Whoo! Back from Spring Break and visiting the capitol! Shame I couldn't go see some "democracy in action"on Saturday, but my teacher would have gotten in trouble. There was already one teacher nearly roasted with wieners for trying to scare internet safety into us. Poor, poor teachers. I do not own Slayers, Major League Baseball, jellyfish, my reviewers, locking people in closets, talking in Portuguese and especially not Communism. Apologies in advance for writing OCs with outdated, prejudiced emotions.
Juu-hachi
Sizzling September! Mary's Got A Rematch!
"Are you sure this is going to work Lina?" Kurt asked skeptically as he observed his friend in the batting cage. Lina did not answer, but swung at an oncoming ball with incredible force. A loud crack resounded as the ball flew back towards the pitching machine. Said machine then became victim to the ball as it fell down to the ground and began thrusting balls at the ceiling instead of towards Lina.
"Of course it will work," Lina said as she raised her bat and pointed towards the tarp she had put on the wall behind the pitching machine. On the tarp, she had used her less than exemplary artistic ability to paint on a rather large jellyfish that had very long blond hair and an idiotic expression upon its face. "I am ready to hear if you have other suggestions."
"A cardboard cutout placed behind or next to the pitching machine might have been more effective, don't you think?"
"Nonsense. That would have just been weird."
"Whatever," Kurt sighed, entering the cage so that he could right the fallen machine. "I still think this is not going to work. What good would come out of this all anyways?"
"Building up my immunity to Gabriev's pitching and immobilization technique," Lina grinned. As soon as Kurt was out of the cage, she pressed a button on the wall to make the pitching machine start up again.
"So you seriously believe that a tarp is going to help you?"
"Not just any tarp," Lina puffed as she swung the bat at an oncoming ball. "...but a tarp that looks like him!"
"It doesn't l..."
"Shut up!"
"I just don't get you Lina," Kurt said half-heartedly. He stared at Lina through the chain-link fence as she methodically smacked baseball after baseball into the tarp stuck to the wall. It felt as if she had been hitting baseballs for hours when the basket finally ran out and more balls needed to be fed into the machine.
"Oi Kurt, hand me that bucket there, will ya?" Lina asked as she went over to the machine to temporarily turn it off. Kurt looked down next to him to see a rather large bucket filled with a few scores of baseballs.
"Don't you want to save up your energy for the game later?" he asked.
"Nonsense! The game is six hours away!" Lina retorted. "Now hand me that bucket!"
Good Lord help us all... Kurt sighed mentally. Bloody Mary's in another moment. The world might just end if her demands are not made.
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It was generally calm in the press box, being that it was a few hours before the beginning of the game. Naga sat in her seat by the microphone, yet instead of having AirJay sitting next to her, there was a gangly girl with shoulder-length brown hair and a black baseball cap on that clashed with her hazel eyes.
"Hello and welcome to Jones Soda Stadium, home of the Portland Slayers!" she said with flourish. "My name is Nehszriah Shirubaa Kiri Morgana and am standing in today for AirJay Andrades..."
"More like you tied him up and shoved him in the closet," Naga added blandly as she lazily consumed a hot dog. It was a practice run for the commentators, so she was not worried about the microphone being turned on.
"...as I was saying..." the brown-haired girl said through clenched teeth. She glared over at Naga, who just gave a blank look in response. "...oh... never mind..."
"That's right!" Naga laughed. Nehszriah had to cover her ears to save them partly from the screeching howl that came out of her comrade. She amazingly though, was able to hear a muted pounding sound coming from a nearby door that was accompanied by a muffled shouting noise.
"Jeezum crowe... he's still conscious...?" Nehszriah muttered as she walked over to the door. She opened the door a slight crack, kicked something that made a faint yelping noise and sat back down next to Naga.
"That is just wrong," the raven-haired woman sighed.
"Hey, I guess as long as that referee-chick..."
"...you mean Sunny..."
"...whatever... but as long as she has Ramon-kun, and is keeping him busy, and the dog-creature..."
"You mean Kiko?"
"...yeah... that... and as long as he doesn't show up too, there is no one really who can stop me."
"I always can you know."
"You have my word that I'll to leave him to you later," Nehszriah said, holding up her right hand as if taking an oath. She idly hummed a tune about grunge hamsters and lobsters of revenge as she awaited the answer.
"Done." Naga smiled mischievously and looked back at the closet. She was definitely going to have some fun after the game.
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It was very hectic in the locker room, contrasting greatly with the press box of the previous scene. The various members of the Slayers were going through their pre-game rituals driven by strict superstition or lack thereof. Off to one corner was Lina and Kurt, quietly talking so that no one else could hear them without being right next to Kurt's shoulder.
"Kurt, I'm ready."
"Then why in the hell are you freaking out Liam?"
"I am not freaking out."
"Then why are you about to crush that bat handle with your bare hands? Stop it..."
"Hey Fuchs! Stop talking to your boyfriend and get over here!" a voice called from across the room. Lina recognized it at once to belong to Daniel White, the pitcher who was still teasing the two friends after all this time when they were supposed to be teammates.
"Shove it Dan," Kurt sneered as he walked over to Daniel. Daniel just made a rude hand gesture back to Kurt as they both sat down in the huddle around Xellos.
"Now then," Xellos said smoothly as his team gathered round. "What may I ask are we going to do today?"
"Win!" the mob of males chanted.
"…and why do we want to win?"
"...to win the pennant!" Aaron Reeds exclaimed.
"...to be the best!" Jan Oisterwijk added.
"...to KICK GLADIATOR ASS!" Lina shouted from her little corner of the locker room. Everyone else glanced over to see her in a fierce battle-ready pose that made her seem almost as if she was ready to go outside to meet her maker than an opposing baseball team.
"Calm down there Liam," Kurt sighed. "We all know you want to 'kick ass', but can't you control yourself?"
"Come on now," Xellos said slyly, going over to Lina as she hopped down off the bench she had been standing on. "I think Inverse here has a point. We do want to take out the trash, now don't we?"
The rest of the locker room, sans Kurt, cheered in response. Kurt just sighed and shook his head at the rally of yawps that Lina and Xellos were able to stir up.
"I think I might need an aspirin by the end of the night," he sighed, knowing that no one else would respond.
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Tension was high in the air as the Slayers took the field for their first inning of play. Lina bounced out to her spot between Gary Polous and Kenny Rook and began stretching out. She could hear her name being chanted by a small section of the fans and the night's lineup announced over the intercom system.
Gotta stay loose. Gotta stay focused. Gotta beat the Gladiators! Lina thought as she absentmindedly swung around her arm to loosen it. She looked over at Kurt and gave a v-for-victory sign, showing that she was definitely ready for the game. Kurt smiled in return and began to pass a baseball to Sam Vilsis and Jan Oisterwijk.
Look out Gourry Gabriev, Lina thought with sheer confidence oozing from her very essence. I'm gonna hit a homer off you and there will be nothing you can do about it.
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It was the bottom of the second inning before Lina could go to the batter's box. Kurt had already done her a favor by getting on base by hitting a double and Aaron Reeds right before her went down on strikes. All she had to do at this point was hit the ball over four hundred feet over the field fence and the Slayers would have a two run lead. It was now all or nothing.
All right now Lina, Lina thought as she made herself comfortable at the plate. Let's beat this guy. Show him what we're made of. She glanced over at Gourry standing on the mound and smirked. It's working! I think I can overcome this guy! No man is going to defeat me and get away with it!
Lina swung with maddening force as the ball came close to the plate. The ball popped up and soared high over the foul line and into the crowd.
Well, at least I was able to hit it this time... that's at least an improvement...
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"…and that's a foul ball off the bat of Inverse," Naga said from up in the pressbox. She rested her jaw on her hand out of sheer boredom.
"You know," Nehszriah began, trying to be a good commentator. "I have seen quite an improvement in Inverse's batting game since the beginning of the season. To be honest, he's come miles since April 3rd… hell, he has come far since the last Slayers/Gladiators match-up alone!"
"…and Gabriev pitches a ball… and quite the wild one at that. One ball, one strike."
"I do also hope you realize that Gabriev has come along as well as a pitcher. In fact, this reminds me of this one time… at band camp…"
"You never went to band camp," Naga scoffed.
"How would you know?"
"I'm Naga, of course!"
"Jeezum…"
"Another ball. It looks as if Gabriev might be having some trouble concentrating today. Two, one; on Inverse."
"Fine then," Nehszriah grumped. "Then there was this one time… on Ebay…"
"You don't belong to Ebay either, so just shut up already."
"Make me."
"We're on air you know."
"I don't give a thought."
"There's another ball. Three, one; one out; Fuchs on second. Good job at censoring yourself there Nehszriah."
"Naga-san... do you have Bawls?"
"Excuse me…!"
"You know… energy drink… Bawls… yummy… I'm sleepy…"
"Nehszriah, you are not being all that colorful for being the color commentary," Naga sighed. She glanced over to her right to see Nehszriah fast asleep with her head down on the desk and using her arms as a makeshift pillow.
"Para o amor de Mariá, esta menina é uma dor de damn em meu lado. É quase tão má quanto esse palhaço no armário…" she sighed. "Eu não fico pago suficiente fazer isto…"
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Lina swung hard as she barely tipped the ball behind the blue-haired female who was umpiring the game. Her breathing became heavy with dread as a new ball was thrown back at Gourry.
Damn it, damn it, damn it... she panicked internally. Full count! What am I going to do? I need a plan of attack, that's what. Come on Lina. Eye on the ball. Follow though with the swing... since when do I play golf dammit?
Again, Lina looked over at Gourry. His eyes appeared much more intense as he stood there on the mound than they were when they were in the Chicago bar. Lina spat in the dirt nervously, preparing for the pitch as Gourry wound up.
The wind-up... the pitch...
Lina half wanted to close her eyes when she swung, yet somehow managed to keep them open. The ball connected with the bat and screamed towards left field. On impulse she ran; running as fast as she could manage. She looked over towards where the ball was as she passed first base up. The fielder rushed towards the wall and jumped in an attempt to snatch the ball from mid-air and steal yet another home run. Lina could not tell when his feet touched the ground again if he had the ball or not. She stopped at second to take a good look and see; was he holding that precious white sphere?
To her surprise, he was.
No... Lina weakly thought in her brain as she stood with a shocked expression upon her face. It can't be... I thought I broke that curse he had on me...
"Get back here Liam!" Lina heard someone shout. Lina looked over to the dugout to see Xellos trying to wave her down with large purple flags that had seemingly come out of nowhere. "Liam! Get back here before they beat me to a pulp!" Sure enough, upon closer inspection, Lina found that Murdoc Rodriguez and Takashi Takeda were trying to pry the flags from their manager and beat him with them, cursing him in Spanish and Japanese.
"Hey, at least you nearly made it," Aaron complimented as Lina sat down next to him. "I didn't even get to hit the ball. Look at it that way."
"I guess..." Lina scoffed as she stared at Gourry on the mound. He threw a breaking ball to Gary Polous that caused the second baseman to whiff the swing. Lina cringed slightly when she heard the sound of the leather catcher's glove forcefully cradling the baseball. The umpire called out that it was already Gary's second strike, Lina having missed the first slider. The air went thick in the dugout with anticipation as Gourry caught the baseball from the catcher and readied to throw another pitch. He pulled back his arm and pitched a lighting bolt of a fastball. Gary had almost no time to react and once he did, it was too late. The ball passed his bat right by and he was called out on strikes. A large rock seemed to drop inside Lina's stomach as Gary walked back to the dugout.
"Man," Gary sighed. "He got me again. Damn Commie…"
"There you go again," Aaron sighed, sick of hearing Gary's random excuses for failure. "Blaming people for just having a cultural history. I swear that if someone hears you one of these days, you're getting your ass thrown in jail on racism charges."
"Like I really care," Gary snarled defensively. "I just don't like playing against that damn Russian. He was probably bred for baseball, knowing how they stacked their Olympic teams back in the day."
"You say those kinds of things about Eastern Europeans, African Americans, Jewish people, Southerners..." Takashi noted, counting on his fingers.
"Gabriev doesn't sound like he's from Russia though," Lina interjected. She then let out a small gasp, realizing that she might have given her teammates a hint to the fact she had a second life.
"You might not be able to tell it by the interviews with him on television, but his family is from Russia, Liam. It isn't even the Russia we know now, but the Soviet Union."
"Does that really matter?" Sam asked as he picked up his glove and began to walk up the stairs to the field. "So his family's Russian. I think mine might be somewhere too. Does that make me a bad person?"
"No…" Gary muttered. "I just remember learning that they were evil."
"You're old," Kurt laughed, having come back from the field to fetch his glove. "I don't remember that silly Cold War mentality. It's like you're living in the fifties."
"Shut up Fuchs. I'm only seven years older than you! Just because I remember how some things were doesn't mean I'm ancient!"
"Yes it does," Xellos snickered. "I don't remember."
"You are older than me, liar."
"Defective memory; now haul ass ya pansy!"
"Damn wanker…!" Gary growled. Lina and Kurt tried pushing him along and got help from Sam when he grabbed the back of Gary's collar and dragged the light-framed man up the dugout stairs. Xellos gave one of his reverse-winks and grinned slyly, knowing that something was up with his team and he really could not care to find out whatever the heck it was.
Things to Know
The Tarp-O-Doomage: Yes, a play on the pet name Lina has for our favorite blond swordsman.
"Then there was this one time… on Ebay…": This is what my friend Tsuki has dubbed as the computer geek's version of the band camp joke. We blame her father, an accomplished Ebay addict, for the creation of this parody.
Nehszriah's Tune: That would be part of the lyrics to Furi Kuri's theme song "Ride on shooting star", which I have memorized and love utterly to bits... and I do not own.
Naga Speaking Portuguese: Translated online and supposed to turn out as "For the love of Mary, this girl is a damn pain in my side. She's almost as bad as that clown in the closet ... I do not get paid enough to do this". I decided I'd have her fluent in Portuguese, since I am sort of advocating the AirJay/Naga shipment in this fiction.
"Whiff the Swing": Meaning Gary swung the bat, but didn't hit anything.
Gary the Racist: Yeah, you people should know that I think on a higher level than Gary does. I just wanted there to be some sort of male-gossip-thing going on and after a while, decided to make a play on Gourry's ethnic-sounding name. It just sounds Russian and I remembered listening to my English III teacher ramble about how different we see people from the former Soviet Union today than when he was our age. That discussion made him feel old.