Chapter 44: Face to Face
"Tangle's log,
Ok… a bit to catch up on, but today is important so I gotta keep it quick.
Like I said the last time I wrote in here, Shadow is alive. He's with Eggman, and Rouge is too.
For right now, it looks like all of them are on our sides, since they helped us defeat a giant Metarex not long after we saw Shadow that one time.
Chris took the bracelet, Shadow's I mean, after that. He said it has a use beyond fashion, and he wanted to make another to give to him. Makes sense I guess.
That Metarex though… turns out it was the one that attacked Cosmo's space colony. The one that killed her family… We HAD to take care of it after that… though I don't think she'll get her closure until this all comes to an end.
Speaking of Cosmo though, her and Tails got into a bit of a jam the other day.
They got separated from the rest of us, and stumbled on a Metarex base, on a planet where we detected a Chaos Emerald.
Not only were they able to stay safe, but they also got their hands on the Chaos Emerald AND plans for… a bunch of stuff the Metarex are doing. Apparently Cosmo understands the language, so she's been working with Tails to translate it all…
The rest of us also happened to find them just in time to save them from a group of Metarex, and I FINALLY figured out the details for the ground based Tail Spin! So it went like this…"
Tangle watched as everyone was pummeling the large group of Metarex. Sonic Spin Attacking, Amy using her hammer, Chris a laser gun and Cream even throwing Cheese at the Metarex!
Now it was her turn, and she knew just what to do.
"Everyone duck!" Tangle shouted, to which everyone complied.
Then… she started breakdancing.
She got this idea when she was bored, and decided to do a bit of dancing in the hanger to try and keep her mind preoccupied… and she accidentally whacked Knuckles in the head when she was doing a head spin.
She began spinning on the ground, and began spinning on her head, her tail caught onto her foot, causing it to spin and stretch as she kept spinning, going faster and faster.
Her tail nailed all the Metarex, and sent them all flying.
She then got back onto her feet, grinning widely.
"WHOOOO! IT WORKED!" She cheered.
Sonic gave her a thumbs up, and everyone just smiled at her.
"Ok! Now that the recap is done IT'S GO TIME BABY!
We have three Chaos Emeralds, Eggman has two, and we just stumbled on a Metarex base with two in it!
All seven are here! We just gotta get those last two, and I am sure we can… persuade Eggman to let us use his to kick Metarex butt!
Heck, Eggman is even HELPING US get into the base! Chris and I are going in with Shadow and Rouge to disable the defenses, then Sonic's team is going in to do some DAMAGE!
And of course, one of the teams are gonna go ahead and snag the emeralds, whoever finds them first.
Wish us luck! If all goes well, the Metarex will be TOAST!"
Tangle put the journal to the side and jogged over to Chris and Shadow, who were currently talking.
"So! We ready to kick some butt?!" Tangle asked excitingly.
She then noticed the pair of bracelets on Shadow's wrists.
"Hey look at that! Guess those really complete the look!" Tangle said with a grin.
Shadow just grunted.
Normally, Tangle would be annoyed at Shadow being so… not talkative, but that was something she kinda expected from him.
"Hey… I really appreciate that you're willing to help us." Tangle said with a smile. "I… am sure Maria would be too."
Shadow looked at her confused.
"Maria?" Shadow said, before clutching his head.
"… Huh?" Tangle asked.
Did Shadow… not remember Maria for some reason?
Or… was there something else going on?
"I'll explain later sweeties, now let's get going." Rouge said, before turning to Shadow and nodding.
Shadow nodded back, before holding up his Chaos Emerald.
"Chaos Control."
And with that, they were gone.
And now they were in the space fortress!
"Whoa…" Tangle said, looking around.
Chris quickly reported back to the gang that they made it inside, before everyone got moving.
They were taking a stealthy approach to this mission, since getting caught could complicate things.
Rouge tried to split up from the group to go looking for the Chaos Emeralds, but Shadow told her to stay to avoid having to look for her.
Then… something strange happened…
Rouge began… reminiscing?
She began talking about how they did the same kind of teleportation on Prison Island back in Chris' world… not too strange, but Tangle had to wonder why she brought it up now of all times…
But also…
"I seem to remember you guys leaving me for dead." Tangle said with a glare.
"We didn't mean to!" Rouge said defensively. "I mean, I wouldn't have, but that was Shads choice!"
Tangle then turned to Shadow to scold him, but stopped when she saw him fall to his knees and clutch his head.
"Whoa! Hey are you alright?!" Tangle asked, suddenly worried about Shadow's well being.
"And with that…" Rouge said as she began flying. "I'm gone! Later sweeties!"
"Wha-"
Rouge then turned a corner, yelled at something to stay out of her way, before the group heard the sound of fighting.
"So much for stealth!" Tangle shouted before making chase.
When she turned the corner, she saw Rouge was captured by a large Metarex.
"Hey! Let her go!" Tangle shouted, shooting her tail forward to punch a hole in the Metarex.
Rouge was freed, but they quickly saw that there were a few others.
At that moment though, Shadow sped in, and completely trashed them in an instant.
And that made Tangle feel pretty small.
"Wow… ok… Ultimate Life Form doesn't mess around…" Tangle said.
"Oh come now sweetie, he's just fast is all." Rouge said. "You have your own strengths."
Tangle just crossed her arms and pouted.
"I don't need you consoling me…"
Chris interrupted this conversation when he noticed something.
"Hey! Is that the control room?!" He asked.
The group turned and saw a hole in the wall, which Chris ran through.
"Idiot!" Shadow shouted before going after him.
Tangle and Rouge followed, and when inside they took a look around.
It certainly looked like a room of importance.
Chris was typing away at his computer, and nodded.
"Ok… just gotta trash everything in this room, and the defenses should go down!" Chris said.
The three Mobians looked to each other and nodded, before separating to trash everything in sight.
Before long, Chris was satisfied with the damage, calling Tails to let him know that they had finished their job.
"WHOO! Ok! That was cathartic!" Tangle said, raising her fists into the air.
"Hmph…" Shadow said before walking out of the room.
Tangle then turned to Rouge.
"So like… what's his deal?" Tangle asked. "How's he alive, and what's up with his head?"
Rouge shrugged.
"The good Doctor apparently had a robot catch him as he fell to Earth." She explained. "As for his memory, we don't know how that happened… but Eggy is basically making Shadow work for him by promising to return his memories."
Tangle frowned at that… of course Eggman did that.
"I mean, WE could just tell him about his past… right?" Tangle asked.
"I think it's a trust thing." Rouge explained. "Eggman saved him and restored his strength, so Eggman is the one he trusts to tell him the truth."
"Hey!"
The group looked to the source of the voice to see Shadow impatiently standing there.
"Are we going to get the Chaos Emeralds or are we just gonna stand around?!" He asked, annoyed.
The trio turned to each other and nodded, before beginning to follow him.
They were running as quick as they could, trashing any Metarex they could find.
"So any idea where the Emeralds are?!" Tangle asked.
"Probably the center of the base if I were to guess." Rouge said. "Seems to always be the case for situations like this."
Tangle nodded, that was a good enough guess to go with.
Suddenly though, they reached an area with windows, and Tangle got a look outside…
She did not at all like what she saw.
"WHOA! STOP!" Tangle said, skidding to a halt.
The others mirrored her actions, before looking outside, shocked at what they saw.
A whole armada, just floating out there.
Completely surrounding the fortress.
"…Oh no…" Chris said.
"… It was a trap all along…" Rouge said.
Tangle was in shock…
The Metarex used two whole Chaos Emeralds as bait?! Knowing full well that they had the other five?!
No… they knew their group and Eggman's group had them split between them… and knew that gathering all seven to use in this situation would be difficult.
Suddenly, they got a call from Eggman.
"Doctor, are you seeing this?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah, I am aware of the trap… I can't believe I fell for it!" Eggman said, seemingly scolding himself. "Regardless, the situation is too dangerous now! Return to the ship!"
"Understood." Shadow said before hanging up.
He then began to walk away.
"Wha- Seriously?!" Tangle asked. "You're just gonna leave?!"
"Doctor's orders." Shadow said bluntly, turning to her.
That annoyed her.
"So?! We have a chance to gather up all seven emeralds! You and Sonic could TOTALLY trash that whole armada with them!" Tangle explained. "Come on! We haven't lost yet!"
Rouge then put a hand on Tangle's shoulders.
"Uh… actually, Eggman kept one on his ship." Rouge said sadly. "We'd need to go back there to use them all anyways."
Tangle's eyes went wide at that.
Chris though… he began thinking.
"Can you hear me?!"
The group turned to the window and saw a giant red ship, with a giant projection in front of it, showing a large, red Metarex.
"I am Red Pine, one of the four bosses of the Metarex."
"… Four bosses huh…" Tangle said under her breath.
"We would like to thank you for gathering the seven Chaos Emeralds for us… we will be taking them from your corpses." He explained. "Don't bother trying to escape, we have the fortress completely surrounded."
Shadow just grunted, before turning to leave again.
"Wha- SERIOUSLY?!" Tangle asked.
"I suggest you do the same." Shadow said.
Suddenly though, Chris got a call.
"Chris! We're in big trouble!" Amy shouted. "We… Sonic is about to be beat!"
"WHAT?!" Tangle and Chris shouted.
As if the situation couldn't get any worse!
Shadow just grunted, as if he didn't care, before continuing to walk.
"You're not even going to go help him?!" Tangle asked.
"It's not my concern." Shadow said.
That REALLY got Tangle annoyed.
"He's our friend though!"
"Your friend, not mine." Shadow said. "He's just a cheap copy as far as I can tell."
At this point, Tangle decided that she has had enough.
It was one thing that Shadow wanted to turn tail and run when they were so close to ending all of this…
But to not even want to save one of his allies?
That was too much.
"FINE! I'LL DO IT MYSELF!" She shouted before turning and running.
"Wha- Tangle?!" Chris shouted.
She ignored him and kept on running.
"It's fine… I just gotta save Sonic… he can Chaos Control us out of here no problem! Then, Tails will come up with a plan! He's smart like that! EASY!" She tried to reason with herself.
She was not going to let things end here.
"Just… Just gotta get to So-"
At that moment though, she turned a corner…
And at the end of the corridor… she saw that she wasn't alone anymore.
A tall… dark Metarex wearing a cloak, looking out the window…
He was wielding a large, golden sword.
This guy… was clearly a big boss in the Metarex.
He seemed to notice her presence, and turned to her.
"Oh? One of the beasts?" He asked.
"I mean, I am kind of a beast… wait hold on! That's not what you meant!" Tangle said, shaking her head. "Who are you?!"
The Metarex seemed to chuckle at this.
"I wasn't expecting this… I assumed you'd all rush to try and escape… not try and go to the center of this doomed fortress." He said. "It doesn't matter though."
This annoyed Tangle.
"I said…" She said before she began running towards him, and winding up a punch. "WHO ARE YOU?!"
The Metarex easily side-stepped her punch, before nailing her in the stomach with the blunt side of his sword, sending her flying back and landing in a heap.
"A gutsy fool… that explains it." He said. "To answer your question… I am Dark Oak…
The leader of the Metarex."
Tangle's eyes went wide at this.
THIS was the leader of the Metarex?!
The one behind all of this?!
The one who…
"You… are the one who killed Cosmo's species… her FAMILY!" Tangle shouted.
Dark Oak chuckled.
"I suppose I did make that order… yes."
Oh… he was going to GET IT!
So… Tangle decided on a new plan…
Kick his butt… and use him as a shield to save everyone.
So, she got up, and got ready for a fight.
She was going to fight with absolutely everything she had.
Dark Oak saw this and began to laugh.
"You cannot be serious…" Dark Oak said.
Tangle, didn't move… and continued to stare at him.
"Hm… well, I was only planning on watching your demise… but I suppose I could humor you."
He then did something surprising, and threw his sword to the side.
"I don't need that to dispose of you."
Tangle smirked.
"Sure you won't regret that?" She asked.
"Yes."
Tangle got a serious look on her face.
He was confident… and it probably wasn't misplaced…
He was the leader for a reason… she had to be ready for anything.
So… she made the first move.
She began charging at him, and wound her tail up to punch him.
Dark Oak responded by winding up a strong punch of his own.
Tangle expected this though, and lowered her tail, before she began sliding on the ground.
Her tail was just a feint, as she slid under the punch, narrowly avoiding it before going between Dark Oak's legs.
She then wrapped her tail around his legs, before using it to knock him off balance.
She then quickly used her tail to grab onto his torso, before retracting it, sending her towards him at full speed, hitting him with a powerful drop kick!
Because he was off balance, the kick sent him flying knocking him onto the ground.
It seemed to be a very effective attack… however, looks can be deceiving.
Dark Oak simply got up, and dusted himself off…
There wasn't even a scratch on his armor.
"What?!"
She thought she'd at least of done SOMETHING with that attack.
"I'll admit… you have impressive skills… but that won't be enough." Dark Oak said. "Still, I commend you for knocking me off my feet."
Deciding not to dwell on the lack of damage she did, Tangle charged again, and this time, hit him square in the chest with a Tail Spin, sending her up into the air before she began to flip forward, hitting him on the head with a powerful Tail Hammer…
He didn't even flinch this time.
"… Is that all you can do?" He asked.
"Wha-"
He responded by grabbing Tangle's tail, before pulling on it, bringing her close.
"You are skilled, and quite agile… but there's something you lack terribly…"
He then pulled his fist back…
"Power."
And let loose a powerful punch, right in Tangle's gut.
At that moment… Tangle knew she messed up.
She could take a hit better than anyone she knew…
But the pain she felt at that moment… was worse than anything she had ever experienced before.
She was sent flying, right into a nearby wall.
She was struggling to breathe, and she felt blood trickle down her head.
The shock from the pain kept her from moving, and Dark Oak simply walked towards her.
"Did you really think you had a chance?"
Tangle looked up at him, eyes wide and filled with fear.
He grabbed her by the face, and began dragging her along the wall.
"Sonic couldn't defeat me with the power of the Chaos Emeralds… what makes you think YOU could win?!" He asked.
Dark Oak then flung her towards the window, before pinning her against the glass, causing it to crack.
At that moment, the armada began firing on the base.
"Ah… and so the end has begun…" Dark Oak said. "I really should be going… but how about I give your friends one last taste of despair before they meet their end?"
He then let go of Tangle, letting her drop, but before she hit the ground, he began to wind up one last, powerful punch.
'Cosmo… Everyone… I'm sorry…'
When the punch connected, the cracks in the window began to grow, before it shattered, sending Tangle hurdling into space, she watched as Dark Oak got farther and farther away, before everything faded to black.
"Shield Energy is depleting! Tails!" Jewel shouted.
"Shoot… we need to stand strong! If we go down, the others will not have anywhere to go back to!" Tails said.
At that moment, they noticed something.
An explosion of glass coming from the base.
The trio scanned that area, assuming that someone was leaving the base, trying to make an escape…
Jewel was the first one to see who it was… and she screamed.
"TANGLE!"
She… wasn't moving… at all…
She was just floating along… drifting in space.
"TAILS!" Jewel screamed.
Tails nodded.
"We gotta shield her from the lasers! GO!"
At that, the Blue Typhoon began to move, going upwards and shielding Tangle while the right side of the ship was blocking the laser fire.
"I'll lower the shields to the left side! Jewel!" Tails shouted.
"R-RIGHT!" Jewel shouted before getting up and running to the bridge.
Her worry and anxiety in overdrive, she began to fly at full speed towards Tangle, reaching her before long.
Shen she got there, she was relieved to notice that she was still breathing… just out cold.
She looked towards where she flew out from, and saw Dark Oak standing there.
He then turned and left, not interested in watching what happened next.
The appearance of the Metarex leader certainly terrified Jewel, despite not knowing who he was, but she pushed that to the side, and quickly flew back to the Typhoon.
Between her haste and having to carry Tangle, she landed roughly on the bridge, Tangle rolling a bit ahead of her.
She didn't waste any time though, and quickly ran over and checked on her.
"Still breathing…" She said, relief filling her voice.
She then picked Tangle up by the shoulder, and began to take her to the infirmary…
"Tangle… what happened to you…?"
The next thing that Tangle knew… she couldn't see anything.
Nothing but darkness filled her vision.
After a solid minute of wondering why she couldn't see, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, causing her to shoot up from her laying position and clutch her stomach.
It was at that moment she realized that in her daze, she forgot to open her eyes.
Once the pain subsided, she got a look around, seeing she was in the infirmary on the Typhoon.
Before she could even wonder why she was alone, the door opened, revealing a very distressed looking Jewel.
All that distress seemed to melt away the moment she saw that Tangle was awake though.
"Oh! Tangle!"
She quickly walked over.
"Are you alright?! Oh gosh we were so worried about you!"
Tangle… took a moment to think, but answered.
"I… yeah… gut really hurts… like WOW it hurts… but I'll live." Tangle said with a sad smile. "Uh… is everyone else alright?"
Jewel let out a sigh of relief before smiling.
"Thanks to some quick thinking from Chris, we made it out of that just fine." Jewel said. "He managed to take Eggman's Chaos Emeralds from him and get them to Sonic."
Tangle's eyes went wide at that.
"… I guess… I should of stuck with them then…" Tangle said before laying back. "I… am such an idiot…"
Jewel decided to cut off that train of thought.
"No… your heart was in the right place. You just didn't know Chris' plan…" Jewel said. "He… told us what happened between you and Shadow."
Tangle stayed silent.
"Regardless, let me get the others… they were just as worried about you as I was." Jewel said, before leaving…
Bad move.
This just left Tangle alone… alone with her thoughts as she was remembering just what happened in that fortress…
How she blew up at Shadow for deciding to leave…
And how she was just… completely worthless against Dark Oak.
One might call her dumb for challenging the Metarex leader like that… and heck SHE thought she was dumb for it…
But she didn't care how dumb it was at the time…
All she wanted was to bring all of this to an end… and more importantly, to finally give Cosmo the closure she needed… to truly avenge her family… her race.
The emotions brought up from these failures proved to be too much for her, as tears began to form.
At that moment, the door opened again, revealing Sonic.
When he saw the state she was in… he didn't know what to do…
So, he just closed the door.
And Tangle was grateful for that… she didn't want anyone seeing her like this…
Shifting perspectives a bit, Sonic was beating himself up.
"Stupid! Why did you do that?!" He asked himself.
Truth was, he felt like he needed to be there for Tangle, to help her through… whatever it was that she was going through.
But at the same time… he also felt like she needed a moment to herself.
"Uh… Sonic?"
Sonic turned to see Tails there.
"Are you… going in?"
"… I think she needs a minute…" Sonic explained. "Whatever happened to her, she's taking it hard…"
Tails, paused for a moment, before nodding in understanding.
Slowly, the others began to arrive, along with the Chaotix, who had just started to stay on the Typhoon while Tails was repairing damage done to their spaceship.
As everyone arrived, Sonic explained to them what was going on, and while everyone was understanding, some of them wanted to go in anyways to be with her.
Eventually though, they heard a voice.
"Sonic… you can come in now."
Sonic quickly went to open the door, and everyone began to walk in…
Charmy also tried going in, but Vector stopped him. He figured that they didn't have a place in this situation, and decided that they should wait outside.
"H-hey guys… sorry about that…" Tangle said sadly.
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Amy said. "We're just happy to see you're alright…"
Tangle winced in pain at that moment.
"… Mostly alright."
"Heh… I'll live." Tangle said, before moving to get out of the bed. "See?"
"Well, that's good at least… but still, keep resting." Sonic said. "It's clear you got really beat up."
Tangle nodded, and getting back in bed.
"So… what happened to you?" Knuckles asked.
Tangle looked down, and clenched her fists.
"I… bumped into the Metarex leader…" Tangle said.
Sonic's eyes went wide at this.
"Dark Oak?!" He asked.
Tangle nodded.
"That's what he said his name was… yeah."
"… So he WAS in the base…" Sonic said.
Tangle nodded.
"He said… he wanted to watch our demise or something… I don't really know." Tangle said.
Sonic then sighed.
"So you tried to get away and he didn't let you…"
Tangle winced at that.
"Uh… actually… I kinda tried to fight him…"
…
…
…
"I know… VERY dumb move…" Tangle said after everyone started staring at her like she was crazy.
"No kidding…" Sonic said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry… I just… I thought that if I could beat him, we could use him as a hostage or something to get away…" Tangle explained. "Not the most… heroic way of doing things, but it was all I could think of… plus…"
Then, she turned to Cosmo.
"I… really wanted to avenge Cosmo's family…"
Then, she began tearing up again.
"I… I hit him as hard as I could… and I couldn't even scratch him…" She said. "Then… I couldn't even stand after taking one hit…"
Everyone just looked at her sympathetically.
"I… I've never felt so WEAK before…"
Sonic put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey… don't worry about it." Sonic said. "Yeah, you kinda goofed by trying to fight him… but your heart was in the right place."
Tangle looked up at him.
"And about not being able to do much against him… that just means that next time, we gotta hit him together." Sonic said. "I promise… we'll get our payback."
Tangle took a deep breath and looked at Sonic, faking a smile.
"Yeah… you're right." Tangle said with little energy. "So… what's the situation now anyways?"
"Well… we lost all the Chaos Emeralds, and are prepping to go after them." Tails explained. "In the meantime, the Chaotix need a ship repair, so I am working on that right now."
Tangle groaned at the mention of the Detectives.
"Ugh, those idiots…"
Everyone laughed meekly at that.
"They shouldn't be here too long…" Tails said. "In the meantime, just rest up, and we'll be ready to go soon enough!"
Tangle nodded, before laying back down.
Everyone could tell that she was still feeling down about what happened, but decided that for now, they should just give her some space…
Everyone but Cosmo.
Cosmo felt touched that Tangle tried so hard to avenge her family… but felt so crushed that she was beating herself up so much over it.
So, she turned around, a determined look on her face…
She knew exactly what she had to do.
End of Chapter 44
Poor Tangle… don't worry, she'll be back to her usual energetic self before long.
As I said last time, I consider this the midseason finale in the original show, as such, I wanted to do something big here. Eventually, I decided an encounter with the arc's big villain would be best. So, I took some creative liberties, and decided that Dark Oak actually WAS in the fortress at the time, but only projected a Hologram into the room when he encountered Sonic.
As for why I decided that Tangle should get beaten so badly… well, you'll see why down the line…
Like I said before though, I wanted to cement a strong bond between Tangle, Jewel and Cosmo, and this will lead to some more of that next time. So look forward to that.
Tangle's new move is an alteration of the Tail Spin, and will from now on be called the "Sweeping Tail Spin." Just wanted to put that out there.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, next time we are FINALLY getting a bit of Tailsmo content! HORRAY!
And on top of that… a big reveal about a certain someone… you'll see ;)
See you then!