Their numbering is simple: no one but Jake is number 1, so they're all in the teens. They have only been playing for about 3 seasons now, so they haven't had much in the way of replacement players.
11, Sh'urrb, Outfield Center. A Siren lifted from the waters of her world. Seen as a bit of a traitor by her Killer Wave homeworld fans, Sh'urrb blows off their hisses and boos with style. In her mind is always a bit of jealousy toward Seevi, as she often competes for Tamoth's attentions. When male players arrive around 2nd base she is often heard to send her charms toward them... The Killer Wave men try their best but often fall prey to her.
12, Maxiil, Catcher. A human from a world where the gravity is 2 or 3 times normal. He is quite strong in normal gravity situations, though many people underestimate him and think he's 'fat'. That's not fat, friends... He is the only member of the team who actually wears his team hat outside of practice and games. If he sees a player trying to steal a base after a batter's struck out, watch out for that throwing arm! They can't let him play pitcher!
13, Z'ren, 3rd Base. A Saurian from a warm, swampy world. He enjoys the comforts of home: a squishy wet chair, putting his feat up on a lava-stone heatrock, and basking on the muddy flats beside his home. However, he also enjoys slamming a ball out of a stadium, and is perfectly capable of it too. Z'ren is a carnivore. Sometimes opposing players learn this, and have an innate fear of him. Some players don't make it past 3rd.
14, Anni, 1st Base. A race called Raki calls this twin of Enni their most brilliant mind. He is far more interested in physical pursuits and enjoys ducking out of his hyper-tech classes at the Rakian University, to play. He is of course a great runner, with a balancing tail like his clutch-brother. If he can't get past a baseman, no one can.
15, Tamoth, 2nd Base. A Sylvan whose charming smile and shy exterior makes for a great team representitive. He has a speaking voice clear and calm, and keeps the team together in times of stress. Seevi and he are usually an item, though they've often broken it off briefly. Their relationship comes second to his team, but nothing beats seeing him hit a home run and gleefully romping around the bases.
16, Enni, Outfield Right. Anni's clutch-twin, from Raki. Was expected to be the more sportsman like of the pair, as all Raki are paired such, but it turns out they both love many things such as math, science and softball. Enni's speed is amazing, and when Sh'urrb cannot reach an outfield hit, he's sure to get to it in time.
17, Seevi, Pitcher. Sylvan and gleaming like her partner Tamoth, Seevi enjoys taunting the men on the batting square just because she can. A dangerous fawn indeed, for her pitching has been known to reach hardball-speeds. Not that she tries to hit any player. Oh no. Of course not. She keeps Sh'urrb away from Tamoth, while also trying to keep Enni and Anni away from HER.
18, Bushish, Shortstop. A lagomorph possibly from the Sylvan world. She is little, quick, and screams a war cry when she makes a hit. Once she's on her way to a base, don't bother trying to tag her out, she'll just dodge. She is the youngest member of the team, and is usually in a little awe of the other players and teams.
19, Creal'w, Outfield Left. An Avian with as zany a personality as you'd expect this colorful guy to have. He doesn't have to try very hard to catch things, when he sees something flying towards him, his instinct is to use his beak to catch it -- fortunately his species is capable of using their thumbs too. He isn't much of a hitter, but he does well enough to remain on the team otherwise.
"Loooooosers!" Called one guy, with tentacles on his face. "Loooosers!"
"I can't believe we had to play that sad ass team again!" Said one of his team mates.
"Did we play? I thought we were just practicing winning." Snorted another. The Killer Wave, with their blue and white uniforms clingy to their big burly shapes, filed past the Gems.
"And how come they have those crappy uniforms, anyway? What's with that? Gems - that's brown, not gold or something." Said their catcher. "Nice ass, though," he glanced at the green-skinned siren, Sh'urrb, who snarled back at him. He'd almost groped her while she was at bat, and that was just about the final straw. She could make males do anything for her - and the Wave were as aquatic a race as she was. But she didn't want them to do anything nice - she'd far rather they had just jumped off a cliff.
Finally, beaten on their home play field, the Gems looked out at the darkened arena and called it a day.
This was two years back. Sh'urrb and Maxiil were the only players who thought that the Gems should remain a team at all. Without public support - which they frankly didn't deserve - they had no money, without money, they had no new players. It was a cycle that the rest of the team had had enough of.
That night, all but those two simply quit. They left their uniforms and equipment in their lockers, took the locks off, and never came back to the sport of intergalactic softball. Sh'urrb and Maxiil sat in a dim bar, drinking themselves into a stupor, for about two days.
It was while they were trying to remain as far away from sober as possible, that someone came into the bar. He caught Sh'urrb's attention first, of course, because he was an attractive young humanoid male. Maxiil didn't much go for those - he prefered the strong women of his home world. But he glanced over his shoulder at the young guy anyway, because Sh'urrb was so dazed looking at him.
"What's up, girlygirl?" He said.
"That guy - he's ... famous. Or something." She was still rather drunk, remember. "I think he's someone I should know. I'm gonna go know him."
She slipped out of her chair, and swaggered over to where the man stood, at the bar. He didn't so much as flinch when the Siren's delicate fins draped over his shoulder. He had brown hair, green eyes, and an olive complexion that had a lovely bronze tan over it. He had the scent of ozone about him, not in that bad "fried electronics" way, but more the way a lightning storm smells before it strikes. Charged.
"Annnnd," Sh'urrb said, slurry, "you're in a diff'rent part of town than you're used to."
While it was somewhat rude of her to say so, and was clearly not the come on line that she'd been expecting to come out of her own mouth, the Siren was pleased when this handsome long-nosed man turned to her with a smile.
"No, you're right, I'm not from here." He tilted his head slightly and his long hair fell into his eyes. "You look familiar though, do I know you?"
"Oh how I wish you knew me," Sh'urrb sang, and when she did so nearly half the male population of the bar nearly made a run for her. But they weren't the focus of her song, and she hadn't even intended to apply her sonic powers on him. Well, obviously she subconsciously did, but she never much controlled herself when she was drinking.
"You seem like you need a friend," he said. He tossed his head toward the table where she'd staggered from, "and so does your friend over there."
Maxiil had his head tilted back, but his drink was empty and he couldn't afford another after the binge they'd been on. They'd just blown what was left of their salary on this bar, and would be walking out of it penniless.
The tallish man invited himself over to their table, helping Sh'urrb over to it and into her seat again. The man simply hovered, though, crossing his legs in the air and floating as though by some magic or psionic power.
"I do know who you are!" Sh'urrb said, loudly, "you're that.... that Jake guy!" She clapped, "Jake Alabaster the rich and powerful intergalactic playboy!"
The man smiled, looking down slightly, but wasn't bashful. "Yes, you know me, I am in fact that Jake guy."
"But what are you doing here? This is nowhere," Maxiil said.
"Ah - and I just realized where I know you two from. You're Gems, aren't you?" Jake Alabaster said, indeed playing his role well. "I follow your team, I'm... sorry about that last game."
"Well you won't have to worry about following us any more," Maxiil said, with a sneer on his broad face. "We're done. No more team. Everyone up and quit."
"That's why you're here. That," Jake said, leaning in over the table slightly, "is why I am here."
It was unusual for such a seedy bar to have such a complicated conversation going on. All involving things that were strictly legal, anyway.
"How would you," Jake said with a grin, "like to become the top ranked team again? I remember when you guys had your first season, and-"
"And it's been a downhill slide from there," Maxiil said drearily. "Jus' leave us alone..."
"No, no, wait," Sh'urrb said, holding her webbed hand up and shushing her friend. "I think he's serious. I think ... he wants to finance a new ... team?"
She wasn't even giving him the sing-song-treatment, he was there to ... what? Buy their team!
"I'd like to arrange tryouts for new players, as soon as possible," Jake said. "And I can also make up for your lack of salaried payments of late."
"It sounds like a deal to me," Sh'urrb said, but Maxiil grumbled.
"Sounds too good to be true, and you know what they say."
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?" Jake said, with his eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face. Maxiil shut his mouth, and nodded, leaning back.
"I think it does sound like a deal. How about that."
***
It was warm under the suns of the dripping wet world Sploom. Clouds covered almost everywhere, but kept in the heat with a muggy intensity that made Maxiil wish he hadn't been on this trip. But at least he wasn't in full gravity, he could still beat the living tar out of anything that lept out of this godforsaken jungle they were walking through, just with a simple slap of the hand.
The trio of Jake, Sh'urrb and Maxiil were accompanied by a cadre of legal and personal representitives. They weren't having any fun here either. But Jake seemed like he loved to wander through the overhung jungle paths, and what Jake wanted, he got.
Always.
Eventually they ran into the small village just due west of the big drippy Zmappa tree - where they were to meet with someone. That someone turned out to be standing around doing very nearly nothing, when they arrived. Jake greeted the large saurian with a pleasant smile and an extended hand - he didn't flinch when the crocodillian looked his way and flashed a toothy grin. Nor did he flinch when the male named Z'ren grasped his much smaller hand and shook it "friendly like".
"You're a bit early," Z'ren said. "We were just putting the finishing touches on the meeting hut. Do you like it?" He waved at the long house that had been erected using mostly live trees and a few scraps of rope and thatch.
Sh'urrb had seen worse, but one of the legal team muttered something about 'not wanting to intrude on the quaint customs of the natives' and the 'icky bugs' probably crawling all over everything. He lingered behind, but Jake waved everyone in. His endless enthusiasm was not something that any one on his team would ever mock.
How this primative group of crocodile types had established themselves as fans of softball, no one knew. But Z'ren was one of their biggest fans - though not anywhere close to the biggest of his species. Most of the males in the hut were two or even three times his size. Apparently, one of the legal eagles muttered under his breath, they kept growing like fish.
"I've heard that Z'ren has a swing with a bat, and can catch," Sh'urrb said, breaking the tension and fluttering her powers a bit - they worked decently well on everyone in the room, males of the human pursuasion and everyone who slipped into the water were hers to command.
"Yep," said one ancient and withered looking croc-man. "He's good at it all right. Sometimes he hits those big buzzer-flies right out of the swamp. With just a stick!" He laughed, exposing a half-toothed mouth. Apparently these folks took care of their elderly - otherwise he'd probably have been eaten.
"Well can we see?" Jake asked, and the elders of the village all conferred quickly - they nodded as one, and everyone got up to see for themselves just what Z'ren could do.
His mother, Z'pallo, watched with her clawed hands wrenching around a battered piece of cloth.
Sh'urrb found one of their balls, and someone had handed Z'ren a bat - he dwarfed it, but he'd be able to get a better one (of course, it'd have to be sized for legal play!) when they started the season. The siren wound up (she wasn't a pitcher by trade of course, but everyone could throw a ball around!) and pitched...
Z'ren hefted the bat around like it was merely an extention of his arm. He didn't even use both hands, and the ball was history.
"I think we have a winner," Jake said.
