Okay, for once, instead of just getting my details by watching gameplays on YouTube, I decided to actually play the game all over again. For some reason, when I watched a video (perhaps it was the really small screen, I dunno) but I got the idea that there was some kind of fight when you pick up Ace in "Rolling with my Homies." So, I went and incorporated that into the story. When I played it , I realised that they were actually the "Ridiculously Good Looking,' and I sort of went 'oh.' But I really liked what I had, so instead of changing it, I brought in the RGL in this chapter. So, hopefully this sorta makes up for that mistake.

Okay, Cheers!

~Ice.

Chapter 6

Marcei had rarely been more relieved. Shopping couldn't have been a worse ordeal, though, thankfully, it was over.

Izzy was sitting in the back amidst all of the shopping, pouting. If it had been her choice, they would have kept on going, and bought enough stuff to fill a Kaja'Cola factory. Meaning a lot.

Marcei sped up the hill to KTC at about 100 miles an hour, almost taking out one or two citizens who were stupid enough to wander on the road.

'Stupid shopping . . . stupid party . . . stupid pedestrians . . .'

'What?' Izzy bellowed over the wind.

'Nothing!' she yelled back.

Marcei swerved into a U turn, and slammed on the brakes outside of KTC. Izzy bounced out and scurried off without another word. Marcei leaned over her seat, and scooped up the shopping bags, before rolling out herself, and going into Headquarters. Sassy was inside, still poring over some papers.

'Sassy, you seen Chip?'

Sassy looked up, startled. 'Boss! Um, I think Chip's in the cafeteria. I think. Don't hold me to it.'

Marcei nodded, and poked her head through the cafeteria doorway. 'Chip?'

Chip was talking to Ace, yet they were evidently arguing. Chip had a scowl on his face, and was saying something. Ace was running his hands through his blonde hair, which he did when he was angry and had, if possible, an even bigger glare.

At the mention of his name, Chip looked up, and his expression changed to a grin in a nanosecond.

'Babe!'

And with that, he sashayed over, casually throwing a smirk at Ace as he did so. Ace looked as though he were steadily being filled with boiling water, and with one final scathing look, he stormed off.

Marcei frowned, and watched Ace leave. 'What's going on? What happened?'

'Nothing. Ace and me just had a little . . . disagreement, that's all.'

Marcei could tell he was lying, but didn't press the issue. She could ask Ace later.

'Okay. Anyway, I have the stuff. Nothing cheap – I spend a great lot of moolah on it all.'

Chip pulled the dress out of its bag and inspected it. 'Oh yeah, you're going to look hot! You're going to replace the Trade Prince any day now at the rate you're going! I can't wait to be a kept man!'

Marcei gave a smile, and folded her arms, listening to him ramble on.

'Anyway,' Chip said, 'let me have all that stuff and I'll help you get into it right before the party.'

Marcei all-too-happily passed over the bags and rubbed her sore shoulders, letting a moan of relief escape her lips. Chip laughed.

'I'll leave you to it then, babe,' he said. 'I still have some work to do; I'll see you later.'

She nodded and left.

Marcei went Ace-hunting. She wasn't too keen on the fact the he and Chip were arguing, and she really needed to know why. Badly.

'Ace!' She poked her head out of the front door, and looked around. Just as she stepped off the front porch, Megs shot out from nowhere, and skidded to a stop in front of her.

'Hey boss! You looking for mince-face?'

'Mince-face? Oh, yeah, right. Where is he?'

'Coach Crosscheck needed him. He's gone down to the Kajaro field 'cause apparently "the division title against the Steamwheedle Sharks is on the line and he's the only one who can bring it home for us".'

'Okay, just wait a moment. What sport are we talking 'bout here?'

'Footbomb.' Megs gave her a look that said duh. 'You know, the Bilgewater Buccaneers. Our team?'

'Oh, footbomb. Gotcha.'

Megs gave an exasperated sigh, with a look on her face that said, seriously? Marcei rolled her eyes in response, and stuck her head back inside Headquarters.

'Izzy!'

There was a yell from the other end of the building, and the sounds of a scuffle ensued. Marcei crossed her arms and waited, tapping her foot impatiently. After a few minutes, Izzy barrelled outside, and stopped in front of her.

'What is it, toots? Don't tell me you interrupted my necessary social time for no reason.'

Marcei huffed. 'Don't call me that. It's bad enough that Ace says it.'

Izzy sniggered. 'Whatever, hon.'

Marcei pursed her lips, and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out to the hot rod. 'Come on. We're going down to the Kajaro Field. Ace is down there.'

Izzy sniggered again, and Marcei rounded on her. 'What?!'

'You have no idea . . .'

'No idea about what – no seriously, what the hell are you talking about?' she snapped, as Izzy started laughing again.

'You just – oh wow.' Her laughing became so uncontrollable that Marcei had to thump her on the back.

'We are going,' she snarled, 'because your insanity is absolutely . . . insane.'

Izzy laughed again and with that, Marcei shoved her into the back of the hot rod, and got into the front.

Kajaro Field was roughly in the middle of Kezan, practically in the centre of a large roundabout. The actual playing field itself was made up of fake turf. The grandstands were filled with goblins, and the noise level was pretty high. Half of the Bilgewater Buccaneers were sitting on a bench, nursing various injuries. Their respective shredders were smashed and smoking.

Marcei got out of the hot rod, and ran over to the bench. Ace was there.

'Ace!'

He looked up with a tired expression. 'Hey, toots.'

Marcei felt herself go slightly greener, and glared at Izzy, who backed away with her hands raised defensively. 'Okay, I've got the point!'

Marcei groaned and looked back at Ace. 'What's going on?'

He winced. 'Ask Coach.'

Miraculously, Coach Crosscheck appeared right behind him as he said that. 'What are these people doing here – why! If it isn't the goblin herself! Marcei!'

Coach's red and white footbomb uniform was covered in grass stains, and some areas were charred and smouldering.

'I need a favour, my girl. There's no time to waste. We need to get one of these shredders back in working order. We need Ace to win the game and the title for us!'

Marcei looked over at the shredders. They were two legged, walking machines with a seat at the top, and two metal arms to throw the footbomb. The condition some of them were in was indescribable. She turned back to him and nodded.

'My guys are all on the injured roster. Our shredders are all kaput. The ref is about to call the game! It's down to the wire and I need you, Marcei.' He stressed those last few sentences, waving his arms around as he did so.

Coach walked over to the nearest shredder and lugged it over to the sidelines.

'Let's get one of these shredders in working condition. There are replacement parts all over Bilgewater Port. Any green-blooded Kezanian will gladly let you have them if there's a chance that the Buccaneers will win.' He fixed her with a steely look of determination. 'We'll show those no-good Steamwheedle Sharks how to play footbomb!'

With that, Marcei and Izzy hunted all over town, desperately looking for yellow crates of replacement parts. At first, most goblins weren't too keen on giving them to them, however, once the seriousness of the situation was explained, they happily let them take them.

Roughly five minutes after leaving (yeah, they were pretty quick) they were back at Kajaro Field, with several crates piled into the back of the hot rod.

When they came, Coach ran over and helped them unload.

'That's my girl,' he said. 'Now let's get one of these useless hunks of metal in working order and Ace into the game!'

They unpacked the necessary parts, and Marcei used them to repair the shredder so it would last long enough to win the game. Coach then looked around shiftily, and stuffed in some odd looking footbombs. He went over to Ace, and Marcei followed.

'We're down to our last shredder,' he said. Ace nodded to show he was listening. 'While no one was looking, I loaded it up with, shall we say, modified footbombs. Kid, I need you to get in that shredder and give 'em heck!'

Ace grinned and leapt up from the bench, before wrapping Marcei up in a tight hug, leaving her rather flustered.

'For luck,' he whispered in her ear.

She nodded, and pushed him away saying, 'This game ain't gonna win itself, bucko! Get out there!'

Ace laughed, and ran off, vaulting up into the shredder. Izzy then hustled Marcei up into the grandstands, hissing, 'Come on! We don't wanna miss it!'

With its replacements, Ace's shredder fired its extra-explosive footbombs at the Steamwheedle Sharks, and blew them up easily. The lot of them were disposed of in two minutes, with one minute until the end of the game.

'You did it, kid!' Coach shouted. 'Now all we need to do is score a goal and the title is ours!'

Ace nodded, and turned back to the goalposts, with a look of determination on his face.

'Wait!' Coach shouted. He ran up to the sidelines, and Marcei followed.

'It's all up to you, kid, he muttered. 'You demolished the Steamwheedle Sharks, so now all that's left to do is to kick the winning goal.

'Now, just between you and me, I think we should do this one right. I don't want you to just kick a goal... I want you to kick it so far it sails between the two smokestacks behind the goal! I've modified the footbomb to give you the extra power that you'll need. Make me proud!'

Ace gave a good natured laugh at the idea, and turned his shredder to face the goal and the smokestacks. The Bilgewater supporters began cheering loudly, and Ace fired the footbomb. It soared high, and flew between the smokestacks easily.

Suddenly, the sky turned dark and the ground began to shake. The huge shape of a leviathan was just slightly visible above Mount Kajaro.

'Deathwing,' Marcei breathed. She had heard tales about the aspect from more ancient days, and it seemed this was the only beast that could be fitted to his title. She felt a surge of hatred – the dragon had enslaved many goblins to do his bidding at that time, and so, so many were killed.

'Why's the ground shaking, Marcei?' Izzy whispered.

'The sun has set on this mortal world, fools!' Deathwing roared. 'Make peace with your end, for the hour of twilight falls!' He flew into the darkness behind the mountain, and disappeared.

There was uproar. There were screaming goblins everywhere, and the field was crowded with those desperate to escape. Ace leaped out of his shredder, and ran over to her.

'What was that thing, toots?' he shouted.

'Deathwing!' Marcei shouted back. 'What else would it be?'

Coach turned to Ace. 'You did it, kid. You really did it! We won the game and . . .'

He turned to Marcei, the terror so apparent on his face that it was almost comical. 'Did you see that dragon?!'

'Yes I saw that dragon!' she shrieked. The goblin was losing his bloody mind!

He continued to look panicked, so she thumped him upside the head. He shook himself violently, and had the grace to look embarrassed.

'Right, uh, so . . . I'd celebrate with you, Marcei, but it feels like that dragon did a number on ol' Mount Kajaro. I . . . uh . . . I think I'm gonna grab my stuff and get on the first ship leaving the island.

'Anyways, you lot should probably head back to headquarters and let Sassy know that you won the footbomb title for us. I'm sure she'll also want to know about the dragon and Mount Kajaro. Good luck!'

With that, he turned and hightailed out of sight. Marcei looked back at Ace and Izzy. 'We should go, guys. Sassy'll need to know, if she hasn't heard it already.'

They nodded, and got into the hot rod.

On the trip back to KTC, Marcei remembered something.

'Ace?'

In the wing mirror, she saw him look up. 'Yeah?'

'What were you and Chip doing earlier?'

Ace turned a funny shade of green, and shook his head. 'Don't worry about it. You won't believe me anyway.'

Marcei quirked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Suddenly, a sight to her left made her burst out laughing. The goblins who usually ran around spraying each other with cans of some sort of undefinable green substance, and called themselves the "Ridiculously Good-Looking," were, as usual, running around. However, this time they were screaming and throwing their cans away. One such can happened to hit a nearby pile of explosives and blow up the unfortunate goblin next to it.

Ace winced. 'Ah, there goes me mate Benny.'

Izzy turned to him with a raised eyebrow. 'Was he actually your mate?'

'Maybe.'

'Was he actually called Benny?'

'Well, I dunno. I'd say ask him, but he's not exactly there to ask anymore, is he?'

Izzy rolled her eyes. 'Were you with that lot this morning? Before "Incident Candy Cane?"'

Ace shrugged indifferently. 'What about it?'

Izzy burst out laughing. 'You? With the Ridiculously Good Looking?'

Ace started to object, but Marcei interrupted him. 'In case you've forgotten, you pair of trolls, we were nearly fried by a dragon. If anything, you should at least be worried.'

'Are you worried, toots?' Ace inquired with a sly grin.

'Yes I am, actually,' Marcei snapped back. 'Now would you shut up?'

Just as he started to answer, they pulled up to Headquarters, and Marcei got out of the hot rod and went inside, leaving him talking to empty space.

Sassy was sprawled over her desk, asleep. Her hand was on top of a large pile of papers and her hair was ruffled. Marcei shook her awake.

'Gah!' She sat up, her eyes wild and her "Executive Assistant" badge crooked. 'Boss! I, uh . . .' She looked down at her papers, and began shuffling them up hurriedly, looking rather embarrassed. 'I'm so sorry boss! I just –.'

'It doesn't matter, Sassy. Something important came up.'

A pint of blood drained from her face, and she sat back in her chair, rubbing one hand over her face. 'What is it?'

'Deathwing appeared just before. The ground won't stop shaking.'

Sassy stayed quiet, letting that sink it. Suddenly her head snapped up, and she looked panicked.

'You're kidding, right? Deathwing?'

She took a breath, and calmed herself down slightly. 'Okay, this'll work out just fine. We'll throw your party and by the time it's over I'm sure that the dragon will be long gone and the ground will stop shaking.' She stopped and thought for another moment. 'If not, we can always charter a ship off of the island.'