Play Ball! Maybe? (Open)

[Horo]

Horo walked around the campus, examining the posters. There was one that caught her interest, it had some balls on it and exclamation points. She tore it down and walked to a nearby student, a boy named Steve. ”Excuse me pion, but could you read this flier for me?”

Steve looked down at Horo with an annoyed glance. "Beat it, bitch." Horo's eye brow twitched as he insulted her.

...

"So it is a cry for help from the base ball team. I don't know the sport but this is just the chance I needed to get my name out there. Horo, savior of the baseball team!"

...

Horo arrived at the baseball field where the team was gathered. She walked around asking about until she found the team captain. "Hello there. My name is Horo and I'm here to fix your drunk problem."

[Johnathan]

Turning to the rather small wolf girl, the captain looked at her speculatively.

"You...you came by yourself?" The captain's features turned angry. "Are you trying to make fun of us too?" One of the other players on the team came over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Wait, maybe she's some kind of crazy baseball genius. She could be like, super strong..." Both boys turned to study the very proud, but less than impressive looking girl. "...maybe." He finished with a sigh. Just then another of the boys spoke up.

"Well, we can't complain now. Look, here he comes, right on que." Following the direction the boy was pointing in, it was like a scene straight out of a fantasy romance novel. As the large figure approached, you could sense the years of skill he had amassed in his every step. His broad shoulders hinted at an overwhelming power as his very presence loomed over them. A scent of flowers was quite prominent as the breeze seem to swirl around and away from him, carrying with it a myriad of petals. With his straw hat tipped towards them, the figure was one of mystery and elegance. As he drew near, his head rose to appraise the group with experienced eyes that were both warm and inviting, but subtly fearsome, and then he spoke.

"Yoohoo! Baseball~ team~! I'm hear for my daily match~! Ah ha ha ha ha!" The illusion of elegance was shattered instantly by his sing songy tone and boisterous laugh. Everyone on the team groaned in unison.

"Give us a break Ben! We need to practice!"

"Yeah." "Yeah!" "What kind of teacher are you anyway!" "All you do is sleep!" "You don't even use the field." Taking a large swig from his gourd, Benjamin laughed heartily.

"Hah ha! To become more skilled at anything, you most constantly battle against those who are stronger than yourself." Grabbing Horo by the shoulder, he pulled her in close to whisper, his breath stinking of alcohol, "Also, under the field cherry tree is the best place to nap in the whole school. It's my secret spot." Pausing Benjamin backed off from Horo, holding her at arms length.

"Huh, what do we have here?" After squinting drunkenly for a moment, he gave an enormous smile and pulled Horo into a huge hug, rubbing his prickly face on the top of her head and ears affectionately. "What a cute new mascot you guys have found!" Benjamin exclaimed. Placing her gingerly back on the ground, Ben knelt down to see her eye to eye, smiling stupidly all the while. "Hey there Miss Wolfy. After I beat your friends here would you like to nap with me under the sakura tree?" Holding his jug up, Benjamin swished it around. "There's enough sake to go around to a pretty young girl like yourself."

[Horo]

Horo tried as hard as she could to escape from the grasp of the drunken master. “Let me go! You smell bad! Don’t rub your face on me ears!” Horo stumbled backwards a few steps as Ben let her go, gasping for fresh air. “What is that stench?” Horo held her nose closed with her index finger and thumb. “It smells so... bad! You!(Ben) You smell horrible and have bad manners! You don’t treat a beautiful lady like that!” Horo pointed at Ben with a defiant look in her eyes.

“Now you listen to me! You’re going to sleep on the other side of the tree so these boys can practice or else I’m going to have to kick your butt!”

In response, Ben laughed and patted the girl’s head bemusedly.

“Don’t touch me! You’ll get that bad smell in my hair!” Laughing, Ben continued to rustle her hair.

“Now, now Miss Wolfy-”

Horo smacked his hand away. “I’m not a wolf! I’m much more sophisticated than at wolf!” In response, Benjamin took hold of her tail and buried his face in it.

Horo began to scream in disgust! “STOP YOU CAN’T TOUCH THAT!” She twisted and turned trying to get away.

“But your tail is so soft! It’s like a big furry pillow!” Ben chuckled strangely to himself as he continued to play with her tail.

Horo took a moment to remove her ears and tail from her body, going into full human form. “I told you not to touch me there! You pervert!” As her tail vanished, Benjamin stepped forwards, forcing his head between her legs and lifting her onto his shoulders.

Horo began to thrash back and forth violently, but Ben held her thighs tight to his shoulders. “Put me down! I don’t like this! I need an adult! Call the.. I don’t know just let me down!” Laughing happily, Ben skipped around the field slowly.

“We’re going to be best friends Miss Wolfy. I hope you’ll be here every day when I come to play with your friends!”

“I’ll never come back if you keep calling me wolfy! My name’s Horo!”

“Hmm?” Benjamin questioned as he stopped skipping. “I like Wolfy better! Besides, why would I stop when you’re a Wolfy!” Ben’s drunken logic was as clear as day to no one but himself.

Horo began to pound on Ben’s head with her clenched fist, shouting at the top of her lungs. “I’m not a wolf! I’m an Anulupis! We are not wolves! Now put me down! I don’t like being up here! You’re making me smell bad too!” Horo tried to wiggle herself out of his grip, but she couldn’t beat his drunken strength.

Laughing, Ben either didn’t hear her or ignored her.

“You can stay right here with me for today’s game Miss Wolfy. You’ll be my good luck charm!” Clapping his hands together, he called the baseball teams attention. “You all can bat first today! I’d much rather play with my new friend out in the field for awhile.”

“No! I’m not staying up here while you run around! Put me down now!” Horo cried, pounding down on his head with as much force as she could muster. Humming happily to himself, Benjamin began to make his way out to the pitcher’s mound. Suddenly, his form began to shudder until he split into nine different copies of himself. Horo remained on top of the one standing at the pitchers mound. The rest slowly walked out to take their places on the field, all the while announcing their displeasure at not being the one allowed to play with ‘Miss Wolfy.’ Laughing, the real Benjamin signaled them to settle down.

“Now don’t worry, I’ll share! I’ll make sure we don’t win too fast today so that we all have time to play with Miss Wolfy.”

“Don’t call me Wolfy!” Horo said sternly. She looked down at him and thought of a plan. “Ok, Benny, if we win we get to play one of my games next! Doesn’t that sound like fun?” Horo’s attitude changed, she was getting used to his rancid smell and thus could think clearly again. “Let’s win Benny!” Ben smiled drunkenly as a blush spread across his face.

“A game with Miss Wolfy? I like the sound of that!. Alright, today’s game is dedicated to you!”

**********Scene break. Ben obliterates the baseball team once again.*******
“What did I just experience?” Horo’s mouth was wide open with amazement. The baseball team was a myriad of depression, scattered about the field either on their faces unconscious or punching the ground while on their knees. Meanwhile, Ben was finishing his slow walk around the bases for the 325 time. The baseball team hadn’t even hit one ball.

Horo looked at the defeated players with pity. “Wow... you guys suck at this game...” Horo tapped on Ben’s shoulder “Let me down for a moment please?” Smiling, Ben nodded, lifting Horo from his shoulders and placing her on the ground. The dejected captain shouted back at her,

“We don’t suck, he just cheats! How are we supposed to beat a Master like him?! You were also no help by the way. Less than useless even.”
An angry scowl appeared on Horo’s face. Her brow was tense and her body was shaking with pulse energy. She marched over to the captain and grabbed him by his collar.

“You think you can blame your inadequacy on someone else?! He didn’t cheat! Benny used the skills he had available! If you’re going to complain when someone better than you enters the field then you should quit!” Horo let go of his collar and looked around the team. “You guys are a disgrace to the game.” The captain glared at her angrily while the rest of the team began the slow shuffle off the field in defeat. Benjamin was already laughing his way over to his favorite tree.

“That’s easy for you to say when you didn’t even do anything! If we had the skill or powers to match someone like him, we’d be in one of the more prominent combat clubs, not the baseball team! There’s no way a team of sports athletes can beat a combat master like him. That’s why we put up the flyers. Unfortunately, the best we got from them was a useless wolf who got kidnapped by the enemy before the game even started.”

Horo sighed and looked back at the captain with her nearly glowing red eyes. “You are using his skill as an excuse. If you would rather be in a combat club then do that, even if you don’t have the skill. Otherwise stop complaining.” Horo kicked some dirt up behind her as she walked back over to Benny.

“We don’t want to be in a combat club. We want to actually play baseball, but not against someone like him he plays using his powers to screw with the game! We want to compete with sportsmanship, but that’s never going to happen now. The baseball team may as well disband.”

“Then find an arena!” Horo shouted, turning her head back to the captain before tapping on Ben’s shoulder. “Now it’s time to play my game! It’s called cloud busting, want to play?” Ben paused in his slow gate to turn and redard Horo thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

“Cloud busting huh?” Benjamin question. Smiling warmly he nodded an affirmative. “It sounds like fun! How do you play?”

Horo smiled, “Well first I get back onto your shoulders! And then we fly up into the clouds and beat them up with our powers! Master Giovanna says it will help me develop faster too.”

“Sounds like fun.” Benjamin responded with a smile. Kneeling down, this time he allowed her to climb onto his shoulders, instead of forcibly lifting her.

Horo closed her eyes and re conjured her ears and tail before happily jumping onto Ben’s shoulders. She grabbed hold of his hair like horse reins. “Okay! Ready to bust some clouds!” Benjamin chuckled at her enthusiasm, as a devious smile spread across his face. Taking a large swig from his jug, he crouched slightly preparing his jump.

“Hold on tight, because here, we, go!”
“Ready!” Horo leaned in close to Ben’s head. As Ben launched them upwards, behind them the dirt of the field exploded outward in a circular fashion. Their force as they ascended rapidly reached 5G’s, well beyond the force necessary to break the planets gravitational hold. Without warning, he slowed suddenly as they reached the cloud cover in less than a few seconds. Coming to a complete stop in midair, Ben smiled as he looked around.

“I’m getting excited already! Where do we start?”
“It’s so pretty up here! Look at this view!” Horo said, slowly regaining her breath from the jump. She took a look around and pointed at a cloud. “That one!” She tried to focus and get a feel for the pulse of the clouds so she could rip it apart.

Back on the ground, a small piece of paper floated through the air and into the Captain's face. It was badly written but legible as “You’re welcome -- Horo” Reading the note, the captain turned to look at his emotionally defeated and physically exhausted team. With a dejected sigh he crumpled up the note shaking his head.

“Well, it’s a bit late now.” He said to himself. Beginning to walk away, he paused looking up to the sky. “Though I suppose her hearts in the right place. Who knows, this could be the start of something.”

A bead of sweat formed on Horo’s face as she squinted at the cloud. “Benny! I’m no good at this, I can’t focus on the pulse of the cloud to bust it! What am I doing wrong?” Horo asked in a slightly defeated tone. “I can barely feel the energy... Am I weak?”

“Hmm,” Benjamin debated as he rubbed his chin. “Well Giovanni could tell you more about pulse than I could, but if it’s similar to chi I may be able to help.” Horo nodded as he spoke of qi “Giovanni said it was a similar concept, but it was harnessed in a separate manner. He said it starts out as a river instead of a pond.. but I don’t know what that means...” Smiling Ben held up his gourd, signalling for her to take it.

Horo took the gourd and smelt it, “What is this stuff anyway? It smells so strange.” Horo couldn’t remember any scent like this from her home. “Is it a drink?” Ben chuckled in response.

“Yes, it’s a drink known as sake. It’s made by fermenting rice. I love it, however you might not find it agreeable to taste.” Smiling, Ben tapped on the gourd. “Ignore what’s inside for now. Instead, I want you to focus on the gourd. You should find it easier to feel the pulse of it.”
Horo nodded “Ok” She closed her eyes and began to calm her mind. Once she was only thinking about the gourd she began to see an image. Trillions of tiny balls appeared in the shape of the gourd, vibrating slightly but swiftly. “I can see... tiny balls... rocking back and forth.”

“Very good, very good.” Ben replied with a happy chuckle. “That rocking motion, that pulse, is what allows this gourd to maintain its form. Without that pulse, there would be no gourd. Now, try to focus on what’s inside the gourd instead.”

Horo nodded and brought her focus back onto the gourd. She could still clearly see its shape, her hand instinctively rocked the gourd back and forth, she could feel the weight sloshing around and soon she could visualize the trillions of tiny balls, moving more freely around each other. She stopped shaking the gourd and focused on the balls, they were a slightly different color from the gourd’s balls. “I … I can see it. These balls are loose and have a different color. I can see them, shaking but not like the gourd. Why is that? Why are they different?” Horo asked eagerly, having never learned of the physical differences of solids liquids and gases at the molecular level.

“Well, the gourd is solid.” Benjamin tapped on it to emphasize his point. “Unless you break it, it’s shape isn’t going to change, no matter where I put it. The sake is a liquid. It constantly changes, taking the shape and filling whatever you put it in. Both are made of the balls, though they are different types, however the pulse of the two balls is different.” Smiling warmly, Ben reached up, grabbing back the gourd and intertwining Horo’s fingers. “Squeeze hold of your other hand tightly, and then try to move your hands in different directions. What happens?”

Horo did as he commanded and tried to pull her hands apart while they were locked together. “What is supposed to happen? They just pull against each other but don’t separate unless I make them.” Ben nodded.

“Yes, they don’t come apart, however it’s not as though they don’t move at all. When you push and pull them in different directions they still wiggle independently. Such is the pulse of a solid object.”

Horo nodded her head “So then the pulse of a liquid object, based on that would be like my hair. It stays together but it can move around much more freely?”

“That’s right.” Ben said happily. “For example, this time take your left hand and connect your thumb and first finger. The put your index finger through the space and do the same thing. Then try to pull them in different directions.”

Horo did as he instructed and pulled, they two did not release unless she wanted them too. The analogies were beginning to make incredible sense. With her new knowledge she looked again at the cloud and focused on it. With her eyes closed she soon began to see the vibrating particles that made it up. She took in a deep breath and thought like she had with her fingers, telling herself that she was releasing the grip so that they could come apart.

Horo opened her eyes to see that the cloud was drifting apart in two severed sections. “I did it!” she cheered, shaking around with delight upon Ben’s shoulders. “I really am a genius.” She made a silly face before laughing at her own joke.

“Hah ha ha, good job, good job!” Ben laughed while clapping. “Although, I think you can still do better. You aren’t viewing the cloud quite right. Although it’s very close to the sake in my gourd, and your linked fingers, it isn’t quite the same.”

Horo turned her head to the side questioningly. “How is it different, Benny?” Horo thought about the states of matter... “Wait... are clouds air?” Smiling as things began to make sense to the girl, Ben shook his head.

“Not quite, but almost. Clouds are special.” Holding his hands in front of himself, Ben began to slowly move them around in different directions. “Though you may not be able to see them clearly, as they are so spread out, those same balls that made up the gourd, and the sake are all around us. They are the air. They simply move around so much, that they tend to be far apart. They constantly move, looking for areas where they can move about more and more. If you think about that, and think about the sake, the cloud is somewhere in the middle.” Reaching up, he grabbed hold of her hands lightly. Moving them around apart from each other, he slowly brought them closer and closer together. “A cloud is like the balls in the sake, that have been spread apart from all of their friends. As they get near to each other,” Benjamin touched the tips of Horo’s fingers together. “They find their friends and try to stick together. However, they got so excited when they were far apart, they can’t quite lock themselves, because they’re moving too much. What you end up with is a cloud of all these friends, doing their best to stay together, as they all slowly drift apart.

“When you look at that cloud, don’t think of it as one entity, held together by a bond that you must break. Instead think of it as trillions of tiny friends, holding onto one another by the tips of their fingers. If you scare them all apart, you’ll truly be able to ‘bust’ the cloud.”

Horo nodded, slightly confused at first, but with a few moment of thought she felt that she had a grasp of what he had been talking about. She placed her focus on another aloud and brought the visual into her mind. Trillions of little balls trying their hardest to stay together, all she had to do was give them a little push. She pushed herself to her feet, standing on Ben’s shoulders and raising her hands to point to the cloud. She slowly moved her hands apart, tearing the cloud and then lifted them towards the stars. upon opening her eyes she began to move her hands around faster, erasing the cloud from existence as she slowly chipped all the holds away. “Wow! That was so cool! Benny did you see that! Wolfy’s got it goin on!”

Horo looked at another cloud and brought it into focus, it possessed more balls like the sake, so she started with those first, pulling them down as a unit she forced the cloud to rain. “Wow!!” she said with a hop, losing her balance and falling backwards and into the air.

“BENNY!” she cried as she fell through the air.

“Whoa there.” Ben said gently as he effortlessly turned and caught her, pulling her around into a ‘princess carry.’ “Rain is what happens when those friends connected by their fingertips manage to come close enough to grab on to one another. They turn from a ‘vapor’ into a ‘liquid’ once again.” Chuckling, Ben took another huge swig from his gourd. “Ah, that’s good.” Smiling devilishly Ben continued. “You did excellent, a huge improvement already, but you still have a long ways to go! After a bunch of practice, you just might be able to do something like this.” With a single snap of his fingers, every cloud in sight ‘exploded’ outwards in a ring with him as the center. “Ha ha ha!” He laughed boisterously. “That’s how it’s done!”

“WOW!” Horo gasped as the clouds moved away like those she made when she threw rocks into water. “Don’t you worry Benny, I’ll be able to do that soon. I’ll make an even bigger ring!” Horo let a yawn escape her mouth as she looked out at the horizon. “Well I’ve had enough cloudbusting for one day. I’ll come play some more tomorrow ok?” Horo asked as another yawn escaped her lips. Smiling gently, Ben nodded.

“I believe you will, and when you do I’ll simply have to make an even bigger one.” Noting her yawn, the air began to rush up around them as Benjamin descended. “I’ll be waiting.” He said with a nod.

Horo hopped out of his arms once they returned softly to the ground. She turned back to him with a happy wave “See you tomorrow Benny” she mumbled as she began to slowly hobble back to her dorm room. Using her pulse ability to that extent had sapped all of her energy. Upon re-entering her room she quickly fell onto the bed and into a deep sleep.

Smiling to himself as she hobble off, Ben looked up to the sky at his handiwork. “You pick some good kids gramps.” As the breeze passed, the clone dissolved into a shower of gold, and underneath his favorite tree, Benjamin smiled happily.

Giovanni walked up to the sleeping man and sat down next to him. “She’s a fiery one isn’t she? I have tried teaching other’s but... Well I think it would be better if she learned from someone younger than myself. I’m no good with the basics. So as per the agreement, I’ll buy your next 50 bottles of sake.” In response, Benjamin snored loudly and rolled over away from the pulse master, muttering something in his ‘sleep’ about troublesome work.

“Well if you don’t want it, I’ll just save a few bucks.” Giovanni smiled and stood up, brushing the grass and dirt from his bottom. “I still can’t believe I lost that bet with Eleazar. I was sure she’d challenge you to a game of baseball...” Smiling to himself as he laid in the shade of the tree, Benjamin responded without turning to see him.

“If she’s interested in actually helping the baseball team, she’s going to have to. I don’t plan on giving up my favorite spot so easily. What I’m most worried about is whether or not she’ll actually get anyone to follow her.”

Giovanni chuckled. “I’m sure someone will be stupid enough to give it a shot. It will be a no win situation, but there is always at least a group of students at this school who won’t care that it’s a no winner. Those are the ones we made the school for. Aren’t they?” The question was rhetorical and Giovanni didn’t plan on sticking around to hear Benjamin’s answer. He used his powers to shift out of sight. Later he would find a note in his pocket. It read:
“I’m running low.”

[Horo]

-- A few Weeks pass by with Horo learning from Benjamin --