SPRINGBOUND SUMMER COUR

Pippi Shortstocking

Podunk was a small town that was located just outside of Onett and next to Merrysville. It was a town that wasn't given that much attention, except for the baseball team that played for the Starhit middle school, known as the Podunk Rockstars. People all around came to see them, and as of now their most recent run scored them against the Merrysville Skaters, though the Skaters forfeited due to unknown reasons, leaving the Podunk Rockstars with their win streak still shining strong.

Another thing to note about Podunk, is that it was always permanently summer. Everytime the year reaches that time where the days get shorter and it gets colder, it instead just gets longer and hotter. The leaves never fell from the trees so the leaf you saw yesterday, fast-forwarded a month, is just the same leaf unless some meddling kid decides to pluck it off. That was the beauty of Podunk to those that visited, it was a summer paradise for those that enjoyed baseball and the heat.

Kendrick Douglas Halloway, though he prefers the name Ninten, was walking home from Starhit, which was located more so in the woods so he had to travel through Podunk's woods. Ninten popped a bubble and continued to chew as he wandered down the muddy pathway, overgrown at the sides due to nobody really bothering to mow such a heavily dense area of forest. The sun was shining down from the leaves and making a speckled pattern on the underbrush and the top of his red-blue baseball hat.

He was very ecstatic, a smile big and cheeky on his face. For Ninten, if one does not know, was one of the hitters for the Rockstars, and hearing about the Skaters pulling out of what he assumed was fear, made him feel like a threatening predator with those pitiful Merrysville kids acting like the prey that he and his team devoured each time the tournament came around. It gave him such a sense of pride to be on the winning team, that he has worn a red scarf adorned with a winners medal ever since the Rockstars began their winning streak for the season. He never dared take it off, even out of uniform.

The forest was unnaturally quiet, with the kids taking the long way home by waiting on the bus or their parents to come pick them up from the front of the school. He was the only kid on the Podunk Pathway, which was something that never happened. Usually, the kids would be busy running around messing about, picking their noses probably and showing each other stupid bugs they find on the side of the road under the fallen logs. The unnatural silence, usually with a tumult of kids sneering about, was a bit uncomfortable.

The grass brush on the side of the road began to shake and move, as if something big stood just a few inches away from behind it. Paying no mind to it, he continued to move down the muddy road as the movements grew closer. Of course, any sane kid would immediately run away and think it's a rabid animal, but Ninten knew better than to give it any mind. It wasn't worth giving any mind to. A rabid animal can be quickly taken care of with a hit to the face with his bat, right between the snout and in the middle of their foreheads. It'll cause intracerebral damage and probably cause that animal to see that he's the boss. So, he walked by with a scoff at the noises.

He turned to face the noises the longer he walked, with a face of vetted frustration.

"Whatever you are, i hope you know, i could take you out with a swift blam of my bat. So if you're human or animal, come on out. I need to practice anyway..", Ninten spat.

His tone was always in a yelling manner, something unique about him. Every sentence he spoke usually ended up sounding like he was furious or angry, throwing a tantrum too. He had a much higher voice than you'd imagine though.

So whatever was in the forest beside him didn't pay him any mind due to his child-like voice. He grunted with annoyance and kicked his foot into the mud as a form of intimidation, but the forest bushes and grass continued to whistle and wrestle about. His eyebrow twitched for a moment as he walked over to the side of the road.