Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (44 page)

He
turned to smile at Sarah. “Sorry, but I can’t pass up
such
an opportunity. Save my seat.”

She shifted over to where he
just sat. “Show them who
’
s boss, Connor.”

As
he
made
his
way down
,
Veronica wink
ed
and smil
ed
in her way.

Connor
walked down the fence
,
listening to everyone laughing or taking bets on how humiliated
this will turn out for him
.
A female Keeper in a purple robe opened the tall
gate for
him
and
he
bowed
courteously
before walking
through. The fake grass did buckle slightly under
his
weight
, like real ground
, but didn’t hinder
his walking. He
was
then
handed a human sized solid metal baseball bat from the other referee on the first base’s dugout. The entire time
he
could feel the eyes of the pitcher following
his every move. He
walked up to the catcher and the referee. The catcher had to sit down on his rear so he could catch lower than he has had
to do all game. The referee
mentally
announced
“Batter up!”

Connor
got in the large square of
red sand and chalk. He
put
his
left hand at the very end of the bat
and gripped tightly.
His
right hand went above
the
left a
s
he
took
his
stance. K
nees
bent
, brought the bat up, turned to look at the pitcher and nodded. The pitcher held the
large
metal baseball on his right hand and hid how he held
it with his left palm. His swaying tail
twitched a
s
he pulled his right arm back. He stepped forward with his left foot and brought his arm forward. The ball was on its way
like a bullet shot from a powerful rifle
.

The ball went right by
Connor
and
he
heard the metal ball land in the catchers awaiting claws.
The crowd began laughing in an uproar
and taunts were easily ignored
. The catcher tossed the ball back and
he
even
began
laughing
a hiss
in a mocking way
. The pitcher
caught it with a cocky smile. Connor
made sure no one was in
his
mind as
he
thought
“
The first one was free and I
’ve
got your
timing down. Now it’s my turn.
”

The cat
cher took his stance as did
the challenger
. H
e wound up and threw the ball again. He lef
t nothing behind or back from the batter
.

When the ball was
right
where
he
wanted it
,
Connor
stepped forward with
his
left foot
and
swung with
his
arm
s
while
twist
ing
his
torso
in a blurring show of speed
. The ball and bat met
instantly with a loud metallic
Twang!
Connor
followed through, but didn’t see the ball
anywhere.
A
heavy
thud
near his
feet
was instantly followed by the grinding
sounding of swishing
.
He
looked down to see the ball spinning sideways in the sand. It didn’t move anywhere, but sp
u
n
like a tornado
in place.
The
bat’s weight
suddenly
felt off for some reason
. When he
looked at it
he
laughed. I
t
became
impossible not to
see where
the two forces
connected
from where
the ball
and bat met
because of a huge dent
, but that wasn’t all
. The funny part was
that
Connor
bent the shaft back as it
now
looked more like a boomerang now. “Poor bat. It
broke.”
H
e
laughed again.

His
laughing
came to an end as he realized he was nearly alone in a void of
eerie silence
,
minus the sounds of
his
party
,
l
aughing and roaring with glee. Connor
looked
over
at the pitcher and almost doubled over in painful
hilarity
. His red
dish
eyes were wide, jaw
completely agape, tail completely limp and his arms slouched. He
stood
in utter denial and shock.
Connor
turned to see the other members of his team in
practically
the same state.

“Hey pitcher!” H
e finally blinked. “
Count that as strike two.
I don’t count that
one
as a hit!”

“Why not!”
He straightened up.

“I will consider it a hit if I get a home run.”
Th
e
pitcher
grinned at
him
.
Connor
held up the
remnants
of
the deformed
bat. “
But
I can
no
t use this against you
again
. May I borrow one of your bats
instead
?”

He looked at a me
mber of his team and pointed a single claw at
the batter
.
“You heard the little man. Give him my bat.”
A Keeper with thick burly arms ran on all fours into their dugout to retrieve a bat that they use. He walked up to
Connor
holding the handle
out with one hand. He
tossed
the Keeper
the curved
bat and
took
the other.

This bat was three times as long, thick and
heavy as what he
just
traded
.
He
wasn’t able to encircle the ha
ndle entirely like before, but
managed to hold it well enough so
that
it wouldn’t fly out of
his
grasp.
Connor
asked permission to take a few practice swings and
t
he
pitcher easily
granted the request
.
He
swung
the enormous club
about five times to get the feel
and it wasn’t all that bad
. The crowd remained soundless and watched
his
every move
now. He
could hear other crowds cheering at the other arenas, but this one
grew
dead silent.
T
he pitcher
soon
said
gleefully
“This is getting exciting!”

This time when he threw the ball
Connor
connected solidly with it. The ball whizzed right over his head and hit the outfield’s net.
Everyone
became
astounded to know that the ball broke the sound barrier.
The explosive sound echoed throughout the first level and it was loud enough to quiet the other arenas.

Silen
ce continued except from
Connor greatest
fan
s.

“That would be my first hit, Big Guy!” The
Keeper had to shake his head. Connor
could tell he was shocked, but also stepping on his pride a little bit.
The outfielder tossed the ball back once it rolled
down
of the net.

“This
pitch
will be a
G
yroball. This is
a pitch that I have learned from watching
your
Japanese
human
players. This is my best pitch. No one yet has been able to hit off of this.”
Connor had always loved sports before the
accident.
He
would watch hours upon hours of sports and tr
ied mimicking them at home. He never had the opportunity to play on
a team before because
his m
om was afraid
that
he
would
seriously
hurt someone
his
age
.
Not here thought. Connor
remembered watching the Olympic baseball teams playing as a child
,
when he
first heard of a Gyroball. A Gyroball is a
fast pitch
with a spin so great that its axis remains the same throughout its travel through the air. It puts less stress on the shoulders and doesn’t require any special hand positioning.
But it has a trick to it.

The two of them
took
their respective
stance
s
.
The silence alone could have been severed with
a dull and rusty knife.
The pitcher’s
swaying
tail
suddenly
twitched and
Connor
knew it was coming. The ball left
the pitcher’s
hand and it was spinning forward. It looked like a slider
, barely missing the ground by an inch
, but
Connor
already
knew the secret
to win
. The ball started crawling up
within the last few feet
.
Connor
swung the bat
above its current spot
and connected perfectly
in timing
. It hit the net almost instantly. The crowd couldn’t believe what just happened
if their
continued silence
said anything about it
.

The silence ended when the pitcher threw his head back an
d started roaring out a laugh. Connor
could tell he allowed everyone to hear what he said.
“This is truly remarkable
!
I have finally found a worthy adversary in this game. You beat me in my own challenge, Hatchling. I will allow you to ask me two questions since you hit off me
twice
; as you said
that
you would.”

“Nah.” Connor
said and
t
he
pitcher
couldn’t believe what he heard. “I don’t need to ask you anything important. But I will settle for
just
your name.”

This surprised him and everyone again.

He laughed
once
again.
“My name is Xaon
, young one
.
Might I ask you two questions then?”

“Fire away
,
Xaon.”

He smiled with is black leathery lips.
“What is your name and have you applied for a team
yet
?”

“My name is Connor. Secondly I have. We are team Equal. We have four Balancers, Two Changers and a Keeper on my team.”
Xaon
blinked like he misunderstood. “You heard me. My team is comprised of
the three races
. Maybe we might play each other one day.”
Connor
bowed and went to leave after handing the bat
over
to the referee.