Chapter 828: Just hit the ball?
Finally, the game ended, leaving Chief Lupan with a serviceable knowledge about baseball. He knew the basics, as well as all the rules within those nine innings.
And his takeaway was simple.
“I just have to hit that ball out of the field?” he asked, almost mocking the simplicity of the game.
Michael chuckled. “Yup. That’s basically all you have to do.”
As a Werewolf, Chief Lupan was extremely confident about his physical capabilities. They were nothing if not strength-filled brutes. So, an action as simple as hitting a ball with a bat looked extremely easy, almost childish even.
Even if he lowered his power to that equivalent of a 1st stage Body Formation Maugnetic, he felt as if he could easily hit the ball in a homerun every at-bat.
In fact, he wasn’t just confident about himself. He was confident that the entirety of the Brownblood Tribe would find themselves having a solo-homerun in every inning.
“Hahahaha, don’t get too overconfident now, Chief,” Michael chuckled. “That was just an exhibition game. Our best wasn’t playing yet.”
Behind Michael were the Dragonborns, Fudge, and a few of his Unity Clones ready to play.
Sheina and Umisu were diligently stretching their bodies, while Jaku, Fudge and Zion were taking it easy.
His Unity Clones, on the other hand, acted just like any other human in the field. Of course, he made sure to change their physical appearance so that no one would be able to tell that they were his clones.
Following the naming convention for his first clone, he named the three as Charlie, Delta, and Echo. These were the three clones that he got from the last test of the obelisk, meaning they were the ones who had a 2nd stage Body Formation cultivation.
He left behind Alpha and Bravo to tend to the phones to make sure their schedule wouldn’t be too messed up and he could still deliver as he planned.
All in all, his players were in the very early stages of the Body Formation realm. Still, they were Maugnetics. They stood a chance against the Werewolves.
“So, ready to play?” he asked Chief Lupan, throwing a fastball towards him.
The Werewolf Chief caught the ball and smiled.
…
…
…
The next day, the newly constructed baseball field became filled with spectators and players alike.
Yesterday, they spent the whole day letting the Brownblood Werewolves become familiar with baseball, just like with Chief Lupan.
Coincidentally, they all had the same reaction. “You just had to hit the ball?”
Michael could only chuckle to himself. Baseball was much deeper than that. But of course, he wasn’t going to let their advantage go so easily. He was going to let them experience it themselves.
Once the players all got to their positions, Michael whistled:
“PLAY BALL!”
For the 1st inning, the Rebornians were going to pitch first.
And on the mound was none other than Charlie, a female version of his clone who was almost six feet tall, had dark long hair tucked under her cap, and a gloomy expression on face coupled by bags under her eyes.
He chose one of his clones to pitch because he could control them, meaning he could implant all of the pitching knowledge of his previous world brought by ChatJK5 directly onto the field.
The first batter was a long-haired Werewolf in his early twenties, shoulders wide as if he had pads under his skin.
His posture was extremely inefficient, with his body fully facing the pitcher and only one hand holding the bat. Despite this, Michael knew it wouldn’t matter. The physical prowess of a Werewolf defied human logic.
“Is it really that hard to hit the ball?” the Werewolf asked Sheina as she played catcher. “It doesn’t look like it.”
“Don’t worry,” Sheina said under her helmet. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Finally, Charlie winded up her pitch in perfect posture and movement, mimicking the great baseball players from his previous life.
The ball shot from her hands, going straight into Sheina’s mitts.
The Werewolf stood there and looked back at Charlie. “I wasn’t wrong. That looked easy to hit…”
Charlie didn’t respond to the provocation and winded up her next pitch.
This time, the Werewolf’s body tensed, eyes focused on the ball. He wasn’t going to let it pass by this time.
Once the ball rocketed towards him, the Werewolf’s eyes glowed with a golden lining.
With his enhanced vision, the Werewolf followed the ball’s trajectory with perfect accuracy.
And with no wind-up at all, hit the ball using his one-handed bat.
The ball shot to the skies, making everyone look up as it rose to the clouds.
“See? What’s so hard about hitting a ball?” the Werewolf shrugged, making no attempts to run the bases.
On the sidelines, his fellow tribesmen were cheering him on.
“Yeah! Show them the pride of the Wolves!”
“That’s what I’m talking about!”
“I could have done that too!”
And in the middle of their celebrations, they heard a whistle.
“OUT!” the referee declared.
“What?!”
They all quickly turned to a meek green-scaled Dragonborn in the center field position.
Umisu shyly raised her glove, a white ball peeking from the inside.
“Easy, right?” Sheina asked the batter, who had to dejectedly walk back to their dugout with a confused look on his face.
Meanwhile, Chief Lupan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Charlie in the pitcher’s mound.
“She directed that hit,” he realized.
Charlie threw that pitch and basically tempted the Werewolf to hit it from the bottom, making it fly up to center field, directly where Umisu was lying in wait.
Chief Lupan noticed that their centerfielder had moved up considerably, as if she knew that the ball would go there. The hit was deliberate!
‘So that’s possible…,’ Chief Lupan pondered.
With this new depth to the game, Chief Lupan couldn’t help but fill his mind with all sorts of possibilities and tactics. His eyebrows furled, as if he was a coach trying to find a counterplay for their opponents schemes.
Unbeknownst to him, a small smile had formed on his face.
Meanwhile, the next batter was up. This time, it was a Werewolf who was considerably smaller than the first one.
However, unlike him, this second batter knew how to hold the bat properly. He copied the Rebornians’ posture from yesterday, keeping right foot solid and his left foot as his pivot.
“I’m gonna make sure to hit it there,” the batter pointed, showing his intention to hit the ball in between the center fielder and left fielder.
That way, it wouldn’t get called out like the first time.
The Werewolf let the first pitch pass him by for a called strike before he decided that was enough of an observation.
He memorized its speed and trajectory.
So, once Charlie winded up her pitch and threw the ball towards him, he knew the exact timing to hit it.
But just a few meters before the ball reached the plate, it suddenly curved downwards!
The batter tried to fix his bat, but inadvertently hit the topside of the ball and caused it to bounce on the ground in front of the second baseman, who threw it to first in a flash.
“OUT!”