9:00am, Camp Campbell, 18 days after the anomaly
In the days after Tangle and friends had disposed of Daniel, the trio of heroes had paid multiple visits to the camp, partially so Belle could chat to Neil about his portal idea, and partially just because the campers enjoyed their company. Dolph had already painted portraits of the three of them, and Preston was eager to get Tangle to assist him in one of his plays, although she didn't seem that interested. Nerris had successfully invited them to participate in her D&D game with Nikki and Harrison, and David and Gwen were happy to see all the campers getting along well, for once.
By Tuesday morning, however, Neil had finished building his portal, and, eager to show it to Tangle and co, wheeled it out of his tent. He made it to the centre of camp before the conspicuous contraption caught the attention of the other campers, who gathered around the cloth-draped machine, chatting amongst themselves as to what it was. Eventually Tangle, Whisper and Belle had joined them, and Neil chose in that moment to reveal his latest invention in front of the whole camp.
"Well, I wasn't quite expecting everyone to be here but I suppose I'll get going. Now, as Tangle mentioned when she spoke in the mess hall, their world is continually put in jeopardy for one reason or another, usually by Dr Eggman, which means it's highly important that the three of them get back home in order to stop... whatever plan is putting their world in danger again. Have I got it right so far?"
"Pretty much." Tangle replied. "I explained it all to Gwen if you want to know the specifics, but yeah, it's... ugly."
"Anyway, with the help of Belle, I've managed to construct this prototype portal, using Belle's vast knowledge of solar power and my understanding of cabling and power conversion to create enough energy to power this portal to take them back to their world." Neil announced.
"Neil, you sure this is going to work?" Gwen raised her concerns.
"Relax, Belle and I have done all the calculations. The science works, it's be safe so long as nobody hits it with a hammer or anything while it's on." Neil assured them.
"How does it work?" Nikki asked.
"Well, to make it we used a series of mirrors and lenses to intensify and scatter the sunlight across as wide an area as possible so that the portal can draw enough power."
"Seems complicated." Nikki responded.
"It works, trust me." Neil replied. "You want me to demonstrate?"
"No thanks. We've got this." Tangle intervened, as she got up and faced the campers. "As Neil mentioned earlier, we are needed back in our homeworld, and as much fun as it has been staying with you guys and spending time with you, we can't stay here forever.
"We'd like to thank you for being so welcoming to us and letting us hang out with you." Belle added, as she and Whisper got up and joined Tangle.
"No. It's our pleasure. You're welcome to come back anytime." David returned the compliment.
"Of Course! We'll miss you guys!" Nikki called out as the other campers nodded and chattered in agreement.
"Aw, thanks!" Tangle replied. Belle looked up at the sky pensively, like she had forgotten something.
"Belle, you ok?" Neil walked up to her and asked. Belle's mind clicked as she heard him.
"Oh! Do you have a copy of the blueprints? You know, just in case we get dropped somewhere else instead of home.
"Give me a minute." Neil hurried away to his tent and then went to the counsellors' cabin to print off an extra copy. He returned with a rolled up copy in hand, which he handed off to Belle.
"I guess this is goodbye, then." Belle took one last look at the crowd of children sat around her.
"Good luck! We'll leave the portal open if you need us again. Neil replied.
"That's nice, but like, if we're not back in a couple of weeks, you should probably turn it off. Wouldn't want Eggman to suddenly manifest his destiny here." Tangle advised.
"Yeah, gotcha." Max turned solemnly towards the direction of the Overlook, recalling the silent conversation he had between himself and Whisper. "Don't get killed." He said to them, as Belle stared through the portal.
"Bye!" Tangle waved as she and the others walked through it.
9:20am, The Baseball Field, Birchwood, Minnesota, that same day.
"Go for it, Amy!" Linus and Lucy shouted words of encouragement from the bench as Amy stepped up to bat. Peppermint Patty was standing on the mound readying her next pitch.
"You ready for this one, Marcie?" She called out to her best friend, who had been saddled with the role of catcher for this game.
"Ready when you are." Marcie replied.
"Alright. Here it comes!" Peppermint Patty called as she pitched a fastball right at Amy. Amy swung at the ball, hitting it with a loud crack sending the ball soaring into the air. The ball flew far beyond where any of the outfielders were willing to run and was almost out of sight. Amy monitored the ball's trajectory as she ran around the diamond, making it to home base with plenty of time to spare.
As the ball reached its apogee, Amy noticed three distinct shapes falling through a cloud far into the distance.
"Hey, wait!" Amy rushed off the bench and attempted to catch up to the falling figures. Tangle, Belle and Whisper were hurtling towards the ground, and Belle was looking worried.
"How are we going to get out of this?" Belle asked, pointing urgently at the ground.
"Relax, Belle. I got this." Tangle reassured her, as she coiled her long bushy into a spring-like shape and pulled her two friends in towards her, bracing for the inevitable crash, and Tangle swung her arms forward just before landing so that her friends wouldn't dislocate her arms, with them using that forward momentum to roll to a stop. Tangle's tail took the brunt of the impact as they hit the ground, landing flat on her back, her tail apparently not springy enough to allow her to bounce back from a fall that high.
Amy caught up to them just as the ball rolled to a halt next to Tangle's face.
"Tangle?!" Amy exclaimed.
"Yeah?" Tangle looked up, slightly dazed, her eyes taking a while to shift back into focus. "Amy, is that you?"
"Yep. You alright? That looked like quite a fall.
"I think I broke my tail, and my back hurts like hell, but I'll manage. Are we home?" Tangle strained her words as she tried to get up. Amy looked over in the distance at the kids, who were patiently waiting for Amy to collect the ball.
"No." She answered. "Need a hand?" she offered her hand out to Tangle, who pulled herself up back onto her feet. Tangle was aching everywhere as she hobbled back to the baseball diamond, with Amy, Whisper and Belle acting as support.
"So, if this isn't home, then where are we?" Tangle asked.
"Well, clearly a different world than wherever you came from. Shadow and I fell down here when uh...
"Yeah, we know, we were there too." Tangle replied. "I don't see Shadow anywhere though, is he ok?"
"He's fine, he just went away for some time alone. I think he resigned himself to being stuck here much earlier than I did." Amy answered. "I don't suppose you have any suggestions about how we can get home?"
"Well, since you're asking, we do have something." Belle motioned at the rolled-up blueprints she held in her hand, before realising they were catching up to the kids. "I'll explain later."
"Hey, Amy!" Linus called out. "Are these people your friends?"
"Yeah!" Amy called back, as they approached the diamond. "Everyone, I'd like you to welcome my friends Tangle, Whisper and Belle." Amy took the liberty of introducing them while the kids were all still gathered together, and the kids did likewise.
"You have a really long tail." Rerun pointed at Tangle. "Can I pet it?"
"Um, no." Amy told him, crouching down to his eyeline. "Tangle hurt her tail when she landed on it, so you shouldn't touch it at all until it gets better, okay?" Amy looked up at Tangle while the lemur gave an approving nod.
"Frieda and I know some first aid if you need any help." Shermy offered.
"That'd be great, thanks." Tangle accepted the offer without hesitation as Shermy went to fetch his first aid kit. Peppermint Patty approached Whisper and Belle, who still felt a bit out of place.
"You guys want to join the game for a while?" she asked, as Amy handed her the baseball. "I'm sure Shermy and Frieda won't mind if you take their places for a bit."
"Fine by me." Frieda approved, as she followed after Shermy. With that, the kids got on with the game. Charlie Brown's team continued to bat, and although Whisper managed to score a home run, Peppermint Patty's team were still leading 7-3 going into the last inning. Marcie and Peppermint Patty managed to add to their tally before their team was batted out, raising the score to 9-3. Charlie Brown's team did their best to close the gap, but ultimately lost the game 9-5.
Sally and Rerun were sat on a bench, spectating the game as usual, but at some point, they had gotten a hold of Belle's blueprints and were poring over the details of it when Belle and Whisper caught up to them.
"You know what that is?" Belle asked them.
"It's a portal, or gate or something." Sally answered, looking up at Belle. "Did you make this?"
"Partially."
"Did it work?" Sally asked.
"Well, it was supposed to take us back to our homeworld, but it sent us here instead, so yeah it does work, just not the way I thought it did."
"Hmm, okay." Sally replied, thinking hard as she read through the list of components on the sheet of paper. "I'm not sure what all of these are but I have a feeling if you talk to Snoopy, he might have some of the parts you need."
"Who's Snoopy?"
"He's my brother's dog. He walks on two legs like you do, but he doesn't talk, or save the world like Amy, or anything. He's... It's hard to say without feeling like I'm insulting you. I bet dogs act the same way as people do on your world." Sally spluttered.
"It's alright, we understand." Belle replied. Charlie Brown noticed to commotion and joined in on the conversation.
"You need anything?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Belle's looking for parts to build a portal back to their world. I said Snoopy might have some of the pieces in his doghouse, but obviously, they don't know where our house is." Sally explained.
"Want us to show you around?" Charlie Brown offered.
"Yes please." Belle replied as Whisper nodded silently. Rerun and Sally got up and followed Charlie Brown as he gave Whisper and Belle a quick tour of the street.
"Over there is Linus, Lucy and Rerun's house. That's where Amy has been staying. On the other side, over there is our house, and that's Snoopy, sleeping on the doghouse." Snoopy gave them a thumbs up as he laid on the roof.
"Hey, Snoopy." Rerun gently petted him awake. "Could you help with something?" Snoopy sat up and stared at Rerun blankly, half expecting him to ask him to play fetch.
"Me and my friends are looking for a few things. Do you have any of these spare?" Belle unrolled the blueprints and showed them to Snoopy. Snoopy reacted to the blueprints with wide eyes, and immediately went inside his doghouse, beckoning Belle to follow him. The pair emerged a couple of minutes later with a box full of gadgets and gizmos, and Belle looked very pleased with herself.
"That doghouse is a lot bigger on the inside isn't it?" Sally commented.
"Yeah!" Belle nodded excitedly.
"Did you get what you were looking for?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Yep!" Now all I need is some cables, and some metal, and then I can build it." Bell replied.
"There's a hardware store not too far from here. I'm sure we could find what else you need in there." Sally suggested.
"Yeah. I'll talk to mom and dad about it." Charlie Brown responded, heading inside his house. After explaining the situation to his parents, the Browns headed to the hardware store by car while Belle and Rerun looked a for a place to set the portal up.
By the time Charlie Brown and his family returned, Belle, Whisper, Amy, Rerun and his siblings were waiting in the Van Pelt's front yard with the box of parts in hand.
"You really sure this is a good place to build it? Charlie Brown asked.
"Better here than in the middle of nowhere." Linus replied, Mom and Dad agreed with us too.
"Is that so?" Charlie Brown responded, bemused. "Anyway, Belle, do you need any help with building it?"
"No thanks, Whisper, Amy and I will be fine on our own." Belle assured them. Over the ensuing few hours, the three of them hammered away and bent and bolted the metal into shape, creating a noisy din that could be heard across the neighbourhood, before wiring the electrical components according to the specifications in the blueprints. Tangle returned halfway through construction with a bandaged tail, and helped in whatever way she could.
By the end of the day, as the sun was setting, the three of them sat down and admired their handiwork, the portal finally built. Linus, Lucy and Rerun joined them with trays of lemonade and also some deck chairs as the Van Pelts arranged a low-key leaving party for the four of them.
"Oh hi there, Tangle. You feeling any better?" Rerun approached the lemur.
"I'm doing a bit better. Shermy looked at it and he says it's not broken, just bruised. Hopefully it'll feel better soon."
"Did you finish the portal?" Linus asked, observing what Amy and co had made.
"Yeah. It's solar powered, so we'll switch it on when it's daylight." Belle explained.
"I see." Linus replied.
"That gives us one more night." Lucy surmised, taking a glass of lemonade and drinking it. "To better days ahead." She toasted.
"To better days!" The others toasted in reply, as a chorus of clinking glasses filled the air.