The Waitress ↯ C. Randall

Chapter 30 | Home Run Koda

SOMEHOW, TODAY WAS A GENUINELY NICE DAY. The sun was out, the grass was greener than ever, and the rangers were able to enjoy a nice day off. In fact, they were teaching Koda how to play sports. The gang was decked out in form-fitting exercise wear, mostly wearing sports tanks and leggings, or sweatpants for the guys.

"Now Koda, things have progressed in the last hundred thousand years. This equipment is for what we call sports," Chase explained. Casually, he tossed a basketball to his friend.

Tossing the ball in his hands, Koda repeated, "Sports," Judging from his blank expression, he definitely didn't understand them just yet, but he was curious.

"Sports?" Ivan accused, "I see no jousting poles, darts. There's not a single greased pig," His words were drenched in venom, nearly spitting as he spoke. Quinn cracked up at the man, covering her mouth upon Ivan's pointed look at her. Despite covering her mouth, by just glancing at her smiling eyes, anyone could tell how downright hilarious she found this.

Despite Ivan's complaining, Koda's attention quickly turned to the rest of the sports equipment. Taking a tennis racket from the floor and holding it by the racket head, Koda asked, "For catching butterflies?"

"Butterflies? No, no, it's called tennis!" Tyler clarified, grabbing the other racket and a tennis ball. Distancing himself from Koda, he held up his racket. Bringing it above his head, he demonstrated the serving motion.

"You toss the ball, bring the racket behind you, and strike!" He explained, "That's how you start a point in tennis,"

Tyler tossed the tennis ball to Koda, motioning for him to try it out. Koda caught the ball and flashed a smile at Tyler. Lightly bouncing on the soles of his feet, he tossed the ball at an awkward angle. The toss ended up being way too short. Yet, rather than catch it and start over, he struck the ball. In a split second, the tennis ball disappeared, and a loud snap of the tennis racket was heard.

Everyone grimaced. Tyler stilled for a moment, terror flashing in his eyes upon the sound. Upon seeing that only the racket was damaged, he sighed in relief. "Hey, it's your first try. You got this!" Tyler cheered, slapping Koda on the back. He removed the broken racket from Koda's hands, opting to replace it with another racket. Shelby gave Koda another tennis ball.

"This time, just throw the ball higher and straight up. And, hit it a little softer," Tyler recommended.

Koda nodded; his eyes narrowed at the tennis ball. He took a deep breath, then tossed the ball up. His toss was perfect! It was both high and straight, and he hit the ball in the middle of his strings. It looked great! Well, until the tennis ball flew two miles away from the group.

Once Koda's gaze fell upon his racket, his eyes widened. "Uh, I sorry," Koda apologized, returning the racket to Tyler. Tyler tilted his head quizzically at his friend, expecting an explanation. But, once he looked at the racket, that explained things well enough.

There was a ball-sized hole in the middle of the racket's strings. The hole was large enough that Quinn was pretty sure she could reach her arm through it. Tyler's eyes widened, yet he remained relatively unfazed. In fact, the whole group was pretty used to Koda's Herculian strength. Chase was already picking up a rugby ball for Koda to play with as Tyler eyed the broken racket.

"Koda, you have to hit the tennis ball a little softer," Tyler cautioned softly.

"I like to hit hard," Koda complained. He sullenly stared at the other broken racket held in his hand, wincing the more he looked at it.

Despite his first attempt at sports being a disaster, within the next minute, Koda was already trying out new sports. Rugby, golf, and baseball were among the next sports he experimented with.