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“Come on little guy come on,” Belle chanted as she melded two more wires together. She was so close, she could feel it. Just a little more and-
The circuits sparked and lit a small fire on her arm. It was time to take a break.
Belle decided a visit to the kitchen was just what she needed. She couldn’t really eat anything, but Tails had a potted plant on the windowsill that had some sort of comforting aura just to be around. It was a nice plant, and after doing nothing but motobug repair for who knows how many days, a nice plant was just what she needed.
“No way, again?” Belle heard when she got to the kitchen. She peaked over the counter to find Tangle and Tails seated at a table playing a card game. And by the looks of it, Tangle was losing very badly.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Tangle. When you have a relationship with the cards like I do, games like this are just easy. Actually wait, I do know what to tell you,” Tails said with a smirk. “Go fish.”
Belle barely repressed a giggle as Tangle shot a glare to him, alerting the two of her presence.
“Belle! What are you doing here?” Tangle asked, accidentally setting her hands on the table, allowing Tails to see all of her cards.
“Oh, I’ve just been staying at Tails’ for a while trying to fix up Motobud,” Belle said, scratching the back of her head.
“How’s that going, by the way?” Tails asked.
“I’m not making as much progress as I’d like, but I’m pretty confident that I’m clo-”
Belle was cut off by the house phone ringing. Tails gave her a gesture that said it was ok to answer it. Belle nodded and picked up the phone.
“Hello?” she asked as Tails and Tangle returned to their game.
“Belle? I didn’t know you’d be at Tails’ place. How’ve you been?” said the voice on the other line. It was Vector. He sounded a little concerned, which made sense considering the last time he had seen her she wasn’t doing so well.
“Oh you know, heh, I manage. Mostly just been trying to fix Motobud. Why did you call?”
“Oh! Right! So I’d hate to ask, but we’ve been a little swamped here at the agency lately. Stuff about stuff going missing, shady figures in the shadows, we’re assuming Clutch might be on the prowl again. But we’ve got more cases over here than we can handle, so I was wondering if maybe Tails could help out by taking one, and maybe you too! Mechanical minds are always helpful!”
“Oh uh, one sec please!” Belle said before covering her hand over the mouthpiece. Tails gave her a quizzical look. “It’s Vector. He’s wondering if we’re willing to take on a case,” she whispered.
“A case? A case! Can I join too?” Tangle asked, lighting up.
“Tell him yes! I need to get my mind off of Eggman’s whole ‘rebuilding city’ thing anyways,” Tails said.
“Ok!” Belle said, picking back up the phone. “We’d be glad to take the case off your hands. What is it?”
“Some schmuck stole the gaming console out of the Spiral Hill library. They can give you more details there, but right now I gotta go. Take care, Belle!” Vector said before he hung up.
Tangle was bouncing on her tail by this point. “What’d he say? What’d he say?”
“He said someone stole a gaming console from the Spiral Hill library, and they have a lot of suspicions on Clutch right now,” Belle told her.
Tangle looked a little upset now. “That chao-harassing bum thinks he can pick on my town? We’ve gotta show him he’s got another thing coming.” She pulled herself, Tails, and Belle all together with her tail. “The three of us would be the perfect team! The unstoppable…uh…”
“Weird Tail Trio?” Tails suggested with a laugh.
“Yeah…yeah! The Weird Tail Trio! Nice name,” Tangle said, releasing the three and spinning her tail into a chair of sorts for her to lounge on. “So where do we start?”
“Well,” Belle started, mustering up her confidence, “we don’t know how long ago this was, so we should start by talking to the people in the library, then-”
“Uh, I’ve got a problem,” Tangle interjected.
“What is it?”
“Well…you see…I’m kind of banned for life from the library in my town” she mumbled.
“How did you do that?” Tails asked, holding back a laugh.
“I was really little, ok?”
“How little?” Tails flashed a smug smile.
“UNIMPORTANT! But basically I kinda sorta maybe accidentally kinda sorta spilled my awesome and incredibly epic cherry soda onto a whole cart full of books when I was trying to impress some six year olds.”
Tails and Belle just stood there, stunned.
“...Ok. Tangle, you survey the streets for anything you can find while Tails and I talk to the people in the library, and we’ll go from there. Tails, do you-” Belle stopped herself. “Oh sawdust, oh I’m so sorry. You’re probably so much better to make up a plan than I am, I didn’t mean to-”
“Belle, it’s ok. Relax, you’ve got nothing to worry about. And yeah, I’ve got a new engine I’ve been working on for my plane that should get us over there in two jiffies!” Tails said with a warm smile. “Now come on! This guy isn’t going to catch himself!”
One (thrilling for Tangle, scary for Belle) plane ride later, and the group had arrived at Spiral Hill. Belle and Tails parted with Tangle and headed toward the library, but something seemed off.
“Hey Belle, are you doing ok? You seem a little…apprehensive,” Tails asked on the way.
“I’m fine, I just didn’t mean to take over earlier. I don’t want to be overbearing.” Belle had a hand clamped over her other arm.
“Oh come on, I don’t think you could ever be-” That was when it hit him. “Belle, you aren’t Eggman.”
She looked a little shocked. “What?”
“You’re scared that because Eggman made you, even though he was nice at the time, you’re going to turn out like him, right? Well, don’t be. You made a simple plan. That doesn’t make you like Eggman, that just makes you good at taking initiative.”
“...Thanks, Tails.”
“No problem. Now come on, we’ve got a villain to catch!”
It wasn’t long before they reached the library and found an antelope with an employee badge outside checking his watch.
“Excuse me, do you work here? We’re here on behalf of the Chaotix Detective Agency for the investigation of a stolen gaming console?” Tails asked the man.
“Took you long enough. Follow me,” he said, gesturing for the two to follow him inside.
It was a beautiful library. Marble floors with beautiful ornate designs on the walls. The man led them through a section labeled “Kidz Den” (a brightly colored utopia) to a stairwell that had a sign that said “Teen Lair.” They were led down the stairwell into a room that was, quite frankly, in shambles. Bookshelves tipped over, cords springing out of the wall, a couch with most of the stuffing ripped out, a broken window, this room had most certainly seen better days.
“What happened here?” Belle asked, surveying the scene.
“I’m not quite sure. I was just down here for my shift, when suddenly the room was engulfed in smoke and the next thing I knew our precious 16-bit console, collection of games, and even our wifi router were gone!” the man told them.
“What would someone want with a wifi router?” Belle asked.
“Maybe they wanted to steal a console but also needed to set it up,” Tails said.
“Hey guys! You might wanna come see this!” Tangle shouted through the broken window.
Tails and Belle rushed back out of the library to find Tangle holding a bag of…circus peanuts?
“Tangle, why do you have a bag of circus peanuts?” Tails asked.
“Not just any circus peanuts, expired circus peanuts. These stale babies went bad eight months ago.”
“Which means what?” Belle asked.
“It means that we aren’t dealing with some underground mastermind! There’s only one vile duo we know that would make such an awful snack even worse by waiting well past the expiration date to enjoy it!” Tangle said.
“Rough and Tumble!” Tails finished.
“And Bingo was his name-o!” Tangle shouted. “Now come on, I know where their hideout is!” she said, dragging the two along.
Tails and Belle were very underwhelmed by Rough and Tumble’s hideout. It was a very run down building, to say the least.
“Soooo, I’ve never met these guys before. Are they tricky or anything?” Belle whispered to Tails.
“Oh not at all, don’t worry,” he whispered back.
“You ready?” Tangle asked, preparing to bust the door open with her tail.
“Ready!” Belle shouted, bracing for the rubble.
“Ready!” Tails also shouted, doing the same.
“Alright. Three…two…”
The door crumbled easily against the force, throwing up a cloud of dust. Tangle motioned for Tails and Belle to follow her inside, and the three maneuvered their way up a long staircase to the attic of the thin building, hearing voices as they reached the top.
“I’m tellin’ ya bro, just pushing all the buttons ain’t gonna make it work.”
“Well I don’t see you doing anything to fix it.”
“I’m the one trying to figure out the weird wires and antennae thingies.”
“Like you even know how.”
“What, and you do?”
“Hey I know plenty of stuffs!”
“Name one!
“Well-”
The argument was cut off by Tangle opening a hatch that led to the room Rough and Tumble were in.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Tumble shouted.
“Who cares, dude? Just smoke bomb her, idiot!” Rough yelled at him.
“Oh, you’re right,” Tumble said, tossing a smoke bomb right next to the hatch.
Tangle closed it quickly to avoid the blast, then sprang out and pulled Belle and Tails up right behind her. The room was covered in a thick blanket of smoke, making it so the trio could barely see each other.
“You found our hideout…,” a voice called through the fog.
“And maybe we fumbled…,” another followed.
“But you’re about to get busted by Rough and Tumble…d.”
“That was a forced rhyme, bro.”
“SHHHH they don’t know that!”
There was a brief moment of silence before Tails seemed to get an idea.
“You stole public property…” he called out, and Tangle could barely see him give her a nod.
“And that sure wasn’t neato…” she continued, giving a nod to Belle.
“Prepare to receive justice from…” she added.
“The Weird Tail Trio!”
“Nooooo stop doing that! That’s our thing! Why are you so mean to us?” one of the voices called out from the fog.
“Cuz you stole from a library!” Tangle shouted, “I mean who does that? It’s free anyway.”
“Oh prepare to get pummeled, long tail girl!” Tumble shouted before releasing himself from the ceiling in an effort to land on her.
Belle saw this and yanked on her tail, propelling herself forward and knocking Tangle out of the way.
“Thanks for the-” Tangle started before she was cut off by Tumble.
“That is so unfair! I don’t get a tail and yours can do cool tricks?”
The sound of glass breaking filled the room.
“Tangle! Belle! I’m fanning out the smoke with my tails. You two make sure you’ve got Rough and Tumble under wraps and find the stuff they stole!” Tails shouted into the smoke.
“Oh no you don’t!” Rough yelled, blindly running around the room swinging his fists, hoping he would hit someone.
And he did, but it was Tumble. The two crashed into each other and hit the floor with a thud, causing one of the boards holding up the ceiling to crash down onto Tails, which Belle could just barely see through the smoke.
“Tails!” Belle yelled as she ran to help him, tripping over the missing console in the process. “Oh! Guys I found it!”
“Awesome! Now let’s finish this!” Tangle said, knocking over Rough and Tumble (who had just gotten their berings again) with her tail.
When Belle was able to find Tails again, she helped him out from under the rubble and together they gathered up everything Rough and Tumble had stolen from the library.
“Alright Tangle, let’s get out of here!” Tails said as Tangle finished tying Rough and Tumble up with a big pretty bow.
“Okie dokie! Just remember next time fellas: if you want to access what the library has to offer, next time just get a card!” she said to them before making her exit.
“Oh there was no need to worry! It turns out it was just Rough and Tumble, so we…” Tails said on the phone while Belle stood at the kitchen counter staring at the plant on the windowsill.
“Whatcha lookin’ at? Tangle asked, sitting on the counter to join her.
“Just this little sapling. I’m wondering what it’s going to grow into,” Belle told her.
“Oh Cosmo?”
“Cosmo? It has a name?”
“Yeah! At least that’s what I’ve seen Tails call it. He says it’s a ‘good luck charm’ or something. I just think it’s a cool plant.”
“Good luck charm…do you think it helped us today?”
“You mean on our first case as the incredibly epic and unstoppably cool Weird Tail Trio?”
“Yeah.”
“Probably.”
“Hey guys!” Tails called out, getting both of their attention. “Vector’s asking if we can take another case. Are you in?”