(Sadly) Unforgettable Night
Chapter 1
It was quarter past eight at night, Genesis Stadium hung in space, its insides varying from the ghostly green of manufactured lighting that illuminated quiet residential areas to billowing reds and yellows, streaming out of the various clubs, bars, and restaurants that also permeated the stadium, clustered together like a huge ant's colony.
Right slap bang in the middle of the residential areas and the clubbing areas, were the hotels. More to the point this was where The Snowkids hotel The Grand Genesis stood, proud, its 'not too overbearing' neon sign flashing, guests coming and going, the richest of the rich, the poshest of the posh, and, in the Snowkids' case, the loudest of the loud.
"Come on Rocket! Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on!"
The hallway that currently belonged to the champions was dark, all their rooms abandoned, but the lounge was lit up like Christmas. All the lights were on, and the TV blared loud pop music- images flashing across the screen as if they were racing to get by before the viewer could make them out. The happy singing and bright lights were in stark contrast to the torture session that was going on in the lounge.
Well.
It was a torture session in Rocket's humble opinion.
The twenty year old put up a hand, once again pushing the shot glass Micro-Ice was shoving towards him away.
"I'm not feeling it Micro-Ice, I'm sorry!" He repeated for the seventh time, this seventh iteration coming out a lot more hysterical in comparison to the first time he'd uttered these words.
"But why!?" Micro-Ice demanded, his cheeks almost appearing burnt red due to the amount of alcohol he'd already consumed.
The Snowkids were going out. It had been decided. All of them.
It had been too long, D'Jok had reasoned, since the whole group of them had gone out together, there had always been someone missing, someone too tired, or someone having a fall out, but this time, none of that was occurring.
It had been six months since the Snowkids had won their second GF cup, and they hadn't managed to go out together for a night out since then, and that night had been a wash anyway, since Micro-Ice had got so drunk he'd tried to pick a fight with five Rykers and had had to be escorted out of the club.
Actually…
Thinking this, D'Jok got to his feet and swiftly nicked the shot glass out of Micro-Ice's hands, both saving Rocket and his best friend in one swoop.
"Hey!" Protested Micro-Ice, making a grab for the glass and falling flat on his face instead.
D'Jok rolled his eyes as his team mates laughed and then downed the shot, flinching at the horrible taste. If there was one thing he had to give to his best friend, it was the fact he could drink for Akillian, quite a feat considering how small his fellow striker was.
"Micro-Ice," The red head scolded now. "If you don't slow down, we'll never get out of the hotel!"
"Or at the very least, you won't." Yuki intoned, walking into the room dressed in a stunning skin tight gold dress.
Micro-Ice swallowed whatever retort he was about to shoot back at D'Jok and instead gaped at Yuki in unabashed admiration, apparently sobering up immediately.
"Y…Yuki you look…wow. I mean, you look…"
"How much has he had to drink?" Yuki asked, laughing as she came to sit down next to her cousins, who had been watching Micro-Ice's antics with smiles on their faces.
"Hey, you know Micro-Ice." Ahito shrugged.
"I think he articulates better when he's drunk actually," Thran chuckled. "He's sobered right up now." He pointed at the striker who had sat down on the opposite sofa to them, bringing a pillow up to cover the bottom half of his face, his eyes just peeking out, big, blue, and embarrassed.
D'Jok slapped him round the back of the head. "Cool it," he instructed. "Mei and Tia aren't even ready yet."
"I'm cooling it, I'm cooling it!" Micro-Ice protested, but then he stuck out a finger at Rocket. "It's Rocket's fault anyway, if he wasn't being such a big baby, then I wouldn't have to try and encourage him to follow my lead!"
"Hey!" Rocket shot back. "Look, I don't like drinking that much. You guys know that."
Mark leant forward, looking interested. "I didn't know that. Care to share why?"
Rocket didn't reply, instead choosing to slide his eyes to the side, his mouth pulled into a grimace.
The others in the team, excluding Yuki, all shared grins.
Yuki and Mark looked between them, puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Hey, c'mon!" Yuki stood up, a drink now magically in her hand. "We're Snowkids too, you've got to let us in on the joke!"
Micro-Ice's grin stretched wider as he moved the pillow away from him. "You'll find out tonight."
"No, they won't." Rocket shook his head vehemently.
"Oh come on Rocket, Tia loves it when you get like that." Micro-Ice emphasised the last word, very deliberately not mentioning what 'that' was.
"Yeah, well, Tia likes doing lots of things I don't particularly like." Rocket returned, moving his finger around the rim of his glass.
The other Snowkids remained silent, sharing looks, all interpreting what Rocket had just said in a completely different way than he had meant it.
Rocket looked up at the silence and spotted D'Jok's raised eyebrows.
"Not like tha-! Give me a drink."
Micro-Ice whooped and ran over to the table under the TV to grab his fellow team mate some vodka and Wambasian Cola.
"So, what about this?"
Tia sighed as Mei came out from behind their changing screen looking ridiculously beautiful again. The brunette was clad in a tight black halter top paired with tight leather look leggings. These paired with the ridiculous high high heels Mei had on, just confirmed to Tia that she was going to be feeling very self conscious next to her friend all night again.
It wasn't that Tia cared that much about what she looked like, not really, and she was happy for Mei being so comfortable in her own body, it was just that, only once had she ever upstaged Mei, and that had been years ago.
Tia very much enjoyed feeling comfortable, but sometimes it did get tiring when even Rocket threw a few cursory glances over at her best friend. Not that it meant anything, he was only human and Mei tended to look like a goddess, and Tia knew Rocket thought she, Tia, was the most beautiful girl in the world, but still, it'd be nice to be glamorous maybe one more time before she died.
"You look beautiful Mei, you always do." The blonde replied now, lying on her bed, her gaze fixated on the ceiling.
Mei flipped her hair and giggled. "Thanks," she returned, but then she stilled, noticing Tia's stiff form. "Hey, are you ok Tia?" She moved over, expertly handling her stupid shoes.
Tia shrugged. "I don't know," she muttered. "I don't know if I want to go out."
Mei blanched at this, recalling D'Jok's rant a few weeks back that only she had been privy to, in which he had declared the team had to all go out or else.
"Why!?" She questioned, her voice high. "Come on Tia, it'll be fun!"
Tia turned onto her side. "I don't know." She muttered.
"Hey," Mei shoved the girl slightly. "When was the last time you and Rocket went out and had fun?"
Tia didn't look at her friend. "Rocket and I have plenty of fun."
Unbeknownst, Mei flinched at these words, recalling how thin the walls were in this hotel, never mind how posh it was.
"Yeah, I uh…" Mei caught herself and coughed. "I know!" She twittered. "But it'll still be fun for us all to go out together! Come on Tia, don't let the team down. And you know Rocket won't go out if you don't!"
Tia sighed, turning and throwing her arm over her eyes. "But I don't know what I'll wear." She huffed.
Mei barked out a laugh of disbelief at these words. "That's what you're worried about!?" She demanded. "Tia, have you met me?" The defender grabbed Tia roughly by the hands and yanked her up. "Let's beautify you the hell up!"
Tia felt both flurries of excitement and fear course through her body as she realised she was about to enter a makeover montage akin to one of the many in romcoms Mei had forced her to watch in the past.
At 9 o'clock Mei decided Tia was ready, and the pair made their way to the lounge, Tia feeling both excited and terrified at the idea of everyone in the room staring at her. Mei had found the perfect outfit for her, and though Tia didn't usually care for feeling pretty, she had to admit…she felt pretty. Which was nice. She was dressed in a deep cut ruby red dress, with wedges instead of heels, so her feet weren't going to drop off by the end of the night, which was always a nice touch.
The changing montage had been a bit of a tough battle, interspersed with comments from Tia such as, 'Mei, I'm 20, not 12.' and 'Is that a tutu!?' but now the blonde felt ready.
The music in the lounge pumped out loudly, and the best friends shared a look, well aware that they were very lucky Aarch, Clamp, and Dame Simbai were out, and also aware they'd be getting a call from the hotel receptionist soon…or rather they'd be getting most likely the fifteenth call, as Micro-Ice had developed a habit of simply hiding the guest phone if it ever started ringing, due to the fact it usually only started ringing when someone in the team had done something wrong, and the person on the team who had usually done something wrong was Micro-Ice, so it made sense.
Mei rolled her eyes at Tia, and then the pair entered the room, the reaction to Tia was instantaneous. Micro-Ice dropped the bowl of peanuts he'd been shoving into his mouth, D'Jok stopped in his conversation with Mark and punched him hard on the arm, Thran and Ahito simply gaped, Yuki jumped up and clapped, and Rocket stared, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.
There was a pause as the loud music boomed through the room loudly and then Tia grinned.
"I'm ready to start drinking!" She declared, flicking her smile Rocket's way.
Micro-Ice let out a quiet meep before beginning to choke on a peanut. Mei rushed over to him and smacked him on the back as Rocket got up to guide his girlfriend over to the confectionary table (I.e. the table D'Jok had dumped a load of bags of peanuts and alcoholic bottles all over).
After a few minutes of casually dying, Micro-Ice, with aid of Mei, managed to eject the peanut from his throat, tears in his eyes and his face red. Mei patted him on the back soothingly.
Micro-Ice raised a finger to point at his eyes. "These aren't from the choking," then he pointed at Tia. "Why do you have to do stuff like that Mei? Now there's just another beautiful girl on the team that I can't use my charm on."
D'Jok laughed as he came over, flicking his best friend in the ear. "What charm Micro-Ice?"
"Hey!" Micro-Ice stood up straight, wiping his eyes. "D'Jok, you know I'm a lothario-"
"I know you leave girls in your bed for me to find when I get back in the morning, and I know they always ask where you are." D'Jok interrupted, smirking and raising his eyebrows.
"Micro-Ice!" Mei admonished.
"Hey! It's the price of fame!" Micro-Ice shrugged.
"Being a colossal dick is the price of fame?" Mei checked, placing her hands on her hips, and glaring down at her friend.
Micro-Ice was quiet for a few moments, having the good sense to look like he felt bad before he answered. "…yes. Just look at D'Jok." Then he danced out of any attacks D'Jok could throw his way.
At 11 o'clock The Snowkids were a lot worse for wear. If you could even call the bunch of motley, loud, just past teenagers currently parading down the street The Snowkids.
After drinking all of the alcohol they could get their hands on, the more sober ones of the team, namely Thran…and Mark (but the latter had been throwing a few punches around nearer the end of their time in the hotel, so that was debatable) had decided it was time to get out and get to a club before Micro-Ice performed his burlesque dance number to a fifth song (as Yuki had rightfully pointed out, the first time had been funny, the second time had been oddly stimulating, and the third time had been funny again, but the fourth time had been a bit too much, and could easily have been considered dangerous what with Micro-Ice's increasingly flailing movements).
So now the team were in the artificial smelling streets of Genesis, making their way to the nearest club The Mangekyou, known for being a haunt of Galactik Football stars.
It was about ten minutes away, so Thran had been pretty confident they'd get there all in one piece, that was until Tia stopped short and pointed forwards.
"Hey, isn't that the Rykers?"
The rest of the team stopped too, and, in that bleary drunk way only drunk people can achieve, they peered forwards, squinting their eyes to make sense of what they were seeing, because what they were seeing was large metal alien women in tight fitting black dresses and high high heels, meaning they looked even taller than usual.
"Is this a dream?" Ahito questioned.
"More like a nightmare," Mark joked, then he stepped forward. "Oi, Rykers!"
The Ryker team turned to look at them and Kernor stepped out, clearly the leader even when not on the field. She scanned The Snowkids, her fist clenching a little when she spotted D'Jok, and then she placed her hands on her hips.
"You Snowballs out on the town? Aren't ya a little young?"
Then she and the other Rykers began cackling.
"Uhoh," Micro-Ice shuddered from the middle of the group. "This is gonna end in a dance off."
Tia, who was next to the boy, gave him a taken aback look. "How do you figure?" She questioned.
"These things always end in dance offs Tia." Micro-Ice murmured back, his voice knowledgeable.
Tia, in her drunken state, contemplated this for a moment, judged it to be a reasonable reply and then she leant in closer. "So…what do we do?"
As Mark began a retort to the Rykers, unheard by Tia and Micro-Ice due to their conferring, Micro-Ice replied.
"Well…" He paused for a moment, considering. "I didn't stretch. Did you?"
"No," Tia replied, looking stricken. "Should I have?"
"We weren't to know Tia," Micro-Ice patted the girl on the arm comfortingly. "But, since neither of us stretched, I think we're going to have to sneak off."
"Now?" Tia hissed, she nodded at her hand, which was still firmly entwined with Rocket's. "But the others will notice."
"We'll just do it quickly and quietly," Micro-Ice returned, then he crab walked his way over to be between Rocket and Tia. "Ok," he stuck out his tongue and began wrestling with their hands.
Rocket looked down. "Micro-Ice, what are you doing?" He questioned.
Instead of replying, Micro-Ice karate chopped his former captain's hand, as the midfielder recoiled in pain, pulling his hand away, Micro-Ice shoved at Tia.
"Run, run, run, run!" He yelled, and then he and Tia took off, sprinting away down an alleyway, leaving both the Rykers, and the Snowkids, staring after them, confused.
There was a short silence and then Rocket raised his hands up. "I did nothing." He clarified.
"Someone care to share why Micro-Ice just sprinted off with Tia?" Thran asked, turning back.
D'Jok pulled a face. "Micro-Ice has a tendency to hit on and get rejected by most of the Ryker team when he's drunk," he shrugged. "Saving himself embarrassment?"
"Rejected by most of the Ryker team?" Yuki questioned, placing her hands on her hips.
Mei smirked. "Oh Jaknok!" She waved at the blue haired Ryker a few metres away.
'Jaknok' immediately stiffened, all of the metal skin she had on show going a deep ruby red, a Ryker's version of a blush.
Kernor watched all of this and then growled, looking over at Mei with her brow crumpled. "You want something Snowball? Cuz I'd be happy to give ya something." She punched her fist into her palm and went to move forwards, only to be held back by one of her team mates, who seemed to whisper something to her.
Kernor listened, then relented, surprising most of the Snowkids. Usually Kernor smashed whatever she wanted to smash, however she wanted to smash it, and words didn't tend to stop her. What could possibly have been said?
The goal keeper closed her eyes for a few moments and then breathed out heavily through the area her nose would be were she human.
"We all say things we don't mean," she said, smiling straight at The Snowkids, much to all of their fear. "Why don't we all go have a drink together? Increase team unity in the cup?" Her eyes flickered to D'Jok again and then she painted on an incredibly false smile.
The Snowkids stared back at the Rykers for a few moments and then glanced at each other.
"Hey, free drinks." Mark said loudly, loud enough for the Rykers to hear.
"We're not buying you drinks." One of the team yelled over.
"Still…free drinks." Rocket said quietly, in a conspiring tone.
The other Snowkids nodded at this, apparently ignoring the Ryker's former admonishment of this.
"You really think this'll work?" Kernor murmured as she and the rest of her team watched The Snowkids confer.
"Yeah boss, how could it not?" The number 8 Ryker, Kandis, whispered back. "This has been goin' on too long, and we all hate seeing you this way. We'll distract her in the club, while you talk to him."
Kernor rubbed her arm, looking distinctly un-Kernorish. "I'm nervous." She returned.
"We know," Kandis returned. "But we're on ya side Kernor. And we'll crush anyone if they say anything ya don't like. Ok?"
Kernor nodded back, smiling. "Ok."
"So,"
The Rykers turned back as D'Jok spoke out, his hands on his hips. "We're going to The Mangekyou, if you guys want to come with?" He pursed his lips. "Though I am kind of annoyed about Micro-Ice and Tia. Ten minutes. It took ten minutes for our team to split up on a night out. Why can't we be like the Cyclopses? I always see them going out, and they always look like they're having the best-"
"D'Jok, shh." Mei whispered, pulling her boyfriend along after the rest of their team, and the Rykers, who had all started wandering towards the club strip after D'Jok's first sentence had finished.
It was a very odd situation, Thran, the only sober one of The Snowkids team, had to admit, wandering through the streets of Genesis stadium with The Rykers while his team mates started singing a love ballad behind him.
Thran edged closer to team of female giant aliens, at the very least, they were less likely to embarrass him than Mark.
The line for the club was long.
Micro-Ice and Tia were halfway through it, but it was still long. Micro-Ice, who had drank far too much to let something as insignificant as a line bother him, was dancing to the faint music coming from inside, but Tia was getting bored, and antsy, she hoped Rocket hadn't gotten too drunk yet, she loved being there once he got too drunk, it was very entertaining, plus she got to video it and embarrass him the next day, which was always fun.
"Why is this club so busy tonight?" The girl asked after a few moments, crossing her arms in front of her chest and tipping her chin towards Micro-Ice.
Micro-Ice, eyes closed, continued boogying as he answered. "Just relax Tia. Enjoy the music!" He swung around in a perfect pirouette and before wheeling his arms back, almost looking as if he were going to take flight.
Tia raised her eyes to the sky. The alcohol was wearing off now and she was asking God why she had followed Micro-Ice's lead of everyone.
"I heard it is somebody important's birthday."
Tia turned to see Luur was standing behind her, wearing a tuxedo version of his usual football gear. He smiled his usual toothy grin at the midfielder.
"Luur!?" Tia couldn't help but step back in surprise, Luur was intimidating at the best of times, but especially when in close contact, and especially if the last known interaction you'd had with him was him barrelling at flux speed into your stomach. Also, the tuxedo onesie was making Tia uncomfortable, she couldn't help it, it was so tight.
Micro-Ice spun around, eyes still closed, still dancing. "Nah, Luur wouldn't come here. I heard he was a right stiff, hates partying, tells his team mates off for going out and everything."
Tia blanched at this, gritting her teeth, her eyes slid to the side.
"Yeah, where'd you hear that?" Luur asked.
How on Akillian Micro-Ice hadn't worked out it was Luur he was talking to was beyond Tia -no one else in the galaxy sounded like a bass guitar brought to life afterall- but The Snowkids striker still responded as if he weren't talking to the lethal Xenon.
"Donald, their goalkeeper told me. Said Luur was a right square."
Tia pulled down her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes even wider as she watched 'Donald' the goalkeeper let out a silent yelp of horror before turning to look at this captain.
Luur turned to look at Donald.
There were a few seconds of silence and then Donald raised up his hands.
"Luur I was joking. Micro-Ice is crazy. He's a crazy person. I was trying to make him leave me alone. I swear Luur-" Donald's next pleas were silenced when Luur punched him so hard he went flying out of the line.
"You're uninvited to the hangover brunch tomorrow!" The striker yelled at him, sounding genuinely hurt. Then he turned to look at Micro-Ice who was still dancing, though he now seemingly had a partner, a small cyclops woman who was grinding against him.
Tia smacked her hand against her forehead.
"I'm a square am I Micro-Ice?"
After being directly addressed by a voice that only a huge monster lizard man could have, Micro-Ice finally opened his eyes. One after the other, fearfully.
"Uh…" He pulled a face and pushed the grinding cyclops lady away from him gently. "Donald…Donald…"
"Donald's gone," Luur spat, speaking through the little Snowkid. He moved forward, edging past Tia and grabbed Micro-Ice's collar. "If I'm such a square then answer me this, why am I challenging you to a dance off?"
"Huh?"
"Wah?"
"Uh?"
These utterances came from Tia, Micro-Ice, and the rest of the Xenon team respectively.
Micro-Ice, who had been flinching in preparation for being punched, opened his eyes and gaped at the All Star striker.
"Challenging me to a who?"
"A dance off," Luur clarified. "You. Me. Dance Off." He dropped the boy's collar. "Unless you're too scared?"
Micro-Ice's confidence immediately returned and he barked out a laugh. "You kidding me? I've got all the moves!" He exclaimed. "But what are the stakes?"
The whole line shuffled forwards slightly, and Luur grinned darkly at the boy as they moved together.
"How about if you win, I don't smash your face in?"
Micro-Ice pouted a little in consideration. "That's pretty good, I guess," he murmured. "But there's not much in it for me, cuz I'm definitely going to win. So, how about, if I win, I get to walk away with my beautiful face unsmashed, but I also get that snazzy outfit you're wearing?"
"Micro-Ice, what on Akillian-?" Tia went to protest.
"And Tia gets one too." Micro-Ice cut her off, glancing at her and smiling and winking, clearly thinking this was what the girl wanted.
Tia gave the boy a long look and then looked over at the club as Luur began thinking this proposition over.
She was going to need a lot more alcohol…
AN: I'm BACK! In general to fanfiction, but also specifically to Galactik Football! My love never ever died for this show or the characters, but after rewatching it again recently, I just felt like I had to write for them again. My showings in this part of the site haven't been masterpieces writing wise, but my writing has definitely improved (I like to think anyway), so why not come back to GF again, where it all started, and put some more contributions in?
It feels so refreshing to be back again.