Monkie Kid: Mommy Dearest

Strike Out

Tao was part of the little league team called The Sky Dragons. He was sitting in the dugout with boys in his age all wearing sky-blue jerseys with a symbol of a soft grey dragon surrounded by clouds on the back and their jersey numbers on their front, sky-blue baseball caps, white pants, and grey cleats, while a few of the boys, including Tao, had a white long sleeve shirt under their jersey.  

Tao sat on the dugout bleacher with his cap on backward when one of his teammates approached him.

"I just saw your uncle make a volunteer coach cry," his teammate was laughing, "you should have seen it."

"My uncle?" Tao tilted his head in confusion.

"Mr. Macaque," the teammate smiled, "isn't he your dad's brother?"

"No," Tao shook his head. "I get that asked a lot though."

"Oh." The teammate took a drink from his water bottle. 

"That doesn't matter," Tao smiled, "what happen with Macaque and the volunteer coach?"

"It was awesome," the teammate exclaimed, "he said--"

"Tao." The head coach interrupted their conversation. "You're up next to pitch."

Tao grabbed his gloves and walked out onto the field to the pitcher's mound. His team was going against The Iron Cranes, whose team colors were grey, dark grey, and red. Everyone on the bleachers was dressed in the colors of the team they were cheering for.

When Wukong and the others noticed, Tao was heading to the pitcher's mound, they cheered even louder. 

"LET'S GO, BUDDY!" Wukong yelled.

"YOU CAN DO IT!" MK yelled alongside him.

Above the bleachers was an announcer box, where Jin and Yin were the commentators for this game. 

"We're in the final inning of the game and The Sky Dragons are destroying The Iron Cranes," Jin commented.

"Player 5 for the dragons is up to pitch," Yin spoke up, "if he can get a strike out then they win the game."

Standing on top of the announcer box was Messenger, watching the game in silence.

The Iron Crane that was up to bat, looked at Tao and had a smug look on his face.

"Look guys," the kid turned to his team's dugout. "It's the daddy's boy!"

The team started laughing, trying to get Tao worked up and lost concentration. Tao turned his hat forward as he glared at the kid, who still looked smug with the catcher crouched behind him.

Tao threw the first baseball, so fast that the kid didn't have a chance to swing.

"STRIKE ONE!" The catcher yelled.

The kid's shocked face turned into a glare when he saw Tao's smug face. Tao threw the second ball, this time the kid was able to swing, just a few seconds too late.

"STRIKE TWO!" The catcher yelled again.

The kid was getting angry at this point, and Tao found it funny. He threw the third and final ball but before the kid from the opposing team could swing at the ball, something from above stabbed the ball into the ground. It was a huge thorn that had stabbed the ball, burying the pointed end into the dirt. 

"What?" Wukong whispered seeming rather confused.

With a loud crash of thunder and a bright flash of lightning, the clear vibrant blue sky and sunny day were switched with a grey sky, large greyish-green clouds, and a strong wind. Tao froze in panic when something landed behind him, he slowly turned around to see a giant thorn demon, similar to the one that was near his school standing behind him.