Fightin' Spirit

by Iolaus

Grand Slam

Principal Celestia was having a pleasant day until a random monster attacked the school. There were no major incidents amongst the students throughout most of the day, and a new student was even going to start classes next Monday. Now she was busy trying to organize the students and staff into a coherent escape and not a mob of stomping feet while her sister, who was the vice principal, phoned for the newly formed Hero Association’s help.

Luckily the monster seemed confined to the school baseball field for whatever reason and therefore none of the students seemed to be harmed. After a good couple of minutes all of the students clustered out in their separate classes in the front of the school, crowding around the stone statue, murmuring to each other.

“Alright students!” Celestia called out to the assembled students with a megaphone. “Thanks to the monster attack the remainder of the school day is canceled! Return home to your families, and I’m sure the teachers will understand if you are not able to turn in any homework you may have been assigned for the weekend on the account of not being able to grab any belongings you may have left. Please return to your homes in a calm and orderly fashion!”

The students slowly dispersed themselves, Celestia looked down and sighed in relief knowing that the children were safe. When she looked back up she saw a pink girl with puffy pink hair leaning face first against the fence leading to the sports fields.

Celestia walked up to the young girl, “Young lady, it’s not safe here anymore. You should really get back home.”

The pink haired girl looked up at Celestia and cheerfully grinned, “Yup yup!” Then she pointed out to the fields, “But what about him?”

“Him?” Celestia questioned and gazed in the direction the pink girl was pointing. She choked on her spit when she saw who was still out there. “James!” she screamed out, catching the surprised attention of the students that still remained. None of the students have ever heard her raise her voice like that before. She slammed her hands on the fence, horrified her recently adopted son was out in the fields with the monster.

Then the monster rushed him.

---

In a dark room filled with glowing computer screens and an even larger screen on the far wall with a blue holographic map of the world on it, people hurriedly rushed through the rows of desks. Some delivered papers, some coffee to help keep the ones working the computers awake, and others barked orders or talked on the phone.

A tall man dressed in a snappy suit was the lead director of the organized chaos, busy ordering deployments of heros to various cities outlined with many red dots on the large screen from his spot on a high rise platform above the room.

“Sir!” A frazzled woman with a clipboard interrupted him mid sentence, coming in from the doorway behind the platform. Several people ran up and down the stairs on the sides of the room from the bottom section, running in and out of the doors.

The man turned to the woman, a questioning look on his face, “Yes? What is it, we’re busy, a group of monsters appeared in City-H.”

“I've just received a call from the Canterlot district of City D, one of their schools has been attacked.”

The man tsked in annoyance and ground his teeth, “Damn, attacking a school is bad. We could get a lot of heat and lose face if we don't do something quick. We need all the influence we can get in these beginning times.” He looked back at the woman, “Any idea what kind of monster is attacking?”

The woman looked down at her clipboard, “A rogue monster, goes by the name of ‘Demon Quarterback’, sir. Wanted for massive destruction of private property, and the murders of several hundred people in a sports stadium before fleeing from the responding heros.”

“That thing surfaced again? It's been months, I had assumed he was offed by some other monster.” The man replied, gnawing on his lip. He crossed his arms and tapped his bicep with a finger, “Have a team of A-class take an air transport vehicle, that thing is dangerous and they need to get there as fast as possible.”

The woman gave the man a nod, “On it sir!” She turned around and hurried out of the room, her heels clicking loudly against the ground until they slowly vanished from ear shot.

“Damn,” muttered the man. “There have been ever increasing monster activities ever since the association was formed,” He glared at the glowing map of the world and rested his hands on the platforms railing in front of him. “Just what is going on?”

---

Demon Quarterback didn’t simply telegraph his attack, he phoned it in advance along with a week’s notice. James simply hopped to the side, avoiding the charge and letting the monster barrel clumsily past him. James snorted, “You ain’t gonna get me with somethin’ that lame.”

Demon Quarterback had stopped himself and turned to face James, “Perhaps I simply have to try harder then.”

Demon Quarterback got into a three point stance, his eyes seeming like they were glowing brighter. James could almost swear he could see some type of energy surround him, bleeding off his body. He ignored what was likely his imagination and got into a ready stance himself, getting a feeling that something was going to happen soon. Demon Quarterback tensed his muscles, James blinked, and when his eyes opened Demon Quarterback was nearly upon him.

“Shit!” James swore in his head, cursing himself for even briefly taking his eyes off his opponent right before his attack.

“Offensive Tackle!” Demon Quarterback roared.

The monster’s padded shoulder slammed into James’s gut, making him grunt as explosive pain wracked his body. Blood flew out of his mouth as the force of the blow sent him flying into the ruined field house. His back made contact with a still slightly intact wall, easily smashing through it and burying James in brick. Demon Quarterback straightened up, eyeing the mound of rubble as a small chunk bounced down the pile while dust settled.

He grunted in disappointment, “Done already? And you talked so mightily too.” He turned away and began walking to the school, “I guess I’ll amuse myself for a while longer, maybe that ‘Hero Association’ will send someone worthy to me. I need to make up for lost time so long ago.”

Demon Quarterback stopped as the sound of bricks hitting each other came out from behind him. He looked back to see James back on his feet as he walked out of the ruined building. His gym shirt was roughed up and badly torn, his shorts mildly scuffed, and blood slowly dripped from a bruised wound on his chest. He still had a grip on his bat.

“I ain’t done, until yer six feet under,” James replied. He pointed his bat at the monster, “Plus I still haven’t kicked yer ass yet. Gotta make ya pay for ruinin’ my gym clothes, I just got these a month ago ya know?”

James gripped his bat with both hands and leapt into the air, bringing the weapon up over his head. As his rising arc came to its apex, gravity retook hold of him once more. As he came close to his opponent he swung his bat down at Demon Quarterback’s head. The monster didn’t dodge, instead he braced himself and took the brunt of the damage on his helmet.

A mighty boom rang out across the field as the helmet and bat met each other. Demon Quarterback’s feet dragged across the ground, digging grooves into the earth as it attempted to resist the force that was trying to make him move. James landed back on the ground feet first, retracting his bat and jumping back a few feet.

“Damn, that’s one hell of a tough helmet ya got there,” James grunted.

The monster chuckled and simply attacked James back, slamming a fist down where he was standing. Cracks appeared in the ground as James hopped over his arm and slammed his bat into the front of the monster’s helmet this time.

“That won’t work brat!” Demon Quarterback roared, swiping blindly in front of him.

His attack missed, James having ducked under it. James retaliated with rapid hard smacks of his bat on various parts of the monster’s body, but thanks to its armour and paddings it didn’t do as much damage as he would have liked. But the more body shots James slammed home, the more it became clear Demon Quarterback was indeed feeling them. James was in the middle of another swing when the monster had had enough and slammed a fist into the side of his head, sending him skipping across the field.

James managed to flip himself mid air and land on his feet, slamming the end of the bat into the ground to slow his sliding stop, once he finally stopped he spat out blood off to the side. “Damn,” he thought. “I need to hit harder. But that armour of his is a pain in the ass. And...” James briefly looked down at his bat, it already had heavy dents from his merciless attacking. “This thing won’t hold out fer much longer. I’d give it a few more smacks, or one really good one, until it breaks completely.”

James looked back up at Demon Quarterback, “I’ll have to go with one really good one then.”

The monster pointed at James’s bat, “Hmph, that weapon of yours doesn’t look to be in such good shape. You won’t last much longer at this rate, so how about you let me kill you so I can finish off the rest of this school.” Demon Quarterback seemed to be glowering at James, “Because I’m starting to get bored here.”

“I also think I have an idea on how Metal Bat works now,” James thought to himself, his eyebrows twitching at the insult the monster threw at him. “It’s not just tanking damage with his insane endurance that increases his strength and speed, its will and rage too.”

James spat once more to the side before pointing his damaged bat at the monster, “Fine then, how about I make a proposal? I promise yer gonna like it.”

James felt his body ache from his recent damage, he wasn’t used to this kind of fighting, “I’ve got the tanking down.”

This seemed to spark Demon Quarterback’s attention, “Oh? Do continue.”

James smirked at him, “We settle this in one attack. Yer best move verses mine. What do ya say punk?”

Demon Quarterback chuckled, “Very well little fool, you don’t know what you’re getting into. I was going to keep you alive so you can watch me kill all of your school friends one by one, but this seems like fun too.”

James narrowed his eyes at the monster and he sneered, “And I’ve got the rage.”

The monster went into a four point stance this time, its muscles starting to bulge and expand into ever bigger proportions and its veins throbbing even harder from all the strain it was likely putting on its body. “All Star…” the monster grumbled out.

James got into a batter’s stance himself, “Yeah, I think you don’t know what yer getting into either too asshole, time to finish this. Killing Move: Fightin’ Spirit,” James glared harshly at the monster, fierce determination written on his face as blood dribbled down his chin from his mouth.

“Touchdown!”
“Grand Slam!”

Both of the fighters roared out their attack names at the same time.

“I just need the will ta use it all together!” James yelled in his head before slamming his bat down in one single, massively heavy swing.

Demon Quarterback was even faster than before, his charge was near instant, but James was faster this time. The second his heavy bat down-swing struck the helmet, the force of his attack completely negated his opponent’s. Demon Quarterback slammed into the ground, sinking a good foot before sliding back the way he came, leaving a trail of displaced earth in his wake.

James huffed in exertion and a little bit of thrilling excitement. He looked down at his bat, it was bent nearly all the way around, almost touching his hands. He stood up straight, ignoring his hurting body in favor of walking over to the down monster, tossing his broken bat to the side. He felt a foot step onto a piece of something, looking down he saw a shard of what could only be the helmet of Demon Quarterback.

“Huh,” James said before continuing his journey to the body of the monster. Once he got to its side he looked down at the head of the beast and was greeted with the sight of the most round and puffy faced individual he had ever seen, ignoring the top part of the skull that was caved in from James’s bat. James blanched, his opponent’s face was something that looked absolutely ridiculous compared to the rest of its body.

“Seriously? This is the guy I’ve been fightin’? What the hell?! He looks so fuckin’ ridiculous!” James cracked his neck before muttering, “Maybe that’s why he was wearing that helmet…”

“James!”

James picked his head up as he heard the unmistakable voice of his new mother. He looked to the side and saw Celestia running over to him, another girl with puffy pink hair happily skipping along.

“Oh, hey mo-!” James’s greeting was cut off, Celestia immediately grabbing him into the mother of all hugs.

“What were you thinking fighting a monster?! You could’ve been killed!” Celestia didn’t let go of James, keeping him trapped in death’s embrace.

James tried tapping out to no avail.

“Uh, principal? I think he’s trying to tap out,” the pink girl helpfully said.

Celestia released James, much to his gasping relief. He muttered a quick thank you to the pink girl before turning to his adoptive mother, “Look, I know it was dangerous, but if I didn’t try ta stop him he would’ve attacked the rest of the school. Besides, I’m fine!” He raised his arms to his sides, as if to prove his point.

The pink girl rushed around him, scrutinizing his body as she rubbed her chin with a finger. “You don’t look so fine to me,” she said. As if to prove her point she poked him in the side, making him yelp in surprise and pain.

“Pinkie,” Celestia chastised. “Don’t poke the wounded! You could do more damage that way.”

The newly dubbed Pinkie straightened back up and skipped away from James, “Sorry principal!”

Celestia sighed, “I’m just happy you’re alive.” She glanced down at the monster and grimaced when she saw its head, “I’m just wanting to know how you can do that.”

James shrugged, “I’m tough?”

His mother rolled her eyes before continuing in a sterner voice, glaring sharply at James, “In any case, we need to get you to a hospital.” When James looked about to interrupt she cut him off before he could begin, “I saw what went down here, no arguing mister.”

James sighed, defeated.

Celestia turned to Pinkie, “Ms. Pie, you should probably head home now.”

“Okie doki!” She skipped off, briefly waving goodbye at the two of them. “See you in class James!”

James waved goodbye and watched as she disappeared off the field, leaving Celestia to drag him off the field and lead him into her car.

Author's Note:

Still not out of my head yet.

Comments

[KillerRobotQuote]

Where's an adamantium bat when you really need one?

[Iolaus]

7437363 Thanks, glad you like it

[RealityDowngrade]

Should rather like to see this continue.