The Azra-El Series Ch. 18.2

"I think it's time to call it a day, angels," she suddenly said, looking up at the others with brilliant smile. "Thank you for coming."

"That was truly a breathtaking song, Jie Er," Agatha said, being the first one to recover. "I didn't know you could sing like that."

"Thank you! I think my mother was better."

Realizing that it was indeed getting late, the visitors quickly got dressed. The twins did not forget to wish Blaze the best of luck for the tournament, but Blaze could only nod mutely at their words.

As the forms of the visitors disappeared into the night sky, he turned to Jie Er and simply hugged her, with his head resting between her breasts. However, there was nothing sexual in his heart.

A particular kind of emotion that he had towards Jie Er, which he had always tried to repress in his heart, had been brought back to the surface by her song. And, when he felt her arms wrap around him with warmth, the emotion spilled over. How could he curb it when he felt it so absolutely through her actions, words, and her heart?

Jie Er began to gently caress his head.

The warmth around their bodies slowly increased until it turned hot. Something that only happened at the height of his arousal, started occurring when arousal was the last thing on his mind. The heat enveloped their entirety and began to cloud their minds. However, right before he lost control of his mind, he felt a modicum of something seeping into him from Jie Er.

Rebecca could only watch as a soft, silvery-golden glow began to emanate from Blaze and Jie Er's bodies, and their eyes slowly grew unfocused. She understood enough not to interfere, and that this was a good thing.

It was almost an hour before the glow started to fade, and the first signs of consciousness began to show in their unmoving bodies. Jie Er awoke first and she held Blaze until he regained his senses. To them, it had been nothing but a moment.

"Jie Er, bring out your archwings," Rebecca said, sitting up on the chaise that she had brought out to keep an eye on them.

Blaze stepped out of Jie Er's arms to look.

Two pairs of snow-white wings effortlessly sprang out of Jie Er's back; one pair from her clavicles and the other from the small of her back.

Blaze and Rebecca looked at her with astonishment before they rushed to give her a hug. She embraced them both, wrapping them up with all four of her wings.

***

The next morning, the trio went out to fly over the clouds and test out Jie Er's newly-healed wings. Her second pair no longer possessed any trace of the tainted energy that had once marred their color.

Blaze and Rebecca hovered over the clouds and watched Jie Er zip around with her four wings. Oh boy, she was fast. Easily faster than a Pegasus. And when she used her signature dash, she literally disappeared over short distances.

However, her archwings still tired her out when she kept them out for longer durations, but she no longer struggled to bring them out. She told them that it was because they were just healed, and she needed to use them a little more before they were back to their prime condition.

They spent an hour flying before they returned to have breakfast. The trio spent the rest of the day in high spirits and each other's company.

When it was time for Blaze to leave, the two older angels dropped him off at Varan. Before he left, Blaze made them promise they'd come and watch his Flyball game the next Hadie (Saturday).

oOo

The Flyball finals were one of the few instances when family could visit the campus at Tir. Jie Er and Rebecca sat near Class 1A's dugout along with Tara Maitreya - Aahna's mom, and a few others related to Blaze's classmates. Elyssa also joined them, as Blaze's team was fielding first; Rachel had won the toss and elected to field. It was easier to field earlier in the day, when the Aranyan sun wasn't as hot.

The Flyball finals were scheduled inside the main stadium of Tir. Years 4-6 played later that evening, and Years 7-9 played the next day.

"Folks!" a cheery voice loudly echoed through the stadium. "The forecast is clear skies and a sunny day - perfect weather for Flyball! I am Ria Bueno, and I will be your commentator for today!"

There was a loud cheer for the commentator's words. Everybody wanted to enjoy a good match that afternoon.

The stadium was packed by Azra-El standards. Almost all the students and teachers of Tir had come to watch the game. Saying it was partly because of Blaze was not an exaggeration. An older student of Tir hovered over the stands to the right and spoke into a loudspeaker.

"I am not going to lie, folks. As a senior, I am supposed to be a neutral party, but how can I not support The Blazing Fury? I reckon most of the audience is here to support her. Sorry, folks of Class 2E.

"However, 2E can rejoice in the fact that the odds are stacked highly in their favor in today's match. Starring in their roster are the twin daughters of Willie Maiaflower, Bobby and Theodora, who have both been training to become Flyball players since they were five..."

"Alright, punks!" Blaze started his pre-game pep talk in the dugout. "Pitch well and field well, and let me take care of the batting. The urge to smack some Flyball booty is very stronk today. Big Bro shall grace your eyes with a mighty 150," he said confidently, curling his arm muscles.

His classmates had long since accepted his weirdness, but they did not know how to respond to his quirky statements. Nonetheless, his words rose their spirits.

"Let's show these Class 2E punks who's the boss. Now, shout WHO!"

"WHO!" they all yelled.

"It's me!" he told them seriously and stepped out of the dugout.

"Here comes... THE BLAZING FURY AND HER TEAM!" Ria yelled. "Dressed in red and white, the flat-chested angel with red hair is our very own Righteous Fury, Blaze Er Lokra! She..."

Finding the commentators voice familiar, Blaze glanced towards the hovering angel carrying a loudspeaker. He immediately recognized the girl. She was the 8th year senior from Elyssa's class who had spilled her flavored milk, all over her breasts, when he had gone to watch Elyssa's Flyball game in his first quarter. He had seen her a few more times after that and named her Onee-sama in his head, just to pay respects to her tremendous knockers.

"Blaze has not played too many games for her class this year, and it is accepted that she was hidden as an ace up Class 1A's sleeve. However, she may be severely outclassed by Theodora Maiaflower's batting prowess. The Blazing Fury is much more of a warrior than a flyball player. Though she has shown her hitting ability in the few games she has played before, her 38 in the semifinal pales in comparison with Theodora's 132. Simply put, Theodora may prove to be the better ace up the sleeve than Blaze."

Theodora Maiaflower aka Mean Face 2 and another angel stepped out from the opposition dugout, as Rachel took the ball and the rest of the team scattered around the field. Blaze took his spot in the center right of the in-field (right shortstop) and Aahna mirrored his position on the other side (left shortstop).

It was quite rare for angels to have twins -- hatched from a single egg. Triplets were almost nonexistent and there was no history of quadruplets. MF2 was almost an exact replica of MF1 -- six feet tall, long sinewy arms, and purple hair held up in a short ponytail. The only difference was that she had slightly larger biceps that were honed for batting instead of pitching.

She stood at the batting mound and kept her gaze on Blaze, with a constant glare of condescension.

"Theodora is staring down at the Fury, folks. Even without a pitch thrown, the battle has already begun. I'd say Theodora has won in the staring department, but who can say who will win the war."

MF2 only tuned her attention towards Rachel when the field settled down and the umpire called out for the match to begin.

Rachel opened with a sharp cutter, curving away from the right-handed batter. MF2's swing was almost casual as the ball connected right on the middle of her bat.

Thunk.

Blaze watched it sail over his head and into the stands. An angel in the audience caught it and after a little jig of celebration, she threw it back to the nearest fielder. Angels enjoyed sports.

"WHAT. A. BEAUTY! I've rarely seen even professional players make such a beautiful stroke. That was hit with the comfort of a player who has honed the shot to perfection. Looks like Teddy was born to be a batter!"

Even from the first pitch, Class 1A understood why the other semifinal had been so one-sided. MF2 had almost effortlessly hit Rachel's otherwise good cutter for a Slam. MF2's form was as good as any professional baseball batter from Earth.

She raised her bat towards her dugout and pointed it towards her sister, mimicking Blaze from his first game against them. It was a thinly veiled challenge.

"Teddy's a feisty one, folks. That action is sure to rile up the opposition. What will 1A do to face this challenge?"

Blaze and Aahna hurried over to Rachel.

"Test her. Don't worry about leaking runs. We need information. Try everything," they told her.

Aahna had done some digging before the match. The only information she got was that the best the pitchers from the other semifinal were able to do was control Teddy's hits by pitching slower throws. MF2 seemed to have no apparent weaknesses that a mere first year angel could exploit. However, the credibility of the information had always been suspect, because both teams in the other semifinal had been teams mostly comprising of the Malakim.

The usually combative Rachel kept her wits about and tested MF2 with varying pitches. She was the captain and she took her responsibility seriously. However, her ten pitches yielded very little information.

Class 2E -- 26/0 -- 1 Round

"Don't be fooled by the expensive round folks. This was a round to test Teddy's abilities. It was a good idea from 1A. However, Teddy has yet to reveal a weakness. Hopefully, 1A finds one soon."

Afriel, one of the two Malakim in Blaze's team, pitched the 2^nd round. She pitched her best but still leaked tuns.

44/0 -- 2 Rounds

Rachel managed to get the other batter from 2E out in the 3^rd round but gave away 16 runs.

"That was a mean sinker from pitcher Rachel. The batter had no answers to the pitch and her bat could only hit air before the ball reached the pole."

60/1 -- 3 Rounds.

Afriel pitched again.

72/1 -- 4 Rounds.

Things looked very ominous for class 1A, and none of it could be blamed on poor performance. They pitched and fielded to the best of their abilities, but MF2 was a monstrous batter.

Ditti managed to get an out when she took over for Rachel.

"Soft dismissal, but even I would've clipped that slider into the keeper's gloves."

82/2 -- 5 Rounds.

Kritti, her cousin, went next.

96/2 -- 6 Rounds.

There were two reasons why scoring runs became tougher in Flyball as the game went on. The first was that all the players in the team had to bat, and once the main batters got out, the players who specialized in other aspects could not bat as well. The second reason was that as the ball got older, its deformation made its trajectory a little more erratic, making it harder for batters to hit.

Before the start of 7^th round, 1A gathered together and decided on simply focusing on curbing the run flow. They planned to focus the other batters of 2E's and try to get them out first.

Rachel's captaincy and Aahna's knowledge came into play while they discussed various strategies. They kept switching pitchers to not let the batters get used to a certain style of pitching.

By the end of the first ten rounds, Class 2E crossed the 150 mark and MF2 got her century with a massive Slam.

153/3 -- 10 Rounds

"THEODORA MAIAFLOWER! She looks unstoppable, folks. What a display of batting we've seen so far. She has already crossed her century in the 10th round. Will she reach the vaunted 200 mark? It has only been done twice in twenty-round professional Flyball. Will 2E reach 300? The result of the match seems set, so I am quite eager to see them reach these milestones."

Class 1A did not know what to do. If MF2 stayed till the end, facing an insurmountable 300 was very possible. None in their team were equipped for such ballistic batting. Even Blaze hadn't done such a thing on Azra-El. His baseball experience from Earth was very different. Baseball had never required him to bat that long.

The team considered sending Blaze to try out his tricks again, but he wasn't confident in fooling MF2. She was too good to not see his changeups. She had been perfect at reading the ball from the pitcher's hand.

However, the pitchers slowly began to figure out where not to pitch to her. Putting up protection in areas where she liked to hit, they pitched in a way that forced her to take singles and get her teammates on strike, slowing down her scoring rate.

162/3 -11 Rounds.

While the pitchers changed after the 11th round, Blaze spotted MF2 say something to Kida who was keeping behind the pole. Her words seemed to enrage the usually complaisant girl. She threw him a quick glance and immediately looked away. Her anger seemed to humor MF2 even more.

178/4 -- 12 Rounds.

"Batters keep falling around Teddy, but she seems unfazed and as irrepressible as she was when the match started. Can anything stop her this game?"

MF2 kept going like the only thing that was stopping her was her own team.

211/5 -- 14 rounds.

Three hundred seemed very possible at that moment.

Rachel once again stepped onto the pitching mound. MF2 was at 142.

"Teddy is once again on strike, folks. She is eight runs away from 150, an important checkpoint on her way to 200. Based on the previous rounds, it's easy to bet she is going to reach it in this over."

Rachel's first pitch was a palm ball that slowed down as it reached the batter -- it was a pitch that was difficult to time. MF2 hit the ball between the in-fielders but the stroke didn't have enough power to reach the boundary. MF2 refused to take a single, wanting to maintain strike.

The next pitch was similar to the first and MF2 once again found the outfielder. She didn't take rotate strike.

Blaze suddenly got the feeling that she was getting cocky. The score was already high, and he had an inkling that MF2 wanted to reach her 150 with flair -- either with a Slam or two GroundSlams. He walked up to Rachel and told her to pitch slow and flight the ball.

"Oooh. Seems like the Fury has figured out something, folks. She is whispering in the pitcher's ear. This should get interesting."

Rachel followed his suggestion and pitched three different versions of slower throws. MF2 hit them all but none of them found the boundary and she didn't move from her spot. On the 6^th pitch, Rachel threw a faster sinker. MF2 struck a Ground slam.

"It looks like I was right. Like I guessed, Blaze has figured out that Teddy maybe intent on reaching her 150 in style. The pitcher is trying slower pitches with an odd faster pitch to throw off the batter. Will it change anything? In the least, 1A is getting a short reprieve from the onslaught."

The 7^th, 8^th and 9^th pitches were all screwballs that yielded no runs. The final pitch however, Rachel managed to sneak in a knuckleball which she hadn't thrown all game. The abuse the ball had seen throughout the game made the knuckleball even more erratic.

MF2 swung but the contact was not as good as it could have been. It soared towards the centerfield and Bi chased after it like a gazelle. Blaze didn't even know she could run that fast. Just as the ball was about to cross the boundary, she jumped and plucked the ball out of thin air and threw it back before she stumbled past the ropes. Kritti who had been chasing after her caught it before it touched the ground.

"OUT!" Ria screamed even before the umpire could. "What a catch! Pure display of athleticism and coordination. Teddy's vanity might have cost her an out, but in most instances that would have been a Slam. Are 1A back in the game? I don't think so. However, I am sorry to see Teddy go. We have never had someone hit a 200 on Tir's campus, and this was the perfect opportunity."

The stadium erupted; a few in celebration and most in recognition of MF2's exceptional batting or Bi's clutch fielding. Luck, the batter's arrogance, and his team's fielding skills, had gotten them the out that they needed. However, the damage was done. 2E's score was already higher than what 1A would've wanted to chase and they still had 5 more rounds left.

217/5 -- 15 rounds

MF2 out for 146 in 72 pitches.

The rest of the 2E's batting proved to be not at the same level, and 1A's pitchers worked hard to keep 2E's score as low as possible. The firsts innings ended with a score of 264/7 in twenty rounds. The batters and fielders went back to their respective dugouts for a short break and lunch.

"264/7. 265 to win! Folks, if you asked me to bet my fortune, I would bet in 2E's favor. But maybe, just maybe, the Blazing Fury and her teammates will show us a miracle that we are all waiting for. Shall this be a prelude to the results of the USMAT?"

Chasing 264 was an insurmountable task for 1A, and gloom inevitably set in at their dugout. Elyssa popped in to cheer them up, but it didn't do much good. They had a quiet, light lunch before Blaze stepped before them.

"We need to win!" he told them stolidly. "Not because I have something against the Malakim, but I want to win the game for us."

"It's not that easy, Blaze. That ina was too good, and their pitchers are no slouches either," Rachel spoke bitterly.

"That's untrue. I am better than Mean Face 2, and you guys are better batters than the rest of their team. We've got to believe that if we want to win.

"Do you think us winning this game is harder than me trying to win the USMAT? But, I have to do that to keep my friend by my side. Stop being little crybabies, and fight! You've got nothing to lose except the match!"

His speech seemed to at least work on Kida, who jumped to her feet and swung her bat in a flourish. "Let's go kick some Flyball booty, Big Bro!" she bellowed, and stepped out of the dugout.

"That's the spirit!" Blaze jumped out after her and patted her shoulder.

"Ooh. There is a spring in the incoming batters steps, folks. Does the Blazing Fury have an answer to 2E's lofty total? She looks quite confident. Honestly, however, I think I've switched sides. As a Flyball lover, I've been moved by Theodora's batting prowess."

Blaze watched Kida as they walked towards the pitch. She seemed to be brimming with an edgy energy. He didn't know why, but he felt it had something to do with what MF2 had said to her during the first innings.

"Kid," he whispered once they reached the pitch. "Go nuts. I plan to stick around till the end, so I will be playing a little safer. It will surprise them."

When paired up with Bi, Kida was the more aggressive batter, but she couldn't usually do the same when playing with Blaze. She had to play a supporting role to help Blaze keep his momentum.

"Alright!" Kida rolled the bat in her hands and gripped it strongly. "Let me show you how far I can hit."

Blaze walked up to the pitching mound to face MF1, who was a great pitcher in her own right. However, her pitching was not of the same calibre as MF2's batting.