A/N: To be honest, I hoped I would've been able to publish this Chapter much earlier. What can I say? Well, at least it's longer than the other Chapters and I really hope you're going to like it. I'm on my winter break at uni now and I'll try to write at least one Chapter. I still have many ideas for this story and if only I had more free time... Don't forget to let me know what do you think via review or PM, I appreciate every piece of feedback. :)

Nilly Ardonis - Of course I remember you sweetie! We had such a good conversation :) I'm doing fine but I'm super busy with majoring at two subjects at once at uni. Thank you so much for such a nice review, I also try my best to keep up-to-date with your story even if I still haven't learnt Spanish ;) Hope you're doing well and please write to me sometimes :)

Chapter Twelve

As soon as Corso left Mei's bedroom, his holo-phone rang. He picked it up and saw Sonny's face on the screen. The chief of the Pirates looked concerned.

'Sonny? What's going on?' Corso asked.

'I'm with Clamp in the Sphere, the game is over. I want you to come here, we'll show you something,' Blackbones said.

Corso frowned. The Pirates had been working on a Sphere for a few days, trying to figure out what was happening over there. To be honest, Corso didn't understand why Sonny was so obsessed with that place – for him it was only a place where some illegal football matches were played but well, he couldn't disagree with his chief, after all.

'I've just left the Snow Kids' hotel, I'll be there in half an hour,' he said. Sonny only nodded and ended the call. Corso sighed and started making his way towards Sector Seventeen.

As he promised, thirty minutes later he was already in the Sphere. He noticed Sonny and Clamp next to the console by the entrance. Clamp was typing incredibly fast on a keyboard and Sonny was standing next to him, observing his work. Seeing his right-hand man, he called him and Corso walked up to them.

'Good to see you Corso,' Sonny said. 'Have you talked with Mei?'

Corso nodded. 'Yeah. She said yes.'

'Good,' the chief of the Pirates muttered. His right-hand man noticed he was clearly relieved. 'We want to show you something,' he added after a moment.

'What is it?'

'We came here after the game was over. Clamp has connected with the Sphere and this is what he has discovered.' He pointed at the screen where various curves and graphs were displayed.

'Flux is collected from players when they play,' Clamp explained, seeing Corso's confused face. 'We suppose it's Bleylock.'

'That sounds very Bleylock-ish,' Corso admitted. 'So what are we going to do?'

Sonny didn't answer for a long while, rubbing his chin in thoughtfulness. 'There has to be some kind of a lab where they control the whole process,' he said finally. 'And it's surely somewhere close. We have to get there and pay Bleylock a visit.'

'We'd better hurry up,' Clamp said. 'I don't know how exactly it affects the players but I'm sure there are some consequences on their health. I'm going to consult it with Dame Simbai, she should know better.'

'Fine.' Sonny nodded. 'Corso, find Artie and Bennett and let them know we have a fight on the way. Gather people and be ready. How long will it take, what do you think?'

The second in command Pirate thought for a moment. 'Three days, maybe four,' he said finally.

'Fine.' Sonny nodded again. He looked around, making sure that there's nobody who could eavesdrop them. 'Let's get out of here,' he ordered.

When Mei heard the team coming back from the Netherball game, she got all tense. Remembering what Corso had said, she left her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked miserable, her eyes were still red and swollen and her hair was messy, so she decided to put some cold water on her face before she came out to see the team and especially D'Jok. While she was in the bathroom, her hands were shaking; she was very nervous before seeing her boyfriend and also curious whether they had managed to bring Rocket back to the team.

She left the bathroom and noticed that Tia still didn't come back so did it mean that Warren had managed to win against Rocket and he'd come back? Have the whole team gone to celebrate to the common room? She took a deep breath and left the bedroom. She really hoped Rocket had come back and the whole drama was finally over. She just wanted to train calmly and prepare for the matches with her team being stable and most of all, complete.

But when she entered the common room, she immediately understood that Warren had lost against Rocket. The first obvious sign was that Rocket wasn't there, and the entire team was sitting in silence, they were clearly gloomy. Tia was the one who looked the worst but – what surprised Mei – she wasn't crying, only staring blankly at the wall. Her face was pale and hair was messy and Mei immediately felt sorry for her best friend.

The Snow Kids were so deep in thoughts that they didn't even notice Mei coming in. 'What happened?' she asked and they finally realised she was there. Tia, seeing her, stood up, ran up to her and clung to her best friend desperately. Mei hugged her and stroke her hair comfortingly. The rest of the team, though, only gave her a sad, grim looks. D'Jok wasn't there what made Mei intrigued.

'Warren's been beaten by Rocket,' Thran explained. 'He's not coming back.'

Tia sobbed violently, her small body was trembling. Mei hushed her. 'So what are we going to do?' she asked the team.

'D'Jok is going to challenge Rocket tomorrow,' Micro Ice said drearily.

Mei's eyes went wide open, she almost heard an alarming siren howling in her mind and saw red light flashing everywhere. Keep D'Jok away from any trouble, she reminded Corso's words; she was sure that playing Netherball definitely was getting into trouble.

'What?!' she stepped aside from Tia violently. Surprised girl looked at her, confused. 'Is he really going to do this?'

'Warren said he's the last person who can bring Rocket back,' Mark said. 'I think D'Jok treats it seriously.'

'I must talk to him,' Mei decided. 'Where is he?'

'In our bedroom, I guess,' Micro Ice said and Mei turned on her heel and left the common room. 'Weren't they in conflict?' the short brunet asked the rest of the team but they only shrugged – D'Jok and Mei argued and made up so quickly that they were never sure whether they talk to each other or not, and to be honest, they had stopped to care some time ago. Hopeless Tia sat down on the sofa and hid her face in hands. Yuki, feeling a bit awkward, walked up to her and patted her back comfortingly.

Meanwhile Mei raced towards her boyfriend's bedroom feeling both worried and angry at the same time. She had promised Corso to keep D'Jok away from the trouble and she was going to keep the word no matter what. She couldn't believe that D'Jok wanted to play Netherball after all the games he'd seen. Did he even realise how dangerous it was? Mei had never seen any Netherball match but she had heard enough about it to qualify it as 'trouble'. Besides, D'Jok still wasn't hundred percent fine after he'd got wound while rescuing Tia's parents and he couldn't get hurt again! Mei was sure that Dame Simbai wouldn't have let him play then and that would've been a catastrophe, Mei knew that. The Snow Kids were already weakened without Rocket, they couldn't lose D'Jok too. They'd managed to win with the Rykers without them but the Lightnings were definitely harder to beat.

She came in like a whirlwind to his bedroom without knocking. D'Jok was standing in the middle of the room in the darkness, Mei could only see his figure in the colourful neon lights from the advertisements outside. Unintentionally, she noticed how fine he was looking in the darkness and she felt her cheeks burning in blush.

Seeing his girlfriend coming so suddenly to his bedroom, D'Jok only raised his eyebrows and said nothing. He looked very calm but also very resigned what didn't fit him at all. 'What do you want?' he asked quietly.

'Is it true?' Mei asked baldly. 'Are you going to challenge Rocket tomorrow in Netherball?'

'Yes.' D'Jok's voice was still calm but Mei noticed he got tense. 'Do you want to make me a scene because I didn't tell you?' he asked with a clear irritation in his voice.

Mei sighed slightly. 'No,' she answered much more quietly and softly. 'I just… I just want to tell you… don't do that. It's dangerous.' Her voice was trembling. She realised she didn't want to fight with him anymore but she also wasn't really eager to apologise. She had her proud and saying sorry had been always difficult for her, as well as for D'Jok so that was why they were arguing so often. Make up with D'Jok no matter what, Corso's words echoed in her mind.

The redhead gave her an ironic look. 'Since when do you care?' he asked sarcastically.

'I always care,' the girl admitted quietly. 'D'Jok, listen, I'm… I'm sorry okay? I don't want to argue with you anymore,' she said in a thin voice.

'Neither do I,' he answered but didn't say anything more. Mei waited, letting him gather all his force to say he's sorry. She knew him well and was aware that was really hard for him. Normally, she wouldn't have cared and just walked away, irritated but now she couldn't just let it go. She had to make up with D'Jok, no matter how hard or humiliating it was. 'Yeah, I'm… I'm sorry too,' he finally stuttered. 'I should've told you everything.'

Yes, you should've, Mei wanted to say sarcastically but she resisted, instead she only gave him a warm smile. 'Forget about it, fine? Let's move on,' she proposed and walked up to him. She looked at his face, in his eyes which had no colour in the artificial neon lights outside and suddenly she felt a wave of warmth in her heart and she realised that despite of everything, she loved that stubborn, impulsive, unable to stand corrected and constantly competitive redhead, she loved him to the point of madness and couldn't stay angry with him.

'Okay,' he whispered, unable to take his eyes off her. Mei knew he felt the same way – despite of her flaws, he still loved her and couldn't be mad at her for long. 'I'm really sorry, Mei.'

She shushed him. 'I know you are,' she whispered and kissed him. Feeling his lips resulted in a hot explosion inside her body – she was really happy of be reconciled with him, even if she hadn't been very willing to do this before. She wanted him and she needed him.

But she also had a task to accomplish.

'And…' She broke the kiss. D'Jok looked at her, a little bit disappointed what made Mei want to chuckle – he was no different than any other man aftermath. 'I really don't want you to play Netherball. It's dangerous and you're still not fully fine, you can't risk another injury.'

D'Jok frowned. 'I don't want to play it too,' he confessed, 'but I don't have a choice, Mei. Someone has to finally get Rocket out of Netherball.'

'And why it has to be you? Why somebody else won't try?'

'Because everyone has already tried and no one managed,' he explained. 'I'm the captain, I have to do this for the team. We need Rocket.'

'But we need you too! What does it matter that we'll have Rocket if we don't have you?'

D'Jok gave her a little smile. 'Thanks, Mei. But it's not only about football, it's about something more – Rocket is our friend, isn't he? Netherball isn't good for him and he has to quit before he gets seriously injured. Everyone'll feel better when he comes back.'

'Being aware that you got wounded during the match? I won't feel better.' Mei crossed her arms on chest. She desperately tried to dissuade D'Jok from Netherball but knowing his stubbornness, she felt it would be incredibly hard.

'I'll try not to damage myself,' D'Jok winked to her.

'You can try but will you manage?' Mei doubted. 'You know that Rocket has changed and plays dirty now, right? He won't hesitate to foul you. Please don't duel him,' she begged, her voice was shaking. The safety of the whole galaxy depends on D'Jok's safety, she remembered Corso's words. 'Please don't make me worried about you again.'

'So don't be.' He cupped her face in his hands. 'I'll be fine, I promise. You'd better go to Tia now, she needs you.' He kissed her forehead tenderly.

Mei looked at him once again, trying to stop him somehow but when she saw his determined face she knew there was no chance of dissuading him from challenging Rocket… at least for now. That was why she decided to let it go. 'You're right,' she muttered, 'have a good night.'

'You too, Mei.'

The girl turned away and to leave the bedroom and at the same time Micro Ice walked in. He looked rather surprised, seeing Mei there but he said nothing. 'Hey,' she only muttered as she passed him by and left the bedroom.

Micro Ice, startled, moved his eyes on D'Jok. 'So you're not arguing anymore?' The short brunet asked.

'It seems so.' His best friend shrugged.

'You don't look very happy about it,' Micro Ice noticed suspiciously.

D'Jok shrugged once again. 'We'll probably argue again in a day or two, I just prefer not to get used to the peace between us.'

For a long moment none of them said nothing, making themselves ready for sleep. Later on, when they were already lying in their beds, Micro Ice asked, 'So you're really want to challenge Rocket in Netherball, DJ?'

'No, I don't,' the redhead answered, 'but do I have a choice? You heard Warren, I must try.'

'Netherball is a dirty game,' Micro Ice said. 'It's dangerous stuff.'

'I know right?' D'Jok got a little bit irritated.

'Chill, bro,' Micro Ice calmed him down. 'We're all going with you and support you. I'm hundred percent sure you're going to kick Rocket's ass.'

D'Jok didn't smile. 'I wish so,' he muttered. 'Go to sleep, kid, we're having a training session in the morning.'

'Okay, Dad,' Micro Ice mumbled and the room fell in silence.

Next morning, the Snow Kids gathered in the gym for training session. D'Jok joined them for the first time since his injury and despite unpleasant events of the night, he was happy to be able to play again with his team. Training session was also a good way of stop thinking about what was going to happen the night coming.

Aarch had already knew that Rocket hadn't come back but he wanted to know what exactly happened last night.

'Warren challenged Rocket,' Thran said, 'but he lost 1-2. He was really close to winning, Rocket scored in the last moment.'

'What a pity.' The coach sighed deeply. 'And he didn't change his mind even when he saw you all?'

'No,' Yuki said. 'Even when Tia asked him to come back.' She looked at her teammate who only hugged herself and bowed her head, looking very miserable. 'Warren said that beating Rocket is the only way to make him come back,' Yuki added.

'Do you know who'll challenge him tonight?' Aarch asked.

'Me,' D'Jok answered and the whole team looked at him, so did Aarch, Dame Simbai and Clamp. The staff looked surprised but the latter seemed to be simply aghast. He stared at D'Jok with eyes wide open in shock.

'You?' Aarch asked. The redhead nodded. 'D'Jok, you don't have to –'

'Yes I do,' he interrupted him. 'Someone has to finally beat Rocket and I hope it'll be me.'

'But you said that this Netherball is a brutal game… Dame Simbai?' he turned to the physiotherapist as if he wanted to ask her for help.

The woman had pinched face. 'It's not a good idea, you barely recovered from the last injury and now you want to put yourself in danger for another… You shouldn't do it if you want to play in the semi-final.'

D'Jok got angry. 'I want to play in the semi-final, you know it!' he exclaimed furiously. 'But I also know we need Rocket back in the team if we want to win and not only because of it! He's my friend and if I can do something to help him, I'm going to do this even if it's risky, okay?!'

Nobody dared to answer. Finally Tia raised her head and gazed at D'Jok. She looked moved. 'Thank you,' she whispered and the boy gave her a little warm smile.

'Excuse me,' Clamp suddenly said, 'I… I'll be back in a moment,' he muttered and walked out quickly. The team exchanged surprised looks.

Meanwhile, Clamp was pacing the hallway nervously. Finally he came to a halt and pressed few buttons on his holo-watch. He waited for a moment and then got even more nervous. 'Damn, Sonny, pick it up…' he grumbled. 'Come on…'

Finally the face of the chief of the Pirates appeared on the screen. 'Clamp?'

'We need to talk, Sonny.'

Blackbones winced. 'It's not the best moment, Clamp, I'm quite busy at the moment –'

'It's about D'Jok,' Clamp interrupted him and that immediately made Sonny focus his all attention on his friend.

'What about him? Is he okay?' he asked.

'We have to quicken our operation… quicken it a lot.'

Sonny frowned. 'I don't understand…'

'D'Jok wants to play Netherball against Rocket tonight.'

'Shit,' the chief of the Pirates swore. 'He can't play tonight, there's no chance we'll be ready to get rid of Bleylock's lab today! You must stop him!'

Clamp looked at his friend ironically. 'Do you really think anyone is able to stop D'Jok from doing anything?'

'Shit,' Sonny swore once again. 'Okay, so delay it. He can't play tonight, do you understand? I can't let anything bad happen to him, collecting his Flux for Bleylock included.'

'So what do you want me to do to?'

'I don't know, figure out something! I have to go, see you.' And with no further word, he disconnected.

'Thanks,' Clamp grumbled and turned off his holo-watch. He rubbed his face and then came back to the gym, thinking intensively about a way of dissuading D'Jok from taking part in Netherball tonight.

'Are you okay, Clamp?' Aarch asked in the middle of the training, seeing his friend being deeply in thoughts and distracted. Dame Simbai also was looking at him suspiciously. Does she know anything?, Clamp wondered. She was in the Flux Society, she must have known something about the illegal use of Flux in Sphere… 'Clamp?' Aarch was still giving him a worried look.

'I'm fine, thanks,' he muttered and tried to smile but only a wince appeared on his face. Focus on the job, he ordered himself. The Snow Kids must have had a proper training session, the match against Lightnings was coming… Clamp had always been a down-to-earth person and he knew that no matter how well the Snow Kids were doing, without Rocket they had very little chance of winning the semi-final, the Lightinings were simply too good. But to bring Rocket back someone had to beat him in Netherball and Clamp actually agreed with Warren – D'Jok was the last person who was able to do that. But D'Jok couldn't play against Rocket, at least not today and the match was in four days… Clamp calculated quickly. If D'Jok had beaten Rocket tomorrow's night and brought him back, he would have only three days to prepare for the semi-final and that was definitely too little… One way or another, the Snow Kids were in a really bad position. Clamp glanced at Aarch and seeing his friend frowned and tense he knew Aarch is thinking exactly the same – it would have been a miracle if the Snow Kids had won the game.

Micro Ice was always the first one to leave the gym after the morning training session. The whole team was always heading to canteen for lunch but they were temporising – in the opposite to Micro Ice who always felt hungry, especially after the training session. So he left the gym quickly and made his way towards canteen, dreaming about all the delicious food he was going to eat when he suddenly felt someone grabbing his arm. That was Mei.

'I must talk to you in private,' she whispered to his ear. Micro Ice immediately felt a warmth in his whole body – was his teenage dream about Mei and him 'talking' in private was going to happen?

He grunted. 'What is it?'

'Come with me to the janitor's room,' she said and grabbed his hand. Micro Ice felt enthusiastic, probably more than he should have. When they reached the small storeroom, the boy gave her an intense look; his body was ready.

'I must to talk to you about something,' Mei said, locking the door.

'Whatever you want,' Micro Ice declared and stood up on his tiptoe to seem to be taller.

Mei, seeing this, crossed her arms and frowned. 'What the hell are you doing?' She raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

Micro Ice coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment. 'Well… I–I thought you wanted to...'

Mei gave him a murderous look. 'Can you please focus? It's important.'

The boy blinked few times and gave his friend a serious look. 'What is it?'

'It's about D'Jok. I can't let him play Netherball and you have to help me.'

'Why?'

'Because… of many reasons!' Mei shrieked nervously. She didn't want to tell Micro Ice about her 'little pact' with Corso and the Pirates. 'First of all, it's very dangerous. You know we need D'Jok in the match against the Lightnings, don't you?'

Micro Ice hesitated. He sighed and said, 'Look, I agree with you, Netherball is trouble and D'Jok may get hurt. But we need Rocket too, and beating him in Netherball is the only way to get him back to the team. So even if we don't want to, we have to let D'Jok play Netherball.'

Mei bit her lower lip nervously. She knew Micro Ice was right but on the other hand, she didn't dare to disobey Corso's orders. She didn't even want to imagine how would've they reacted if they had found out that she let D'Jok get in such a dangerous situation. 'But…' she said. 'It doesn't have to be D'Jok who beats Rocket in Netherball, right?'

'Warren says it does,' Micro Ice replied.

'Warren is not always right!' Mei got irritated. Her friend gasped and looked at her like she just had insulted all his great ancestors. 'Oh come on!' she snorted and rolled her eyes. 'Just help me to keep D'Jok away from Netherball, okay? We really can't let him play.'

'Why are you so crazy about it?' Micro Ice suddenly got suspicious.

'Because I don't want him to get hurt!'

The short brunet frowned and crossed his arms. 'Come on, Mei. We both know D'Jok is too good to let Rocket hurt him. What's the matter, Mei?' He squinted and gave her a long, piercing look.

The girl hesitated for a moment and then she sighed, resigned. 'Okay, I'll tell you but it must stay between us, fine?' she asked and Micro Ice nodded. 'I talked to Corso –'

'You know Corso?' Micro Ice's eyes went wide open in surprise.

'Not for a long time but I do,' Mei admitted unwillingly. 'The thing is that he made me promise that D'Jok will be safe… On his father's request. I can't oppose to the chief of the Pirates! That is why I must keep D'Jok away from trouble… and as you said, Netherball is trouble.'

Micro Ice looked shocked after he heard the news. 'Well,' he sighed, 'that changes everything. Fine, I'll help you. Do you have any ideas?'

'Actually, I hoped you would come up with something…' Mei admitted, clearly relieved.

'Let me think…' Micro Ice rubbed his chin in thoughtfulness. 'Okay, what we know is that we're not able to persuade D'Jok to stay in any way so we have to force him to stay… But how?'

'Cut out all of the lights in the hotel?' Mei proposed.

The boy shook his head. 'Nah… It's too complicated, even if we asked Thran for help… And I don't think it would stop him. No, we have to come up with something what will really force him to stay in the hotel. Something like… becoming suddenly very sick!' He snapped his fingers and his eyes became enlightened. 'We have to make him sick somehow!'

'Sounds good…' Mei frowned. 'But how? Is he allergic to something?'

Micro Ice thought for a moment. 'Bee venom,' he said finally. 'When we were like fourteen, he got stung and almost kicked the bucket.'

Mei looked at him ironically. 'Yeah, that's a great idea. Fortunately, I've brought my beehive from Akillian with me,' she scoffed. Micro Ice shrugged. 'Maybe we could… I don't know, put some medicine in his juice? Something not harmful but it would chain him to bed?'

'We would have to ask Dame Simbai for help if we wanted to do so…' Micro Ice doubted.

'Why not? She also doesn't want D'Jok to play, did you see her face? She knows it's not good for him to take part in Netherball 'cause he hasn't recovered from the last injury yet. She'll help us,' she said firmly.

Micro Ice didn't look one hundred percent convinced but he said, 'Okay, let's do this.'