Perhaps some world building is afoot? Or just me being me after watching the Super Bowl.
Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading!
Fact #123: Dragon sports are a thing.
Season: Between 4th and 5th Seasons
Steve, in all his Navy SEAL glory, made for a fearsome sight whenever he walked into a building during a case. He argued that he was more subtle than Danny was, but Danny begged to differ. He could go unnoticed in a crowd long enough to get up close to someone. Steve was too rigid, too commanding, especially when he was in a mood. People noticed him and gave him a wide berth.
Sure, he could sneak up on someone like a ninja and disappear with them into the shadows without a peep. It was a certain skill set he had to employ on occasion. A frame of mind he had to get into. But today he was not in a ninja frame of mind. Bursting through the double doors into the hotel, pointing at their perp, and yelling at him didn't exactly follow in the steps of a ninja.
"Real smooth, babe, real smooth," Danny chided.
"Cath, with me. You two head him off," Steve barked and sprinted away with Rambo-ette on his heels.
Danny nudged Kono. They broke into a run around the lobby, relying on previous experience to find a shortcut to head their perp off at the bar, or failing that, the pool.
"That lolo better hope someone catches him before I do," Kono said barely loud enough for Danny to hear over the pounding of his own heart and his rapid breaths.
Said lolo had been a lowly thief registering as barely a blip on their radar yesterday morning. By that afternoon, he'd become a nuisance. And then by that evening, when he had unceremoniously shoved Chin off the second story landing of an apartment complex, the fall resulting in a twisted ankle and fractured wrist, he'd become number one on their list.
Well, number one on Five-0's 'to throw in jail' list and number one on Kono's 'to beat into a pulp' list.
The moment their thief popped out of a side hallway, Kono stiffened like a pointer dog spotting a rabbit. Danny even caught the flicker of her nictitating eyelids sliding across her eyes.
"Five-0! Freeze!" she shouted.
The thief bolted.
"And he's off," Danny said, resuming his run.
The thief pushed and shoved people, using them as mere obstacles to throw around in an attempt to slow them down. Danny caught a woman by the elbow as she stumbled into him and Kono hurtled over a falling man.
The bar came into view around the next bend, its open air style offering too many escape routes for their thief. He could see the pool on the other side of the bar and the beach beyond that. There were a lot of people out there. Easy cover for their thief.
Running through the bar entrance, knocking the hostess over, the man made a beeline for the pool.
Suddenly he was on his back.
Danny blinked, gun hesitantly aimed at the man as he and Kono approached. Then he saw the reason for the abrupt halt.
An arm. A beefy, tattooed arm had clotheslined him.
Kono none the too kindly rolled him over and secured handcuffs on the dazed thief.
Danny holstered his weapon and looked at where the arm was attached. He frowned.
"Uh…thanks for, you know, knocking him flat," he said. He could've sworn he'd seen the woman somewhere before. It wasn't often he saw women with arms that big.
"It was nothin'," she said.
"Dude's a shrimp compared to most players," the man sitting next to her said.
She turned to him, whooped, and chest bumped him.
It was only when Kono was dragging the thief to his feet that the light bulb clicked on, but by that time, Kono had beaten him to the punch.
"Woah." Kono swept her gaze across the three husky people sitting at the bar. "You're Violet Thomson, blocker for the Western Brawlers, right?"
The woman, easily Kono's height and twice her width, nodded. "Apparently I'm a Bar Brawler instead of a Western Brawler today."
"Ricky Morris and Mackenzie Hill." Danny pointed at the other two. He knew he'd seen them from somewhere.
"Yeah, man," Ricky said. He was built like a football player, and Danny supposed it was apt, even if these three didn't play football per se.
"Hey, what'd this punk do to get the fuzz on his tail?" Mackenzie, someone who could have passed as a Viking in another time period, gestured at the groaning thief being held up by Kono.
"Stole some hardware and injured a cop," Danny said. "And then ran like a bat outta hell when we tried to arrest him."
Ricky leaned over, trying to catch the thief's eye. "Bro, it would've been better for you to have surrendered than to have met Violet's arm. Many players have made that mistake."
"You know it," Violet agreed, flexing a bicep so thick it made Danny a little nervous.
"We lost sight of him. Did you–"
Steve paused when he saw who they were talking to.
"Aren't you–"
"Yes, they are beastball players. Now shut your mouth, Steven, you'll catch flies," Danny said.
"Big fan, guys," Cath said. "Loved that last play during the fourth quarter of the big game last year."
Violet held up a hand, not so subtly twirling the hefty ring on her finger. "It was mostly the coach's idea. He's the only one who'd ever played against Wyverns."
Kono jerked the thief upright as he began to buckle over. "Better get this lolo to the hospital before he's booked. What'd you do to him, Number 04?"
Violet grinned a gap-toothed grin. "Might've broken a rib or two. I'm used to stopping fully armored Drakes, not humans."
"Hey, would you guys mind if we…" Steve held up his phone.
Ricky opened his arms. "Nah, man, gather 'round."
With Mackenzie having the longest reach out of all of them, he held Steve's phone out and managed to snap a shot with Five-0, the beastball players, and the thief's cuffed hands in it. Everyone's eyes were even open for it.
"Thanks," Steve said, pocketing his phone. He tipped two fingers at them. "Looking forward to this upcoming season."
Violet pumped a fist in the air.
The three went back to their beers like nothing had ever happened while Five-0 led their thief out of the bar.
Once they were in the lobby where their HPD backup had finally arrived, Danny deemed it safe enough to speak.
"Violet Thomson completely tanked my fantasy league a year ago," he muttered.
"When she dislocated her kneecap?" Steve asked. "Since when you do play fantasy sports?"
Danny shrugged. "I don't often. Mostly do it just to keep in touch with some guys back in Jersey. Mags, Captain Callahan, Detective Davies, Eric. He's going to lose his mind when he hears about us meeting them. The kid pretty much idolizes Mackenzie."
"Why?"
"They're the same crossbreed and have almost the same colors."
Steve furrowed his brows. He held a hand up eye level with himself. "But Eric's –"
"Definitely not as tall or muscle bound, but hey, it's close enough. He wanted to be on a pro beastball team for a long time when he was in middle school. I'm glad he grew out of that and decided to go into forensics instead."
Steve chuckled. "Can't imagine Eric being on a beastball team."
"Unfortunately, he's vertically challenged like his uncle," Danny sighed. He put up his fists. "But being vertically challenged doesn't mean we can't pack a punch."
Steve rubbed his jaw. "Found that out the hard way."
They waited by the Camaro as Kono passed their thief off to the HPD officers, giving them a brief rundown of what had transpired. They'd have to make an official report later, but hopefully after lunch.
"We should put a beastball game together," Steve said suddenly.
Danny lifted a brow and flung out his hands. "Yeah? And might I ask, with whom would we play? You know I don't like being around other people."
"We could play with people we know," Steve said.
"Like who? Who wouldn't be crushed like a twig in a game of beastball?"
"There's you, me, Kono," he said.
Danny gestured for him to continue. "That's not even enough to make two teams of two."
"Eric, Jessa," he added.
"Oh, so it's going to be a virtual game, because last time I checked, my nephew doesn't live on the island," Danny said.
"Mauna."
Danny laughed. "Because I can definitely see her wanting to play beastball with us."
"You don't know what she does in her free time," Steve said.
"Au contraire, you see, I lived with her for almost a month. I do know what she does in her free time, and it's not beastball," Danny objected.
"Okay. Okay. I'll admit. Most of the other dragons we meet either live on the mainland or are criminals," Steve said and held up his hands placatingly.
"We could just do football. Plain, good ole football. Or baseball. All American baseball. Grill some hotdogs, make iced tea and get a few coolers of beer, maybe try to keep on the uphill path of becoming civil with Grover," he suggested.
Steve looked down at him. "What is it with you wanting me to be friends with Grover?"
"Because, I happen to like knowing SWAT will back us up when we invariably need it, and while I didn't appreciate his threat of leaving us high and dry, as a once-by-the-book cop, I can see where he was coming from," Danny said. "Plus, you need more friends than just me."
"What, you don't like being my friend?" Steve questioned.
"Some days, I seriously consider handing in my resignation." He shook his head.
"I have friends other than the team," Steve said. "I keep in touch with some of my SEAL buddies."
"Good, good," Danny said, nodding. "It was just a suggestion."
"Suggestion noted," Steve said.
There was a beat of silence.
"Do you think Mauna would play beastball?"
Danny threw his hands up. "I don't know, but I'm definitely not going to be the one to ask her. That's all you, babe. That's all you."
Next week on "Dragons", it's a surprise because I'm not sure what's getting posted!
Sorry about the teaser for next week. I do believe I've cracked a molar, and while not in pain, I'm in a bit of discomfort with both that and some shoulder issues I've been dealing with, so my writing's been hither-tither.
Also, I'm totally open to a better name for the sport than beastball. XD
Artwork may get posted to the page at some point in the future of the three players. I have one of them sketched and colored, but haven't found time to do the other two.
Thank you for reading, reviewing, faving, and following!