The Stronghold

Flying Like A Rounders Ball

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.