Chapter 11
The ball dropped quickly from above them. Leblanc saw it coming and like any blitzball player, prepped her legs to furiously kick to get there first as it quickly descended towards the pair. However, like a blur, Geni was soaring through the water, up above Leblanc's head, and had grabbed the ball as she spiraled away towards Leblanc's end of the sphere kicking like mad.
Cheers erupted up and down the stands at the sudden reversal, most students assuming Leblanc would be dominating the game. Geni, oblivious to her sudden fans, sped through the water like a rocket. She could sense that Leblanc was hot on her trail, and she tightened her grip on the ball. She was less than thirty feet away from the goal when Leblanc caught up to her. She was suddenly in front of Geni, having swum up from underneath her. Geni, ignoring her first instinct to stop, if anything tried to swim faster towards Leblanc. Leblanc saw this, and was confused – to her it seemed as if Geni was going to ram into her. At the very last second, Leblanc tried to block her by swimming towards her on her path of collision, her arms out in front of her to grab the ball. Geni, in a split second move, threw the ball far ahead of her past Leblanc. Leblanc, a true blitzball player, attached her eyes to the ball – and like any amateur, took her sights off of her opponent. Geni grabbed Leblanc's wrists, and used her forward momentum to propel them both in several circles before she let go, thrusting herself towards the ball and the goal and leaving Leblanc heading in the wrong direction.
As Leblanc madly back paddled and tried to right herself, an extremely loud buzzer rang out, signaling the first goal of the match. Geni floated near the glowing rectangle exclaiming her triumph, her arms crossed as she treaded water, staring at Leblanc with a small smile. Leblanc curled her fingers into fists, her face red.
At the first goal the entire stadium exploded in sound. Geni's first reversal was nothing compared to the fact that she had scored within the first thirty seconds of the match against an experienced player like Leblanc. Students yelled, shouted, whistled, clapped, and stomped the benches in unanimous approval. Sora and Kairi were also on their feet, cheering away. "Did you see that?! Did you see that?! That's my sister!" he shouted proudly.
"Why didn't she tell us she could play like that?" Kairi demanded of him, a huge smile on her face.
"Like anything else with her – we just never asked her," Riku replied, the weight on his shoulders beginning to lift. "We all assumed she had never played before, even though we never asked her or she offered to tell us. That was why she wanted us to just trust her on this," he finished, smiling.
"And we were worried," Sora said, his shouts lessening. "Man, I think we owe her a huge apology for doubting her like this."
"I agree," Riku said, turning his eyes back to the match. Geni and Leblanc had started off the next round, the ball dropping at the sound of the buzzer. This time, however, Leblanc reached the ball first as she began to anticipate Geni's moves. She darted back and forth in the water as she headed towards Geni's goal, making it more difficult for her to stop Leblanc. Like before, there was no reason to worry. Leblanc put so much effort into dodging Geni that when she looked back for a second, she saw that Geni had disappeared. It was at that same moment when the ball was pushed out of her hands by Geni rushing down from above her. Leblanc spun for a moment, before hurrying in quick pursuit of Geni who was swimming in the lower half of the sphere with the ball back towards Leblanc's goal. This time Leblanc could not catch her in time, and Geni scored yet another goal, making the score two to zero.
The first round continued, with both girls scoring on each other, until the buzzer sounded twice, signaling the first round was over. The score was three to two with Geni in the lead by one point. Geni headed towards the exit where Selphie was standing, slowing down so she could land on the inner platform and walk out onto the outer platform where Selphie waited with a bottle of water and a large towel.
"That was amazing!" she screamed at her, tackling her once Geni had covered herself with the large towel.
"Thanks," she said, a light blush staining her cheeks as she shivered a little. Selphie helped her sit down on the bench, making sure she drank plenty of water before the next round started. After a moment of heavy breathing, Geni asked, "So, how am I doing?"
"Besides the fact that you are kicking Leblanc's butt?" Selphie snickered. "You've been converting many of Leblanc's fans who happened to be in the stands today. You should have heard the screams after your first bout – I think we could have heard it all the way back home."
"Really?" Geni said, looking down.
"Oh yeah. Plus, a bunch of students and teachers have been slowly showing up, not to mention people in the general area. Take a look around." Geni looked up at this, her eyes widening. A third of the stadium had filled up by that time, when only a hundred or so students had been there at first. Now, there must have been at least four hundred people watching her match with Leblanc. "You're getting to be Miss Popularity around here," Selphie said laughing.
"I guess," Geni said quietly back. "Hey, Selphie? Where is it?"
"Right here," Selphie said as she reached into her backpack, retrieving Geni's thalassa shell necklace from inside of it. Geni had given it to Selphie to keep safe for her during the game. Geni held it, running her wet fingers over the shiny surface.
"Hey, Selphie?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?"
Selphie entered into one of her rare quiet moments. "I know why you're doing this, but only you can answer that. I believe you are doing the right thing, by defending Sora. And as for Riku, well…you probably already know what I think about that."
The buzzer sounded out twice, indicating the beginning of the next round. Geni quickly stood up, handing the towel, bottle of water, and her necklace to Selphie. "Thanks Selphie."
"Anytime. Now, go and make Leblanc eat her words!"
Geni nodded, and went to stand at the sphere entrance. The light changed from red to green, and she dove back into the cool water once more. As Geni swum to the center of the sphere, she quickly looked around to see if she could spot her friends sitting in the stands. It was hopeless, and she quickly gave up. The uniformity of the students due to their uniforms made it impossible to discern one student from another within the sphere. Swimming up to the face off line, Leblanc and Geni stared at one another, using their facial expressions to intimidate the other. The buzzer sounded, and the ball dropped from above signaling the start of the second round.
Suffice to say, the two girls went head to head in the next four matches, scoring goal upon goal, until they were finally at the last rest period before the fifth and final round would begin. The sun was slowly setting, and the lights of the arena had been turned on for the spectators, even though there was still plenty of daylight left. Geni had tied the score yet again, the score being nine to nine. She stood next to Selphie, shivering under her towel while Selphie rubbed her hands up and down her arms. The island breezes did not help her any, and as the wind played with her hair her teeth started to rattle.
"You're almost done," Selphie said encouragingly. "One more round and the match will be over. And you're already tied. Score once, keep Leblanc from scoring, and you have it in the bag."
"Thanks," Geni said as her teeth clacked together. The cool water combined with the wind seemed to go right through the wetsuit to her skin, sending chills up and down her. "I only hope Leblanc doesn't try anything again before this is over." During the third round, Leblanc had Geni chasing her around the sphere stalling for time, and at one point swam so close to her that she almost pushed her out of the sphere almost sixty feet away from the ground.
"The coach shouted at her for that one, even though she claimed it was an accident. Just – be careful. Leblanc isn't one to taking losing gracefully, and if I know anything from seeing her on the team last year, is that she will do whatever it takes to win: hence the reason she was kicked off the team."
"I understand," Geni said, trying to bring her shivering under control. The buzzer sounded twice, letting everyone know the last and final round was about to begin. "Well, here I go."
"Good luck, but be careful," Selphie said. Geni nodded to her, before stepping up to the entrance gate. In a moment, the light changed from red to green, and Geni quickly entered the cool water. She could feel her arms and legs beginning to tire, and it took her a little longer than usual to reach the center of the sphere where Leblanc was waiting for her. Leblanc smirked at her, and placed both of her hands under her head and looked as if she were sleeping. Geni frowned, trying to ignore her instigations. She was saved by the buzzer, for at that instant it sounded and the ball dropped from above. Geni drew together all of her remaining energy, stamina, and strength and reached for the ball at the same time Leblanc had. Luckily, Geni got to it first and sent it swimming towards Leblanc's side of the sphere. She chased after it, and soon caught up with it and began to swim frantically towards the goal line.
Leblanc, on the other hand, quickly eyed the field and plotted the easiest way to flow with the internal tide of the sphere. She had a plan in mind, one that would allow her to win, but it was risky – not just for her but for her intended target. Leblanc began to swim upwards, following the outside edge of the sphere. She could see Geni below her quickly making her way to Leblanc's goal. Leblanc pumped her legs as hard as she could, and the forward momentum of the internal current shoved her faster and faster until she was right on top of Geni.
Geni, feeling the change in the water around her, looked around. To her dismay, she did not see Leblanc. She slowed to Leblanc's delight. Leblanc suddenly forced her body like a torpedo into Geni, effectively knocking the ball out of her hands and sending her wheeling across the sphere. Leblanc grabbed the ball, and used the underside current of the sphere this time to propel herself towards Geni's goal.
Geni quickly tried to right herself, for she was coming dangerously close to the outside of the sphere. Once she did, she kicked and swam as hard and as fast as her body was allowing her to try and intercept Leblanc. Only she was too far away – in mere seconds Leblanc had scored another goal, making the score in her favor of nine to ten.
"Oh," Sora groaned as the buzzer sounded out Leblanc's goal. "What's going on? Why is Geni slower than before?"
"I don't know," Kairi murmured. "It started in the end of the last round. It's almost as if, figuratively speaking, her batteries are running low."
"That's it exactly," Riku confirmed as he watched the two girls inside of the sphere solemnly. "We now know Geni has played blitzball before. However, unlike Leblanc, we also know that Geni hasn't played in at least two years, since the beginning of our journey and hers. If anything, she is out of practice."
"Well, she only needs to score two more times and keep Leblanc from scoring as well to win the match," Sora said confidently.
"Easier said than done," Riku muttered. Come on Geni! You can do it! We all know you can.
Oh, if only she could have heard those confident remarks, for at the moment she was losing her nerve as well as her energy. The two girls were swimming back to the starting line, the round almost half over already. If Geni could not score in the next minute and a half, they would either tie or Leblanc would score on her, winning and ruining everything Geni treasured. Pondering upon this, Geni dug deep within herself to find the last bit of strength she could. As she waited at the entry point for the ball, she steeled herself, ready to push herself to her utmost limits.
Bzzztttt! The buzzer sounded, and the ball dropped for perhaps the last time. Geni shot upwards, reaching the ball well ahead of Leblanc, and somersaulted in the water to right herself in the direction of the much needed goal. She pushed all of the strength she had left into her legs, willing them to go faster. She did for a while, gaining much needed space between herself and Leblanc. However, Leblanc soon caught up, due to her regular training as a blitzball player allowing her to play with more strength of body for longer periods of time. Leblanc came from around Geni and blocked her straight shot to victory. The two girls hovered there in the water, staring each other down.
Geni knew that the clock was running, and so tried a desperate move. She floated slightly to her right, noting that Leblanc followed her every move. Suddenly, she shifted herself far to her left and launched the ball as hard as she could behind Leblanc. Leblanc, assuming she was tossing the ball away, quickly followed after it, not knowing that Geni was using the same principle that Leblanc had for her last goal. The ball spun in the water, catching the internal current running through the middle of the sphere. Once the straight course from Geni's arm had finished, gravity took over and the undertow of the water pulled the ball faster and faster until it zoomed into Leblanc's goal, nearly shooting out of the sphere as it was caught in the net.
As the buzzer announced the goal, Leblanc was furious. She saw Geni floating exactly where she had left her, where she had thrown the ball from. With only thirty seconds left in the game, the two girls were tied yet again. Leblanc decided that it was now or never, and that she would have to force Geni to lose. She looked around her, noting the spaces in between the sensors located around the sphere. Picking out a large area on the top of the sphere, she smirked and quickly paddled to the center of the sphere to permanently end Geni's short-lived career as a blitzball player.
Geni carefully made her way back to the center line, making sure to keep her movements steady and to use the water around her to push her. Leblanc joined her there at the same time, her face set in grim determination. Geni smiled a little, waving at her. Leblanc turned her head away, treading water choppily. Mere seconds later, the buzzer sounded for the very last play of the game. It was the deciding moment – who would score the final goal: Leblanc or Geni?
The crowd roared at the sounding of the final buzzer, the two girls inside of the sphere dashing upwards towards the falling ball, racing each other to grab it first. Luckily, Geni stretched her arm out just enough to tap the ball upwards even more out of Leblanc's reach. Leblanc paused momentarily, allowing Geni to swim up just ahead of her to reach the ball, putting her plan into action. Geni pumped her legs back and forth as hard as she could, ignoring the throbbing within them. The ball was getting quite close to the watery ceiling of the sphere, and with one last reach Geni snagged the ball in her fingers, stopping herself not fifteen feet away from the sky above her. Leblanc, seeing this, grinned and suddenly rocketed herself upwards into Geni, her plan commencing into two parts: one, that the ball would be knocked out of Geni's hands and into hers, and two, that Geni would be pushed upwards out of the water which would hopefully trigger the safety mechanism and trap her within it.
Her plan worked beautifully. Leblanc hit Geni square in the stomach, involuntarily making her drop the ball and letting Leblanc take it easily away from her. As soon as she had the ball, she stopped her forward momentum against Geni who was still shooting up towards the surface of the sphere. Leblanc sneered at her, quickly descending towards the goal leaving Geni just about to break the surface of the water.
Geni quickly tried to slow her ascent, but it was too late. Her legs were the first to break the surface of the water, leaving her stranded half in and half out of the water as the security protocol around the sphere launched into action. Technically, it was there to prevent anyone from falling out of the sphere or entering it without going in from the bottom by hardening the outside surface of the sphere with a substance that clung to everything it touched. Most times it had been used were when a player was already outside of the sphere and could hold onto it until help arrived. In Geni's predicament, however, once the sphere was locked down tight, her legs stuck up at an odd angel to the sphere, leaving her torso and head inside of it.
Geni tried not to panic as she found she could not move an inch, using her arms to push against the sphere entrapping her. Calmly, she tried reaching down towards her leg to where her breathing device was. Before she could touch it, her hand hit the hard shell her midsection was trapped in. Her only supply of oxygen was out of her reach, and she knew that she less minute left before she couldn't hold her breath any longer.
Leblanc, on the other hand, was casually making her way down to the goal but still swimming quite quickly, as if she didn't know what was happening on the top of the sphere. She launched the ball into Geni's goal, but to her utter dismay the buzzer sounded twice seconds before the ball shot into the goal. The match had ended before Leblanc was able to score her last point and effectively win the match. It ended in a tie.
However, Geni's predicament did not go unnoticed by the spectators. "What happened?" Sora asked, worried. "Where did Geni go? I don't see her." The three of them were searching the watery sphere. They had seen Leblanc begin to swim in the direction of Geni's goal, but the other girl was no where in sight.
"Look!" someone screamed. Sora, Riku, and Kairi followed the woman's pointing finger to the top of the sphere, where two legs had suddenly popped out, triggering the safety system. The constant movement ceased immediately as a shell surrounded the sphere, pinning Geni half in and half out of it.
"Geni!" Sora shouted as he jumped up. He began running down the bleachers as fast as he could, trying not to trip over people as he passed. Riku and Kairi were right behind him. People moved out of the way as they saw the three running. Coach Djilas had already put all members of the blitzball team and Selphie into emergency protocols by the time the trio arrived at the base of the sphere, nearly thirty seconds after the emergency system had activated.
"At least one person on every entry point! As soon as we get the shell deactivated, get those girls out of there! Make sure everyone has a spare breathing device as well!" Coach Djilas shouted as he quickly typed on the computer console next to him. "Selphie, get plenty of towels and the first aid kit ready just in case!" he called to the girl the next platform over.
"Yes sir!" she called as she made a mad dash for the locker rooms.
"Coach Djilas!" He turned his head, seeing the three students from before. "Coach Djilas, what happened?" the brunette said quickly, his face tense with worry.
"I'm not sure. Somehow your sister managed to pierce the top of the sphere, activating the protective shell around it. However, she did not clear it and is stuck half in and half out of it. As far as we can see from the camera up top –" he pointed to a monitor next to him, showing Geni's legs pushing against the sphere as she tried to free herself "– she can't reach her breathing device which is attached to a hook on her leg. If we can't get to her soon…" the coach trailed off.
"Then what can we do?" Riku suddenly said, his eyes hard.
"I have the team approaching at each checkpoint – two on each. One to shut down the shell, and the other to try and get in. You two," he said as he pointed to Riku and Sora, "can enter here. If you could please go and help Selphie?" he asked Kairi.
"Of course," she said as she dashed down to the locker rooms.
"One of you put this on," he said quickly as he shoved a pair of swim trunks in their faces, his face never leaving the screen. He began to worry – Geni's movements were becoming slower and slower by the second. He was also furious with Leblanc: she was treading water at the far entrance to the sphere, as if completely oblivious to the girl's predicament. She had on her own breathing device, and was patiently waiting for the shell to come down.
Wordlessly, Sora had handed the swim trunks to Riku. He nodded, and jumped down under the platform to change. Within moments, he was finished.
"I'm ready." The coach turned and looked at the two boys. The taller one with silver hair had already jumped down under the platform and changed where no one could see him and jumped back up.
"Good. Sora, stay by the manual override so when I'm done here we can lift it and get in. Riku, you'll enter the sphere as soon as we do."
"Gotcha," Sora said, walking over to kneel next to a large lever.
"Wait for the signal." Coach Djilas suddenly grabbed the loudspeaker. "All team members! Countdown to manual override in five, four, three, two, one, flip!" As soon as he said this, the five members all across the sphere and Sora flipped the large levers, and the shell immediately disappeared. As soon as it had, Riku dove into the cool water and kicked as hard as he could, racing for the top of the sphere.
Geni could feel herself fighting a losing battle as she fought to keep the air inside of her burning lungs. It had been one and a half minutes since the shield went up, and so far nothing had changed. No matter how she kicked, punched, or pushed against the wall, she could not budge herself free. She suddenly began to panic for a moment, accidentally opening her mouth and drawing in the water. She coughed, trying to clear the water from inside of her. She only succeeded in inhaling more water into her mouth and nose. As this happened, she could feel her body becoming extremely heavy, and her motions slowed to a halt. Geni tried to keep her eyes open, but everything was turning dark…she couldn't see anything around her as her vision dimmed. Her air supply was gone, and there was no one coming to her rescue.
Riku…she thought numbly as the last of the bubbles drifted out of her mouth. She barely felt when the barrier suddenly disappeared, and she began to float downwards into the sphere. As her eyes closed, she thought she saw a dark shape coming towards her, before she completely lost consciousness.
In mere seconds Riku saw Geni's form slowly descending in the water, motionless. His brain screamed at him to hurry up, and he swam faster than he had ever before. A moment later he had reached Geni, pulling on her hand to bring her next to him. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open. He grabbed her around her waist, and began to pull her dead-weight form along with him down to the closest exit. Suddenly, several people in bright yellow uniforms appeared around him. It was Wakka and Tidus with two of their teammates. They grabbed her arms and helped Riku to pull her down. With the extra help, in less than ten seconds they were landing on the inside platform and walking outside of it, Geni being carefully dragged between several pairs of arms.
"Lay her down! Selphie, bring the first aid kit and towels over here!" Coach Djilas shouted as he ran up the ramp. Then Wakka, Tidus, and Riku carefully laid Geni down on the ramp. "Alright, move over, all of you," Coach Djilas ordered. The team moved away, but Riku stayed close to Geni on the opposite side that the coach was. He leaned over, checking for a pulse on her neck before leaning down to listen at her mouth, watching her chest for signs of breathing. Damn – she's got a pulse but she isn't breathing.
Coach Djilas placed two fingers on Geni's forehead and two under her chin and tilted her head back, before he began giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He breathed air into her lungs twice, before he sat up and intertwined his fingers over her chest. He began to push up and down upon her chest, trying to force the water out. "Come on girl, breathe," he hissed.
Riku watched on in horror, feeling completely helpless. As a rule, all students had to take first aid and CPR, but he could barely make his arms move at the moment. He was frozen in shock, scenes from atop the castle of The World That Never Was flashing through his mind.
Coach Djilas, after twenty repetitions on her chest, once again gave her several breaths. Still no change. He intertwined his fingers once more and began to push up and down on her chest. Suddenly, Geni's chest seized and she arched her body up once before water began spilling from out of her mouth, her eyes wide open in fear. Coach Djilas smiled in relief, rolling her over onto her side so she couldn't choke on any more water. "There you go, that's a girl. Cough it all up," he told her gently as he patted her back. Geni continued to cough and hack out water until she started heaving in large breaths, shutting her eyes tight. Her body involuntarily curled in onto itself in a fetal position, shivering from her time in the water. "Selphie! Some towels!" he called.
The team and Selphie had looked on, frightened for the safety of a friend and classmate. Once Geni had begun coughing up the water, all of them had quickly breathed a sigh of relief. Selphie quickly walked up the ramp, several large towels in her arms. She gently placed one over Geni, and helped her to sit up a little so they could wrap several around her still shivering form.
"Geni!" Sora cried as he raced up the stairs and threw his arms around his sister, teary eyed in relief. "You're okay, you're okay," he whispered to himself like a mantra.
Geni still felt quite heavy, her heart still racing, and her breath still coming in short gasps, but she leaned into Sora's shoulder gratefully. He didn't care that she was soaking his uniform, he didn't care that the match had ended in a tie; all he cared about was that she was safe. Geni shivered in his grasp, partly from the cold and partly from the fear that was still gripping her.
Kairi had walked up behind Sora, several tears of relief trailing down her face. She noticed Riku sitting against the railing, his normally expressive eyes strangely blank. Walking over to him, she knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder. Riku looked up at her, his face a blender of emotions. "Are you okay?" she asked him quietly.
"For a moment, I thought...I thought..." he stammered softly.
"She's fine now, and that is all that matters," Kairi said firmly but gently. She grabbed a spare towel from Selphie's pile and wrapped it around his shoulders. "However, I think there is someone around here who is in for a ton of trouble," she said, narrowing her eyebrows. Riku looked up, following her gaze, as he saw Leblanc walking towards them with several students flanking her.
As she walked up the ramp, Leblanc paused in front of the small group. "Is she alright?" she asked in an innocent and fear-filled voice. "I didn't realize what had happened until the shell went up for some reason. I didn't even see her up there. What happened?" she asked, her voice dripping with false sincerity.
"After you stole the ball away from her, she didn't have enough room to stop and was caught in the safety protocol," Coach Djilas said dryly. "We will be reviewing the footage from the match to see what actually happened. For now, the stadium is closed until further notice."
"Yes sir," many voices answered him.
"Sora, Selphie – please take her to the locker room. Aurochs! Kindly have all of the people in the stands shown to the door, and then we will lock up for the night. Good job, all of you," he said beaming at his team. "Now let's hurry up."
"Yes coach," the team replied as they jogged towards the other side of the stadium. Many people were milling around the base, trying to see what had happened. The Aurochs went right to work, showing people to the exits and evacuating them from the building as soon as possible. Sora and Selphie gently helped Geni to her unsteady feet, swaying between them as she stood up. They wrapped their arms around her, and slowly made their way down the ramp. Leblanc watched from the side, an almost invisible smile on her face. When Riku and Kairi walked down the stairs, Leblanc walked up to him.
"Well, Riku? What did you think? Even though it was a tie, I still swam circles around her. I mean, getting caught up in the emergency shell – what an amateur," she said with a slightly too happy sounding sigh.
Riku turned to her, gripping the towel around his shoulders. "That was no accident," he said calmly. "You are just a sore loser." Leblanc spluttered, her face turning red. "Save it Leblanc – everyone will know exactly what you did after Coach Djilas looks over the videotapes from the match. As far as I'm concerned, you lost that match – Geni was the one who played fair and square the entire time. That idiotic bet you two had is now null and void. Although I will see to it that you still apologize to Sora in front of the entire school. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go and see the winner." With a sub-zero cold shoulder, he turned and walked to the locker rooms with Kairi.
"I won't apologize," Leblanc said quietly to herself, her gaze as hard as stone. Everyone had walked away, leaving her by herself to stand under the glowing sphere. "I swear...Riku will be mine."
The Destiny Islands High School blitzball team, the Aurochs, and their coach were talking quietly outside of the girl's locker room when Riku and Kairi walked up. Everything went silent as they joined them. "How is she?" Riku asked Coach Djilas quietly.
"She'll be fine – she just swallowed a little too much water, that's all," he said with a smile. "Selphie and Sora are in with her now."
"May we go and see her?" Kairi asked him.
"Of course – but only this once," he said with a grin to Riku.
Riku looked at him blankly, before realizing the joke and laughing a little. "Yes sir," he said to him. The two of them walked into the large tiled room and immediately spotted the three sitting on a bench.
"Geni!" Kairi cried out.
Geni looked up from where she had been leaning on Sora's shoulder, his arms around her protectively, and gave her friend a little smile. She was still shivering, but the rest of her – excluding her wetsuit – was finally dry. "Hi Kairi," she replied in a strained voice.
Kairi knelt down in front of her friend, concerned. "Are you alright? Are you feeling okay? What exactly happened?" she rushed.
Geni nodded. "I'm feeling better now, thanks," she said before she inhaled deeply. "Leblanc just slammed into me in order to knock the ball out of my hands and in the process I went straight up through the surface of the sphere, triggering the safety protocols. That's all."
"You mean it really was an accident?" Riku said sourly.
Geni looked up at him. "I guess so," she replied in a whisper. "Hey, Sora? Can we go back to the house now? I'm kind of tired."
"Of course," he said right away.
"We'll help her Sora," Kairi offered.
Sora nodded, standing up. "I'll go call mom and dad and let them know what happened. Instead of walking home, I'll have one of them come and pick us up. They should be here in about fifteen minutes or so."
"Alright," Kairi answered him. Sora gave his sister one last hug before walking out the main door. Riku stood there for a moment until her realized Kairi and Selphie were staring at him.
"What?"
"Um, Riku? She can't go home in a wetsuit," Selphie said with a giggle.
Riku's face turned red as he turned around. "I'll just wait outside," he mumbled as he quickly walked out. Kairi and Selphie laughed as they watched him depart, Geni smiling at him. The girls quickly helped Geni out of her wetsuit and into her gym uniform which was more comfortable than her school uniform. As they finished packing everything up, Selphie loaned Geni her official Aurochs windbreaker, as she was still shivering when they finally walked out of the locker room.
Riku had changed back into his uniform, and was waiting near the main doors to the stadium. He was talking with several members of the blitzball team, and all faces were eerily serious – especially when it came to Wakka and Tidus. When they saw Geni, Kairi, and Selphie slowly walk up to them, Wakka turned to face them.
"Hey," he began, looking down as he scratched his head.
"What is it Wakka?" Geni asked him quietly.
"We're sorry!" he suddenly burst out. "This is all our fault."
"Wakka, don't be silly. This was an accident, and nothing more," Geni said as she placed a hand on his arm. "Why are you taking the blame anyway?" she asked him, puzzled.
"We knew Leblanc was a dirty player," one boy said as he stepped forward into the light more. Geni suddenly recognized him as the boy Sora had introduced to her on the first day of classes, Vaan Fanel. "She was kicked off of the team by using dirty tactics to win. And knowing that, we shouldn't have allowed the match to take place. So, yeah – it is somewhat our fault that she actually did do something that could have really hurt you," he said, looking away. The team members present, boys and girls alike, nodded in consent.
"What is done is done," Geni said calmly. "The match is over, and I am fine. So please don't burden yourselves like this any more," she asked them, smiling. Everyone looked at Geni; her features were still pale, and she looked exhausted, yet she was telling them not to worry.
"Hey guys!" Geni turned to see Sora running through the main entrance to the stadium. As he joined the group, he said, "Mom will be here in a few minutes. She isn't happy, to say the least," he said with a wince.
"What did she say?" Geni asked him.
"What didn't she say? First she was angry because we didn't come right home after school even though I had told her this morning we were staying because of the open games for blitzball. Second, why didn't you tell her that you were trying out for the team so she could be here to watch you. Third, how could something like that accident even happen. And so on, and so on…" Sora said, shaking his head. "Either way, she's going to be here in a minute or two to get us, so we had better hurry up to the front of school."
"Alright," she said. Turning to the Aurochs, she said, "Thank you all for helping me earlier. I am deeply indebted to each and every one of you," she finished, bowing towards them.
"Ya, ya," Wakka said, waving his hand while trying to hide a blushed tint to his cheeks. "Just rest up. With that display you put on this afternoon, I just know that coach is going to want to recruit you."
"Not if mom has anything to say about it," Sora said under his breath.
"Well, we'll just have to convince her, won't we?" Tidus said with a wink.
Geni laughed. "I'll give it plenty of consideration. See you all in school tomorrow," she said, waving goodbye as she, Sora, Riku, and Kairi walked out of the stadium. The rest of the team had to stay behind to clean up and empty the sphere into the holding tanks under the arena. The Aurochs waved goodbye and called out well wishes to them, and also thanked her for a spectacular match.
As they walked along, Geni was very quiet. Strolling past the green houses and back towards school, she was surprised to see that the sun was still quite a ways above the horizon. In total, she had played for less than fifteen minutes; the entire ordeal totaled less than an hour, but it had felt like several hours had gone by to her at the time. Rounding the corner of the school, a dark blue minivan pulled up and an older woman jumped out and ran up to them. Mrs. Akeno enveloped Geni into a suffocating hug, before pulling away to check her all over. "Are you alright? What happened exactly? Should I take you to the hospital for a quick check-up?" she asked, firing questions at Geni rapidly.
"I'm fine Mamoru," she said softly.
Mrs. Akeno looked down at here, staring deep into her ocean blue eyes. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she said in a choked voice as she enveloped Geni in her arms. Geni was tired, and did not want to argue with her at the moment, and just leaned into her embrace.
"I'm sorry," Geni said to her. "It was an accident, nothing more. I just misjudged how far away I was from the surface of the water. It was my own fault, no one else's," she finished firmly.
"Is this true?" Mrs. Akeno asked the other three, her gaze somber as she looked at each one of the teens in turn.
"Yeah." Riku spoke up first. "The girl she was trying out against accidentally pushed her a little too hard while trying to get the ball so Geni couldn't stop as fast, hence why she only got caught in part of the sphere."
Mrs. Akeno looked at the tall boy solemnly, before smiling. "Alright then. If it was only an accident, then everything is alright. However, I don't want you doing any swimming for the next week, got it?" she said sternly as she tilted Geni's chin up so they were looking directly at each other.
"I won't," Geni said softly.
"Good. Dinner's waiting, and tomorrow is still a school day. Let's go home." Mrs. Akeno let Geni go and turned to walk back to the minivan. The four teens quickly followed, jumping in and buckling up. The ride back to the Akeno's was quiet, everyone unsure of what to say. The four teens knew better, knowing that Leblanc had purposefully pushed Geni into the outer surface of the sphere, but also did not want Mrs. Akeno worrying any more than she had to. She dropped off Kairi first, and then doubled back to their own house.
Riku hopped out first, offering a hand to Geni. As she was getting out her legs gave out a little from under her, still being a little weak from the game, and she toppled forward into Riku. He caught her expertly, holding her up until he felt she could stand on her own. "Are you alright?" he asked her quietly.
She looked up at him with tired eyes. "I will be. A good night's sleep will be the best thing for me anyways. The only thing I really have to do is study for the math test tomorrow, which in itself shouldn't take too long anyways."
"Good." Riku eased his arms away from her, making sure she could stand on her own. Sora had jumped out behind Geni, reaching to help her but stopped once he saw Riku had everything under control. He walked around the car and distracted his mom with questions about dinner all the while steering her into the house, allowing the couple to speak for a moment. "Do you think you could talk for a while later?" he asked her, his voice quiet.
"Sure," she replied. "Where?"
"Someplace a little private. Do you think you could make it up onto your roof?" Geni nodded – they had met there several times since they had come back to the islands when both of them had needed some alone time. "Alright. How about after everyone has gone to bed? Say eleven?"
"Alright. See you later." Geni smiled at Riku before walking to her front door and closing it gently behind her. Riku walked in silence next door to his own house, his head full of thoughts.