PAH
"Strikeout!"
"Game Set, Gladiators."
A grin crept onto Ken's lips as the umpire called an end to the game, but his face quickly froze in the next moment after hearing the sound of footsteps running towards him.
Ken turned to see his teammates rushing towards his direction to celebrate, their faces filled with glee. Having experienced the bum slapping and discomfort of the dog pile many times before, he was suffering from PTSD.
'Not today…'
Without a word, Ken sidestepped Latrell who lunged towards him before making a bee line towards the bench. After shaking off the burly Captain Max, Steve appeared in his vision.
It seemed the guy had guessed he would try and avoid the celebration, so he'd cut him off from the bench, becoming the last line of defense on the field.
"Hmph." Ken harrumphed, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at his friend. There was very little time before his teammates would bombard him, making the moment even more tense.
Steve's lips crooked up into a grin as he crouched down slightly, spreading his arms apart like a defensive tackle. His expression was cocky, almost daring Ken to run at him.
Hearing the footsteps of his teammates bearing down on him, Ken burst into action, running straight towards Steve who was blocking his way to the bench.
As the two got closer, a collision seemed inevitable.
"What the hell are they doing?" Coach Wyatt looked on, his face turned up in confusion. He watched as Ken barreled over Steve, sending him into the ground. However, the guy grabbed onto his leg, preventing him from passing.
The team soon arrived, swamping the two and celebrating with enthusiasm.
Coach Wyatt shook his head, but a smile soon followed. Their team had successfully won in the Semi-finals and would be facing the winner of Elite Squad vs Dulin Dodgers.
The crowd joined in on the celebrations, cheering out for the Gladiators who had yet to lose a single game in the tournament.
"So? What do you think?" Lorenzo turned to his cousin and asked.
Tony shook his head, "I haven't seen enough to make an informed decision yet." He replied dismissively.
"Ayy, don't give me that crap. You and I know that first impressions are 90% of the scouting process… You must be interested in him." He said with a grin.
If it was anyone else, Tony might have disputed him, but a knowing smile appeared on his face a moment later. "He certainly has the potential, especially since he's so young. But I doubt the club like ours would take such a risk."
Lorenzo shrugged, "Didn't you say you're golf buddies with the head of scouting? I'm sure he'd listen to you if you pushed enough."
"Let's not talk about this right now, I still want to see how he performs in the finals. Who won the other game?" He asked off-handedly.
"When I checked earlier Dulin Dodgers were up by 6 runs. As long as nothing crazy happened, it should be them."
Back on the field, Ken was packing up his things, having escaped the bombardment from earlier. It wasn't that he didn't like celebrating, just that too many people crowding him led to many undesirable outcomes.
Like his behind being slapped, or someone stepping on his toes.
Having been flattened by Ken earlier, Steve was feeling a little sore, however he wore a bright grin on his face. Though the guy would usually seem nonchalant about it, getting this far in the WWBA National Tournament was a rather big deal.
Being the slacker he was, he'd never reached this far in any major tournament.
"Just one more game…" Steve said, a hint of pride in his tone.
"Mmm, don't get ahead of yourself."
"Who do you think will win the other semi-final?"
Ken thought for a moment. Elite Squad had given them the hardest time so far, especially with both the sidearm pitcher and Trent's batting abilities.
"If I had to guess, it would probably be the Elite Squad." Ken replied, hauling his bag over his shoulder.
"I think the game is almost finished, did you want to take a look?" But as Steve asked this, Coach Wyatt appeared in front of them with a grim expression.
"Alright, we've got 2 hours till the final game against Dulin Dodgers. We're gonna grab some food, make sure you've cooled down properly." He announced.
Ken's eyebrow raised in question, the Dodgers had beaten the Elite Squad? He didn't know much about them, but they must be rather strong if they could get past the latter's batting unit.
"What was the score coach?" Ken asked curiously.
"10-2."
Ken sucked in a cold breath of air, not expecting the semi-final match to have such a difference in score. Even their game only had a run differential of 5 after 9 innings.
It was a little disappointing for the Elite Squad not to make it to the finals, especially since he and Trent had a little verbal agreement after the group stages. However, Ken quickly changed gears.
This occurrence was too frequent back in Japan for him to get caught up in sentiment.
The group eventually left the field and walked back toward the bus in the parking lot. Their mood was abuzz, still fired up after finishing off their opponent in the semi-finals.
'Hmm?' Ken turned around, feeling a couple of gazes locked onto him.
It wasn't uncommon for people to stare at him, especially with the Charismatic Air skill, but these gazes felt different. He saw two men, 1 large and the other skinny, despite their size differences, their faces looked a bit similar.
As he locked eyes with the skinnier man, the guy nodded his head in greeting. Of course Ken had no idea who the guy was, but he nodded back before turning back around.
He felt that the encounter was a little odd, but quickly forgot about it a few minutes later when he bumped into a familiar figure.