About this story:

Note: This initial chapter re-uploaded to add baseball definitions. No other changes have been made.

This story is very loosely based on Yugioh 5D's but is completely AU—my first completely AU story, so please be gentle! Set in the world of baseball, in honor of the summer season.

Yaoi warning, as usual: Pairing, Jack x Yusei (more shounen ai than yaoi, actually)

Jargon: This story contains a lot of baseball jargon, but the terms are defined in the author's notes. Please do not be scared off by it! A lot of people have enjoyed this story despite being unfamiliar with baseball.

And! The usual disclaimers apply, natch!

Warnings (this chapter) ... profanity, jargon

Updated: (date unknown), 9/20/2012, 4/28/2013, 3/13/2014

1. The K King

Yusei tapped the plate with his bat. The Neo Domino Crimson Dragons led the Satellite Earthbound Immortals, their rivals, by 2, but they could certainly use a cushion. The Immortals' ace, Jack Atlas, towered on the mound, none too happy to have given up three—three!—runs already in the game. His ERA prior to the game was barely over 1.0.

Yusei smiled to himself. This was an opportunity to see whether he could get under the famously-arrogant blond's skin and put him off-balance. Taking a couple of practice swings, he took his bat and pointed toward the center field fence.

The man on the mound didn't move from his erect and gathered stance, hand in glove, pulled in tight against his broad chest, but Yusei could have sworn he could see those eyes flash from 60 feet away.

It was all he could do not to grin.

He crowded the plate as tightly as he dared and crouched into his batting position, minimizing his strike zone even more than usual.

The pitch came, hot, tight and inside. Yusei was forced to foul it off in self-defense. It had Try this one! written all over it.

Damn, an effective brush-back that wasn't even close to a beaner, Yusei marveled. That's skill!

Nevertheless, it stoked his ire and determination. He was going to get to this man if it killed him. He gritted his teeth. It would not be fun if he were hit by that hundred-plus MPH fastball. That guy wasn't going to lay off with him leaning over the plate like this.

Because he leaned in closer.

Yusei was pretty sure that he noticed another flash from the direction of the mound as he told his body to lay off this one. The way he was leaning, it was going to be a ball. Or hit him. There was no way around it.

By the time Yusei realized it was a fat one over the middle of the plate, it was too late.

This guy is playing with me! Yusei took a step out of the box to put rosin on his hands and regroup.

He couldn't let Atlas win the mental battle.

He stepped back in.

Yusei glanced toward the mound. Atlas was standing there, as usual, full slender height, arms gathered against chest, hand in glove, face expressionless.

Two and oh.

Could Yusei get another flash out of those eyes, he wondered?

When had it become more about getting a response out of that prick and less about getting a hit?

Grr!

He tore his eyes away from the pitcher and dug in furiously, angry with himself, wondering what the commentators were saying about him in the booth.

Get your head in the game, Fudo!

Forgetting all about his original plan, he just wanted to get this at-bat behind him. He stepped out of the box, closed his eyes for a moment, then took his practice swings. There's no one special on the mound right now, he told himself.

He forced himself not to focus directly on the pitcher, instead watching his release.

There.

His body seemed to react naturally, contacting the ball firmly.

Crack!∙!

The ball took off and so did Yusei. The crowd erupted.

Then … dead silence.

Except for … "Yer out!"

Yusei looked around from first.

You're kidding.

Atlas was staring into his glove at the ball. At last he tossed it calmly to his catcher, who started it around the horn.

Score it 1, liner to the pitcher.

Yusei looked at the Jumbotron replay as he walked into the dugout. Sure enough: a hot liner, directly back toward the pitcher. Atlas, still off-balance from the follow-through, somehow managed to put his glove in front of it.

That's why the competition hated him.

… and he had a Golden Glove.

They called him the K King. Lowest ERA, no-hit potential, and could field, too. Not only that, he could hit. Oh, yes. He was a true two-way player.

No wonder he was so damn arrogant.

Shit.

Top of the Ninth. It was looking pretty good. They still had two runs on the Immortals and they had reached the bottom of the order. There were runners on first and second, Crow keeping the man on second close, but there were two out and the pitcher was coming up.

"Aren't they going to pinch hit?" Yusei called to Crow.

"Nope, Atlas is one of their best hitters and he hasn't thrown many pitches. They want him for the bottom of the ninth."

"Ha, you're in for it!" said Kiryu, who was standing on the bag. "Get your gloves out, boys! This at-bat is gonna be fun-fun-fun!" The white-haired first baseman of the Immortals was notorious for his big mouth.

"Shut up, Kiryu," said Crow evenly. "Who asked you, anyway?"

At last their pitcher, Bruno, was ready, and wound up for the pitch. Jack fouled it, long and hard, down the right field line. He stepped out of the batter's box, eyes gleaming, and looked straight at the shortstop position. He then swung his bat toward center field wall and paused it there, suspended for a moment, grinning arrogantly, broad white. Stepping back in, he tapped the plate lightly and glued his eyes to the pitcher, resuming his stance.

Yusei could almost feel Bruno tremble from his position at shortstop. It took all his willpower to keep from standing because he knew his services wouldn't be required.

God, let it be a long fly ball to center …!

Bruno paused, went into his windup, and Kiryu took off from second without hesitation.

Jack swung mightily, the crack of his bat echoing through the stadium.

The crowd was immediately silenced as everyone, including Jack, watched the ball sail over the right center field wall.

Jack, grinning, took off on a slow lope around the bases.

As he jogged past Yusei, he called out, "Well, what'd you think, Rook? That's how you do it, wouldn't you say?"

After he passed, he looked toward Crow, made a face and mimicked, sarcastically, "That's how you do it, wouldn't you say?"

Crow doubled in laughter. "But, honestly, Yusei, it's hard to argue, after that!"

Jack Atlas finished dressing, and was about to make his way back to the hotel, when the GM, Rudger Godwin stopped him on his way out.

"Good game. I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind."

And if I do? He thought, but said nothing. This can't be good.

He followed Rudger wordlessly.

"You know that the Crimson Dragons are having a good season."

"Pretty good."

"Us, not so much."

"That's right."

"Except for your play. You've been a bright spot."

"Thanks."

"As usual."

Jack said nothing and waited.

"OK, I'll get to the point. It's pretty obvious that the Dragons need some good pitching going into their pennant run and they want you. Pack your stuff and report to their office tomorrow."

"OK."

"We'll miss you."

"You will."

He got up and began packing. Most of the guys had already gone out to celebrate, but Kiryu had stuck around waiting for him so that they could go for a beer. Too bad, he thought. I really don't need this.

"What, are you leaving?" Kiryu said, looking at his duffel.

"I've been traded."

"What?! Where?"

"Dragons."

"Crap. Our rivals? That couldn't be worse."

Jack shrugged. "What can I do? It's not like I have a choice in it."

"We cheered against these guys all our childhood! Have you forgotten how tough we had it?"

"No. Not for an instant. I hustled as hard as anyone to make something of myself. Harder than most."

"I remember." Kiryu sat on the bench in front of his locker. "This sucks."

"That's life in the big leagues," Jack sighed. "See you in the off-season."

"Yeah. Try not to cream us too bad next series."

"Dream on."

Author's notes:

This first chapter has been re-uploaded to add some baseball definitions!

9/20/2012: corrected typo, distance between home and pitcher's mound is approximately 60 feet (60 feet 6 inches).

4/28/2013: Adjusted punctuation, fixed an interrobang (?!, not previously possible). Added general jargon warning and chapter warnings.

3/13/2014: Corrected dialog to make more sense. "Do you remember" became "Have you forgotten."

Well, like I said, completely AU. This is my first attempt to take characters out of context and see if I can keep them somewhat consistent. I decided that I wanted to do the baseball theme in honor of summer and because I'm a little nostalgic for the sport. I used to be a big fan, but got kind of put off by the big money/greed stuff, so ... Near total fluff, maybe not so much as Media Blitz, my other summer diversion.

If the spirit moves, let me know if/how you like this. The feedback would help me know how well I'm doing, especially since I'm trying something new & different.

These baseball notes assume virtually no knowledge of baseball; maybe that there are three bases + home plate, a pitcher and catcher, etc., but not much more. ;)

Fielder's Choice: A fielder's choice occurs when a fielder (defensive player, usually an infielder) has the choice of throwing the batter out at first, or preventing a runner from advancing to another base. If the batter is safe at first, he is not credited with a hit (on account of the out), but is charged with a time at-bat. Hopefully you understand the double meaning I'm adding to this term. ;)

K King: A K is a strikeout, so the K King would be the "Strikeout King," or the pitcher who gets the most strikeouts.

ace: Star pitcher.

ERA: Earned run average. The average number of earned runs charged to a pitcher over the games he's pitched during the season. (Earned runs are any runs that are scored that are not charged to fielding errors or passed balls.) An ERA barely over 1.0 would be insanely good, but the season's not over yet ...

strike zone: The strike zone is the area that the pitcher must throw the ball through to pitch a strike: It is the three-dimensional space over home plate (roughly a pentagon), between the shoulders and knees of the batter. Therefore, short players and players who crouch while batting have smaller strike zones (tougher to pitch to).

hot, tight and inside: This would be a pitch close to the hitter.

foul it off: A foul ball is outside the playing field, so outside the first- or third-base line or behind home plate.

brush-back [pitch]: A pitch meant to push the hitter further from the plate. If the hitter is crowding the plate (getting closer to it, to get a good look at the pitch), the pitcher often throws a brush-back to make the batter move off.

beaner: A pitch that hits the batter. If the batter is hit by a pitch, he's awarded first base.

hundred-plus MPH fastball: That would be pretty fast.

Two and oh: The count, two strikes, no balls. Yusei's "in the hole," in danger of striking out. Three strikes = 1 out.

around the horn: A toss of the baseball around the bases.

Golden Glove: The award given to the best fielder. One is awarded to each defensive position (total of nine).

no-hit potential: The potential to throw a no-hitter (game in which the opposition doesn't get a hit).

a true two-way player: A pitcher who can also hit extremely well. Babe Ruth was a two-way player.

Top of the Ninth: Baseball games are divided into innings rather than being played against a clock. They have 9 innings, divided into top and bottom halves. During the top half, the visiting team bats and the home team plays defense, and in the bottom half, they switch off. If the home team is leading into the bottom of the ninth, that half inning is skipped.

bottom of the order: The poorest batters usually come up in the bottom of the [batting] order (end of the sequence of batters for a team) because they bat the fewest times per game.

pinch hit: Substitute someone else for a scheduled batter. Often, if a team is behind toward the end of a game, they might pinch hit for the pitcher and put in a relief pitcher.

everyone ... watched the ball sail over the right center field wall: That is, a home run. A fair ball (between the first and third base lines) over the outfield wall is a home run and the batter and all base runners score.

Rook: Short for Rookie, first-year player.

GM: General Manager.

next series: In baseball, teams typically play a series of 2-4 games with another team before playing another team.

Gah! I can't believe I had to put in so much! ! No wonder people are scratching their heads! This is the worst chapter for jargon and I started with it! ! Sorry about that! Hopefully these defs don't confuse you even more!

And now, a preview of chapter 2:

"No. Why? What's the big …" Yusei's eyes grew in size. Clearly something was up. His hand dived for the paper, but it was too late, the big deal walked into the clubhouse.

And he was a big deal. As in tall.

"Hi, Rook, didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon," he grinned.

Jack is not-so-welcomed by his new team.