Opening your eyes to find yourself chained to a beam at the top of a high barn is never a nice experience. Even less so when there's a pounding in your head and your clothes are in shreds. It's even worse when there's a small audience.
"Let the games begin!" a cackling voice screamed, sounding familiar to me for some reason. I opened my eyes wider and groaned, closing them immediately.
"Games? What games?" Tom asked, very close to my ear. I turned my head and saw him chained up next to me, legs dangling considerably lower.
"A match!" the hooded creepy skin dude said. "A rounders match! Hurricane against the Super Glitches!"
"What do we get if we win?" Salt called.
"You get your freedom, for a month or so at least. We get to chain you up again."
"I was on the rounders team, we're all very sporty and Pepper has super speed, we'll be fine," Georgina assured us, spinning in a circle from where she was suspended to my right.
"No we won't," Sophie hissed, using her back claws to try and untangle herself, "we'll end up thrashed!"
"Then we'd better cheat," Rebecca grinned.
"No," Emmi said from somewhere behind me. "We need to play fair."
"They won't," Josh pointed out.
"We should have a team outfit!" Shaade said enthusiastically. "Is rainbow okay for everyone?"
"We need clothes first," I replied. "As in, clothes that aren't rags."
"Good point," Shaade agreed. "Oi! Creepy skin people! Can we be let down for a team talk and an outfit change?"
There was no reply but the chains loosened and I found myself falling to the ground. I somersaulted and rolled, coming up in a crouch. Sophie landed on her feet, Tom used ice to slide down, Shaade and Rebecca drifted down using their powers to help, Josh landed unharmed and Emmi flew down on the back of a large, white dragon Pokemon. Georgina, however, was still suspended from the ceiling.
"We're flying without wings," she sang, still revolving around the one point. In a sudden rush of movement the chain snapped and she fell, shrieking. I blurred forwards and easily caught her, setting her down on the ground but keeping my arms around her.
"You okay?" I asked, kissing her forehead lightly.
"Yes," she answered. "But now my arms really hurt. And I'm cold. And I want to leave. But hey, I'm okay."
"Cut the sarcasm and let's jump to the chase," Josh ordered, taking control with a militant air around him. "Hurricane people, are we allowed to go and get new outfits?"
"Shaade can make them for you, out of magic," was the response. We all turned to look at Shaade who gave an evil grin before snapping his fingers.
"Shaade, no rainbows!" I cried, tugging at my T-Shirt.
"Bright green and bright orange are not colours that mix."
"Why am I wearing a skirt?!"
"It's a skort, not a skirt, but the point still stands."
"Skirts are hard to run in."
"We're going to lose!"
"I hate sport..."
"I'm too old for this."
"This is going to be great!"
*
Twirling the rounded bat in my hand I stepped forwards, up to the mark. I had a wicked grin on my face and a steely glare in my eyes. I was the first to bat for the Super Glitches and so there was a small amount of pressure for me to perform well.
"Ready?" the umpire called, waving his whistle in the air. It was a human that worked for Hurricane. The entire team we were up against were human, no creepy skin things. They were being the spectators (along with Dad and Salt), roaring their approval for Hurricane and hissing their disapproval of us, the reverse for our peers.
"Ready," I said through gritted teeth, my smile growing. The bowler spat on the floor and readied himself to throw - under arm, of course. I could see the strength building up as he released the ball and used physics to calculate exactly where it would hit and how much strength I could hit it with without killing someone or getting caught out.
As I sprinted, blurring past the four posts, knocking each one down, I dwelled on the rules. You hit a small white ball with a bat, holding the bat with only one hand. Once you've hit it you run and can stop at any of the four posts. At the second post you get half a rounder, at the fourth you get a full rounder. If you hit it behind you have to wait at first but can then run as soon as the backstop throws it to second post. It's not too hard, unlike the ball.
"Full rounder!" the umpire shouted, much to the spectators' disappointment. I high fived my team mates and threw the bat into the air, catching it with ease.
Georgina was up next. I saw her tense as the bowler readied himself and then her eyes followed the ball as it arced through the air towards her. Putting her full force into the swing she hit the ball high over the trees tops, giving her more than enough time to sprint around the four posts, knocking each one down with her bat. When she reached where the rest of us were stood she raised a glittering trophy, ribbons and streamers raining down around her.
"Calm your imagination," I laughed, shoving my hand through the trophy. "You'll get distracted."
"No I won't," Georgina assured me just as the rounders ball hit her on the back of the head. She stumbled forwards and I grabbed her arms, supporting her.
"Ow," she groaned.
"You're not dying, are you?" I asked in alarm. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Do I care?"
"You're fine." I hugged her tightly, keeping one eye out for the rounders ball. "You're fine, that's good. Brilliant, yes."
"Pepper, you're up," Josh said, skidding to a halt. "Sophie, Rebecca and Emmi managed to spectacularly go out at the second post. Tom's still out there."
"And Shaade?"
Josh pointed and my shoulders slumped. Shaade was dancing around one of the poles, gripping it and conducting the fielders with his bat. He was singing a tune, 'la la la' drifting across the grass towards us.
"Please control him," I said weakly. Josh nodded and marched over, dragging Shaade away from the pole and clapping a hand over his husband's mouth.
"Mm-hmm-lmm," Shaade mumbled, raising his bat in protest. Josh took the bat off him and dumped him by Rebecca, Sophie and Emmi.
I took the bat from Josh's outstretched hand and made my way to the box, my eyes cold. The bowler looked irritated, sweat beading on his brow. He wiped it away before throwing the ball and I smacked it, watching in awe as it smashed its way through the branches and leaves.
"Run!" I heard several voices scream at once, spurring me into action. I used my superpower speed to get all the way around, catching Tom up and forcing me to stop. I shouted at him to get moving and he did, sliding across the ground and hitting the fourth post with his shoulders as he skidded past. I hurdled him and threw my bat at the post on the floor, realising with a grin that we had a very high score that would be near impossible to beat.
*
We'd swapped around, Hurricane being batters and us being fielders. I put Shaade and Rebecca in deep seeing as they could go very high using their powers to create a magic bubble. Emmi was on first post, Georgina was on second, Tom was on third and I was on fourth. Josh was bowling as he had the best arm for it.
The first batter stepped forwards. He was the bowler from before, a cap pulled low over his eyes. His teeth glittered in the sunlight and he gripped the bat tighter.
"In your own time," the umpire said, rolling his eyes. Josh bowled the ball and the batter whacked it, sending it straight into Shaade's hands before he had a chance to run.
This pattern continued for almost all of the batters until there was only two left. The first hit it sideways, taking us all by surprise. She was able to get to second post before being stopped. She waited with her bat at arms length, edging closer to third.
Josh narrowed his eyes and threw the ball for the final batter. She hit it even harder, sailing it over the trees. Shaade and Georgina both sprinted for it whilst Rebecca ran squealing from some sort of insect.
Shaade found the ball first and hurled it to Georgina who tossed it to Emmi. Emmi panicked slightly and that gave the two batters a chance to run. The one stopped at second started powering towards Tom who yelled for Emmi to throw the ball. She did, aiming it further back than Tom could reach. He turned and ran, eyes on the ball. Unfortunately I did the same and we crashed, tumbling to the ground.
I heard feet go past my head and groaned, raising my head just off the ground. For a few brief seconds I'd been knocked unconscious and so had Tom.
"This is slightly awkward," Tom said, noticing that I was inches away from his nose.
"Yes, it is," I agreed.
"Shall I move?" he suggested.
"That would probably be best."
Tom scrambled backwards, a sheepish smile on his face. He offered his hand to me and I used it to stand up, wobbling slightly.
"Ow," I winced, holding my hand to my head. "That hurt, a lot."
"I'll take over fourth," Tom said. "You go to third. You don't do much there."
"But you got hurt too," I protested. "I'm fine, I'll keep going."
Tom spun me around and forced me to third post, taking up my position at fourth. "You didn't murder me for landing on you. There's something wrong with your head."
"You didn't murder me for-" I began. Thinking better of what I was about to utter out loud I shut my mouth, going back to the game.
*
"The points have been counted and verified," the umpire said. Both the teams were stood opposite one another, glaring like cats versus dogs. Salt and Albin had joined us, as had all the creepy skin people.
"And I can announce that the winning team is..." The umpire paused for effect. "The Super Glitches! Congratulations."
We all cheered and started jumping up and down. Streamers and balloons appeared out of nowhere and fireworks went off in the sunny, clear sky.
"You have your freedom then," the lead creepy dude sneered. "For now, at least. We will come for you again and then you will be tested properly. In the meantime, enjoy your lives." They all melted away and we were left standing in a field.
"Well," Albin said at last, breaking the slightly stunned silence, "I guess we'd better get back to our hotel rooms. It's getting late."
"Are you kidding?" Shaade yelled, a wide grin on his face. "We're celebrating!"