Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (50 page)

After two more minutes of practice the referee
announced
“Batter up!”

The first player stepped up to the plate and took two swings before gett
ing into the correct position. Connor
looked at Veronica a
nd
gave her two hand signals and she knew that the first signal was a fake. She took her stance and threw a slow ball.

He connected easily with the hit and
Connor
could feel the wind following it. It flew out into left field
, but it wasn’t high enough. Mark jumped up twelve feet and caught the ball in both of his claws. He landed and threw the ball back to Veronica.
“First out!”
The ref said.
Connor
smiled at
Veronica and she knew that he
wanted the
opposing them to
underestimate
them
first.

The next batter wasn’t any exception. Jack caught the ball with his fire whip.
Connor
remained telling her to keep throwing slowly for every pitch
, but not to look to be holding back
. Two Keepers managed to get
on
to first and third base.

The next batter was none other than Xaon himself.
“If that is all your pitcher can do
,
th
e
n this will be
all
too easy.”

Connor
looked at Veronica and gave her a new hand sign. She nodded once. She took her stance and hid her grip on the ball
with her left hand
. She threw it with all she had and it was coming right at
them
.
T
he spin she put on
the ball began
it taking its effect. It broke
from a fastball and
into a slider.
“Strike one!”
T
he crowd went silent. Xaon
became
speechless. He just realized
they
were holding back, but not any longer.
The game could now begin in earnest
.
She threw a fastball and he dinged the ba
ll with the top of his bat and Connor
caught it with
the
water glove.
“Strike two!”
The next
hand sign made Veronica grin. Her partner
silently moved back and to
the
right for this pitch
and the batter was oblivious
. She threw a fast pitch and
Connor
caught it off to the side, Xaon swung.
“Strike three! Switch!”
He swung at a pitch he could never have hit.

The crowd was in
shell
shock
,
as was Xaon. He suddenly began to laugh
a few seconds later
.
“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. This team really knows how to play properly.”
He turned to his companions
. “Come on boys, we can finally enjoy this one
and play
to
our best
!”

Team Equal
returned to the dugout and waited while the
other
team warmed up. Everyone had excitement written all over their faces.
A few minutes
later the referee turned
and said
“Batter up!”
First
one
up
to bat was
Jillian
,
Xaon struck her out in three
blinding
pitches. Kara was the same way.
Connor
noticed that
they weren’t listening to what he
told them
and were looking for the ball
.

Mark
began the approach
next and
Connor
grabbed his furry tail
,
jerk
ing
him to a
sudden
halt
. Mark
looked up at
his friend
and
Connor
whispered so only he could he
ar. “Watch for the twitch of
his tail
to begin your swing.” Mark
nodded and trotted over to
retrieve
the bat from his mate.
Kara looked a little depressed because she didn’t manage to even come close to
landing
a hit. Mark whispered
in her ear with his muzzle and Connor
could he
a
r him telling her what
he was
told.
Kara’s eyes widened and she hit the top of her fur covered head with the palm of her hand
, sticking her long tongue off to the side
. She quickly trotted back into
the
dugout.

Mark
stood
up
on his back legs and gripped the handle. The moment
Xaon’s long
tail twitched Mark swung and missed the ball by a few centimeters. The second pitch wasn’t any different. Pitch three was a success as he hit it right between second and third
base
.
The third basemen wasn’t prepared and the ball went right past him
in a silvery blur
. Mark
dropped the bat and himself and
rocketed
all the way to second base before he could go
no
further. Xaon was shocked
,
but then began to grin.

Sarah was up next and before she left
,
she jumped and kissed
her husband’s
cheek a
nd
glided over
to the
batter’s
box.
Fangs moved perfectl
y with her and her bottom put her mate
in a
swaying
trance. She
effortlessly
lifted the bat that probably weighed as much as she does. Xaon wasn’t holding bac
k any longer, but neither was Sarah
.
Connor
knew that
look in her eye, she wanted to win.
She brought her hands into a choke-up on the bat and she took her stance.

When Xaon
threw the ball
,
Connor could see that Sarah
saw the ball as
easily as
he
can. She swung the bat perfectly and connected with the ball.
Everyone
heard the ball break the sound barrier
and land on the metal net of the outfield. The ref
mentally shouted
“Home run!”
and Sarah jogged ar
ound the bases and she scored the team
two points because Mark tagged the home plate first. Now there was utter silence in the arena except from
their dugout
, Liz
, Amber and Ben
whistling
in the back bleachers and Firon and Clarein roaring behind the Rampage dugout. Sarah stomped on home plate and looked at Xaon. “My mate isn’t the only one athletic in here.”

“Your mate?”
Xaon
turned to look at Connor
grinning right at him.
“This keeps getting better and better.
I can truly test
out
my skills
properly
.
”
A
pparently his voice said he was getting a real challenge for once and thoroughly enjoying
the experience
.
There wasn’t the least bit of malice behind his words
though
.
He was truly enjoying the
friendly
challenge.

Connor
was next and Sarah handed
him
the bat. “Great hit, Sarah.
” She was so proud of herself. He
stepped up to the plate and took
his
stance. Every player on the field began
preparing for
this outcome
.
Bring everything you have gentlemen
Connor
tightened the grip on the handle.

X
aon threw another Gyroball and was intercepted
, but the left fielder
jumped straight up and
caught it just before it hit the net.
“Three outs! Change!”

Bottom of the second resulted in a single run for their team. Mark caught a hit to left field and showed off by doing a back-flip in mid air
before landing
. Kara scored the last out by out running a Keeper
down
,
going to
home
. She held the ball in her
teeth and tackled the back of
h
is
knee
,
with her left shoulder
. The referee was the one to call him out. Each pitch Veronica threw was perfect
for someone who learned in a day
.
Connor
couldn’t
have been more proud of her. Veronica
managed to learn and implement a wide variety of thro
ws and mastered them to a legitimate lethality
, but she did have difficulty with the knuckle balls. That was probably due to her
curved
claws not being able to extend to a perfectly straight degree.

Then it was
their
turn at bat
and Jack scored a run and both Veronica and
Jilli
an struck out. This time when Kara
went to the plate she made it to first before getting tossed out. Sarah made a solid hit but was tossed out before she made it to first. She would have made it if
she ran full out, but she knew they
couldn’t
reveal their rea
l speed
,
even for this game.

It was finally the top of the ninth inning and
they
we
re down by one. The score
n
ow
stood at
twenty five to twenty four
and there were some amazing plays. One ball went into right field and
Sarah used her fire whip
, to
which she held back its length, size and intensity
,
and wrapped
it securely
around the ball. She spun using the momentum of the ball to redirect the ball into
Connor’s
direction. Once the whip managed to alter the direction of the ball
,
she cut her power and released the ball
like a
sonic
slingshot
. He
easily caught it and tagged the runner
out
before he made it home.
Sarah has scored
the
team five points during the
course of the
game.

Veronica once threw a fastball which the batter hit directly back at her. She used her amazing reflexes to catch the ball which would have hit her sternum.
She scored three runs
.

Jillian used her water lasso to bind a fake throw to Kara and the first baseman took the bait and tried to steal second base. The crowd laughed when Jillian pulled the ball back
,
like a bungee,
and tagged the leg of the runner just as he passed her.
Jillian receive
d
two points for
the whole game
.

Jack used his fire whip when he dived to his left. The whip caught the ball just before
the ball hit the ground and the referee behind second called an out.
As long as it remained an extension of the user the play
i
s validated.
He made a total of
gained
four points.

Kara did a very excellent job being the third basemen and she was able to score one point. She wasn’t the least bit upset because she was able to at least
add a
score for the team. Also her mate Mark used his advanced speed to give
them
three runs and also kept the outfield rather secure from many
would-
be
homeruns.

During the entire game
they
gained
more and more supporters
and
joined in for
cheering for
team Equal
. The
spectators
thought they might get to see a slaughter
at first
, but apparently this was the best game
that they have seen
so far
. The game wasn’t just about Keepers verses the outcasts
anymore
, but about the
love of the
game. Just about everyone went back and forth
cheering
for
one team or the other
. Before
,
everyone didn’t really think they
were any good.
The team
changed their minds and opinions
relatively
rapidly. For every solid hit
and run,
the entire room began to reverberate
with
everyone’s
cheering
. Chants began gaining strength
and volunteers
for both talented teams. Connor
began to feel like the atmosphere of this meeting might just began to change
for the better
.