The first half of the school day prior to the big match with Gungannon went by, thankfully, without much incident. Fenrick did his best to stay quiet and cause no disruptions. Zeratron appeared to mostly recover from his brooding mood the previous day. It was by all means a peaceful day of learning.

While they were scouring the internet before the start of their computer lab class, Arcanus came across an article that talked about Ziggy Ratt being involved in a peaceful protest against the practice of hippogriff hunting by aristocrats in the Eastlands. Needless to say, his involvement gave the protest much more attention than it would have had otherwise. Reading the article, the three couldn’t help but admire how this young druid could take time out of his loaded schedule for causes he was passionate about.

After a quiet lunch, the four students changed into their gym clothes for their third period physical education class. On this day, they had the chance to be teammates in another sport: baseball. Ophelia was with them; it was the only class where all five were together. The PE class jogged out to the baseball field on the mild but cloudless day and began their warm-up stretches.

After their stretches, the dwarven PE teacher, Mr. Hammerhawk, commanded them to gather around and asked for volunteers to be the captains for the two opposing teams. There was the blue cap team and the white cap team. Caleo volunteered to be the captain for the blue cap team, but declined to wear the hat, as he didn’t want it to mess up his gelled and slicked-back hair which he spent over an hour every morning getting just right.

Immediately after Caleo volunteered, Drayson Bucker—a snotty kid that reeked of ignorance—stepped up to captain the white cap team.

Once the captains were chosen, the tension on the ballfield rose substantially. Caleo and Drayson had a bit of history together. In fact, Drayson was formerly a member of Caleo’s arena squad during freshman year. During that year (when the team was comprised of Caleo, Drayson, Arcanus, and Fenrick), they suffered a single loss during the regular season, and then went on to lose in the finals of the world championship against the Mine Haven team.

In the aftermath of that severely disappointing season for Caleo and company, many spectators and “professional analysts” pointed to Drayson being the weak link, having been knocked out first in both of their losses. Once the second year rolled around, Zeratron, who had just transferred to Hardires High, made an unforgettable first impression during gladiatorial tryouts. Once it was finally time to choose between Drayson or Zeratron, Caleo picked Zeratron without a second thought.

Needless to say, Drayson wasn’t happy with being kicked off the team and swore that Caleo would regret his decision—then Caleo’s team went on to be undefeated and win back-to-back world championships.

Despite being replaced on the team, Drayson had a massive ego and thought that he was the best at everything he did—even when it was obvious that he wasn’t. He was particularly competitive towards the four-man squad, Caleo in particular. Drayson still tried out for a spot on the team the third and fourth year, but he ultimately didn’t make the cut. Each time, Caleo informed him of the rejection in the nicest way possible, but Drayson couldn’t accept the fact that he wasn’t good enough for the team. Ever since, he’s had it out for the arena captain.

Once it was time for the captains to pick their team, Caleo picked Ophelia first (for obvious reasons) but ended up picking Fenrick, Arcanus, and Zeratron for his team as well. It wasn’t so much because he wanted to pick them (he deals with them enough in the arena) but more because Drayson refused to pick any of them for his own team. He was determined to show everyone that he could beat all four of them—if not in fighting, then in some other sport.

Once the teams were assembled and situated, Drayson stomped over to the blue cap team: “You all think the great and mighty Caleo Pyrateson is gonna lead you to victory, do ya? You all think that him and Zeratron, and Fenrick and Arcanus are gonna carry you to an easy win, do ya? You all think that they’re the greatest athletes ever, do ya?” Drayson badgered them with his scratchy, condescending tone. “Unfortunately for you, I’m gonna prove to you all that ‘The New Heroes of Hardires’ are nothing but a bunch of frauds after I lead my team to victory this day on the ball field! What do you gotta say about that, oh captain?” Drayson asked as he put on his blue captain’s hat.

After having to endure listening to the obnoxious speech, Caleo walked up and stood face-to-face with Drayson. Since he was about a foot taller than Drayson, Caleo needed to bend his neck to properly look upon his vocal rival.

“Well, good luck then. May the best team win,” Caleo told him.

It was an innocuous remark, but he knew full well that it would get under Drayson’s skin much worse than stooping down to his level. It worked. The rival captain’s cocky grin turned into a perturbed frown. Caleo walked away and Arcanus handed him a bat. The game had begun.

The participants got into their respective positions on the field. “PPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY BBBBBBBBAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!” Mr. Hammerhawk announced from behind the white cap teams’ catcher just before he slid his mask over his red-bearded face.

No one had to wait for the captains to do battle. Drayson stepped onto the pitcher’s mound and Caleo went first in the batting order.

Caleo stepped up to the plate and pointed to the sky, signaling that he was going to hit a home run on the first pitch. Drayson wasn’t amused by the gesture and wound up a blazing fastball.

He released the ball and sent it flying towards the plate at high speed. Everyone thought that it would zoom past Caleo before he even had a chance to react—but with a smirk on his face he swung the bat so fast that it broke and splintered into little pieces upon impact.

The baseball ripped through the air like a tiny comet, sailing into the blue sky until it became a little white speck that disappeared into the horizon. Mr. Hammerhawk, who served as the game’s umpire, stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds at the sheer majesty of the spectacle before coming to his senses and declaring it a lead-off home run. Caleo jogged around the bases while his team cheered from the dugout and the other team stood in utter shock. The only one who wasn’t shocked from the white cap team was Drayson, who glared intensely at Caleo, red-faced and irate.

The ball game went on with Caleo’s team dominating. The only homerun that Drayson’s team managed to get surprisingly came from the class’s smallest member, a gnome simply known as LD.

Arcanus was on the pitcher’s mound and was acting cocky towards the match up presented. He threw a rather careless cutter and didn’t expect LD to actually hit it. Swinging the bat in an upwards motion, the baseball was hit without much force and rolled between first and second base. Playing shortstop, Fenrick scooped up the ball and tossed it to Ophelia, who was playing first base.

Fenrick, like Arcanus, was careless in his execution and overarched his toss. The baseball went over the first basewoman’s head. LD slowly ran around first and was on his way to second while Ophelia scrambled for the ball. Fenrick quickly ran to second base and was ready for the catch. Ophelia picked it up, spun around, and got it out of her hand so quickly that she didn’t bother to aim. The ball went wide left of the second base and went rolling to the other side of the diamond.

“Oh my god just get him out you idiots!” Caleo shouted to his team out of right field.

“What was that?” Ophelia hollered over to Caleo, wild-eyed.

“I didn’t mean you, boop-boop, I meant Fen!”

“You said idiots. Plural! You just called your girlfriend an idiot, how could you?”

While Caleo ran to Ophelia to try and calm her down, the ball rolled between the third baseman and Arcanus. Arcanus wanted to try and redeem himself after letting the hit happen, so he jumped off the mound and made a play for the ball in an attempt to toss it to the third baseman. However, since it was closer to the third baseman, he went after the ball as well. Before either of them realized it, they both bumped into each other and fell over. When they hit the ground, the ball rolled just out of reach, and LD ran around them and towards home.

Zeratron, who was in the catcher position, dropped his mitt in disbelief when LD stepped onto Homeplate. Behind him, Mr. Hammerhawk looked even more dumbfounded than he was with Caleo’s lead-off homerun.

While LD celebrated his inside-the-park homerun, Arcanus threw his glove down and shouted “Fuck!” at the top of his lungs. Mr. Hammerhawk immediately ejected him from the game for unsportmanlike behavior. Humiliated, Arcanus ran into the dugout and didn’t come back out for the rest of the game. Ironically, Fenrick was the one that decided to go after him and managed to calm him down (as he had much experience with getting ejected for unsportsmanlike behavior).

The game eventually came down to the final inning. Caleo’s blue-cap team needed one more out to put away Drayson’s white-cap team. Fenrick was on the mound as relief pitcher, and Drayson was in scoring position on third base, eager to take his chance to go for Homeplate.

Fenrick took notice of Drayson’s earnestness and quickly threw the ball to the third baseman. Drayson was able to dive back to third base and saved himself from being out. Fenrick then pitched a sinker that Zeratron caught dead-center in the strike zone. The blue-cap team now needed just one more strike to win the game.

Fenrick took a deep breath, wound up his pitch and released it, but the white-cap batter (a powerful young woman who was a member of the female team arena squad) was able to get a solid hit as the ball grounded out near third. Drayson launched like a rocket towards home plate at great speed. The third baseman managed to scoop up the ball in time and threw it past Drayson’s head and dead-center into Zeratron’s catcher’s mitt.

Zeratron blocked the path between Drayson and Homeplate—and right as the ball landed firmly into Zeratron’s mitt—Drayson lowered his shoulder and came charging into Zeratron’s padded chest. Both players tumbled down in a violent collision, but Zeratron was able to hold onto the ball.

“You’re out!” Mr. Hammerhawk emphatically exclaimed, bringing an end to the ball game. The blue-cap team threw their gloves up in the air in celebration.

Even with his team losing 9 to 1, Drayson just couldn’t accept that he lost the game. He quickly got to his feet and hovered bitterly over Zeratron.

“The ball was loose, I saw it! He put it back in his glove before anyone saw!” Drayson shouted to anyone that would listen to him.

Zeratron got up with the ball firmly in his hand, “Everyone here knows that isn’t true; quit making a fool of yourself,” he calmly said.

“You calling me a liar asshole?” Drayson got up in Zeratron’s face. Much like Caleo, Zeratron was much bigger than Drayson and had to lower his gaze to meet him eye-to-eye.

“Don’t push your luck. I’m not in the mood today to deal with another one of your little tantrums,” Zeratron scowled down at Drayson.

“What the hell are you gonna do about it? You ain’t jack shit!” Drayson yelled, not backing down and causing even more of a scene.

The other students grew increasingly uncomfortable with Drayson’s behavior. Mr. Hammerhawk tried to step in to defuse the situation, but it was too late…

The length of Zeratron’s arm began to emanate dark, shadowy fingers of an unknown substance. With lightning-fast speed he wrapped his hand tight across Drayson’s throat. He lifted him high off the ground, and the dark shadows crawled up his hand like mist and crawled into Drayson’s mouth, ears, and nostrils.

As this happened, Drayson’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body began to convulse violently. His arms and legs flailed helplessly like an animal caught in a trap. All of the students began to panic and pleaded for Zeratron to stop, all except Fenrick, who was rather passive to the whole situation, and Caleo, who found the whole thing quite humorous.

Mr. Hammerhawk had to act quickly, he wrapped his massive dwarven arms around Zeratron and began to squeeze his midsection. Mr. Hammerhawk had the reputation of being one of the strongest beings in the land, placing 2nd in the prestigious Jotunn Strength competition in Mine Haven.

Despite this, Zeratron still didn’t let go. Mr. Hammerhawk didn’t have any time to negotiate with the crazed student, so he squeezed so hard that webs of veins exploded out of his massive arms. Zeratron winced in pain and eventually released Drayson from his dark grip.

Drayson’s unconscious body slammed down onto the dirt. To make sure he completely defused the situation, Mr. Hammerhawk threw Zeratron away from the scene, tossing him close to thirty feet in the air as if he were a throwing stone. Upon landing safely on his feet, Zeratron glowered angrily at his teacher. With his crimson eyes, he looked frightfully similar to a demon.

“Zeratron! What on earth has gottin into ye laddie?” Mr. Hammerhawk barked at him, “This is completely unacceptable! You march over to the principal’s office right now!” the PE teacher ordered, then knelt down beside Drayson to tend to him.

Zeratron did not immediately follow Mr. Hammerhawk’s orders, but once he took a minute to calm himself down, he made his way back to the school with his head down.

Caleo and Fenrick stood side-by-side, observing the urgent attention Drayson was receiving from the teacher and students.

“You do realize this is bad for us, right?” Fenrick told his captain, but Caleo couldn’t help but let a smile spread across his face.

“Probably, but it was so worth it.”

Well… that was unexpected. In an act of justified rage, Zeratron has injured another student and needs to go see Principal Eppers to face the consequences of his actions. What will this mean for Zeratron as well as the team? What kind of ramifications could this incident bring? Find out next time on Clubs and Stubs!