Whoo! My last update was so long ago! August! That's not right. Apologies abound. Mainly, the three big reasons for not updating were: A) One Piece stealing all of my creativity, B) beginning my senior year at high school and C) I had no clue as how to end the story. Now, I have some sort of idea. Yeah... I do not own Slayers, Major League Baseball, any member of Gerao-A or gratuitous usage of an online English-to-Portuguese translator.

Ni-juu-hachi

A Few Slight Time Warps? Add Four to the List!

Lina was enraged. It was not the usual sense of anger that she normally dealt with whenever the violet-haired man was around her. That was mere a child's spat compared to what she felt now. This time, she glared violently at Xellos, her arms crossed and expression rigid.

"You," she snarled. The manager tried to move so that he could make his escape down the long hallway underneath Jones Soda Stadium, but due to the much taller, and much stronger, Kurt securing him by the shoulders, he was unable to budge an inch.

"Eheh, you don't understand Inverse," Xellos said with a nervous grin. "The Gladiators' manager was obviously challenging me with his interpretive dancing on top of his own dugout. I can assure you that it was for the sake of the team..."

"Sake of the team my ass," Kurt hissed into Xellos's ear. "Be glad the game has been long over. Do you realize how pissed Lina was when she woke up?"

"...very...?"

"Exactly." The centerfielder smirked as he looked over at his teammate. "That was what, five hours ago, eh Lina?"

"I say a punch and a kick for every hour, plus every person who knows now," the redhead said resolutely. "So that's five, plus Gary and Maliska makes seven. I don't think that pretty little blonde of yours won't recognize you once you finally slink back home." Xellos gulped in horror, closed his eyes and braced himself for what was sure to be the most painful beating of them all.

Zelas! Xellos cried internally. Filia! Where are you two when I need you!?

"Oi!" called out a voice. Lina turned around to see a rather voluptuous woman standing in the hallway. Kurt looked over the shortstop's shoulder and allowed his jaw to drop and his grip loosen.

"Who are you?" Lina asked. She glanced back at Kurt, only to find that Xellos had slipped from his grasp and was currently running down the hall to safety. She cursed under her breath and looked back at the mysterious woman, who seemed rather smug. A press pass hung around her neck and she carried herself with an air that Lina found to be quite familiar.

"You don't remember me?" the woman gasped. "I'm sure your friend there does." She pointed over towards Kurt, who was making unintelligible noises and twitching.

"If you're here for an interview, I'm gonna have to tell you to bug off," Lina grunted, scratching the back of her exposed neck. She was relieved that she only a few minutes before been released from the care of the nurse Maliska and had no time to change out of Liam's guise, smeared with dirt and caked in her own dried blood.

"Oh, I'm here for something much more important than an interview..." the woman smiled slyly. Her hand raised to besides her mouth and she gave off a deep, screeching laugh that caused Lina to stumble in surprise.

"What the...?" she gasped, immediately recognizing the laugh. "Garcia? How in the hell did you get here?"

"I work here, of course," Naga smiled, waving her press pass for the two athletes to see. "My man and I are the commentators for every game you play."

"Wait a second, that makes no sense," Kurt said, finally getting over the shock. "Our commentators' names are AirJay and Naga."

"No sense at all Garcia," Lina added. "Not once have I heard about you or that pervert Jayson in all my time here."

"Cala-te! I heard that you little despeitada punk!" shouted AirJay, jumping out from behind the nearby corner. He had a lit lighter in his hand and seemed to be ready to charge. He was then forced to retreat, courtesy of Ramon and Nehszriah forcing him back into their now-known hiding spot. Nehszriah waved with a nervous smile once she and Ramon had AirJay under control and popped back out of sight.

"So, where were we...?" Naga sighed, a large grin upon her face. "It's been a long time you little cross-dresser. Where's the blackmailing to begin?"

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Zelgadis sat up from his sleeping position on the polished conference table. He leaned back in the high-backed chair and let out a long yawn, wincing at the headache that the last few hours had induced. The clock on the wall said that it was nearing midnight and he had yet to go home. Maliska let out a satisfied sound next to him as she finally finished cleaning up all the mess that having Lina there had left behind.

"Well, everything's done here Mr. Graywords," she said. Zelgadis looked up and saw the medic appearing quite pleased.

"Oh, okay. You can go now. Remember: tell no one about Liam's secret," he replied gruffly. The man glanced around the room as Maliska headed for the door and became puzzled. "Wait a second, where did Amelia go? Wasn't she here just a moment ago?"

"Yeah, but she left when you fell asleep," the nurse explained. "She said something about needing to go to a press conference in your stead. The Slayers did win tonight's game after all."

"Oh, we did?" Zelgadis asked, sleepy suprise in his voice.

"Yes, we did." Maliska rolled her eyes in amusement as Zelgadis stood up and walked over to the door as well. Without another word, they both walked through the doors and down separate wings of the hall.

We won, eh? Zelgadis thought to himself, shoving his hands into his pockets. Too bad Amelia didn't wake me up. I would have gone to the post-game press conference myself. Wait... I was asleep from the time Inverse and Fuchs were calm enough to fake apologies to one another. I would have been horrible. At least Amelia knows what she can tell about Inverse's condition. Zelgadis turned the corner and stared blandly at the scene that he had stumbled upon. There was Lina and Kurt, as well as a vaguely familiar and large-chested woman standing in the hall. Lina and the woman were fighting, scratching and kicking at every chance they got. Kurt stood off to the side and tried getting into the scuffle in order to stop things, but recoiled every time due to being hit by a stray swipe.

"Ah! There you are!" Kurt said, noticing Zelgadis standing there. He ran over to the chimera and dragged him over to the two women. "You pay both of them. Make them stop."

"Kurt, are you nuts?" Zelgadis answered, still slightly sleepy. "Mess with women, you've got a week in the hospital coming. I thought being Lina's teammate, you'd get that by now."

"Yeah, but that's Amelia's sister," the fielder pointed out.

"Amelia's sister?"

"Yup."

"The one that's been gone for only she knows long?"

"The one and the same."

"Then let them continue until one passes out," Zelgadis smiled. He walked away, leaving Kurt to the mess. The stony man turned the other corner and saw who ended up being Nehszriah and Ramon finishing hog-tying AirJay, Kiko barking at their sides. The three commentators looked up at Zelgadis and halted all form of movement.

"Who are you guys?" Zelgadis asked.

"Oh!" Nehszriah laughed nervously. "We're three of the World Series commentators! Naga's our fourth. We're just waiting for her to be done with business!"

"Don't worry about us," Ramon added. "Just making sure AirJay here stays harmless."

"Ola, Rocha. Como você fazendo com a irmã da minha mulher?" AirJay said to Zelgadis with relish, a devilish grin upon his face. He struggled slightly with the rope that bound his hands to his feet, trying to get his lighter loose.

"Okay, I'm going to assume that he said something rude, because he looked like he had too much fun saying it," Zelgadis sighed. He walked past the second fray of the past five minutes and ignored everything else he came across until his car.

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The games that passed after "Liam's Accident" were long ones for the Portland Slayers, athletes and fans alike. With their shortstop out of commission, the scared-stiff backup, Esteban Hernandez, had to fill in the position while the team was hosted in Knoxville, which might have done more harm than good. He was nervous throughout the entire time he was playing and dropped the ball during game play… more than once. Three games had to pass in this fashion, all the while Lina was screaming instructions from the bench to her team as they lost by close margins and bugging Maliska constantly about when she could play again. After not getting a single speck of quiet, the frazzled medic finally gave Lina clearance to play for the fifth game of the series. The return of Liam was taken with a reluctant welcome, for the fifth game would have to be the deciding one; for the Slayers, it was either win or give up the Series.

"Oh, does it feel good to be back!" Lina said happily as she stretched on her way back from changing in the bathroom stalls. She still had a rather large bandage stuck to her forehead, making her seem more like an eyesore than an athlete ready for game play.

"You better pay attention this time," warned Gary as Lina passed his on her way to her locker. Lina smiled slyly as she caught the second baseman trying to stare at her flattened and near non-existent chest.

"You just worry about yourself and I'll make sure I won't stare at our manager for too long," Lina laughed.

"Are you sure Miss Maliska said it was alright for you to play today?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah," Lina answered. "Why?"

"No offence Liam, but you do have the habit of taking things into your own hands," Kurt noted as Lina sat down next to him. "Your record doesn't help you this time."

"Okay, so what? Call the woman if you guys doubt me that much," Lina sighed. "Just give me a break already."

"Oi, Liam," Takashi called from the door. "There's some woman sitting outside. Says she's got an order to video-interview you."

"Not now!" Lina snarled. "Tell her to go away."

"Says a 'Naga' sent her," Takashi replied.

"Oh, for the love of Pete!" Lina huffed, stomping over towards the door where Takashi stood by. Lina burst into the hall and looked around, only to see a demure young woman with blue-black hair standing next to a camera set atop a tripod that was firmly attached to a truck.

"H-Hello-o Mr. Liam," stuttered the woman. "My name is Sylphiel Nels-Rada. Miss Naga told me to interview you."

"For what…?" Lina asked gruffly.

"I don't know. I have a list of questions and I am supposed to ask you some and Mr. Gourry some…"

"Mr. Gourry…?"

"Yes, Gourry Gabriev!" Sylphiel squeaked. Blush spread across her face quickly at mentioning the pitcher's name. "You do think he would let me interview him, right?"

"Hey, you're the professional reporter here, not me," Lina scoffed.

"Actually, I'm just a student," Sylphiel admitted. She then screwed up her face into fierce determination. "Please, let me interview you Mr. Liam!"

"…only if you cut the 'mister' bit."

"Yes sir!" Slyphiel took and turned on the camera and positioned it so that it was trained on Lina and went to stand next the subject, microphone in hand. After making sure the microphone was on, the student reporter put a nervous smile on and stared right at the camera. "Sylphiel Nels-Rada here with Liam Inverse, rookie catcher for the Portland Slayers." She then turned towards Lina, seeming to gain a bit more pep with every word. "Is it alright if we ask you a few questions?" She shoved the microphone into Lina's face, nearly knocking it into the shortstop's teeth.

"Uh, sure," Lina said, scratching the back of her head. "You do have me out here after all."

"Okay! How did it feel to sit out the past three games?"

"Dreadful."

"Did you try to be a part of the team anyways by offering advice and counsel to those who were playing?"

"Constantly."

"Did you and the rest of your teammates give your manager a severe talking-to after the first game, where you were tragically injured?"

"Yup." Lina allowed a large grin to wipe across her face as she thought about how good it felt to threaten Xellos.

"How is the feelings in the locker room, now that the Slayers are one game away from losing it all?"

"Crap."

"Is there any way I will be able to get more than a one-word answer from you?"

"Nope."

"Alright then…!" Slyphiel said, a false grin on her face. She turned her vision towards the camera again and sighed slightly. "This is Sylphiel Nels-Rada, back to you guys in the studio." She then quickly turned the camera off and bowed towards Lina. "Thank you again Mr. Liam."

"Was that live or something?"

"Umm… not really, but that's pretty much what's going to be played on air."

"Great…" Lina groaned. She looked over at Sylphiel and nodded. "Well, good luck interviewing Gabriev."

"Oh! Thank you!" Sylphiel said, blush running across her face again. She grabbed hold of the tripod and pushed it along the hall. Lina watched as the student ran along and tripped. She raised an eyebrow as the girl got back up and continued scuttling along.

"Hey, Liam!" hissed Jan as he stuck his head out the door. "You done yet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's almost time for the game! Come on!"

Author's Notes

Cala-te: "Shut up."

Despeitada: "flat-chested"

Hog-tying AirJay: He had it coming. -winks-

Ola, Rocha. Como você fazendo com a irmã da minha mulher?: "Heya Rocky. How's it going with my woman's sister?"... I think. I forgot to write it down. -is a bad person-

Sylphiel: Why is she a wide-eyed student? Well, because that's what I am... a poor excuse for a sports journalism student. For one weekend, I had passes to all the high school football I could handle, as well as some touring of the field during game time. The press box at Ford Field was so high I got a headache!-Psyduck noise-

Next Chapter: Pray to St. Jude that it comes to me quickly. If you're not one for Christianity or praying, then cross your fingers.