Okay, this is a one chapter only story {so it's a prologue, completely separate, from any continuation I plan to do}. It's to get most of the idea for my OC out there. Depending on the feedback I get (if it's good) I'll do the story I want to do with my OC, Daphne, the Dodo.

I thought this up after reading some of the Heart No Kuni No Alice manga and some of the Clover ones. I didn't learn until after I thought her up that there is a Dodo Roleholder in Diamond, but I haven't gotten that far. Though, I did think up a good reason for Jericho for the story... Anyways, this was A LOT for just a oneshot, but I had so much I wanted in here, but I skipped some stuff to not over do it.

I really hope you like it, and Daphne!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Daphne and Deloris! Quinrose owns the Hearts No Kuni No Alice and everything that goes with the rest of the series. (I hope everyone doesn't seem really OOC. I wanted some of them to be different than they are in the series, because they're all kids and events that affect their character and personality, haven't happened to them yet. Plus, adding a friend like Daphne to their lives would take a little of a toll on them.)

"Get up, Daphne." A quiet female voice, which I have grown accustomed to, commanded as she shook my shoulder.

"Huh? What?" I ask drowsily making no attempt to get up.

"It's time to wake up. Unless you have changed your mind about our little trip?" The woman says.

That woke me up. I shot up out of my bed remembering our plans for the day. "Give me, like five minutes!" I say pushing her out of my room so I can get dressed.

She laughs at my reaction. The woman is Deloris, my mentor, known as the Dodo. That is her Role and the Role I will one day take over. She looks like she's in her late 40s to 50s, but she is actually much older than that. Deloris has white hair, her top layer of hair is actually feathers. She has yellow eyes that have gotten lighter with age, and where her nose should be is an orange beak. It's only the top half of the beak; she has a normal mouth like anyone else.

I look very similar to her. Only my hair and eyes are the same electric neon blue, and my beak is black with a white stripe across it. I'm only eight years old, though I have been learning under Dodo for two years now.

Today is the day that we go to the land of the Foreigners. Where we live, is a place called Wonderland, that has four lands: Hearts, Clover, Diamond, and Spade. There are different territories within each land, though some territories coexist in more than one land. Currently, we are in the land of Clover.

In this world that we live, occasionally a Foreigner shows up, and we must all partake in a game. In that game, if the Foreigner accepts by drinking a vial containing the Medicine of Hearts, everyone will fall in love with them. They cannot go home until the vial is full. That is how the game works.

When there isn't a Foreigner, the territories within the land, focus more on the war for land. They are the Castle of Hearts, Hatters' Mansion, and the Amusement Park. There is also a Circus and Jail, but they don't partake in the territory war; instead they fight against all three territories. The only neutral zone is currently the Clover Tower, in the land of Hearts, it is the Clock Tower. The other neutral area is the forest between the territories, which is where The Dodo lives.

The Dodo is the most powerful Roleholder, who cares for the forest and the inhabitants of Wonderland. She is given the ability to calm all the other Roleholders, and help them get along. Her Role is the longest Role held, while other Roleholders die and are replaced usually within 30 years of acquiring their Role, she lives for over 100 years. When The Dodo knows that the end is coming, she finds her replacement and trains them before she dies. The Dodo is always the opposite sex of the majority sex of the other Roleholders; which for the past, I believe, 10 generations have been male, so The Dodo has been a female. It gives The Dodo an advantage.

I am Daphne Olivia Dawn Olsen, otherwise known as Dodo. I am learning everything I can from Deloris, and today, I am learning to create a portal to the world of the Foreigners. The only other Roleholder with that ability is Nightmare Gottschalk, an incubus or dream demon, who is the Lord of Clover Tower and the town it resides in. Though, he hasn't inherited his Role yet, because his father is still alive.

I've only ever heard about the world of the Foreigners from books, and stories Deloris has told me about her experiences. I can't wait to see it. It sounds so different from Wonderland.

I quickly put on a silver tank top, neon blue and white vertical striped tights, and some black shorts; which for Wonderland is a bit unusual. Almost every woman wears a dress or skirt, but I hate them and only where them when required for events. Deloris understands, she also wears pants a lot. I think it's because of the Role, The Dodo is always known to be a bit different and eccentric.

Knock knock.

"I'm ready!" I call as I finish lacing my ankle boots and open the door.

"Don't forget your bag, Daphne." Deloris says. I'm always a bit scatterbrained.

"Oh, yeah!" I grab my neon blue leather satchel.

"Alright, we'll be going out to the field to practice." Deloris says with a kind smile.

We exit our tree house. It's an actual house up in a tree, not like what kids have as a little fortress. Even though, the house has a unique attribute of no one, except The Dodo, being able to see it. They can only see it, once The Dodo brings them to it and gets them inside, but then forget its location once they leave.

"Do you really think I'm ready?" I ask Deloris as we walk to the field by the Hatters' Mansion.

She smiles and her face is a perfect mask of encouragement. "I think you are. Plus, you need to learn this skill; it's very vital to the Role."

I give a small smile at her words. I know it's important, but this is the most difficult skill for The Dodo to learn.

"We're here." Deloris says and stops at the opening of the field from the forest. "Alright, Daphne, you need to understand that you probably won't get this the first time, or the second. So don't get frustrated. Just think about needing to get away; it's the easiest way for me to open a portal." Deloris says encouragingly.

I nod and close my eyes. Away. … I want to go away. … I peek with one eye to see if anything has happened. Nothing. I hang my head.

"Don't give up. This is difficult for every Dodo. You have to want to leave with your whole heart and being." Deloris says.

I nod again. I begin to close my eyes when a thought pops into my head. "But, I don't want to leave Wonderland, or my friends." I bite my lip, waiting for her response.

"That is why it is hard for every Dodo. Think about all the bad times you've had with your friends, so you will be more willing to leave them." Deloris puts her hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. "You can do this, Daphne."

I nod and close my eyes. All the times my friends have made me upset, huh? Okay, the time Gray threw a knife at my head. When Boris tries to take a bite out of me. When Julius doesn't want to do anything with me; which happens a lot... When Gowland 'plays' the violin. When Blood won't shut up about tea. When Ace takes me on an 'adventure' which is him getting us lost. When Joker locked me in the cage with the tiger. ... I want to get away!

"Daphne! You did it! On your second try!" Deloris picks me up in a hug, which makes me open my eyes. I see a black hole in front of our feet.

I smile at the sight. I did it! I give a celebratory jump for my victory. "So, what now?" I ask Deloris.

"We jump in." Deloris states as if it were obvious. She then grabs me and jumps into the hole. I watch as it closes above us.

It felt like we were falling forever, but I wasn't scared. Deloris had told me countless times that the hole was nothing to be afraid of. I also read other Dodos' experiences, and if they overreacted to the hole, they then said they felt stupid for the reaction.

Finally we were standing in what Deloris informed me was an alleyway. We were in a place called, New York City, of a territory of New York. I was shocked by all the machines on the street. They were so loud! And all the people! With faces!

"This is a weird place." I say as I hide behind Deloris's legs.

"It's okay. They can't see us." Deloris says trying to coax me from behind her legs.

"How?" I ask.

"It's another ability of The Dodo. You haven't learned it yet, so I'm shielding both of us. So stay close. Foreigners don't take too kindly to us when they can see us." I nod and step next to her, taking her hand.

"Let's explore shall we?" Deloris pulls me along. We see so many different things. The clothing stores had many things I would like to wear; it was like nothing we have in Wonderland. The food is somewhat similar to things we eat. It wasn't until we walked by a huge complex and could hear cheers erupting from it, that we went in to check it out.

"What are they doing?" I ask fascinated by the men out in a field with a diamond. We sat behind a couple, luckily the man was telling his date about the game, because apparently she didn't know either. I learned it was called baseball. I listened intently to the man explain as my eyes watched what was going on on the field. We sat through the entire game. It was a good one. Final score 98-56. Everyone was really excited, and shouting about "Giants won the World Series!" Oh, I want to play this with everyone when I go back! We could have so much fun together!

We suddenly heard a familiar noise behind us. We both turn to see a hole has appeared. "You were thinking about your friends and home, weren't you?" Deloris lightly accuses.

I just nod. Deloris laughs as she takes me into her arms and jumps into the hole, before any Foreigners might notice and go through.

We returned back to Wonderland, arriving in the forest over by the Amusement Park. "Why are we all the way over here?" I ask as I take in my surroundings.

"We left from a different location than where we arrived, therefore we ended up somewhere different in Wonderland." Deloris says easily. I nod not really taking it in as a yawn escapes my mouth. "Come on, you've exhausted yourself from creating the portals. You need to sleep." Deloris carries me, and I'm too tired to object. I wrap my arms around her neck and let my head rest on her shoulder. Before I knew it I was asleep, only waking a little as Deloris puts me in my bed.

DODO

(14 time periods later)

The next several days consisted of studying for my Role, getting the materials to play baseball, getting everything set up with the help of Deloris, and finding a day that would suit almost everyone's schedule.

I didn't bother asking Nightmare, because he'll accept anything that will get him out of his studies; which makes me worried about how he'll be in the future. He'll grow out of it, right? I didn't bother telling Julius, because even if I give him a date, he'll come up with an excuse within the time he has before the set day. I informed Gray, because his training is important to him. He agreed to be there for me, since he owes me a favor for the knife to the head. I lost a couple of good feathers that day... anyways, moving on.

All I had to do was schedule with Vivaldi, she would ensure that Peter and Ace came, and that the King stayed to look after things in their absence. I talked to Joker to ensure he knew the day to come. I told Blood, and he would ensure that Elliot, Pierce, and the twins would come too. Gowland and Boris were easy enough, I just had to tell them a time and place, and they promised to be there.

I didn't want to ruin the surprise so I kept it pretty vague which upset most of them, though, they all agreed.

It was finally the day for our baseball game. I'm so excited! I did extra study sessions the past couple of days so Deloris was okay with me taking the day off. After making sure everything was set up in the forest, I headed to the Clover Tower. I had decided to have everyone meet outside of there, since the two young Role-holders who lived there had no idea what was going on.

I stood outside the door looking up at the window that I knew was Nightmare's. NIGHTMARE! If you can hear me, please come to your window! I screamed in my head. I could hear him get startled when I yell-thought his name. He must have been reading or something. Hahaha, he's so easy to surprise! I saw him glaring at me through the window. He mouthed the word 'what'. I want to play a game! I thought without letting him see what game I wanted to play; which I knew would catch his interest. He held up one finger; which I knew meant to give him a minute.

I waited outside. Sure enough, he was coming out the door within his allotted minute. "So what game do you want to play?" Nightmare asks. Nightmare's silver eye was full of interest, while his right eye is covered by a black eyepatch with gold trim. He has very pale flawless skin, and silver hair, which in certain lighting looks lilac colored. I know that the reason he's so pale is because he's sick a lot, so I don't want him to be an actual player, instead I'm giving him the important role of the umpire. Plus, I can let him read my mind to know all the rules, which will help him do his best at being the ump.

Did you get all that? I ask as I flash through all my baseball knowledge for him. He nods with a smile. "This is going to fun!" Nightmare says with a smile.

"Nightmare, don't tell them why they're here, I'm keeping it a surprise. Hopefully, they get here soon. I'm gonna go talk Julius into playing." I say as I head toward the door.

"Good luck with that one." Nightmare says with a stupid grin on his face.

"Oh, shut up!" I say as I go through the door, but I still hear Nightmare yell-whine, "I thought I was the one who reads minds!" I open the door, and poke my head out. "You are. It's just that it's easy for me to know what you're thinking." I stick my tongue out at him and close the door in his stunned face.

I go through the tower until I'm in front of his door. Knowing from experience, I walk into the room. Julius hates being disturbed by someone knocking on the door, and just being disturbed in general.

"Julius! We're playing a game, wanna come?" I ask as I skip to his desk.

Julius huffs, "No, Dodo." He doesn't even look away from his clock. Julius has a little past shoulder-length dark blue hair, that he ties behind his head and always serious, sapphire blue eyes. He's very thin, and the same height and age as me.

I pout my lips and give him the sad face;which would work if he would look at me! I've used this on him plenty of times before, so his counter is to not acknowledge me. "Please?" I ask nicely, still keeping the sad face, hoping he'll look at me.

"No." Julius says quietly.

"Please?" I say louder, and I see his eye twitch.

"No."

"Please?" I say even louder.

"No."

"PLEASE?" I ask as loud as I possibly can without screaming.

"NO!" Julius says loudly in return, still not looking at me, though he has stopped tinkering with the clock. I hang my head in defeat, for the moment.

Okay, so far, just asking, the face, and pleading numerous times to annoy him into agreeing, have yet to work. Well, I guess I have no choice but to point out the obvious to save myself from pestering him for hours.

I tap his shoulder to ensure I get his attention. "What, Dodo? What do you want?" Julius says exasperated.

"Okay. Julius, you should know by now, that once I have my mind set, I am relentless until I get what I want. So I am not afraid to sit here all day and more if need be, to get you to agree. And you are very smart, so you know that if I keep bothering you, you aren't going to get much done. Plus, the sooner you agree and play with me, the sooner you can come back to your office and work in peace." I tell him reasonably.

The look on his face when he realized how true everything I said was, was priceless. "Fine." He says and stands up from his desk.

"Yay!" I jump then hug him. Then I go to the window and open it to look outside, everyone is here. "He's playing!" I yell outside. A small cheer erupts from everyone. "Let's go!" I run and grab his wrist as I pass him, pulling him out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door where everyone is waiting.

"So what are we doing?" Boris is the first to ask. Boris is a cat, a pinkish-purple cat. He's short, has yellow eyes, and has burgundy shoulder-length hair, cat ears, and a cat tail. He wears all black, except for his purple and pink fur boa.

"We'll in case you guys didn't know... I went to the land of the Foreigners!" I let this sink in for them. Everyone was shocked, but some recovered quicker than others.

"What was it like, Dodo-chan?" Dum asked grabbing one arm. He is a very small boy who is younger than me. He only hits my chest in height. Dum has black hair and red eyes, and dresses in red and black clothes to help distinguish him from his twin.

"Tell us!" Said Dee, his twin, as he grabbed my other arm. Dee has blue eyes and dresses in blue and black.

"Okay, I'll tell you guys in a minute, but first we need to get out of town, to the forest where I have everything set up." I say leading everyone away from Clover Tower and outside of the town.

"It was really different! While I was there Dodo and I went to this cool place where they were playing a game called, baseball. I thought it would be fun for all of us to play together." I say once I'm where I want to be, and wait for their reactions.

"You asked us here to play a game?" Blood asks sounding annoyed. He has short, messy black hair, emerald green eyes, and is always wearing his trademark hat. It's a black top hat with a red band, red roses, red feathers, and a card that has 10/6 in the top left corner.

"Yes." I say standing my ground.

"Cool!" Boris and the twins cheer in unison, then look at each other a little confused. It's sad, how I already can tell they'll become close friends. They have so much in common, except for the fact that they are with different territories.

"We've all been busy and focused on learning about and performing our Roles properly. We haven't really gotten to hang out and do anything fun together lately. We deserve it. Come on, what do you guys say?" I put my hand out in front of me, hoping they'll join in.

"Of course we'll play, Dodo-chan!" Dee and Dum each put their right hands on top of mine.

"You can count me in." Boris says and puts his hand on top of theirs.

"Of course!" Nightmare happily says and puts his hand over Boris's.

"Yeah, I'll play." Elliot adds his hand in. Elliot is a rabbit, technically a hare; don't get him started on that arguement. He has shaggy orange-blonde hair, tannish-brown rabbit ears, bright purple eyes, and is taller than me (not including the ears).

"Okay chu." Pierce says shyly adding his hand to the pile. Pierce is younger than me, but is naturally small because he's a mouse. He has brown mouse ears and tail. Bright green eyes and orange hair with a yellow streak through it are his other features.

"We shall participate also." Vivaldi says as she walks up and puts her hand on top of Pierce's. Vivaldi is only two years older than me. She has violet curly hair, purple eyes, and a beauty mark on her chin. Luckily she had enough sense to leave her crown at home, and isn't wearing one of her extravagant gowns.

"Sure, why not?" Ace laughs and puts his hand over Vivaldi's. Ace has crimson eyes, brown messy hair, is a year older and is a little taller than me.

"You already dragged me out here." Julius grudgingly says as he places his hand over Ace's.

All that were left were: Peter, Gray, Blood, and Gowland. I knew what to say to three of them to easily get them to agree. The only problem would be with Blood.

"Vivaldi? If you wouldn't mind?" I point my gaze at a certain white rabbit.

"Peter! You're playing!" Vivaldi ordered.

"Whatever you say Your Majesty." Peter answered bitterly as he sulked over and added his hand. Peter has white hair and rabbit ears, red eyes, glasses, and is never seen without his gold pocket watch.

"Gray?" I give him a pointed look.

Gray's golden eyes narrow, as he silently walks over and adds his hand. He has short navy hair, is two years older than me, a couple inches taller, and is always wearing black and gray clothing.

"Gowland?" I turn to the older redhead.

"What?" Gowland asks trying to act normally. He wears glasses over his blue eyes, and is the oldest among all of us; he's a lot like an older brother, which is why I am resorting to blackmail.

"Or would you prefer it if I called you-" That's as far as I got, because he sprinted over and added his hand. Gowland had told me when we first met that his first name is Mary, and he hates it. I don't blame him, though, I feel his emotions about it could become a problem. Though, it makes it easy to blackmail him.

"Hmm." Blood tilted his head, now intrigued by what just happened.

"Well, Blood, are you the only one who doesn't want to play?" I ask staring him down.

"What are you talking about? Of course, I'll play, dear." Blood says charmingly.Something's up here. That was too easy.

"Okay, now that everyone is in agreement, it's time to break up into teams. Guys go line up." I say, as they all look at me blankly.

"What?" Ace asks confused.

"Go line up in a line. Vivaldi and I will act as coaches/team leader, since we're the only girls. Nightmare is already going to be the umpire, because I already explained the game to him." I look at them patiently, and wait for them to line up.

Once they do,"Now what Dodo?" Vivaldi asks from beside me.

"We will alternate picking a guy for our team. I'll let you pick first, Your Majesty." I give her a curtsy.

"You're always so cute, Dodo!" She squeezes my cheek. "Alright, we choose Ace."

"Of course." Ace says as he walks over to stand beside me. We all look at Ace as if he's an idiot.

"Umm, Ace?" I ask tentatively.

"Yeah?" Ace looks down at me.

"Vivaldi picked you, you're on her team." I say slowly.

"Aren't I in the right spot?" Ace asks confused, yet still smiling. I'm pretty sure everyone else face palmed and/or groaned at that remark.

I shake my head. Then I grab Ace's arm, pull him to the other side of me so he's by Vivaldi, and walk away so there's enough space between us.

"Alright... my first pick... is..." Who should I pick first. I already have an idea of who would be good at what. As I look at all the guys, one of them is looking at the ground waiting, for what I'm sure everyone knows will happen... he'll be picked last. I look at my blue headed friend and smile as I say, "Julius."

"WHAT!?" Everyone said at the same moment. "HIM?!"

The shocked look on Julius's face was worth it. I did drag him out here against his will after all. He walked over to stand by my side.

"Why did you pick me first?" Julius asks, so much doubt in his voice, it hurt me to hear it. Sure, Julius isn't the most athletic. I hear Nightmare snicker at my thoughts, I'm sure he wants to figure out why I chose Julius first too.

"Because, you're my secret weapon. So I couldn't let Vivaldi get you." I whisper to him.

"Secret weapon? Me?" Julius had a slight blush on his face.

"Yep, but don't tell anyone." I say as I hold out my fist.

He looks at it unsure, then knocks his fist on mine.

"We'll take the red twin." Vivaldi says.

"Alright, we'll take Dee, then." I say before either twin could move.

"What?!" The twins say in unison and hug onto each other. "We can't be on separate teams!" They continue together.

"Yes, you can, and you will." I glare at them, and take a step forward ready to take Dee away from Dum, and drag him back with me.

"Better do as the bird says, Boys." Blood says calmly yet stern.

"Okay, Boss." The twins let go of each other, and hang their heads as they go in opposite directions.

"Chin up! You know you and your brother are your own persons, right? You can't always be together." I say bending down to look Dee in the eyes.

"Okay, Dodo-chan." Dee says softly, and gives me a small smile. I straighten and ruffle his hair.

"We'll take Blood." Vivaldi continues now that the twins are with their respective teams.

"Gray." I say, not wanting to give Vivaldi another chance to snatch my pitcher! Though, she wouldn't know he would be a good choice for this.

"White." Vivaldi says distastefully. She's only picking him because he works for her.

"Elliot!" I say wanting the best runner.

"We'll take the cat." Vivaldi says looking at whose left. I would have been shocked if she would have said Gowland.

"My name's Boris!" Boris says as he stalks over to his team.

"Gowland." I say, trying to keep all three territory heads from being on the same team. It'll be bad enough with Vivaldi and Blood on one team.

"It looks like the mouse is all that is left." Vivaldi calls Pierce.

"Wait a minute!" I look around and finally realize I'm missing someone. "Where-?! JOKER!" I yell at the top of my lungs.

Everyone shudders at the volume and who I'm yelling for.

"You called, Dodo?" Joker, dressed as a jester, asks as he and his counterpart run over, through the forest.

"Where have you two been?!" I demand.

"What's it to you?" The other Joker, dressed as a warden, says with a scowl.

Joker is one being, separated into two bodies. Each part being an opposite of the other, and for the purpose of him having two places to be in control of, the Circus and the Prison; it makes it easier for him. Since he's one being, both feel the same thing, unless they unconnect from each other, and can hear each others' thoughts.

He has red hair, a red eye, the left is covered by a black eyepatch. They look like identical twins, and get confused as that when first introduced. They usually are wearing their respective uniforms, but sometimes like to switch to mess with people. Though the warden Joker, is always meaner, while the jester Joker is more polite. They're four years older than me.

I smile as I walk over to the warden. "Well, I don't know. ...I just want everyone to have fun!" I say as I slap his shoulder. "You're on my team. Come on." I grab one wrist of each and pull them towards our group.

"That isn't fair. Joker is two people, which gives you an advantage." Vivaldi says.

"Joker is one person, split into two people. Therefore he counts as one, though, I get an extra pair of hands with him. Besides, if he would have been here on time, would that have changed any of your choices?" I ask already knowing her answer.

Vivaldi pales a little and shakes her head.

"Okay then. Vivaldi, do you want to go up to bat first?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Okay. The way the game works. The team up to bat, tries to hit the ball, and not have the ball get caught by the opposing team in the outfield. Once you hit the ball, drop the bat, and run to first, which is over there." I point to where it is. "If the team catches your ball after it makes contact with the bat, you're out. If they get the ball after it hits the ground, and get it to the first baseman before the batter gets there, you're out. It works that way on every base. You want to get there before the baseman gets the ball. While hitting the ball if you miss it's called a strike, if you get three strikes you're out. Also, if you hit the ball and it doesn't pass first or third base counts as a foul which counts as a strike. After three outs we switch, to battering team in the outfield, and outfielders become the batters. Once you make it to first base, you then want to go to second, third, then home. If you get to home, it's a point. Team with the most points after nine innings wins. An inning is one round of each team taking turns as batters and outfielders. Am I forgetting anything?" I look to Nightmare.

"Balls and home runs." Nightmare says.

"Oh yeah! If the pitcher throws the ball outside the batter's hitting range, then it counts as a ball, after four balls, the batter automatically gets to go to first. And if the pitcher hits the batter, they automatically get to move to first base. Also, only one player on base at a time, so you'll have to move when the next batter hits the ball. Home runs are when the batter hits the ball, in this case past those trees." I point to the trees I had move away to make a small clearing. "All players on the bases run around to home."

"Do you guys understand?" I look to everyone.

"For the most part, yes." Vivaldi says, and almost everyone nods their heads.

"Okay, we'll take it slow for the first inning to clear things up." Vivaldi and her team start to head to the batters' bench. "Wait! I forgot!" They freeze and turn around.

"What did you forget?" Vivaldi asks confused.

"Uniforms!" I say as I snap my fingers and everyone flashes as their clothes change to look like the gray striped uniforms I saw at the game. Vivaldi's team's uniform had red strips and a crown emblem, while my team had blue stripes and a bird emblem. Nightmare has a black striped uniform with an N on it for the emblem.

The uniforms were a light gray material with pinstripes through it. The top has three-quarter length sleeves, team-colored buttons along the front, team-colored collar, and team emblem in the team color on left side on the chest. The pants went right below the knees, and matched the shirt in material and color. Caps were the gray with the team-colored pinstripes and emblem, while the bill was the solid team color. The socks were solid and the team color, and everyone's shoes were black cleats with white laces.

"These are so cute! We can't believe we're wearing pants, though." Vivaldi says admiring the uniform.

"Thanks, I came up with the design idea. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Okay, let's play some ball!" I run out to the pitcher's mound and motion for my team to huddle up.

"Okay, Gray you're going to be the pitcher. I know you got good aim." I glare as I say that, and he looks away, a blush creeping up his cheeks. "So you better throw it straight down the middle to Dee, who is going to be the catcher. Dee, you'll find your catcher gear by Nightmare. Just catch the balls that don't get hit and throw them back to Gray." Dee nods and runs over to Nightmare to get on his pads. "Joker. You're first and third base, you can choose between who goes where. Elliot, you're second base." My basemen nod. "Julius, Gowland, and I will be the outfielders. Okay, here are the gloves." I snap and the box filled with baseball gloves appears in my hands. "Everyone take one, and put it on your dominant hand. You'll want to catch the ball with your gloved hand, because it'll hurt otherwise." I say as each boy takes one.

"Ready?" I ask, and they all nod, as Dee comes back in his catcher gear. "Alright." I place my hand in front of me, and wait for them to add their hands to the pile. "On three, we shout 'go Birds!'. 1...2...3, go Birds!"

"Go Birds!" The guys yell with me as we break, and go to our spots.

"Batter up!" I call as I see Vivaldi and her team disperse from their huddle.

Big surprise, not really, Ace is first to bat. Hopefully, he'll run in the right direction. I see Nightmare holding in his laughter. Are you always listening to me?! He stops, looks at me, and shrugs his shoulders. Please, pay attention to the game and noteveryone's thoughts.

Nightmare gives me a thumbs up. "Whenever you're ready, Gray!" I call. He looks over his shoulder at me and nods. I can see his pupils turn into slits. This should be interesting.

We were all shocked by how fast the ball shot into Dee's gloved hand. "Strike one!" Nightmare calls.

"Wow, Mr. Lizard, you're good." Ace says, his eyes narrow, as he looks from the ball to Gray. Dee throws it back to Gray. Ace takes a stance that reminded me of the actual baseball players; which means he's getting serious.

Gray throws the next ball, this time Ace hits it. The ball goes high, straight down the middle towards me, in the center outfield. Oh no! I go for the catch, but I underestimated my height and how high I can jump. So close!

I could here Ace laughing as he runs to first base. Oh, no you don't! I quickly grab the ball and toss it to Joker, but Ace was a little faster, passing first and heading to second. Joker tosses the ball to Elliot who catches it, but is off the base as Ace gets on it.

"Safe!" Nightmare calls.

"Hahaha! You gotta do better than that, Dodo!" Ace smiles at me. Oh! He is so frustrating!

I narrow my eyes at the Knight of Hearts. Let the games begin.

DODO

(8 innings later)

Scoreboard: Crowns- 15, Birds- 13. "It's the ninth inning, last half, bases are loaded. The Birds have two outs. Their last chance is none other than Julius Monrey..." Nightmare narrates as Julius comes up to bat. I glare at Nightmare, daring him to continue his spiel.

Boris was pitching, and Dum was catcher. Vivaldi had actually done well at picking their positions. We had Elliot, warden Joker, and Dee all on bases.

I sat on the bench next to Gray, with jester Joker on the other side of him. "We're doomed." Gray says as he hangs his head into his hands.

"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one." Jester Joker says with his arms crossed watching Julius.

"What is wrong with you guys and this quitter talk! I will have no such thing from my team! The games not over until there are three strikes. Julius hasn't even battered yet!" I stand angry with them. Don't they know this won't help Julius at all. "You can do this Julius! I believe in you!"

Julius looks at me and nods. He then gets ready to take a swing.

"Strike one!" Nightmare calls.

I glare at my team who all recoil a little. I sit back down, and start clapping and stomping a beat. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. I repeat, and look at the others, who take the hint and join. "You can, you can, do this!" I chant.

"Strike two!" Nightmare calls as Julius misses the ball a second time. We all stop.

"Julius!" He looks at me, and I can see he's worried about the pressure. "Remember what I told you, when you wanted to know why I wanted you on my team?! I believe that with my whole heart! You can do this!"

Something changed in Julius's eyes, it was a firm resolve that was missing earlier. He seemed more confident in his stance as he waited for Boris's pitch. Please, please...just this once. Let him do it! I know he can! I bit my lip and held my breath as I watched Boris release the ball.

It was as if time slowed down. I watched in amazement as Julius hit the ball, and it flew into the trees, making it a home run!

"YES!" I jumped from my seat, as did everyone else on the bench.

We watched as everyone ran over home plate. Our team circled Julius and me and lifted us up. I was on Gray's shoulder and Julius was held up by Gowland. "WE WON!" Everyone cheered.

I looked over at Julius. My smile hurt, it was so big. "I told you!" I hugged him with one arm. As I pulled away, I could see Julius' face was red.

"Look over here!" Nightmare called with a camera in his hands. We stayed in our position as he snapped the photo.

They put us down after that. Nightmare came over and brought the photo that popped out of the camera. "Here you go, Dodo. For your memory book."

I smiled. "Thanks Nightmare."

"Ahem!" We turned to see Vivaldi's team standing together looking at us.

"Good game! You almost had us beat... So, did you guys enjoy the game?" I ask.

Everyone looked at each other, completely serious. I was worried for a second they were going to say they hated it, but then they all smiled.

"Yes!" They said together. We had a group hug with me in the center.

"We should do this again!" Ace called.

"We agree!" Vivaldi says.

"Yeah!" Dee, Dum, and Boris yell in agreement.

Everyone else nods.

"But I think we should switch the teams up every time." Blood says calmly.

"Of course." Jester Joker agrees.

We all disperse soon after, with the promise to return in a few time periods for another game. Unfortunately for me, this was the last time I saw everyone together. Not that I would remember... I would have never in my lifetime, thought that what happened to me next would happen. No one did, or would have wanted it to. But that's what we get for thinking that the monster was gone for good.

So what do you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Please let me know!

I wanted to give you guys some inclination to what would be happening in the story there at the end. Sorry if it's all over the place! Hopefully, it wasn't too confusing.

So please review! Or if you don't want to leave a review, could you at least Favorite it so I know you liked it? That way I have some idea as to whether or not, you want to hear more about Daphne.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!

(If you happened to see The Mysterious Case of the Missing Dodo and that's why you're here, then you know I have chosen to continue! In case you didn't know, now you do know what to look for, for the continuation of Daphne's story. I originally intended to jumpstart the other story into Daphne being a teen, but I decided I wanted to give all the Role Holders a chance to show how {I think} they'd be as kids and how they interact with Daphne, {Also,because most of them only had a few lines in this story} so it starts right after Daphne gets home from the game. So please be patient, because each chapter focuses on set groups of Role Holders, but by the fourth or fifth chapter it will pick up and get more exciting/interesting because I do love my action and from that viewpoint I know it can be boring because of all the fluff and cute kid stuff.)