309/Super Zeroes

Super Zeroes
Date of Scene:	07 May 2017
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Gotham's Minor League team wants a superhero mascot. They can't pay much. Tryouts ensue.
Cast of Characters:	Sarah Osborn, Yokai (Sakara), 87, Insect Queen (OMara)

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Sarah Osborn has posed:
The Gotham minor league Baseball team has decided to get themselves a new name and mascot. They have put up an add asking for a hero to present themselves for a hero tryout. They plan to name the team after the hero...little to they know what they are going to get.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Rory Sakura has a paying gig. Downside? Its in Gotham City, and he's no longer sure that it's a completely legit gig. But they're paying him two grand to paint a mural on the side wall of a building across from a kind of broken-down looking baseball field. It's the old kind of field with a wooden fence blocking the view of the field itself, along with a few knotholes and soap-boxes that would look like they came out of a Norman Rockwell painting if they weren't surrounded by a dumpster and a tipped-over garbage can with traditional Gotham used-needles-and-other-nastiness leaking out.

The client had some peculiar ideas about what was supposed to go on it. Something about baseball and bats, but not actual bats, rather, guys dressed up like bats. Gaijin, who understands them?

Cleaning the wall ... he waited until nobody was looking and then pulled a water-cannon out of a drawing. Then he used a Water spell, an actual clumsy SPELL, to boost it, and pressure-washed the wall. Sparkling clean? No, but the garbage is off it for the first time since before it was put up. Then he starts on the layout, sketching it in broad strokes with a black marker. A baseball field seen from the catcher's point of view, and the guy up to bat is a were-bat, the guy pitching is some kind of a dog-man.

The crowd begins to take shape as he sketches from the notepad. Most of them are wearing capes.

Rory begins to get into the creative space, and things start to //warp// as the odd, stale, sour magic of Gotham wakes up. Things that go bump in the night.

As the artist turns to take out the paints from his pack, one of the sketches jumps off the wall becoming a solid, three-dimensional being. It quickly runs across the street and slips into the line for the try-outs.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Make way, Gotham, for Dot On The Wall! It was hard, making a living as a superhero- especially when you had issues putting yourself out there. In Dorothea Scattergood's mostly-meek life, there was a long period of tie where she wondered if she would ever connect the dots and see the big picture... not to put too fine a point on it, but she tended to feel insigificant.

But all of that changed today. Today? Today was her chance to finally be noticed instead of being thought of as an afterthought. The young woman in the polka-dotted yellow suit and matching mask is one of the first people in line. What can she say? She has always believed in being punctual.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy he calls himself, or just Eye for short. He has been blind physically since the accident, but it does not matter since he can now create an eye that flies around and sees for him. It can see in all directions and fly up to a hundred feet away in any direction, so he can see around corners or in windows.

The Eye is a bit fragile though...a good hit with a fly swater can pop the eye and leave him blind until he can create another one...and if it gets out of line of sight he can not see around his own body. He also can only move one of them at the same time unless moving them at the same speed and direction, he usually hangs it over his head if he is not using it for someting special.

Eye Guy walks up to the line and takes his place...carefully because it is not time to demonstrate his power yet. He is trying not to let on that he is blind...though his mask has no eye-holes.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
The mural progresses. Nobody in the building has noticed it. Yet.

Meanwhile, the escaped character steps forward into the light. He's not unattractive for a young man who is clearly half bat. He doesn't have one of those weird noses that some bats have. His face is mostly human, the fine short fur not obscuring his features, and his ears are large and fit through the specially designed baseball cap. The sleeveless baseball shirt he's wearing has a 00 on it, and it's sleeveless because he has arms that are connected by a membrane down his side, making bat-wings. Someone asks for his name.

"Manuel Murciélago," he answers. Then he has to spell it.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
At the upper end of an impressive pair of buck teeth stands an awkwardly gangly red-haired teenager who looks like he's been shot in the face with a freckle gun, but the thing went awry and the weapon just exploded all over the place one inch from his nose. He's just behind Eye Guy in line. He reharses his pitch under his breath, with the confidence of someone who has survived looking at his face in the mirror every morning. The confidence of his pose contrasts with his nervous mumbling. "Hello!" He reharses, under his breath. "I am Deputy, the Ultimate Sidekick! If a hero chooses to deputize me, they can turn me into a cross between myself and a younger version of them, with a reduced version of their powers, for a limited amount of time!" , He's striking one of those Golden Age poses, looking up at the sky, tiny chest projected forwards, hands firmly placed on the hips of his costume, the latter based on the generic HeroMart light gray spandex suit, paired with washed-out light blue gloves and mask.

"Oh, great." He thinks, making very sure not to say it out loud. "I got a girl and a blind guy ahead of me. Let's see if there's someone more fit for demonstration purposes, after me..." And he turns his head over his shoulder, still posing as if he was some old-timey hero.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
The team owner, the coach, and a retired pro baseball player from years back are serving at the judging panel. A man in an Umpire's uniform boredly points at Dot and says, "Next. State your name and what you can do, them prepare to give a demonstration. Powers that can not be demonstrated are assumed not to exist."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Some people may be a bit punctillious when it comes to formalities and introductions- but not Dot! "Hey guys!" she says, waving as she approaches the panel.

"I'm Dot On The Wall, and I am here to a-maze you!"

The pauses, and then begins to unfold something she was carrying under her arm. It's a ... wooden panel. With a stand.

Its a portable wall.

"I sort of need one of these to demonstrate..... one second..." it may be hard to spot, but she's having issues getting the thing assembled, on the verge of falling over more than once. But once it is finally assembled, it is perfectly stable.

"Alrigt, alright... are you watching this?" she says, walking several feet away from the wall. "SPOT-ON!"

And she has vanished.

Well, not vanished. She may be hard to spot for a second or two, but then it is clear where she is- a two-dimensional, black silhoutte on the wall.

"Tadaaa!" comes the voice, and then Dot suddenly becomes more three-dimensional as she starts to emerge from the wall, regaining her usual appearance as she becomes untangled from that two dimensional plane. "Made ya see spots yet?"

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy waits for the lady to finish her demo (he cheated and created an eye in his cupped hands so he could look around, then dismissed it). When he is called he uses his power publicly, letting a soft glow gather from his forehead creating a glowing sphere about the size of a tennis ball. He says, "I am Eye Guy and this is my Eye. I can send it flying around at about a good running clip in any direction for roughly a hundred feet and I see what it sees. It sees in all directions, but only as well as a normal eye." Guy wonders about Dits limits. Does she need a vertical surface at lease as big as her body? Can she move while flat? It seems an interesting power generally, perhaps she will win the contest.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy, due to the nature of his powers, decided to let a couple of other applicants go before him.

"Hello, I am 'Bolt Strikes!' and, yes, there is an exclamation mark at the end of my name!' he exclaims, pointing at the lightning-bolt-shaped exclamation mark on the chest of his red costume. "My power is to shoot bolts out of my eyes!"

After the very sad spectacle of a man sputtering tiny hexagonal pieces of hardware out of his ocular cavities, and seeing them a few inches from his feet, it is the turn of Takeaway.

"My power is to summon any kind of food!" exclaims this tall, broad-shouldered, tanned man with vaguely Polynesian features, and proceeds into a not too bad roundhouse kick, where he shoots his hands in the air, and a bubble of energy solidifies into a banana. He peels it with lightning fast reflexes, gobbles down the fruit, and throws the peel on the ground. "I give Crime the slip!"

It is the turn of Deputy, and as he walks towards the area, he crosses Takeaway on his way back, being carried on a stretcher. "I'm sorry you didn't see the banana peel walking down the stage." "It's okay, man." "And I didn't mean this when I said 'break a leg...'" "It's all cool, man."

When finally one the stage, the buck-toothed teenager strikes his favourite pose. Silence falls.

"Look, daddy! Bunnyman!" shouts a child's voice, which Deputy cuts off by launching into his spiel. "Citizens. I am here today to demonstrate my spectacular powers." He says, improvising instead of using his reharsed speech. "I will now address one hero. ONE. I politely ask all other heroes and powered beings to NOT follow the instructions I will give the chosen person. Only one at a time, or things could get ugly really fast." He points at Takeaway. "Takeaway, my pal! Quick, focus your thoughts on me, and think hard about deputizing me!"

Takeaway takes his hands to his temples, and after a few seconds, *POOF*, Deputy is a short, slightly more wide-shouldered awkward teen with a polynesian skin tone, black hair, and... still quite the prominent buck teeth and freckles, it appears. A crossed fork-and-knife symbol has appeared on his costume. "Thank you!" he says. "And now, to demonstrate, a pizza!" He says, raising his hand in the air. A ball of energy appears, and when the light subsides, it solidifies into a dish of spaghetti and meatballs. At least, it comes with plastic utensils. "Well, as I was saying, reduced powers. It appears I can only summon one dish..." he says, and cheerfully rolls up some pasta goodness and happily chews.

*CRACK* He grimaces. "...BOLT STRIKES! What have I told you about not following instructions!" "...sorry!" comes a weak reply, from afar, while Deputy spits out a couple of metal bolts.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Across the street, the mural is filling in. Rory frowns at it. Something is missing. Where is the bat boy? He should be there at the end of the dugout. Wait, is this team the Bludhaven Bats or the Gotham Fighting Fliedermice? Or whatever that team's named. Really, the client is interfering with the Artistic Process. Rory mutters to himself about not charging enough.

The dogs are of course in Yankees uniforms. That part is easy.


The line has become shorter!! Even though there are probably still a few people who don't have powers but will try to bluff, a number of people have fled at the declaration that powers which can't be demonstrated will be assumed not to exist. After they figured out what that meant.

Manuel smiles nervously at the guy in front of him, waiting for his turn. He has a power. It's even useful. Honest! And now he gets to demonstrate it.

"I'm the Bat Boy. I mean, it's my regular job. I go by Bat-Manolito. I can ... " and he holds out a hand in a grasping position, "... I can summon baseball bats. Regulation League Baseball Bats."

A perfect, brand-new Louisville Slugger appears in his hand.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Takeaway and Bolt Strikes hade left after their respective demonstrations, leaving only the four applicants...the others having failed to demonstrate anything super. The three-judge panel starts asking questions about the purported heroes. A few moments later an assistant coach comes running out of the Locker Room, "We've been robbed! The Umpire stole the baseball from our one season where we won the national championships."

The Owner says, "What! Heroes, whichever one of you brings me that baseball I will declre winner. Now get going."

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Bat-Manolito to the rescue? Wait, where's the Umpire? Using his mighty Bat-Senses, he squeaks, getting a blurry image of the entire stadium. Yes, he has Bat Sonar! No, it's not that great! His ears are too big for it to work right. He flaps his arms, dropping a bat to the ground, and launches up ten feet into the air, heading for the direction of whoever is running over there... and as he arches over the group, his left foot cleats catch in Dot on the Wall's hair and he crashes to the ground.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy launches his eye strait up to get a better view. He says, "He is out in the parking lot." He starts running forward, but has to pause to bring his eye down closer so it can follow him before he gets more than a few feet.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
No, it is Dot-On-The-Wall to the "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Ok, maybe not. Humanity has some very deeply-wired reflexes. It's one of the things that has made them so resilient... and so amusing for so long. In this instance, the automatic response in case of bat-tangling is to run in circles, twi... scream and shout. Dot, heroically, does just so, running like a bat out of hell.

Unfortunately, she ends up slamming against her own portable wall, goes head-over-heels through it, and lands on the ground, dazed for a few seconds. Shakily, she gets up and starts running in the direction she assumes the Umpire must have fled. She is too dazed to notice whether Manolito has gotten freed from her hair or not...

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"This will be a walk in the park. I have a mission, a genius level intellect, plenty of determination, and the power to create hardware-spiked pasta! Nothing can stop me!" Exclaims Deputy. He strikes his favourite pose and looks around. "...hm. Clearly, this requires someone with the ability to scan the area for clues." He spins around. Eye Guy... Bat-Manolito...

He points. "Dot On The Wall! Do you have any idea of where-" That is when Eye Guy interrupts him. "...nevermind." He says, and is about to start in Eye Guy's direction, only to notice Dot's antics. "...ok. Now, we have two crises to take care of. At once." He looks around, darts for where the microphone is (hopefully close), and if he manages to grab it, he'll shout, "Is there anyone with hair-untangling powers willing to deputize me in the audience?"

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy adds, as an afterthought, "De-batting powers would work as well."

Sarah Osborn has posed:
The Villianous Umpire gets into the car and turns over the engine. He floors it...and floods the engine because it was not started properly yet. He abandons the car and starts jogging away.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Her hair, tangled! It was a mess, there was still a Bat-Boy clinging to her! If she could only spot the solution, she cou-

Dot stops for a moment and reconsiders. "Out, vile spot!"

And... she's spot on the wall again. The transformation should have freed her from the battiness entangling her hair.... and running on a 2D surface may give her an advantage. Or not. When she gets to the parking lot, she is forced to peel herself from the wall in order to actually run in any other direction that is not... along the wall.

"This way!"

Wait. Why is she calling out? This is supposed to be a competition, right? She never got a hold of competing, much.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy now has his eye only ten feet off the ground and following hin along just above his head. He starts running towards the parking lot, but has to go around the gate rather than slipping through the crack like Dot. He likes her power, it has uses. He does wonder though...what happens if someone pokes a hole in the wall whileshe is on it?

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Rory has no clue that the newly minted yokai that escaped his wall is now chasing down a human thief. He's too busy fiddling with the details, making the image almost completely realistic. The Bat-Boy spot will have to remain empty for now.


Meanwhile back at the chase, Bat-Manolito realizes that he has dirt in his face and that he is not catching The Umpire. He shakes off the sensation that someone stepped on him on their way to chase down the villain, and he realizes that the weird strangling noise followed by curses and running shoes slapping pavement has got to be the escaping malefactor. Especially since he hears the other heroes heading that way. So (checking that there are no long-haired people within ten yards) he launches into the air again, flapping and lurching and swooping in traditional bat-fashion until he's over the parking lot, where he can see his fellow heroes closing in on the recalcitrant referee. He swoops low in front of the man.

"STOP! You have something that does not belong to you!"

... and he drops to the ground, a perfect six point landing. Really. Got to work on the landings.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Crisis 2, averted! Time to fcus on Crisis 1! "Nevermind, citizens, thanks for your cooperation." And, that said, he runs towards the exit, having to take the long route as well. Having lagged behind, he needs to think of a way to catch up with the others, fast.

He arrives from the distance, from a side direction with respect to Dot on the wall and Eye Guy.

"Heeeeey, fellow heroes!" He greets, grinning wide and showing off his oversized incisives. He's giving his back to the thief, and moving backwards, propelling himself by shooting dishes of pasta from his hands, and employing a couple of upside-down dishes of pasta as some sort of... sliding skates. Occasionally they get caught into things, or the pasta doesn't slide anymore, so he has to generate two more dishes from his feet.

"Do we have a tactical plan to capture that wrongdoear?"

Sarah Osborn has posed:
The Umpire takes a baseball from a bag he is carrying and throws a bean-ball at the one who is catching up quickest. Hopefully the others will be more cautiousafter that and slow down.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy isn't exactly looking where he is going. Well, most of the time. So he's hit right in the back of the head, of to the side, by a ball, which causes him to spin. "OWOWOWOWOWOWO" he goes, losing control and shooting pasta dishes enriched with bolts in all directions. "May Day! May Day! I'm losing control! Someone to the rescue! Someone to the rescue!"

He's now officially become an out of control wandering pasta-mine headed towards the team. Time to dodge!

Vorpal (87) has posed:
And it's just not Dot's day, because she has never quite gotten a hold of pasta. It's slippery, it just... gets away from you. In an attempt to dodge the reckless pastificator, she jumps to the side... only to land on some of the discarded refuse of his transportation. There are now two people sliding about on pasta, but only one of them capable of controlling it (more or less.) Dot On The Wall is now a second rogue element, the Eye better watch out for her! "Maaaakewaaaaaaaay! AAAAH!"

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy sees it all...right up to the point where a plate of flying pasta hits his flying eye and wipes it out. Now totally bling he stands helpless as Dot and Deputy barrel into him. The good news, at least they are stopped...

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Bat-Manolito reminds himself, as he does every time he lands, that he needs to buy skater knee and elbow pads -- and figure out how to attach them to his elbows without interfering with his wings, because whacking the joints on the ground is not one of the best sensations ever. (Never mind that as a newly minted Yokai, Manuel's memory is mostly retcon. He's a work in progress and the magic isn't done with him yet.)

The umpire's vector of escape leads him obliquely closer to Manuel. The Bat Boy summons a bat and tosses it in front of the Umpire, and a second one that he inserts deftly in between the loop of the bag that the Umpire is carrying, and the Umpire's shoulder. He lurches, as his knee still hurts, trying to snag the bag with the bat while the bad guy hopefully takes a prat fall and goes splat.


Rory shakes his head. Something WEIRD is happening with the energies around this mural. He didn't even intend to make it magical, and it's drawing on something running between the stadium and the building. Weird.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
The Umpire deftly catches the thrown bat and turns to block the second bat aimed at his bag using the first bat. He says, "Batter up," ans takes a mighty two-handed swing at the bat-boy.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy SLAMS into Eye Guy, as said earlier, and holds his head. "OooOooouch..." he moans. And groans. "Puns. Is there anything more vile? Hm. I wish I got pancakes instead of-"

He stops. He realizes. He beams.

He jumps to his feet and spreads his arms as if he was some fisherman trying to win the world record of boasting, and exclaims, "GIANT PORTION!"

A HUGE platter of spaghetti appears in his hands. Held vertical. Which means that the pasta slides right off the plate and falls to the ground (or possibly on Eye Guy, depending on where he is). And Deputy stands there, still, holding an empty, sauce stained plate as wide as he is tall.

"Dot, can you jump into /this/?" He grins, turning to look at the fleeing Umpire over his shoulders. "Years of being served horrible pancakes made my frisbee skills AMAZING."

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy is just as glad his mask covers his face without any eye holes...atr least only his mask is getting stained with spaghetti sauce not his hair. He carefully untangles himself from the slicj noodles and starts conjuring his eyes again so he can see what is going on.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Dot's eyes grow wide, and then she GRINS. "You got it! I'm SPOT-ON!"

ANd with that, the young girl is now on the platter, the pasta falling to the ground, no longer clinging to her. "Special delivery, ready!"

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Bat-Manolito is startled by the referee using the bat he himself summoned against him ... but he grabs it and rides it as it lifts him off the ground. The bat he was using to try to steal the bag disappears! He's clinging tenaciously to the other one, and yelling at the Umpire, "STRIKE!!"

Why? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
The Umpire drops the bat with the bat on it and grabs something from his bag...it is a catcher's mitt. He grabs Many's head with it and says "Foul Ball." Even though it is neither a ball nor a fowl.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"Miguelito!", exclaims Deputy in the direction of Manolito. He must not have gotten his name correctly. "BOWL!" Well, ok, that may have sounded like 'BALL!'. But it wasn't intended. And it isn't even a bowl, it's a platter.

Deputy does two, three spins, and throws the platter with dot on it like an olympic discus thrower. Wow. Looks like he also inherited some of Takeaway athletic skills.

The platter flies in the air, upholding Deputy's boasted skills in launching flat, roundish objects. "CATCH!", he exclaims, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy has a perfect view of how much of a mess his costume is as his new Eye manifests. He is reminded of a question he had earlier, "What happens to Dot if the platter breaks?"

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"It's MANUEL!" the Bat-on-a-Bat shouts back before he finds himself suddenly the victim of the Catcher's Mitt Gone Awry.

"LEGGO!" he says, flapping around trying to escape the grip of the thief of balls.

The platter, unfortunately, is in the path of a flailing leg and is struck dead-center causing it to crack not in twain but in thrain, and the pieces tumble down to the ground...

And Manuel stares, horrified.

"What did you do, you jerk?" he yells at the Umpire.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Three. Three single, solitary pieces.

And the rest is silence. Requiem for a hero, this vignette could be called, as the deadly certainty of what has happened falls accro-

"@$@#! that HURT!"

Dot emerges from one of the plates, looking dizzy...

And, about a third of her size, actually.

And then, Dot emerges from the plate.

No, the OTHER dot, from the OTHER chip of the plate...

And a third one.

Dot looks at Dot, who then looks at Dot and catches Dot looking at Dot. All three just stare at each other for a few seconds.

Dot
Dot
Dot

And then, all three as one woman turn to the Umpire with a fury in their eyes, speaking in unison,

"We are the Ellipsis of Justice, and we are here to pronounce your sentence!"

That really happened. And all three of them jump at the Umpire, fists flailing.

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Umpire somehow managed to get the rest of the catcher's uniform on the mask and padding providing some armor for the villain, though slowing him down. He grabs in his bag and pulls out a large volume entitled, "The Official Rules of Baseball" and hefts it at the three Dots, "I am throwing the book at you."

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Manuel grabs for the rule book trying to wrestle it out of the Umpire's grasp.

"YOU CHEATER! It says you can steal BASES, not BASEBALLS!"

The Bat Boy is very strong, but also very light, else he couldn't fly. So he may be flung about, but his grip is strong and he will not let go easily.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy stares in shock and horror as the dish does the Platter Shatter. But it turns to relief and then to puzzlement when the three dots emerges. "...huh. Well, she got pushed to the breaking point, I guess."

And then he turns to Eye Guy. "Well, seems like now you know. Need help getting up?" he says, offering a hand.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Dots oof as the Book is leveled against them. They make a rush for it and try to shove it off, though. "Using literature to suppress? You're missing the point!"

Teamwork saves the day, is what she has been taught, so it is not a surprise that the Dots decide to collaborate. One of them will take the brunt (and hold) of the book, while the other two try to go around and flank the Umpire, in order to smack him on the shins. Or bite his ankles, they're not too proud...

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Eye Guy does a little jump to get out of the area of the spaghetti storm, but pauses and asks, "Where's the garlic bread, and the meatballs?" He has an idea.

The Umpire swings the book, trying to hit the Dots with the Bat-boy. He only hits one, the other two pounce on his legs. He tries to shake them off and loses his grip on the book.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
He's lost his place in the rules! Bat-Manolito begins belaboring him about the head with the book! And also continues belaboring him about his being a bad person.

"You!" whack "Are!" whack "A!" whack "Terrible!" whack "Umpire!"


Rory looks up and over towards the place where the unholy ruckus is being raised, and decides that JUST in case the cops come, and the contract to paint this was NOT legal, he's going to be elsewhere. So he signs it with his signature violet-and-pink cherry-blossom sprig and his name in Japanese letters, even though he hasn't drawn the bat boy back into his place.

Which is good, because it means Manuel can jump back into the mural when he needs a place to stay. Just saying.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"All for-"
"One and-"
"half a dozen of the other!"


Okay, so maybe the Dots aren't in PERFECT synch, but they are working together close enough. They hold on, like Lala Land to that Oscar even after the correct name has been announced- a vice-like grip. "Take 'im down, we've got him pinned! For justice! For grammar!"

It was better than her previous battlecry: 'everytime you make a typo, the errorists win,' at least.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy points down to the remains of the large, now shattered platter. "Meatballs are below the spaghetti. Should have been above, but the platter was turned. And when they fell down, they ended up undertneath. Gravity is complicated." He looks down, then up. "Oh, if you want, there's utensils as well." He cups his hands. "And as far as the garlic bread goes..." He concentrates, and a ball of light appears in his hands. "YES! Close enough, I could summon one!" He exclaims, and extends the garlic bread to Eye Guy.

While mantaining position, Deputy turns his head to the Dots and yells, "You go, Dots! Bring his escape to a full stop! Put an end to this period of injustice!" And then turns again to his visually impaired, yet powered, colleague, to whom he's offering garlic bread. "What's your idea about? Because, you know, I was trying to think of something myself. First, we must never let these young women out of sight. We've gotta watch over them. Eye our Dots. Second, we must find a way to put them back together again. You know, to connect the Dots."

He watches Manuel. "...that guy is good. He must have trained by fighting one of those fancy battle droids heroes use for training." But then, after a little observation, and noticing that Manuel seems to pretty much just be bashing the Umpire, without even using too creative an insult, continues, "...well, he must not have trained /that/ much, after all. But I bet that bat beat a bot a bit."

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Grabbing a large meatball and the loaf of garlic bread, Eye Guy tosses the ball into the air, chocks up the loaf, and swings, driving the meatball at the Umpire like a line drive. It hits his catcher's mask, but already abused by being hit it shatters into chunks of marinara-covered meat and splatters the Umpire's face, blinding him. Guy quips, "Hey Ump, you are blind as a Bat."

The Catcher's uniform was keeping most of the damage from the rulebook at bay until the meatball hit. Now unable to see the book, the rules hit the Umpire a staggering blow...

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Ellipses of Justice see an opening and they try to climb -up- the Umpire, in order to cause more havok so others may wail, grab or further run interference. "The ball, get the ball! Someone, quick, throw us a noodle and we'll tie him down!"

NOT the stranges thing uttered by someone here, so far. Which should tell you something. All of this is pretty much right out of left field, but our heroes hae learned a thing or two about dealing with the curveballs that life can throw at you.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
The rule book is winning the battle! Bat-Manolito slaps the Umpire one more time with the Rules then scrambles up and over him to behind so he can try to restrain the errant official's arms in the classic frog marching band position. He manages to go between the Dots rather than making a line through them.

"Guys, guys!" he calls out, "Grab that other ball he threw and we can all take him back to the owners!"

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Deputy gives Eye a double thumbs up. "You rule, man! You're really good with a cia-BAT-ta!" And hearing the Dots' request, he grins wide, a party of freckles, today with extra front teeth! "Industrial strength noodle, coming!" He exclaims. He sats down in one of those martial arts poses that look like they're out of a videogame, where the character is ready to throw a ball of energy, and he /does/ actually produce a ball of energy, at first. But when the time comes to discharge the blast of light, well, the luminous sphere stays there, and under Deputy's constant yelling, what is shot out is a neverending stream of spaghetti with sauce, meatballs, and bolts. "EYE GUY! I'm helping them constrain the umpire! You go get the ball!"

Sarah Osborn has posed:
Being restrained, the Umpire is unable to reach his bag of tricks. He is soon tied up with industrial-strength spaghetti. Eye Guy fetches the ball, being able to see where it rolled to (though he has to sens the eye in after it to fine it, as it rolled into a hole, and says, "I doubt this is the one, it looks too new. He probably but the real one in his bag."

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
The Umpire's bag of sneaky tricks no longer in his dishonest hands, Bat-Manolito is able to snoop inside it to try to find the stolen baseball. He uses the Rules to push open the flap so he can peek inside. Innocent of the evils of magic items as depicted in modern novels or tabletop fantasy games, Manuel believes that just opening and looking in is surely harmless and safe.

Then again, the rules don't say it's allowed to booby-trap your equipment carts. But should they have to?

Sarah Osborn has posed:
To Manuel's surprise, the bag has nothing in it, it is like it has always been empty. The Umpire's power is storing assorted sports paraphanalia in a pocket dimension accessed through whatever duffle bag he has handy...the game ball is literally out of this world at the moment.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"I hope you're not counting on a suspended sentence!" The dots chime in at once as they used the industrial-strength pasta to tie up the Umpire. It is a day of celebration and victory!

One of the over-eager dots breaks from the group and tries to jump enough to see over Manny's shoulder. And...

Nothing.

"Aw, MAN, we got left holding the bag?"

Sarah Osborn has posed:
The Quartet of heroes returns semi-truimphantly, hauling the Umpire around by the noodle and hoisting his bag of tricks. The Owner, the Coach, and the former Player await anxiously. Eye Guy says, "We tadded him out before he slid home. He Threw the book at us, and it was not the only thing he pulled from his duffle bag, but the only Baseball he had was this one, and it looks nearly new. Hopefully the police can find out what he did with the real Game Ball." The trio look unhappy. The coach demands, "But what do we call the TEAM?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
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NOTICE: No alcohol was consumed during the creation of this scene.
We won't hold it against you if some is consumed during the reading thereof, though.


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