which he responded with a nod.
"You think you've won have you?" Eggman roared, jumping into his Egg-Pod with Decoe and Bocoe beside him. "You may have beaten me at baseball, but with this precious blue Chaos Emerald tucked safely away in my pocket I'M the real winner after all!"
Eggman pulled the emerald out, and waved it above his head to prove his point, before the Egg-Pod flew away into the distance, followed by the hovering craft that had transported the Ballios robots to the stadium. The remaining robots in the Stadium then collapsed onto the ground, having been deactivated because of their uselessness.
"I hate to say I told you so…" Knuckles said, throwing off the Diamonds jacket he had been forced to wear whilst playing.
"At least he's only got one of them." Amy stated.
"One might be all a guy like him needs." Fang pointed out. "That's one big machine he can power-up now."
All around the stadium, the watching fans got up on the feet, and gave the winning team a standing ovation for their efforts. 'Team Sonic' looked around them in wonder, having never expected anything like this. It wasn't too long ago that the government was hunting them down. Now they had achieved something far better than any baseball victory.
They had won respect.
"As you can see, there has been quite an extraordinary turnout for this event." Scarlet announced to the camera. "This unbelievable game was, of course, the last to be played here at the Diamond Stadium…"
The crowd cheering again, this time for the person walking onto the field, cut her off.
"Could it be?" She said, looking at the person.
A dark skinned man in a light blue suit with a dark green shirt and yellow tie, with a bushy black beard and hair was walking towards the winning players.
"That's Emer Johnson!" Chuck exclaimed. "The owner and manager of the Diamond Stadium and the Diamonds!"
He walked right up to them, and looked directly at Albert.
"I was watching at home…" He started to say. "And I must say it was quite a remarkable game. Watching it made me remember how you always kept things so neat around here. That game would have never happened if you hadn't been around, even though today was your last day. To tell the truth, I can't be thankful enough for all that you've done for the Diamonds over the past few years, and how much of a good friend you've been."
"Why, thank you!" Albert said.
"To let you in on a little secret, I've been thinking of getting rid of all this 'fake turf' nonsense and moving all the turf here over to the new stadium. I could sure use your help!" He extended his hand.
"Why, sure!" Albert warmly shook the hand. "It would be an honour!"
"Well, we may have lost the Chaos Emerald…" Chuck said. "But I think that we've learned an important lesson about teamwork. And I'm sure you'll all agree that next time, we'll be even stronger next time we meet Eggman!"
"I don't know what planet you're on, but I learned NEVER to play baseball again!" Douglas stated, taking out the Chaos Emerald he had and tossing it to Tails. "I'll see you guys later." He added, pulling off his Diamonds jacket as he walked off towards the exit, along with Topaz.
"I learned I should've shot Eggman when I could've!" Fang stated. "I would've got a sweet two-oh thousand PLUS this stuff." He pulled in the sleeve of his baseball jacket. "Now I gots to find me another of dem emeralds…" The weasel then sprung up using his tail, and over to an exit tunnel at the far said of the field.
"I hope you all learned that you should've listened to me in the first place!" Knuckles stated, before also leaving.
"I unfortunately learned nothing, since I seemed to have played no active part in our victory!" Tanaka said, before also storming off.
"I learned baseball is fun!" Cream stated, to which Cheese agreed.
"Sorry Chuck!" Sonic stated. "But I really didn't learn anything, except that Eggman's a slightly bigger threat then before."
"Me neither." Amy said. "Tails, can you get me back home quickly? There's that new cookery show starting soon and I don't want to miss it!"
"No problem!" Tails said. "Follow me!" The kitsune then kicked his tails into gear, flying off the field with Sonic and Amy following him.
This left Chuck standing in the middle of the field alone, since Emer and Albert had walked off together to discuss the new stadium. The fans were already leaving, since the action was now over.
"Mister Thorndyke!" Scarlet called out, running onto the field with her film crew. "Can I get some post match comments about your victory?"
Chuck adjusted his baseball cap slightly, before giving the reporter a very truthful statement.
"I should have never retired."
Next Episode Preview – Voice-over by Topaz
"I know that the President wanted help from the animals to battle Eggman, but I hardly think a bounty-hunting weasel and a thief bat are what he was expecting! Now I'm stuck with them on a mission right in the enemy base, and they seem to have their own issues! Whatever happened to Douglas and Sonic's gang anyway?
Next time on Sonic eXcluded: Sabotage Espionage. Don't miss it!"
Author's Notes: Somehow this episode took much longer to do than I first thought. Maybe because I was so looking forward to doing it, only to find out what an anti-climax it turned out to be. Ah well, shame on me I guess.
Thanks to Julayla and midnightblue56for their reviews, and just to let you all know, that this current 'storyline' is almost over. Just as few more eps, perhaps a few fillers, then onto the next BIG storyline. Sorry, did I say storyline? I meant adaptation...
