A/N: Sorry for the update time. I was separated from my document for a while, but I've been typing feverishly all this week, so... Review anyway? ;3

"All right!" America started, looking around his dugout. "Who bats next?"

"Me—duh," Prussia responded, slapping on a helmet and heading for home plate.

Japan took a moment to analyze the new player, then reared back and pitched.

Naturally, Prussia hit the ball without a single strike first. He booked it to first as the baseball flew over the pitcher's head.

"Estonia! Looks like your catch, aru!" called China.

The second baseman glanced over at Prussia, who was over halfway to first base.

"We'll see."

Estonia squinted at the ball and backed up a little. He held his glove up high, and, just as Prussia slid dramatically onto first base, the ball fell into his mitt.

And promptly bounced right off.

"Wha?" Estonia spun around to try and reclaim the ball, but it landed before he could even put his arm back out for it.

"Safe," called Switzerland. "Prussia hits a single."

Prussia laughed. "I barely even hit the stupid thing!"

"Yeah," Poland retorted. "You, like, barely hit a single!"

Prussia glared into his team's dugout. "Aw, shut up, blondie. They should just be thankful I wasn't trying."

"All right, sure," Poland replied with a scoff.

"Well, if you're so much better than me, how about you bat next?" Prussia called. "See if you can do any awesome with that kind of effort. You won't," he added, just to be clear.

"We'll, like, see about that!" Poland grabbed a batting helmet.


"Strike one."

Prussia cackled.

Poland simply ignored him as the ball was lobbed back to the pitcher. Japan wound up and fired off another throw.

Poland swung the bat around, and it hit the baseball with a loud crack. He took off for first as the ball soared toward the shortstop.

Spain stepped side to side as he tried to anticipate where the ball would fall. He had to suddenly lurch to the side to catch, but the ball went straight past his hand—

—And right into Prussia's.

The shortstop stared as Prussia continued to run for third.

"What just happened?"

"Awesome just happened!" Prussia responded, continuing to run.

"Okay, I don't care what set of rules we're playing by, but there's no way that's allowed!" England objected.

"I was told you get out on tags and catches," Switzerland responded. "Never said which team it had to be. So, Poland's out. One out this inning for Team America."

"What?" Poland gaped, stopping in his track. "But he's, like, on the same… What?"

Prussia continued laughing as he rounded third.

"You just got your own teammate out, you idiot!" yelled Germany.

"Oh, he wouldn't have gotten a run, anyway," Prussia scoffed.

"I don't suppose anyone's going to go get the ball from him?" shouted England, too far away to attempt it himself.

"I'd like to see you try!" Prussia catcalled, almost to home plate.

China stood defensively in front of the base while Prussia neared. Prussia smirked, folding his right arm behind him so China couldn't reach the baseball. The Oriental nation lurched, anyway, but Prussia spun around, and, in a confusing mass of footwork, spun around and got past the catcher. The plate was only centimeters away, but China hurried back in front of it.

"Since we don't seem to be playing by the rules," he commented, holding his arms out wide to keep Prussia from pulling another stunt, "I'll just keep you off the base until we get that ball and tag you, aru!" Prussia sidestepped, but China matched his movement.

"Now, if someone would actually come and get the ball we can get him out!" China called impatiently.

Japan, still bewildered by the sudden loss of convention, hurried over to the scene. He stepped behind Prussia and reached for the baseball.

"Don't think so!" Prussia responded, spinning so he was facing the pitcher's mound. He took a few quick steps backward, but the two Asians closed in on him quickly. Stepping back a little more, he continued away from the plate until he was almost up to the fence.

"And now the awesome part!" Prussia turned toward the outfield and, before either the catcher or the pitcher could snatch the ball from him, starting running.

"Cover the fence, aru!" China called, recalling Prussia's earlier catching stunt.

"Too late!" Prussia sprang up to the fence, came to a stop, and turned back around. He sprinted off again, this time getting closer to home plate. China and Japan kept pace with him, but they were far from reaching the baseball in his held-high hand and not much closer to being able to trip him up.

The three continued running as home plate neared. Prussia started to slow down, as did the other two. The three nations came to a stop, watching each other defiantly.

Prussia started to crouch down, keeping balance carefully. And, before either Japan or China knew what was happening, he sprung. The pitcher flung his arms up in a last-ditch attempt to stop Prussia, but he only brushed up against the baserunner's pants leg. Prussia tumbled over onto the last stretch of the basepath, and with one last lurch, slapped his hand on home plate.

"Safe!" Switzerland called. "That's two runs this inning for Team America."

Prussia whooped as Japan started back for the pitcher's mound slowly.

"Switzerland?" Japan started.

"What's up?"

"I think we need to add some more rules."

"Wha-a-at?" America intervened. "No way! Baseball's way funner this way!"

Japan looked over at the opposition dubiously. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" America replied, making it sound like the answer was completely obvious.

"Well…" Japan sighed. "All right, never mind. We'll just keep this set of rules."

"Yes!" America responded victoriously, clenching his fist in front of him.

Japan didn't seem quite as excited.


"Okay!" America started, looking around his dugout. "Who's batting next?"

"Well, that was a pretty hard act to follow," commented Finland. "But I'll try."


"Strike two!"

China tossed the baseball back to the pitcher.

"Well, maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Finland rearranged his batting stance again.

Japan fired off the third pitch, and Finland finally hit the thing. The ball flew toward center field—

—And so did a certain awesome nation.

"What is he doing now?" Japan muttered to himself, watching Prussia hightail it to the outfield.

Meanwhile, Finland was sprinting for first base, and France was backing up to catch the ball. Prussia darted in front of the center fielder, blocking his view.

"Hey!" France reacted. He bobbed his head to the side, but Prussia kept up.

"What is this, basketball, aru?" China remarked, shaking his head in disbelief.

The baseball started to descend at last, heading straight for the tangle of players in centerfield. Prussia insisted on blocking France from seeing until the very last second.

The ball was finally within France's reach, but he couldn't react in time and got a baseball to the face for it.

Prussia laughed, jogging back to the dugout. France wobbled about, dazed by the impact, while England rushed over to get the ball before Finland could reach second base.

He failed, though; by the time the Briton had gotten the ball off the outfield grass, Finland was safely on second base and not going anywhere.

"Safe!" Switzerland called. "Finland hits a double!"

"These guys are cheating, aru!" China growled. "I don't care whether the rules say it or not, but there's no way you can do what he just did in baseball, aru!"

"You're just jealous of my awesomeness!" Prussia responded.

China scowled.


In a few more moments, Germany had been coaxed to step up to home plate.

Before he got ready to bat, he turned to face his brother and called, "Stay in the dugout for this one. I can handle things with the rules intact."

Prussia scoffed, apparently not holding the supposed rules in high regard. "Fine. Don't blame me if you get out."

"I won't."

Germany got into a batting stance, and Japan fired off the first pitch. Germany swung, but was too late.

"Strike one."

"Yeah, you're handling things real well!" Prussia called.

Germany growled almost inaudibly and got ready to swing again.

Japan sent the next pitch flying, and it rebounded from Germany's bat this time, headed for the shortstop.

Spain stepped closer to third base, watching the ball intently. It came down in a regular arc, and the Iberian nation caught it easily.

"Out! That's two outs for Team America!"

Once he had gotten back to the dugout, Germany could not hear his own thoughts because his brother's maniacal laughter was so loud.

America waited a minute for it to die down so he could find his brother—who was, of course, standing right in front of him—and tell him to bat next, but even when Prussia's laughing turned to bemused taunting, it was still too loud.

Romano instead decided for himself to go and bat.


"Strike two!"

Prussia glared at the batter as China lobbed the baseball back.

"I can't help awesomely if you don't even hit the thing!" he yelled from the dugout.

"Shut up! I've almost got it!"

Japan wound up and threw. Romano swung awkwardly, and the ball bounced pitifully off the bat, landing a mere meter in front of him. He ran anyway.

And so did Prussia.

China lunged for the ball to get to it first, but only ended up butting against Prussia. The two spent a good couple of seconds trying to shove each other out of the way before Japan finally arrived to help. Prussia suddenly lurched to the side not occupied by China, sending the catcher stumbling sideways, and jumped to cover the ball before Japan could pick it up.

A very irritated China got up, shot his arms under Prussia's abdomen, and heaved him aside. Japan hurried to find the ball, but soon realized Prussia had already managed to grab it.

Romano rounded first base, and Finland third.

Prussia, not having time to get up before the Asians were after him, rolled over a few times to get out of range, then scrambled to his feet. Before he could take off running, China grabbed a shoulder, and Japan lunged for Prussia's other hand and the baseball. Prussia stretched his arm out in the other direction and kept Japan from pursuing by a well-placed foot to the stomach.

China tugged hard, and the now-on-one-foot Prussia wobbled, finally losing his balance. Prussia fell to the ground, and seconds after he hit, Japan at last wrenched the baseball from his grip.

As the pitcher jogged back to his mound, Finland trotted across home plate.

"Three runs for Team America this inning!" Switzerland announced. "And Romano hits a triple."

Panting, Prussia high-fived Finland as the two walked back to the dugout.

Germany eyed his brother vexedly. "At this rate, you're going to wear yourself out before we even get to the seventh inning."

Prussia eyed him right back. "Yeah, anyone unawesome would. But hopefully you know me better than that."

Germany sighed as America looked around to decide who would bat next.


While waiting for the batter to come out, Japan looked despairingly at the scoreboard; his team was losing 4-16. The gap certainly wasn't going to close at this rate. He had to do something

"Batter up!"

Japan turned to see Canada poised at home plate.

Well, if the pitcher was going to bend the rules, now was not the time to do it. He'd just see how this play went.

Japan pulled his arm back and flung the ball forward. Canada swung at it hard and sent it flying to the outfield.

France jogged backward and to the side, noting with relief Prussia didn't seem to be coming out of the dugout for this one. He didn't seem to note, however, a certain Briton running for the same baseball as him.

The two collided.

"I almost caught that!" France exclaimed.

"You weren't supposed to catch it!" England snapped. "How about you stay on your own bloody part of the field?"

France looked at the grass pointedly. "I don't see a line."

"Home run!"

The two European nations looked over to see the baseball slipping away behind the fence.

"You wouldn't have caught it anyway," England grumbled, sweeping himself off and stepping away from France.


"Awesome!" Canada received a high-five from Prussia as he jogged back into the dugout.

"Yeah, good job, dude," Amreiica said, adding a high-five of his own. "All right…" He looked around the dugout. Turkey hadn't batted yet, but… He was Turkey.

But, Greece hadn't batted, either, right?

America checked the bench, but rather than being occupied by Greece as it usually was, a passed-out Russia was taking up its whole length, his lower legs hanging off the end awkwardly.

Greece, having his sleeping space taken away, was instead slumped up against the side of wall with his eyes closed.

"Greece!" America announced. "You're up!"

Greece, apparently not quite as fast asleep as usual, stirred and drowsily grabbed a bat. As he walked past America, the bespectacled nation whispered, "Don't forget Japan's hitting contest!"


Japan wound up for a pitch and delivered a speedy fastball, but Greece still hit it in time, sending it flying, once again, over the back fence.

"Home run," Switzerland responded. "Five runs for Team America this inning."


Turkey swung for the third time and missed for the third time.

"Out! Three outs for Team America! Switch positions!"


Japan, already wielding a bat and helmet, looked around his dugout.

"It doesn't seem valid to play by any conventional rules anymore," he started, motioning at the scoreboard and their 14-run-under score. "So… As I bat, who would like to…" He paused, trying to find the right word. "…Play defense?"

"I'll go, aru," China volunteered.

"All right, then," Japan responded, nodding. "Let's go."