Disclaimer: I have no legal or creative rights to Digimon.

Note: The rules of the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame varied from place to place and time to time. I describe them here to the best of my understanding.

The Ballgame

The ballcourt was packed with underworld digimon, including Pyromon, Cryomon, and the owlmon. Gambling seemed to be rampant. Ken hoped at least some of them had money on him. He wore a padded leather uniform he'd been given. The writing on the walls and the architecture of Balaammon's palace had seemed familiar, but it wasn't until Ken saw the ballcourt that he realized they were similar to the Mayan ruins he'd seen in Mexico.

Balaammon strutted into the arena. He no longer wore his morbid jewelry, but his padded uniform was dyed a rich emerald green.

Ken didn't think he stood a chance, but when he looked up at Gatomon—tied up, hanging from a dead tree, and guarded by deathbatmon—he resolved to play his best game ever.

A crocodilian digimon dropped the ball into the court. Ken went through the rules in his mind: hit the ball with any body part but feet or hands, get it through one of the two vertical hoops on the sides of the court for a point. Game ends when sunlight no longer falls on the floor of the ballcourt. Player with the most points wins. Simple enough.

"Ready?" the crocodile digimon asked.

Balaammon answered affirmative.

Ken took a deep breath, and nodded.

Balaammon started the ball by dropping it and hitting it with his hip. It sped past Ken and collided with the wall. Moving like a giant bouncy ball, it flew back, hit the ground, and bounced off the far wall. Balaammon and Ken rushed for it, but Balaammon was closer. He kneed the ball toward a goal. Ken rushed at it, but was a centimeter behind. The ball passed through the goal, and Ken slammed into the stone wall. The audience cheered. Point one for Balaammon.

The ball was entered again. This time Ken chased it as it sped toward the back. As it bounced off, he redirected it with his shoulder. Even with the thick padding, it stung excruciatingly. Balaammon was already in the ball's trajectory, but Ken ran behind him, jumped as high as he could, and hit the ball with his head. The next instant, he collided with the large digimon, and they both crashed to the ground. Ken saw the ball ricochet off the wall and fall to the ground. He could only tell that he had made the goal by the applause.

He began the next play by dropping the ball and kneeing it across the court. It bounced a few times and overshot the wall. A fan knocked it back in, and Balaammon hit it with his chest. It flew towards the goal, but Ken wasn't called "the Rocket" for nothing. He intercepted the ball, bouncing it off his elbow. The audience's cheers were like an intoxicant to him. He forgot his stinging welts, launched himself off the wall, and got the ball with his thigh, sending it spinning towards the nearest goal. Balaammon knocked it off its path and kneed it to the back wall. It deflected violently and bounced through the other goal.

Ken couldn't help but be deeply impressed.

On the next play the ball bounced at exactly the right angle to stop mid-field and bounce up and down. Unfortunately, Balaammon rushed between Ken and the ball. At first Ken thought the situation was hopeless, but then his competitive instincts knocked his common sense aside and he irrationally decided nothing was impossible. Putting on a burst of speed, Ken ducked below the large digimon's legs, hit the ball with his shin so that it bounced off the wall, then hit it with his hip to bounce it off the wall at a higher angle, then hit it with his head and watched it arch through the air right to the hoop. It all happened so fast that Balaammon, who hadn't slowed down, smashed into Ken only after witnessing the instant of triumph. Some spectators booed, some cheered, and some roared with laughter.

"Go Ken!" Gatomon cheered. The two deathbatmon hanging upside-down beside her were also cheering.

There was less than a centimeter of sunlight touching the playing floor. The audience, now silent with anticipation, watched it eagerly. In all the soccer games Ken had ever played, he'd never seen the crowd so absorbed. His eyes met Balaammon's across the court. Then the ball was dropped. The opposing warriors dashed for it as if their lives depended on it. Ken reached it first and bounced it off his forearm. Balaammon changed direction mid-stride and intercepted the ball, turning around and bouncing it off his back. Ken anticipated the trajectory, made a flying leap, and knocked the ball off its path right before it could reach the goal. Balaammon was on the ball's trail. In a moment, Ken realized, the digimon could have it through the other goal with no problem. Without a moment to recover from his latest intimate encounter with the wall, Ken raced across the court, knocked into Balaammon with as much force as he could, and twisted around to pursue the ball. It bounced back to the other side of the goal. Ken started after it, but Balaammon grabbed his foot, making him fall flat on the ground. The spectators booed. Ken just laughed as he yanked his foot free and sprang directly into a leap to catch up with the ball. He bounced it off his ribcage, and it made an astonishingly accurate bee-line for the goal. Balaammon, leaping higher than any human possibly could have, deflected the ball with his powerful stomach. It hit the ground and rolled to the far wall. Balaammon dove for it and hit it with his elbow—sending it toward the other end of the court—and rolled to his feel agilely. Ken dodged the speeding rubber sphere, watched it bounce off the wall, then knocked it gently with his shoulder, adroitly redirecting it into the hoop, scoring the winning goal.

Euphoria erupted in the assembled crowd. Digimon jumped over the side to personally offer Ken congratulations. Balaammon whispered something to Cryomon, who untied Gatomon, who then ran down to Ken.

"You were GREAT!" she gushed with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

The batmon also flew down to Ken. They acted almost worshipful.

Balaammon approached, dampening the celebration. "I commend you," he said with a mixture of resentment and awe. "It didn't even cross my mind that you would actually win. I haven't lost a game in years; who would have thought a human could beat me? Well, I am a demon of my word. My owlmon will take you back." He stormed away, muttering about losing his respect and probably his followers for this.

Ken found the owlmon. "Balaammon promised that you would take us back," he said.

Pyromon ran up behind him. "You can't leave yet! We're having a party in honor of your victory. You have to come."

Yes, come you ballplayer. You Gatomon as well. The your honor is feasted surely," the owlmon said.

"I don't know..."

"Oh, come on Ken," Gatomon encouraged. "You earned it."

"Well...okay," he agreed.

"Good then that," said the owlmon.