Warnings: Profanity ... Bigger does not necessarily mean better ... and, yes, baseball jargon ...
16. Nailed
Yusei quickly duplicated his recording and set everything up, then quickly changed into normal clothing. Finally he set out for Godwin's. He hoped he could get there before Godwin could get wind of anything.
When he pulled up, the palatial house looked dark. He sighed with relief. He knew he was taking a risk leaving Prince's hotel room, but he needed to start some other plates spinning.
He smiled grimly to himself as he stepped out of the car. Whatever happened now, there was more than reasonable doubt that Jack did anything wrong and Godwin was implicated in setting him up.
He heard a motor behind him and turned around to see a very unusual motorcycle pull up at high speed. It was a white monocycle with a huge single whitewall.
Jack?
As Jack hopped off and rapidly approached, Yusei realized that he'd never seen Jack's motorcycle.
"I thought you were going to have Kiryu drive," he said.
"How else was I going to get my bike back here?"
"You idiot. How did you get here so fast, anyway? Doesn't Kiryu live in Satellite?"
"Yes, I just rode over at 100 or so."
"KPH?"
"No, MPH."
Yusei nearly punched him. "And I repeat. Idiot!" He pulled Jack into the shadow of a tree and kissed him deeply, loving the feeling of the tension draining from Jack's body as he relaxed into the kiss. "Don't you know that I've been worried about you all day?"
"I've just been training."
Yusei rolled his eyes. "Don't you ever quit?"
"No. How do you think that I got this good? Do you think it's easy? Well, I try to make it look easy, but—"
Yusei cut him off with another kiss, then said, "Well, I'm really glad to see you. Let's go. Follow my lead."
"Wait. What's that on your eyes?" he asked, staring at Yusei quizzically.
Yusei reached up and … rolled his eyes. False eyelashes.
Shit.
"I'll tell you later." Yusei grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him up to the door. Forgoing the doorbell, he started pounding on it. Jack joined in with gusto. "Let me show you how it's done," he said with a gleam in his eye.
The door was duly flung open by an angry Godwin wrapped in a robe. "What's the meaning of this!" he demanded.
Yusei pushed his way past Godwin into his entryway, saying, "Jack's firing you. I thought you might like the details."
"Fudo. Hm, you must be Jack's distraction." Godwin smiled a creepy knowing smile. "I knew he had someone that was attracting his attention. At least he has good taste." He backed up and leaned against a long end-table, resting his elbows on it in a casual posture.
"He's not a 'distraction,' Godwin, and I don't need Yusei to tell you what I'm doing anyway. Clearly you saw it coming or you wouldn't have pulled this."
"Yes, Jack. I gave you every chance to turn around and let me into your life, but you shut me out. It was becoming very clear that you didn't trust me and that it was only a matter of time before you dropped me, but that has nothing to do with your current predicament. Why you would blame me for that—"
"Cut the bullshit, Godwin. I talked to Prince."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Like I said, cut the crap. I'll show you what I'm talking about." Yusei reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Before Godwin could say anything, what sounded like Jack's voice came from the phone.
"This guy—"
"Godwin."
"Yeah, Godwin. He came by one day and just … stared at me. He said he might have a job one day for me and hired me on the spot. Put me on retainer, he said."
Yusei punched a button on the phone and the recording stopped. "There's a video, in case you're interested."
"Th-that could be Jack."
"Right. Oh, did I mention that the cops were called? With any luck, this guy's in custody by now. And when they get their hands on the guy who looks just like Jack, and Frank, who can back my story up … I guess you'll have all the answers for that, too. How Jack would throw his career out the window, how some dude who looks just like him would have a story about you, who has Jack's account numbers."
All the color drained from Godwin's face.
"And, oh, by the way, the deal was made when Jack was at my place." He smiled. "I'll give him the alibi even if I have to tell the truth about us. But I don't think we'll have to … and if you do, you'll just sound like you're sore."
Godwin opened his mouth as though to say something, but then closed it, apparently realizing that it was useless. Swiftly, he reached behind him on the table and produced a pistol, which he leveled at Yusei. "Hand over that phone," he said.
"Sure, for all the good it'll do you," he said, handing the phone over. "And, by the way, we can drop by my apartment and delete all my copies, too. It still won't help you. I've sent it to the press."
"You—" he hissed.
Yusei grinned, looking Godwin in the eye. "Oh, please try to buy me off, Godwin. I'm just dying to tell you 'No way in hell.'"
For a tense second, Yusei thought that Godwin might actually shoot—and he spotted Jack out of the corner of his eye, coiled to pounce—but Godwin was smarter than that. He took a cautious step in the direction of the stairs.
"Don't even think about it," said Jack coolly. When Godwin made a break for it, Jack tackled him, pulling an arm behind him in a hammerlock and disarming him. "You know," he whispered into Godwin's ear as he lay on top of him, "I've had to fight my way here from the streets of Satellite. You might want to think twice before pushing your luck."
Yusei quickly found some electrical ties to secure the man while they waited for the police.
"Why didn't you call the police to begin with?" asked Jack as they sat on Godwin waiting for the police to arrive.
"And miss the confrontation? No way."
"What do you want to do while we're waiting? I'm bored."
"Well, Godwin already knows about us, so I don't suppose he'd mind if we make out a little."
Jack smiled, moving a little closer to Yusei.
"Oof! That's my kidney you're crushing!"
"You might think of that next time you want to frame one of your clients, Godwin!" Jack scolded, frowning. "Do I need to use duct tape or are you going to pipe down! Now, where were we?"
Yusei let Jack kiss him sweetly—after so much panic, it was so good to be able to relax a little. He pulled back a little. "Was it really just this morning that all this broke open? It feels like a year has gone by!"
"I tell you, I must have aged ten years. I really should take it out of Godwin's hide!"
"I'm right here, you know!"
"Shut up!" Jack and Yusei shouted simultaneously.
"But … you were going to tell me about these," Jack said, brushing his thumb over Yusei's eyelid.
Yusei blushed. "Oh. Right." He went on to explain how he went about getting the intel on Jack's impostor. "You—you're not into that, are you? Because—"
"What, seeing you in skirts? If I wanted someone in skirts, I'd date girls." Jack hugged Yusei, then frowned. "But, seriously, I don't like the chance that you took, doing that all by yourself! You could have been hurt! And then what would I—"
"I didn't, and that's what the disguise was for. No one ever recognizes me like that. Besides, do you think I could have found anything out if you'd come along?"
"A-and that guy. You didn't have-have to—"
Yusei smiled and ran his fingers along Jack's cheeks. "Of course not. But even if I didn't have you, he was gross. I just needed him to get the info. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. But it was Carly's information that got me where I needed to be to get lucky." He started to run his fingers through Jack's hair absently. It felt nice.
"Carly … She's been so good to me. How am I going to break the news?" Jack quickly began to relax under Yusei's ministrations.
"Yeah, I felt so bad when we were talking. I felt like such a fraud, commiserating with her when I conspired to take her boyfriend away."
"But I was … never hers … Not …" Jack yawned. "… not really." His eyelids lost the battle of trying to stay up and finally concealed the violet eyes, Jack slumping forward.
"That's right … you're past curfew. Let's find you some place to lie down."
Jack mumbled an assent and, with difficulty, Yusei helped him to his feet. "Thmphs gfsth rmph vf …" Jack mumbled, weakly waving a hand.
"About time!" Godwin commented at the release of pressure.
"Shh, you'll wake Jack," growled Yusei. "I can still tickle you, you know. You say a guest room?" he said gently. "I'll get you there."
Yusei half-dragged Jack into the hallway, locating the room and removing enough of Jack's clothing to make him comfortable. "Had a hard day, didn't you?" he murmured softly. Stepping back to admire his work, he sighed. Well, this much won't hurt! he thought and bent to place a tender kiss Jack's slightly parted lips. If only Jack weren't asleep! He really didn't want to stop there …
Gritting his teeth, he turned back to the living room and Godwin. That mood-killer should prevent him from developing the problem that was threatening to arise …
By the time the police arrived, Yusei had removed his false eyelashes, called Corky and filled him in on what was happening, and extracted a set of house keys from Godwin.
"Jack's staying over at your place tonight. I trust you don't have a problem with that. If you want, I'll call your lawyer and get him your keys tomorrow. That way, he can meet you at the station tonight. Win-win."
"Yusei, you're a real gentleman," Godwin sneered.
"Hey, no problem."
It was pretty late by the time Yusei got everything squared away with detectives. They had secured Prince and Frank. He turned Godwin over without further incident, and handed over his recording. He didn't mind receiving the tongue-lashing for taking matters into his own hands, pointing out that if he'd waited for police assistance, the series would be over.
Fortunately, they didn't make him come into the station right away to make his statement. Yawning and stretching, he decided maybe he should stay over as well.
"Damn it!" he thought. "If only we didn't both need our rest, this would be a perfect opportunity!" Sighing, he found a second guest room and collapsed onto the bed. He hadn't had time to let himself feel the relief. Jack …
Corky had said if he checked out, he could pitch!
Yusei closed his eyes with that thought running through his mind. When I tell him tomorrow morning, he'll be ecstatic!
He smiled as sleep closed in.
I get to be the one to tell him …
The next morning Jack awoke to an odd sensation against his lips. His eyes had flew open to see two deep blue eyes staring into his. "Hey, Jack, get up!"
Blinking, Jack wondered what the rush was to get up, and wrapped Yusei into a tight embrace. But when Yusei resisted, Jack realized they were in Godwin's guest room and everything flooded back. "Oh! Yeah, I want to get down to the station and get my hands on that guy who posed as me!" he exclaimed, sitting up.
"No, not yet, Jack, we need to get to the stadium! You're pitching!"
"Pitching!" He'd jumped out of bed and everything had pretty much turned into a blur after that.
The next evening … the first game of the series …
Kiryu settled into his seat at the stadium and opened his program. "Can this be right?" he mumbled. "It says here that Jack's pitching."
"Haven't you heard anything?" said the brunette edging into the seat next to him. "Of course, it was just announced within the last hour or so." She stumbled nearly sending her large Coke into his lap. He rescued it expertly.
"Hey, lucky you I'm an expert fielder."
"That's just what Jack … would … Wait, aren't you—?"
"Yeah, Kiryu Kyosuke at your service. Jack left me a ticket. I assume …?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm—"
"You must be Carly. I've heard all about you."
"Nothing too embarrassing, I hope."
"Not unless ridiculously adorable counts as embarrassing," Kiryu smiled.
Carly blushed. "Really?"
Kiryu worried a second, thinking, Maybe I pushed Jack in too deep. But he really thought Carly was, well, kind of ridiculously adorable in a kind of awkward-colt kind of way. "So …" he said, "how'd this all happen? When he was at my place yesterday—"
"What? He was at your place?" Carly let out an exasperated sigh. "We were so worried! He wasn't answering his calls! We had no idea what might have happened!"
"We?"
"We. Oh. You wouldn't know. Jack's teammate, Yusei stopped by—In fact, I think he's the one who figured everything out and got Jack back on the team."
"Yusei, huh?" That little … I never would have guessed. Well, I was clueless, anyway. Kiryu frowned, thinking back. That—the whole business, from the beginning. Even before Jack joined the team. There was that little push-and-shove between them the very game before, wasn't there? "I should have known," he said.
"Known? Known what?"
"Oh! That his friends would figure something out," he smiled. "Hey, can I buy you a hot dog or something?"
"You know? That would be great. But you don't have to. I don't even know you."
"But I feel like we're friends already. I hear so much about you from Jack."
"Well, then, OK, seeing as we'll both be cheering for him. I hear Yliaster's really tough."
"Well, this should be the biggest challenge for the Dragons yet, but they're a tough team. The thing about Yliaster, though … they're not exactly known for fighting fair. You say they weren't behind benching Jack?"
"No, at least we don't think so. It was his agent, Godwin."
"Huh. And I would have laid odds."
Carly looked out toward the field with a thoughtful look on her face. "Really," she said. "I wonder …"
"What?"
She looked at him. "Nothing … nothing I can check into here." Still, she got up and pulled out her cell, talking on it at the top of aisle. Kiryu watched curiously.
When she returned, he asked, "What was all that about?"
"Oh, I just called the reporter on the big story I'd worked on."
"Oh, you mean the one that wrongly accused Jack?"
Carly frowned. "That wasn't my fault!"
"Sorry."
"Yeah, that one. I told him he could make up for that by checking out a lead for me."
"What lead?"
"It's probably nothing … still …"
Kiryu couldn't get her to be more specific, but he was certain it had to do with Yliaster.
They looked toward the field as the Dragons took it, fielding practice in the infield, while the pitchers ran in the outfield. "Hey, there's Jack," said Kiryu. He waved and headed down to the edge of the stands and leaned over the railing, with Carly at his heels. "Watch it," he said to her. "You don't want to fall over."
"I'm not that clumsy."
"I'm not so sure of that," he laughed.
Jack had spotted the two by now and was leaning up against the wall. "What's so funny?"
"Just Carly, that's all. I'm worried she might take a tumble into the outfield."
"Luckily we have a great fielding team. Someone's likely to catch her."
"Jack …" But something had caught her eye. "Hey, Jack, do you see Jose?"
He looked over to Yliaster's dugout and, indeed, their manager was angrily yelling over the dugout telephone, waving wildly in their general direction.
"What do you think that's all about?" asked Kiryu.
"Huhn," said Jack. "I have no idea, but it doesn't look good. Whatever, I have to get back to my running before Red gets pissed and takes me out of the lineup."
"No problem," said Kiryu.
"Good luck!" called Carly.
The two made their way back up to their seats as Jack trotted back out onto the outfield turf. He took a second to look casually toward the infield where Yusei was scooping up grounders and throwing them briskly to various bases in game simulations … second, first, third, home plate.
Kiryu noticed the lingering glance and decided that it wasn't as casual as Jack had wanted it to seem. It had been just a little too long. He looked back toward the infield. Was it …? A break in the practice allowed the shortstop a moment to breathe, and he took that chance to glance toward the pitchers in the outfield … specifically tonight's starting pitcher.
He snorted.
Well, that confirms it. It's definitely Fudo.
"Kiryu? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Carly, I'm just thinking about, uh, Jack. Yesterday was pretty rough for him. I hope he pitches a great game tonight."
Later, Jack stood on the mound taking his practice pitches. It felt good just to have Yusei standing behind him. Yusei had backed him up, in so many ways, so many more than just as a shortstop. He wouldn't even be here pitching tonight if it hadn't been for him ducking out and working things out.
Corky and Jaeger hadn't been happy about Yusei skipping out on press and some of his obligations, but he couldn't exactly complain about getting Jack back, so it looked like most of the punishments would slide this time. In any case, Jack planned to more than make up for any inconveniences that came out of the situation.
Still, once the game started, Jack got off to an uncharacteristically slow start. It was Yliaster, after all, but after the first inning, the Dragons were two runs down.
Jack had his game face on, but Yusei could tell he was frustrated with himself. This was the result of the stress and disruption to his routine. Yusei made sure that he sat next to Jack on the bench, which was easy enough because the other players wanted to give him and his pissed off aura plenty of room. Jack wouldn't look at him, but Yusei didn't mind. Just being there to lend moral support made him feel better.
Yusei sighed. He was up second, so he had to get right out of the dugout and into the on-deck circle. As he knelt on one knee slapping rosin onto his batting gloves, he sensed something distinctly off about Vincente Aporia, Yliaster's ace. The guy was all over the place, balls hitting the dirt, inside, outside … He didn't remember that this guy had control problems. Was it the pressure of the series?
He scowled. He couldn't understand what it was, but something was setting off alarm bells deep inside him.
He shook it off, watching Crow garner a quick walk on the first at-bat.
Yusei approached his at-bat with great care. What was this guy up to? The guy stared in at him, a huge grin on his face, watching him take his practice swings while flipping the ball over and over in his hand. Is this guy trying to intimidate me?
The first pitch hit the dirt at his feet, bouncing through the catcher for a passed ball, sending Crow running to second base. If this was a set-up, it was a risky one.
The next pitch was one that he couldn't move out of the way of. Spinning away, he took a glancing blow on his butt. When he got to first base, he looked into the dugout, worried about what Jack's reaction might be. The guy was as stoic as always, but Yusei could see that his body was rigidly tense.
He signaled to the dugout that he was fine. He prayed that Jack would calm down and relax enough to pitch.
Afterward, Aporia seemed to settle down a little and managed to get out of the inning after only giving up one run.
Yusei headed out to his position between second and third base thinking that was suspicious in itself.
What was Aporia up to?
Whatever it was, the Dragons were still one run down going into the second. Fortunately, Jack had settled down as well, which brought the dragons to the bottom of the second in the same shape.
But Yusei was concerned. Because of the action in the first, Jack was due up in the inning and Yusei was concerned what might happen.
As Andre stepped up to the plate, Yusei said softly, "Jack, I know you want to concentrate on the game, but you're about to bat … I want you to be careful—"
"I'm always careful—"
"I know, but Aporia's pitching is off … weird—"
"He's wild, yeah."
"No, I think he's setting something up. I'm worried for you."
"I can take care of myself."
"I know … I just … I think they're gunning for you."
"Me?"
"As in they might be connected to Godwin some way."
"What, are you some sort of conspiracy theorist? Yusei … Thanks," Jack turned to Yusei for a moment, his eyes gleaming, then turned his attention to the field again. "But I think your imagination is working overtime."
"Jack—"
But Andre was already walking back toward the dugout and Jack had stood up. "I'll be fine," he said without looking back. "See you after I cross the plate!" He grinned and cast Yusei a parting glance.
"Be careful."
"Don't worry so much." With that, Jack headed out to the on-deck circle.
Jack knelt on one knee in the on-deck circle, glad that Yusei had kept his conversation too low to be overheard in the general hubbub of the dugout. He chuckled a little. Yusei was sweet, really, worrying over him like that. But maybe it's been all the things that had cropped up over the season that had him on edge. He ought to worry about himself. It wasn't like he didn't have to face Aporia too—a little guy like him. Maybe that's what Yusei was so bent out of shape about, though. Jack was a bigger target.
Yusei's concern might be that Jack could be hurt, but Jack's concern was a little different. Yusei had already been hit by the guy. He hadn't mentioned it to Yusei, but he planned on getting that back … not by beaning the guy, no, but with his bat.
"Here Mr Atlas!" said Rua, handing Jack his bat.
"Why don't you call me Jack by now? You've known me long enough."
The boy beamed. "Sure, Jack."
Jack wondered why the boy was such a fan, traveling with the team and all, but he had to set that aside for now. It was about time he got his head back into the game so that he could bat. He sighed as he applied rosin to his bat.
Despite a couple of pitches that bounced low, Bommer managed somehow to strike out. Jack stood and walked up to the plate, his eyes on Aporia.
Jack took his practice swings and stepped into the batter's box. He smiled to himself as he narrowed his eyes, zoning in on Aporia's pitching hand. His mind went back to Yusei and his overprotectiveness once more.
Still, it was terrific to think that Yusei had him on his mind, though, even during the game—even during a game as important as this one.
It made him want to punch the ball over the wall, he felt so great.
His smile turned into a grin. Aporia saw this and stepped off the rubber, almost a balk. Jack practically burst out laughing, he felt so good. This was just getting better and better.
Aporia, on the other hand, was fuming.
Aporia wasted no time and went into the wind-up. Everything after the release seemed to click into slow motion. Jack could see right away the pitch was wild—high, and straight at his head. The slow-motion weirdness was such that Jack was positive that he could see the spin on it—and the spin was all wrong. Why wasn't he twisting out of the way?! He started twisting down a split-second too late, but—miraculously—some object inserted itself between him and the pitch and both fell harmlessly before him.
Rua?
"Rua! Rua! Are you OK?" Jack was suddenly on his knees next to the crumpled form of the batboy. "Why did you do that?! You know that you aren't allowed on the playing field! Rua!" He looked up at Aporia, his eyes glaring pure malice. "We both know what that was, Aporia!"
By now, the dugout had emptied, Corky barely restraining the team from charging the mound. "Let the umpires handle this!" he shouted as loudly as he could.
Jose was out, already arguing interference on the part of Rua while Dr Schmidt took a look at Rua. Fortunately, he'd only been hit in the arms, knocking it out of the way when he saw it coming at Jack's head, but when he dropped, he'd been stunned by the fall and the pain. Now he was hugging Jack and crying from the shock, worried that he'd be punished for getting in the way of play.
"Now, now," Jack soothed, "I won't let them fire you. You saved me. I saw something that distracted me and I couldn't get out of the way in time. Thanks, Rua."
"I … saved you?"
"Yeah."
"I saved Jack Atlas?"
"I guess so."
Rua's tears eased off and he smiled a little, hiccuping. "Wow. I saved Jack Atlas."
"Do you think you could let Dr Schmidt take care of your arm and let us get back to the game now?"
"Oh, sorry, Jack."
"It's OK."
But Yusei was kneeling on one knee nearby looking like he wished he could talk to Jack. The two exchanged a glance. Yusei … I'm OK, honestly, Jack tried to tell him. He probably saw that little hesitation and doesn't understand what it's about.
Meanwhile, the discussion between Jose and the umpire had turned into a three-way discussion as Corky had joined in. "Gentlemen," the umpire said with commanding authority, causing the two to stop trying to drown each other's argument's out for a minute, "this is clearly interference, so the ball is dead."
"But—"
"Now, Corky, I understand your position. I'm not throwing Rua out of the game because he came in only to protect your pitcher. However, I want you to warn him that this is not acceptable behavior. That is, of course, if he's well enough to continue in the game."
"Wait now—"
"Jose, keep it. I know what you're going to say, and that pitch was going straight for Atlas' head. What do you think I would have done if it had connected? At this point, just be glad I don't eject Aporia."
"Are you saying this was intentional?" Jose looked insulted.
"I'm saying I'm considering all possibilities at this point and I'm keeping a close eye on your pitcher. You might want to talk to him. Jose, you should have a word with your pitcher. Corky, can your bat boy make it off the field? We should get the game underway again."
The two managers looked dissatisfied but stepped back. Jose walked off toward the mound, while Corky chatted with Dr Schmidt.
"I think his arm might be broken. I'm going to have him taken to the emergency room now," said Dr Schmidt.
Jack stood and stepped toward the back. "Umpire …" he said, "Did you get a good look at that ball coming at my head? It was a gyroball."
"Do you know what you're saying?"
"I do. If it's a gyroball, it's not wild, it's aimed. But you saw it. Didn't you notice? The lack of curve? He meant to hit me."
"So—"
"I saw the rotation. It was unmistakable."
"You know it's your word."
"Yeah, I know." Jack set his jaw. This was all he could do.
"OK then. I'll take it into consideration."
He'd been feeling great and then …
Ha!
He wasn't going to let Aporia get to him. Let him do what he wants. Go after Yusei. Go after Rua. Go after him. It wouldn't work.
Jack glanced toward the dugout. Yusei was there looking anxious, sitting on the edge of the bench, his hands gripping his knees.
He suppressed his grin. Let Aporia think he was frustrated and shaken. He just hoped he could do enough of an acting job to get by. He was shaking, maybe that would help. He was shaking with excitement.
Aporia stared in at him in such a way that Jack thought he sensed something different. But there was nothing to do except wait for the pitch. He was ready for anything, including another beanball—but that would be risky for Aporia.
The result was a pitch low and away, difficult to handle, but Jack got under it and launched it. Home run.
Man, that felt good!
Much better than if the umpire had ejected Aporia.
"Hey, Aporia! Keep it warm. I'll be back for more!" he shouted as he rounded first.
After the inning, the home plate umpire was seen discussing something with Jose and Aporia down by the visitors' dugout.
Yusei stood near Crow. "They don't seem happy," he commented.
"Nah. I think they're getting read the riot act." Crow fidgeted a moment. "Uh, Yusei, you talking to me again? I'm really sorry about—"
"Let's forget it. Just … back me up next time, OK? Back him up."
"OK."
"Then, we're good." Yusei slapped Crow on the back … a little hard, and they took their places.
Good, but the score was tied, two-two in the third.
The game wore on to the ninth without either team giving in, still locked at two-two. Jack had found his rhythm and had thrown remarkably few pitches since the first inning.
Corky said, "I'm leaving you in the lineup. You're responsible for one of our runs, so I don't see any reason to pinch-hit for you."
"Good," said Jack. "I'm dying to ding him for another run."
"All we need is one."
Jack was the lead-off hitter for the inning and managed a walk, unusual for him.
Crow followed up with a little pop sacrifice to move him into scoring position, which brought Yusei up.
Perfect! This meant it was just between him and Aporia.
He stepped into the batter's box, took a swing, and assumed his batter's stance, determined to send Jack home, no matter what.
The first pitch came in, tight and low, pushing Yusei back for ball one. He stepped right back in, refusing to be intimidated.
The next pitch was high and outside. Yusei laid off, smiling to himself. Was Aporia measuring the strike zone for him? Two and oh, but he didn't want to walk.
The next one was hard to lay off, straight down the middle until it dropped, just missing the strike zone and hitting the dirt at Yusei's feet. He checked his swing just in time.
Now Aporia was going to have to give him something good or surrender a walk. He called time and put one foot back, looking toward the pitcher, but actually past him toward second, where Jack stood on the bag, staring in at him intensely.
Why was it that Jack looked so much better in a baseball uniform than everyone else, even with the bulky scarlet warm up jacket covering it? It must be that tall, slender frame of his. And why …
Are you aware of your post-season stats so far?
He flushed a little. It was true. When Jack was out there, he just … he needed to hit, to excel. Whether it was to compete with Jack, or to live up to his expectations, or just to help him … he wasn't sure. Whatever it was, there was a surge, an extra need to prove himself when Jack was there.
He stepped in, and …
Crack!
It was a double, not the homer he'd envisioned in his mind, but it was enough.
They'd won the game.
When Jack crossed the plate, Yusei stepped off of second and ran home. The team lifted him up, cheering. He looked down, his eyes briefly meeting Jack's.
If only they could hug and kiss openly. But even if they could, there was still Jack's post-game routine. He sighed.
A pitcher's job was pretty brutal.
Author's notes:
I apologize for taking so long to update! This chapter took a long time (!) to get reasonable and I'm still not sure I'm happy with it. (Note to self, yet again: posting while writing ... not so good) Hope this isn't too rough, guys, but I really want to get this out. There were a couple of gross inconsistencies in this chapter that I weeded out and I hope that's all there were. Yeah, the cross-dressing, heh heh, normally I wouldn't use that device, but I needed to help Yusei save Jack's bacon, and he'd be pretty recognizable ... unless ... well, there you have it!
I'd date girls: I understand, he does date girls, but not seriously, so you know what he means!
Jack pitching the game: Probably not very realistic, but this is fiction! Of course, in reality, with the players' union, I wonder if the suspension would be instantly enforced? Good question. I don't know that much about baseball!
Note about the DH (designated hitter): As you may have noticed, I'm using National League rules as far as the DH is concerned. That is, the pitcher bats for himself, which makes Jack as a (phenomenally) good-hitting pitcher especially valuable. In MLB, the home team determines which rule is used in the World Series. Therefore, when the American League team is the home team, the DH rule is in force and when the National League team is the home team, it isn't. Since I grew up as a NL fan (and because I think it adds another interesting dimension to the game) I prefer doing without the DH. If there was a DH way back when, would Babe Ruth (the greatest two-way player ever to play the game) ever have graduated from pitching to the outfield? Probably not! Meanwhile, most leagues use the DH. Sigh. OK, getting off my soapbox now ...
slapping rosin onto his batting gloves: Batters typically apply rosin to their bats and gloves to improve the grip. A bag of rosin powder is present in the on-deck circles.
When he got to first base: When a batter his hit by a pitch, he's awarded first base.
beaning the guy: That is, hitting him with a pitch (bean = head; beanball = pitch meant to hit a batter in the head).
stepped off the rubber, almost a balk: The pitcher can't pause during his pitching motion once he starts it or a balk is called and the batter is awarded first base. The rubber is the location on the mound that the pitcher pitches from.
arguing interference: A non-player would not be allowed on the playing field and any obstruction of play on their part is considered interference. The ball is declared dead and the umpire determines what the outcome of the play should be. The interfering player or non-player can be ejected (removed) from the field/stadium. In this case there's interference, but there's also the consideration of a potential hit-by-pitch.
You saved me: I was hoping to draw a little bit of a parallel here with Aporia and Jack/Rua ... and then with Yusei again, coming in to drive Jack in hopefully echoing the earlier battle a little.
a gyroball: The gyroball is a pitch that has a spin on it like a bullet or (well-thrown) football pass, so that the spin is around the direction of travel, which makes for a very straight path. This makes the gyroball, in theory, much easier to control or aim than other pitches. Therefore, if Aporia intentionally threw a gyroball to hit Jack, he meant to hit him in the head with it.
pinch-hit for you: Probably obvious, but a pinch hitter is a batter that comes in off the bench to bat for another player (in a "pinch"). The player that he hits for is usually a weaker hitter, such as the pitcher or a good fielder with a lower batting average. The pinch hitter might stay in to field or be replaced by someone else defensively.
scoring position: Second or third base (from which you can easily score on a long fly) ... in this case, second base.
He checked his swing: Started to swing and then stopped before going far enough to be called for a strike.
Jack's post-game routine: I understand pitchers typically warm down (more exercise! but they need it to move the lactic acid out), have a meal to replace carbs they've used, review the game, undergo some treatment for their stressed muscles ... etc ... It's pretty extensive. And then they're supposed to take a good sleep and rest up. Whew!
Preview ...? Oops ... I had a hard enough time getting this chapter out, sorry about that, guys! I really am trying to finish this story up for you, but it's fighting back despite the fact that I have a basic idea of where it's going.