"Three outs! Change sides!"
On the bench, Albert was sneering with fury. "What madness is this? These are only delinquents!"
Angel regarded the field calmly. She touched the brim of her cap. "Change: pitchers," she asked simply.
After that, the student body's team somehow rallied. They fought with the determination of wounded pride, and it was all Team Harry could do to hang on. Julie and her friends meant well, but they simply couldn't get a clip on the ball. The others were able to mainly compensate, Richie, Hannah, and Jake each proving especially useful, that is, when Jake even bothered to swing at the ball.
By the bottom of the final inning, they had hung on to their lead. But, their enemy was up to bat. Their victory was in reach, and they knew it. Mike stood on the mound, and swallowed. No. No, he couldn't. "Time,' he called.
Harry walked up to him slowly, face set. "We're ahead by one, and we've already got two outs thanks to Richie. But they've learned, they don't send any balls past the base line. Mike, if we can get one more out, we'll win this."
Mike bit his lip, torn. "I know, I know. But, I just don't know if I can pull it off. Could we change pitchers, or… Harry? Harry, what's up?"
As Harry had been describing the situation, his face had gradually slackened, until he was staring up into the sky with a distant expression. He only returned with Mike's insistent urging. "Harry, what's going on? You've been zoning out like that ever since we started this operation," Mike questioned, worried about his friend.
Harry blinked, his eyes refocusing. "What? Oh, yeah, you're right, I'm sorry. It's just; I've been in a situation very much like this before. Back when I was alive.
The messy-haired teen gave a bittersweet smile. "I was on the baseball team, you see. I was really into, it was my passion. And, we made it really far, one year, all the way to our regional contest. I guess, in the grand scheme of life, that game wasn't a big deal. But at that time, it was my life.
₪ "The day was sweltering hot; the sun blinded us whenever we tried to look up. All I could taste was the dust in my mouth; all I could hear was the yells of the crowd. It was just like it is now, bottom of the ninth; we were ahead by one, two outs. There was a popfly to shortstop, it was right to me! I reached for it, but I, but… I just can't remember whether I caught it… I've been trying to remember."
Harry coughed, running a hand through his hair. "Heh… you know what, I'm sure of it. I didn't catch it. I failed. "His eyes glimmered with a light of melancholy memories. "Oh yeah, now I remember…
"Baseball was my life; I was never good in school. And then I went and lost my team the game, lost us the season. I was devastated.
"Though no one on my team said anything to me, I knew they were all really disappointed. I'd let them all down. I started to close off; I didn't know what to do. But, someone noticed, they noticed my weakness.
"About a week after the game, one of the upperclassmen came up to talk to me. He said he'd heard what had happened and he'd seen how I was taking it rough. He said he wanted to help. He said he had something that would help me, that would make all of my worries fly away.
"And it did. What he gave me that day made my worries, and everything else fly away, at least for a while. For a little while, I could be high, higher than any worry. I loved the feeling. I needed the feeling. I bought more from him, I had to buy more. And when what I was taking wasn't doing the same thing anymore, I had to start taking even more.
Harry laughed suddenly, breaking Mike out of the web of spun memories he'd been hearing from Harry. "I won't bore you with the rest; it's really not an entertaining story, and pretty stupid to boot. Boohoo, got addicted, dropped out of school, couldn't get a job, boohoo. One day, high as bird, I wandered out onto the highway. Though it was the yellow brick road, I was going to see the wizard, to get me a brain. A truck hit me."
Mike swallowed. "Harry, that's-"
Harry immediately interrupted him. "No, don't worry about it. That was all long ago. I've had a long time to think about all of it." He rubbed his stubbly jaw teasingly. "I made some stupid mistakes, and life sucked, yeah. But, I think I'm mainly over it. It's just, I still really wish I could have caught that ball, you know?"
Mike frowned at him. He felt a chill run through him. Something was definitely familiar, in the words and the tone Harry was using, the peaceful look on his face. He couldn't place it, but…
"Let's get going!" the ump called out impatiently.
They made their way back to their positions. Richie and the two of the NPC's waited, tense in the outfields. On first Hannah lurked, eyes flashing. She looked like some crooked witch with her vertical accessory. On third, Julie had noticed a dragonfly buzzing by the foul line. They hoped it didn't go to third. At home, Jake glared at Mike, and made a cut-throat motion ominously. "Go get them, Mike!" Harry encouraged from shortstop.
Right, let's finish this, Mike thought as he loosed the ball with all the skill he possessed.
But the batter swung with the sureness of experience. With a CRACK, the ball soared straight up. They watched, locked in, as it started to descend, right towards shortstop. It was a popfly to shortstop. Seeing it, Harry's face slackened. He put up his glove.
With a sickening jolt, Mike remembered where he'd gotten the feeling he'd gotten from before. It was the same as he'd gotten from Hayley, the day of her obliteration.
With a cry of horror, he began to sprint, flying off the mound. Harry, he had the same calm, the same feeling of anticipation came of him that had come off of Hayley, as if both of them were waiting for the arrival of a long awaited guest. Angel must doing something.
"Harry, don't catch it!" Mike howled, to his mind, his feet moved as if they were in molasses.
Huh, Harry thought, watching the ball descend, picking up speed. I can do it. I can catch this, and win us the game. We'll have done it, we'll have beaten Angel, completed the mission, succeeded where the others had failed.
Finally, I'll be useful. I'll be worth something to Fred, worth something to people. I might have been worthless in life… but maybe I can be useful now.
"No!" Mike had time to howl, steps away from Harry. But his words had no affect on Harry, he was oblivious to all but the ball descending towards him. No. Harry was the first friend he'd managed to make here. He didn't want him to disappear.
Finally, Harry thought, satisfied. It is over-
His eyes widened in shock as he felt a crushing force materialize around his waist, and he and his assailant were sent hurling into the ground. His face was pile-drived into the dirt, and he blinked in shock, as he heard the thud of the pop fly striking the ground.
"Ha!" Julie crowed, digging her elbows into her opponent's back. "You were wiiiiide open, moron! Serves your right for not being kind to a lower classman!"
Harry growled. "You… you have the absolute worst timing, brat!" With a quick motion, he flipped onto his stomach, and caught Julie in a bear hold. They went down in a cloud of flying fists and dust.
"Runners in! Game over!" the umpire called brightly from home plate.
"No! ARRRG!" Jake roared, tearing off his catcher's mask in utter frustration.
Huh… That's funny, Mike thought, shell shocked. He heard someone walk up to him.
Hannah regarded him coolly, and then turned to mirror his attention to the tussling combatants. "I have come to the conclusion," she whispered deliberately, "that there is no real challenge to my abilities to be had here. A duel with someone as moronic and unskilled as you would only be a waste of my time." And with that, the broom fell from her palm, to thud into the dust.
Mike blinked at her, suddenly breaking into a dazzling grin, as a massive cloud of worry suddenly moved away from him. They'd made it through. "Hey, thanks," he replied, grinning at her.
She frowned at the congratulations. "This is, this is so stupid," she continued, before disappearing from view.
On a far off windowsill, Fred stepped back, seriously regretting pledging not to implement her torture penalty. "You… all… suck…" she moaned. With a sigh, she closed the window, as the beautiful day outside continued on.
A/N. End of Mission four. As always, I thank everyone who supports this story and others that seek to create. As this story continues, I will also be posting the OVA. If you haven't seen the OVA, I think you'll enjoy it.