“What the hell is everybody looking at?” I bark.
“The end of humanity,” someone in the crowd says. Everyone else laughs.
A few minutes later they bring back a fuming Emerson.
“You can’t make me come with you.”
“You can come in peace or I can get Samson String, tie you up and put you over my shoulder like a load of laundry. It’s up to you,” I say.
“I hate you.”
“Get in line.”
“Maybe we should forget the game,” Reese says.
“No, we are going. I need to kick something right now.”
“Alright, Guardian rage!” someone shouts from the crowd. Everyone cheers and we all take off from the same spot. It’s important that we all take off at once so we can form a plane-type shape so that when humans look up, that’s what they would see.
I look over and Emerson is in Jay’s arms. She is still fuming, at least underneath. Most of her is terrified about being several thousand feet in the sky without so much as a seatbelt.
We land a short time later in an open field. Normally it would just be a few dozen angels, but this is the start of Triweekend and everyone is there, including the Paras.
We saw them miles before we landed. There is an air of respectability that comes along with being a Para. They are so white, they almost glow. They have no skin to speak of and are almost ghost-like. Their eyes are hard to look into without being dazzled. They are the closest thing to Omnis, so they have a calming way about them. They all seem to move as one. They are so much of the same mind, in fact, that most of the time they don’t even need to talk.
After landing, everyone goes to find their friends and figure out who is going to be on which team. Most of the angels are here to watch. The ones who come to play will be out on the field in a matter of minutes. Each side would choose a representative. It was almost always the home team, Ground Walkers, against the visiting team which, in this case, is us.
I run down to the field and gather my team. Had the Paras not been there I could not have left Emmy alone on the bleachers. But with the brilliant light of goodness coming from the Paras it would be very hard for Akons to attack, even if it weren’t Triweekend. Also, a Pawn could not stand anywhere near a Para and not be noticed. Paras have a very keen sense of goodness, or lack thereof.
As I look up, the twins head our way.
“I’m glad we all made it,” I say as we gather in a huddle.
“Not all of us,” Miku says.
“Jay reminded me how much you suck at blocking so…,” Rio says.
“I think we can take them.”
“Hell, yeah. Their game is weak. They have some good Locators but they don’t Trap very well. A Runner could dodge them easily,” Jay says.
“They’re gonna feed the Runner with Brawn Snaps,” Reese says.
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“Whoever feeds the Runners only feeds them Snaps that they are sure they can conquer if they have to. Every one on the home team is a muscle head.”
“Yeah, I’m getting overconfidence from everyone of them,” Rio confirms.
“So, they think they’re stronger,” I say.
“Well, stronger than the rest of us. There’s no way they can think they’re stronger than you, so what they’ll do is—”
“—Keep the strongest player on me,” I finish.
“Yeah, and aside from Daver, the strongest is Wilson. He looks like the Hulk on extra steroids. That’s who there’ll send for you,” Jay confirms.
“Alright, just play on their weakness. Jay, you take Daver. Miku, take Hudson. He has a problem underestimating girls,” I say.
“You got it.”
“Reese and Rio, you take the other two as a team. They’re new players. They don’t trust each other yet. We can use that.”
The announcer blows his whistle and we’re off and running. Right away Daver kicks the ball in hopes of finding the crack that will split it open. But the ball doesn’t crack. It gets catapulted across the field, and we go after it.
Miku shoots the ball over to Jay who head-butts it to Rio. Rio kicks the ball right into the goalie, but Daver intersects. The ball goes flying in the other direction. Rio and Jay collide in the air trying to stop the ball with their chests. They crash to the ground but were able to stop the ball.
Jay gets up and kicks the ball over to me. I dive for it and manage to throw it back to Miku. Daver intercepts and kicks it toward our goalie. Reese tries to block the ball but misses it by a split second. The ball goes in. Travelers have thirty three points and we have zero. The crowd cheers for the Travelers, but some are booing. I guess a few people are on our side after all.
Among a series of fancy foot work, Jay and Daver stand out. They block the ball from reaching the other’s goalie several times. There are a number of near misses. Hudson was watching Miku and he didn’t think she was a match for him. But where Miku is small she is also very agile. She moves like lightning and was able to slide between his legs and send the ball soaring.
I leap into action as soon as the ball is within reach. I run with it as Daver and two others tried to steal the ball. I quickly dodge them and kick the ball toward the goalie. Hudson stops it with his whole body. Dust rises up in the air like a thick fog as his body careens into the ground.
His teammates kick the ball in the opposite direction. Daver gets control. He kicks it behind him in a dazzling display of footwork. The ball is headed towards the goal with no one there to intercept it. Suddenly Jay appears and blocks it with his chest. The referee blows the whistle and holds up a yellow card, signaling we are in violation of the rules.
The only rule in Runner Ball is that no powers or wings are to be used until the Runner has been set free. The referee charged Jay with a violation because he thought Jay had gotten there in time to stop the ball by gliding. I knew Jay would argue so I went over to stop him. It did no good to argue with the referee.
“I told you man I didn’t glide,” Jay shouts.
“I know what I saw, Guardian,” the ref shouts back.
“If I did glide you wouldn’t have been able to see me, you idiot.”
“I saw you cheat.”
“I didn’t cheat.” He and the ref had been getting closer together the more they talked and were now toe-to-toe.
“You glide, that’s a penalty. You glide one more time and you’re out of the game.”
“Man, screw you.”
“Walk away Guardian,” he warns.
Rio and I come just in time. We tell him to be cool and let it go. He was angry but under control. The game resumed.
As soon as the whistle blows, Daver kicks the ball and the Runner is cracked free. The crowd was going crazy. Now the real action was starting.
It was just like we thought. The Runner had been given a Brawn Snap. He was beyond strong. Everyone that approached him he was able to throw across the field. I was eager to take him, but the other team guarded me closely so I couldn’t help out my team.
The Runner dashes across the field. Jay and Rio catch him but he throws them off of him and onto the ground. The whole field shook. The crowd is on its feet and shouting . The sound is deafening.
I looked up and see my teammates in the air trying to subdue the Runner. I make a run for it, but Daver is on my tail. I fake a left into the air then made a quick right. Before he can catch me, I am at Jay’s side. Daver and Hudson follow. They have the power to summon lightning and earthquakes.
We were under attack from heaven and earth. Jay glides behind Hudson to stop him from making the ground shake. Miku flies over to help. Rio had caught the Runner but was having difficulty staying on him because he was so strong.
Daver sends a bolt of lightning to injure the Runner so that even if we get him into the goalie, we would lose. But the bolt misses the Runner and goes straight to me. My body trembles and falls to the ground. The crowd gasps as I hit the floor. A time-out is called because I had not moved after the first three seconds of having been hit.
The ref comes over. He asks if I am able to go on. I look up and see Emmy standing next to him. How did she get on the field?
“I don’t give a damn about your rules. He could have been killed,” she shouts, highly pissed.
“You have to get off the field,” the ref says.
“Make me.”
I begin to move out of fear that she might start a fight with the poor ref.
“You see, he’s moving. He’s fine. Now go back up there and sit down,” the ref says.
“No, I’m staying on the sidelines and if the other team pulls something like that again, they’ll have to deal with me,” she declares.
“Who are you?”
“Never mind that. Just don’t mess with me.” And with that, she goes to the sidelines.
The crowd is buzzing. Who was the girl on the field? She didn’t act like a Ground Walker. Why didn’t she have any wings? Had they been stripped? Some of them recognized her from the Splash. It only took seconds for word to spread that a human was defending me. Great. This is just great.
I get up. Jay shakes his head. The whistle blows and we only have two more minutes left to stop the Runner. While we were in time-out the Runner was frozen by the ref, who has the power to suspend movement.
Everyone on my team knew they had to let me get another crack at the Runner. They surround the other players and keep them busy. I aim for the Runner. He made the mistake of looking up and I am able to catch his eyes. I reflect a quick flash and the fear he feels paralyzes him for a few seconds. That was enough time for me to jump down on him and attack.