STORYLINE: One day ago, at Baseball Practice
The bat cracked like a whip.
Another ball soared past the outfield net, denting the fence behind it. The batter didn’t even flinch. His body moved with frightening precision, hips snapping, arms fluid, as if something else was swinging through him.
“Who is that?” someone muttered near the dugout.
That’s when the high-pitched whirring started.
A sleek drone, pearlescent blue and humming with quiet excitement, zipped into view and hovered ten feet above the field. On its glossy chassis, the glowing insignia of The HEXA Herald, the university’s omni-channel newsstream, blinked awake.
RECORDING IN PROGRESS: BASEBALL PRACTICE, DAY 4
SUBJECT OF INTEREST: UNREGISTERED PLAYER? UNKNOWN TALENT?
“Zoom and enhance,” chirped a girl’s voice through the drone's speaker. “Is that... our team?”
The bot adjusted its lens, capturing the impressive player’s stance and the datapoints pulsing from his bat’s smart-core. An on-field player laughed: “Yo, Lathandro! Leave some fence for the rest of us!”
The drone froze mid-hover.
“Did he say Lathandro?” the voice asked, amused. “That can’t be right… Wait. Did the coach say it too? Rewind five minutes.”
The bot rewound.
"ROOKIE ROLL CALL!" Coach’s gravelly voice bellowed. “Lee? Minwoo? Kang? Sohyeon? Lathandro?”
Jihoon’s voice, calm and automatic: “Here.”
A pause. Then a gasp. “Oh my cyber-soul. That’s not even a real name on file, is it? M10, scrape the registry.”
Another pause. Then:
LATHANDRO
TRANSFER: LISTED TWO WEEKS AGO
MAJOR: UNDECLARED
FILE ORIGIN: RESTRICTED ADMIN LEVEL
“Ohhh, this is a story,” the reporter whispered, her voice brimming with glee.
The drone zipped away, collecting interviews. Girls giggling behind their visors:
“He’s, like, part machine or something.”
“I swear his bat glows.”
“Did you see his gloves? They look like something out of a noir assassin sim!”
Coach gave a grunt when asked about the mysterious rookie ringer.
"Lathandro? No, no. That’s Yoon Jihoon. He calls his bat ‘Lathandro’, like it’s some kinda good luck charm. Hell of a swing on that kid. Hey, I don’t ask questions. I’m only interested in results.”
“Ahhhh, I see. So Lathandro is the bat,” the reporter said, barely hiding a smirk.
The moment he hit the ball, she knew he was marketable.
She already had her headline.
Later, that night — livestream from Jae Won Stadium
The HEXA Herald’s stream overlay sparkled to life.
A stunning crimson glass cyborg girl with antennae, slick letterman jacket, and oversized holographic-enabled sneakers sat on the bleachers, holding a mic with gleaming teeth.
“Hey there, Dragonlets! It’s your girl, Reporter Lisa Liemawr, with Bot M10,” she winked. “Coming to you live from Jae Won Stadium, where I just discovered an incredible talent!"
M10 projected a montage of amazing footage of Jihoon.
"...Mysterious, gorgeous, and slightly terrifying. It's... Lathandro!”
The floating bot squeaked happily beside her.
“And guess what?” Lisa grinned, raising one foot toward the camera. “There’s already merch! Check out these totally outrageous AHEGAO Lathandro slippers!”
She kicked her feet back and forth—the slippers, black and white with exaggerated cartoonish Jihoon faces, complete with drooling tongues and googly eyes, jiggled like a toy.
“He hates them. Like, absolutely hates them. Which is why I ordered ten more pairs!”
She leaned in, stage-whispering, “Naturally, they’re selling like hotcakes. Grab yours before the Friday opener and wear them loud, proud, and slightly cursed. Just 3,600 credits. Buy it now!”
Bot M10 flashed the QR code in midair with a happy ding.
“Lathandro’s legend is just getting started,” Lisa purred. “And The HEXA Herald has the exclusive!”
Laughs. This was so crazy fun to do. Thanks to my fellow Blogger Bats, Aarya and Akira, for brainstorming and encouraging this wacky post. ... The REKT Glass Automata is very cool. It come with cyborg skeleton and exoskeleton of glass. With the detailed image of the texture hud you can change the colors of the various parts. It's mod, so I rezzed the Exo Arms to hide the arms so they wouldn't clip the jacket. ...Speaking of, the Pallas jacket and pants is by Kira. It has a wealth of color options. I went with a letter jacket type look instead of a cyberpunk style. ...The Ursidxe Hair, Digital V2, worked perfectly with the Paw Paw headphones, BTRFLK-X01. The hair has many textures and streak options. The headphones come with butterfly wings, but you can hide them like I did. It also has a lot of texture options. ...The Antenna-like horns, Tech Horn by {ID}, and the bridge augment add even more Reporter on the Scene type of vibe. They include texture options. ...The eyes are Pixelated. Arcade Eyes, by IKON. They look smooth from the distance, but get up close and you get that 8 Bit artificial feeling. ...The Face Implants are a tattooo layer by Physique X. They include a few options for different internal views and color wires. ...The sunny college girl skin is Kyka by GLOOM. It's very nice, and I love the many color options. I used the Dracula, and then tinted the face to match the glass body as closely as I could. Then I made the skin Fulbright with a slight glow to match the head and body. Pretty cool trick! ... M10 is the InkMe Space Robot 10. You Rez on the ground and click him to start his wander. The face blinks and glows. ...But you guys want to talk about the funny shoes right? Diaboli Design's Mindbreak Slippers are another wild and eye-catching pair of shoes. This time with an anime face on it, making uh... funny faces. lol Lots of color and animation options, rigged. and unrigged.
On her, Reporter Lisa Liemawr:
Hair: URSIDXE Digital V2 [mesh](CyberFair)( L)
Headphones: PawPaw BTRFLK-X01 Set [mesh](CyberFair)( L)
Outfit: Kiru Pallas Jacket (Fatpack) Legacy [mesh](CyberFair)( L)
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