Pah
"Strikeout!"
"Huh? Curveball?"
Santiago blinked a few times, his expression confused. Of course he knew that Ken had this pitch, but during the film sessions, he'd only thrown it a small hand full of times in the World Cup.
Even in Koshien he'd only thrown the pitch once.
He slowly walked back to the dugout and looked at his father quizzically.
"I thought you said that Ken wasn't comfortable with the curveball?"
This time it was Mark's turn to be confused.
"Err, I thought because he had only pitched it a few times he was still not used to throwing it…"
In truth, Ken hadn't needed to throw the curveball often since his fastball was so effective. His forkball had also faded into the background since it often left his elbow feeling sore by the end of the day.
Unfortunately for the US team, his whims had made them misunderstand his pitching abilities. Yet now that they'd seen it, they would be more wary.
"Batting 2nd, Short stop, Ayden."
The youth stepped up to the batters box with a confident expression on his face. His bright blue eyes stared directly at Ken on the mound, as if issuing a challenge.
'Hmm? This guy is a little cocky…' Ken thought, a grin creeping onto his lips.
Daichi felt the same way, his next sign was a brutal one.
Ken almost laughed out loud, but quickly regained his composure. He entered his wind up and fired out a fastball towards his open glove.
The ball's course was inside, approaching the 100mph range.
PAH
"Strike!"
Ayden stepped back from the batters box, his eyes wide with fright. Now that he'd experienced the fastball up close, he had a monumental change of heart.
Seeing his reaction, Daichi felt a wave of amusement. There was nothing better than killing the confidence of a cocky batter, Ken's fastball was perfect for this.
He threw the ball back to Ken on the mound and made the next sign. He called for a fastball towards the top of the strike zone. Since he didn't feel a threat from the batter, there was no point in throwing a breaking ball or wasting any pitches.
Ken nodded, performing his wind up.
As the ball came flying out, Ayden grit his teeth and held the bat straight out with two hands, his eyes focused on the ball.
"Bunt!?"
Ken reacted quickly, moving forward off the mound after his follow through.
DING
"Ah"
The ball hit the metal bat, yet instead of going towards the field, it propelled upwards around 10 feet in the air with spin.
Daichi quickly flung his catchers mask off and got into position with his glove above his head.
Pah
"Out!"
Ayden stared in shock at the proceedings. This was the first time he'd had the ball pop up so much after trying to bunt. It went to show just how fast and powerful Ken's fastball was.
Feeling deflated, the teen made his way back to the dugout. Originally he had been full of confidence to at least hit the ball, yet he quickly found out the hard way that it was not the case.
Before he could rejoice, Ken saw the bulky guy who was heading over to the batters box. He looked like a lumberjack pretending to be a High School student.
"Batting 3rd, 3rd base, Sam."
Once he stepped into the batters box, Daichi felt as if the guy took up all of the available space, making him feel restricted. He'd faced this guy before with Satoshi and already knew which pitches he didn't like.
However, Ken had already instructed him to disregard everything they knew from the last game. Though he wasn't exactly convinced, he decided to listen to his brother.
"Let's see how fast these pitches really are." Sam grunted. His long and wide arms made him look like a gorilla holding a bat, painting quite a peculiar sight.
Though one thing was evident, he had power.
'Here is when it gets tough.' Ken thought, eyeing the imposing figure.
If Santiago was like a swift and agile Jaguar, then Sam was like a brutal Ape who was full of immense strength. Even if he caught an edge of the ball with his bat, it could probably easily head into the outfield.
However, all strengths had a weakness. It just so happened that Ken had something that trumped power.
WHOOOOOSH
PAH
"Strike!"
And that was speed.
"101mph!? Damn that kid is fast!"
"Heh, I've been watching Japan's games for the past 10 days, he can go even faster." A fan said, his chest puffed out.
There was another kid in the crowd who looked about 13 years old. His bright blond hair was waving in the wind as he watched on with stars in his eyes.
"So cool…" He muttered.
"Michael, how many runs do you think we will win by?" One of his friends asked, causing him to get snapped out of his reverie.
"I… Ugh. Are you sure that the US will win though?" He asked, testing the waters.
"What!? You think Japan can win? Our Ryan will easily destroy those guys. Who cares about some stupid Japanese pitcher anyway."
"H-Hey… You take that back!" Michael said, his eyes burning.
Taken aback, young boy hesitated. "Uhh, sorry. Why are you getting so worked up?"
Michael seemed to realize that he had lashed out, but it was true that he was annoyed that his friend was badmouthing Ken.
"Sorry…" He said, keeping his reasons to himself. He didn't think that his friend would understand if he stated his true intentions.
He wanted to be a pitcher, just like Ken.
Ever since he retrieved the ball from the stands in the game against Cuba, a fire had been lit inside of him. It was fanned even further after receiving an autograph from the man himself.
Just knowing that he was the first person to ask for Ken's autograph made him feel special. Now that they were at the finals against his home team, Michael still felt like cheering for Ken.
'You can do it Ken!' Yet he only cheered in his heart, afraid that his friends might look at him differently.