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”Alright! Get ready for the Tangle tornado twister 2.0!”
Tangle grabbed ahold of the baseball with her tail, and proceeded to twist her tail to an uncomfortable degree. Her face scrunched up in discomfort, before letting her tail untwist, and using the momentum to throw the baseball as hard as possible. It zooms past an observing Whisper, heading right for their son, Whistle the wolf. Whistle swings his bat, and manages to connect with the ball. However, the angle is a little off, and the ball ends up soaring into the nearby woods. All three family members simply stare at the woods for a few seconds before Whistle starts jogging off.
”I’ll go get it!” He yells as he heads for his destination.
”Just be careful so you don’t get lost!” Whisper says in her usual soft voice, but loud enough so that he can hear her. Whistle gives her a thumbs-up before darting off towards the trees.
Whistle wandered around the forest, keeping an eye out for the baseball he’d lost. He knew that it would be a bit of a challenge to find the item, considering how small it was. However, before long, he ended up seeing it.
…in the mouth of another mobian.
Specifically, it was a wolf, just like Whistle. However, instead of his biscotti fur and brown skin, this wolf’s fur was colored a light gray, and was very scruffy and speckled with dirt. Their ears were taller than Whistle’s, and their eyes also had yellow sclera.
The wolf was standing there, expression empty, ball in mouth. After a few seconds however, they seemed to notice Whistle standing there, and took the ball out of their mouth to talk.
”Is this yours?” They asked, holding the ball up. They had a gap between their front teeth, giving them a slight lisp. ”It came flying at me, and landed in my mouth.” The wolf gestured wildly, arms flailing around to show what had transpired.
”Oh, uh, yeah, that’s mine! I’m so sorry, did you get hurt?” Whistle replied, concerned.
”Nah, don’t worry about it.” They dismissed, handing the baseball back to Whistle. ”Believe it or not, this is the second time that this has happened to me this week.”
Whistle stood there for a bit, trying to understand what the wolf could have possibly meant by that, before his thoughts were interrupted.
”What’s your name? Mine’s Maple.” The wolf asked eagerly.
”Oh, I’m Whistle.” He replied. ”Sorry if I interrupted… anything.”
”Nah, not much. I was just hangin’ out with some friends.” Maple responded, crossing their arms and leaning against a tree.
Whistle looked around, unable to see anyone else around. ”Um… not to sound rude but… where are they…?” Whistle asked, confused.
Maple stared at him in confusion before slapping their forehead. ”Oh heck, I forgot that talking to trees isn’t a normal thing everybody does.” They mumbled.
”E-excuse me, what?” Whistle asked, baffled.
”Well, I can talk to trees. Dunno why, I just can. Pretty weird I guess.” They said, as if it was no big deal at all.
Whistle stared at them in shock, before shrugging. ”Y’know what? That makes sense.”
”You don’t think it’s weird?!” Maple asked, beaming.
”Well, not really. I mean, a shapeshifter tried to kill me not too long ago. I really shouldn’t be surprised by this kinda stuff anymore.”
”Woah…” maple gasped in awe. ”You battled a shapeshifter?!”
”Yep!” Whistle said proudly, summoning the shifting slugger in his hand.
”And you’re magic?!” Maple nearly squealed in excitement.
”I… suppose…?” Whistle chuckled. ”You seem pretty magical too, being able to talk to trees ’n’ all.”
Maple opened their mouth to speak, but stayed silent. They brought a hand up to their chin. ”You have a point…” they said thoughtfully. Their eyes then darted to the bat in Whistle’s hand.
”Where’d you get that thing? My mom has one that looks kinda similar, but yours looks like it’s from the future.”
Whistle looked at his bat. ”It was a birthday gift. My uncle Tails made it, he’s really cool!”
”Awesome! I’m actually gonna visit someone whose name is also Tails today! Apparently he’s a genius!” Maple said, throwing their hands up in the air ecstatically.
”Huh,” Whistle scoffed, ”what a weird coincidence.”
The two of them stood there for a bit in silence, before Maple suddenly yelled out.
”Anyways I have to go back to my moms now! Bye!”
”Oh me too actually, bye!” Whistle replied. He watched Maple run off in the opposite direction, humming a tune loudly. He scratched his head, feeling like there was something very odd with that encounter.
…
”Eh, ’s probably nothing.” He said to himself, walking back to Tangle and Whisper.