Intoduction Part VIII
By IAStarDragon
It seemed like a normal day for everyone in the city and Ness was in quite a good mood. Soon everyone would be focused solely on competing in the tourney, but for now that didn't matter to him. He could prepare for his match later. At this moment, Ness just wanted to have some fun.
So did Mario. Yeah, he'd been there before and he knew that he'd win a few matches, but it almost seemed that he was out of it for some unknown reason. It was almost a crazy coincidence that he ran into Ness.
"Hello-a, Ness. What-a brings you out-a here?" asked Mario.
"Nothing much really. I just wanted to have some fun before we start getting really serious, you know. I have an idea, what about a baseball game? The stadium was built to adapt to a wide variety of conditions, so why not?"
"Sure-a, Ness. You-a get 8 guys and I'll-a get 8 guys and we can-a have some-a fun before the fighting begins. Now-a, who's going to get the umpire?"
"I'll get an umpire, Mario. And I promise you it won't be CATS. He's more crooked then a bent stick."
"Deal, Ness. CATS was-a lame umpire the last time we had a game. How about-a Auron? He seems like the perfect guy for this."
"Sure, I'll talk to him about that. We're going to have so much fun! I'll see you later, Mario."
"Sure-a thing, Ness. Just remember, that I'm-a the best!"
With that, Ness and Mario headed off in different directions, each with a goal in mind: To get eight other players to join their baseball team.
The only problem was that they hadn't agreed on a time to start the game. It didn't matter, though, because for once, the focus wouldn't be on the battles. Instead, it would be on the diamond.
It took some time, but each side finally convinced 16 other contestants to join them in this blissful little diversion.
Ness' team was all about speed, with the top of his order being Joanna Dark and Ryu Hayabusa, the first and second basemen of the team respectively. After them, he had Kirby, his catcher at the three spot and Zidane, the shortstop, batting cleanup. The final five were his outfielders: Vivi, Yoshi, and Pac-Man, with Ness, the pitcher, hitting eighth. The third baseman, Donkey Kong, would be batting last.
Mario's team was the polar opposite. It was all about power and that was a major understatement when he placed the King of All Cosmos (inexplicably shrunken down to a slightly more manageable size, yet still towering) at the top of his order and had him fill in as his centerfielder (Mario figured that his height would ruin any home run chances for Ness' team). Then, a few surprises popped out as Bowser, his sworn enemy, would bat second at second base. His catcher, Alucard, was third and then it was CJ at third base batting fourth. In the five hole was Gordon Freeman, who was the first baseman. Then, Mario rounded it out with his brother, Luigi, at right field, KOS-MOS at left, Yuna at shortstop and, of course, Mario pitching.
All of those who weren't selected were asked to be umpires, and of those asked, only four wanted to do it. Crono, usually silent, would be the umpire behind home plate while Ryu was behind first base and Leon Kennedy would be behind third. CATS, as much as both Ness and Mario wanted to keep him out of this, begged and pleaded his way in as the outfield umpire. He kept on glancing at the bases in envy, though, an action which slightly unnerved the two captains.
Before the game started, Ness and Mario went to the pitcher's mound to exchange lineup cards when Ness asked Mario why Auron didn't accept the umpire position.
Mario said that the swordsman told him that he was a better spectator then a player. So, with that, the first ever Summer Contest Baseball Challenge was underway. Presented by EA Sports, of course.
As the game started, things went very smoothly as each side got out in a one, two, three fashion for the first three innings. Then, in the top of the fourth...
Ness' team had Joanna Dark come up to bat with the score tied at 0-0. Mario was sent to throw out his fastball and aimed it at her knees. She barely missed getting beamed and Crono had to warn Mario not to do that again. This time, he used his curveball, and it went wild!
Needless to say, with the batter's count working for Joanna and Mario starting to sweat, he threw what seemed like a simple fastball. But there was something awfully fishy about it.
"Time!" yelled Crono. The fans, who were rooting for all of the contestants, were wondering what was going on. "Alright, Mario. I know, you know, and everyone in the stands know you've cheated before. Let's see the glove."
"Sure-a thing, Crono." Mario gave Crono his glove and found out that there was something wrong alright: it was plastered in K-Y Jelly. This wasn't a fastball…it was the classic spitter, done with a generous heaping of lubrication.
"You're outta here!" exclaimed Crono as he tossed Mario out of the game. Mario decided to stay and argue, but even he should know that you never, ever, argue with the umpire. Crono let him have it with a swift kick to his manhood.
His brother, Luigi, came to Mario's defense and helped him off the field. As they were heading towards the locker room, a fan had a video camera and he was taping the whole ordeal. Taking the page out of the "How to be a Jackass, by Kenny 'The Gambler' Rogers" book, Luigi grabbed the camera and threw it down, shattering it into quite a few pieces.
Needless to say, Mario's team decided to have a little chat. "We believe the team needs help," stated the King of All Cosmos.
"I see your point, King, but we need a new pitcher or we'll have to forfeit…and you know how much I hate losing!" exclaimed Gordon.
Alucard grabbed Gordon and started slapping some sense into him. "Get a hold of yourself, Freeman. I have an idea. Since the King of All Cosmos is known for his round katamari ball, why not let him pitch?"
The others agreed with Alucard, as if it was some sort of a grand scheme. Except for Gordon who insisted that he should pitch for the team.
"Man, Gordon. No wonder people think you're a joke. You whine more then Peach ever did!" chimed in Bowser.
"Not now, Bowser," Yuna said, hoping to defuse the situation before it got ugly.
Alucard was forced into a tough situation. Should he have the team vote on letting the King of All Cosmos becoming the new pitcher or should they forfeit the game?
It took about five minutes for him to think it over, but Alucard finally decided to take a vote. It was nearly unanimous: The King of All Cosmos would be the new pitcher for Mario's team.
The left an even bigger hole, though: who would be playing centerfield? Thankfully, Alucard had just the person in mind to take over.
To some contestants' surprise, Kratos Aurion stepped on to the field and joined the team in their little chat.
"Hey, guys. I know I'm new here, but thanks for letting me join your team," stated Kratos.
"No sweat, kid," added Gordon. "We always like to see some new guys come up and get involved with a few of the more fun activities."
CJ, who was the quiet one here, chose this time to speak out. "Yeah, dawg. I can only be in one place at one time, or else I could totally rock this field. You better have some mad skills yourself, though. They have some crazy fucking players on their side."
"I know," said Kratos. "Why did you think I was watching everything in the stands before?"
With that settled, the game went on and the King struck Joanna out with three straight pitches.
The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when CJ hit a double, bringing Bowser in to score.
It wasn't until the eight inning when Team Ness earned another run when Ryu Hayabusa nailed a solo shot that was estimated to go about 520 feet.
At the bottom of the ninth inning the score was tied at 1. It was now up to the new guy, Kratos, to decide the outcome of this game. Heroes could be made in this pressure packed situation. On the other hand, it could also deliver a crushing blow if something went wrong.
The inning started when CJ hit a single to left field.
Then, it was Alucard's turn to hit. He nailed a shot to right field. It was going to be caught by Pac-Man, but he ran into Vivi, causing the ball to drop, allowing CJ to reach third while Alucard held at second base.
It was now up to Kratos.
Ness had to throw his best stuff now because he knew that one bad pitch could cost him the game, with no one to blame but himself.
The first pitch was a slow ball and Kratos swung at it.
"STRIKE ONE!" exclaimed Crono as Kirby spit the ball back at Ness.
The next pitch was a sinker. Kratos checked his swing as it hit the dirt. It was now a 1-1 count.
Next came another slow ball, and yet again, Kratos swung at it. The pressure was starting to get to him. One more missed swing and they would have to go extra innings to settle the game.
Ness eyed Kirby and nodded his head at his catcher's selection. Rearing his arm back, he released the ball with a flourish. It was a fastball, straight down the middle. Kratos swung at it and he connected with a resounding crack. The ball skirted toward the left field wall. Pointing his arms towards the wall a la Carl Yastrzemski back in the day, it went... FAIR!
HOME RUN! Team Mario had won the game!
Kratos hit the game winning run. He knew it didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but for it was worth, this gave him a bit of a emotional boost heading into the tourney. What seemed like a horrible situation after Mario got ejected turned into a thrilling victory.
It was at that moment that Ness came out and congratulated the game winning player.
"Well, Kratos, that was great. I'm so glad that we had some fun here…even if Mario did cheat."
"Don't feel so bad, Ness. It was nice for all of us to have our fun but now we really need to get serious and prepare for the tournament. Look at this way...it was a great stress reliever and I'm sure everyone here is thankful that you took some time out to organize this."
"Sounds good. Just promise me one thing."
"And what's that?"
"Don't bring up anything about baseball again for the rest of the contest, alright?"
"Deal," said Aurion, as he smiled at the youth from Onett.
