Chapter Fourteen

"Hitomi isn't all that beautiful," Katie was saying to Oliver, as the team prepared to enter the field.

Oliver glanced at her curiously, wondering what could have possibly brought this out of the blonde chaser, but luckily, he didn't have to wonder for very long, because Katie went on a short breath later. "I met her in the halls just before I came here, and she said that you--"

But that was all that she was able to say, because Crystal's snappish voice made the blonde fall silent, "Alright, children, let's get this thing over with. No one thinks you'll win, so get out there and prove them wrong, and please make a statement in the first five minutes, I really don't feel like yelling today."

Her team gave her skeptical glance, muttering amongst themselves, but no one said anything about how they seriously doubted that the coach didn't feel like yelling. The woman always felt like yelling, which was why she practiced the action so often, and on them of all people.

Crystal glanced over her team as they avoided her gaze, or avoided the unbearable urge to laugh and only rolled her eyes in an exasperated manner, "Just get your asses out there and win one."

"Hey, Katie," Oliver hissed, trying to capture his teammate's attention, but it was useless, the blonde was in game mode and preparing to enter the field along with their team. He sighed, standing up and slinging his broom over his shoulder. "I wonder what that woman said to her."

The crowds roared loudly, all the fans waving banners and calling out their support for their favorite team. Most in the stands were in brilliant shades of orange, but there were those select few that waved banners in their curious looking characters and screaming in a language Oliver had been all too familiar with while he had been involved with Hitomi. Speaking of which.. Where was that devilish little witch?

"I don't know why the Cannon fans are so hyped, Clint," Maggie drawled with a wry grin spreading slyly across her face. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think there is anyway the Cannons will be able to defeat this team. Not only do the Samurai have Hitomi, one of the league's flashiest players, but given Hitomi's and Wood's history, well--"

Clint rolled his eyes and allowed the boos of the Chudley Cannons fans ring throughout the arena. Once they slowly subsided, he responded cooly, "Well, I think you might know how the fans feel about that little comment, Maggs, and anyway, dirt like that has no place on the Quidditch pitch."

"Though it may have no place on this field," Crystal muttered to herself, combing her fingers through her hair before crossing her arms over her chest, "it still finds some way to come about." She let out a small sigh as she watched her team wram-up before positioning themselves for the start of the match. "Hopefully that dirt won't get into anyone's eyes, or we might have a problem here."

The match seemed to begin in a heated flurry. There was nothing but fourteen blurs of what most assumed to be players. Seven of the blurs wore orange and seven more in black. The intensity was immense, and the game was a difficult one to follow.

"It seems that one blur, I think that's Bell, has just stolen the Quaffle--" Clint began, squinting at the field in an overly confused manner. He rubbed his head and cocked it to one side, "Or, maybe it was Richard-- Really difficult to tell, isn't it Maggs?"

Maggie, who had been making shapes and figures with bubbles that emitted from her wand, only glanced at Clint for sad moment, shaking her head in disbelief at his actually trying to commentate such a difficult game. "The crowd can see that much for themselves. They don't need you to tell them that they can barely see a thing."

"I was--"

"Just saying," Maggie cut him off, rolling her eyes and returning to her bubble blowing. "Let me know when something we can see actually happens."

Katie drove her small fist into her broomstick as Hitomi, yet again, stole the Quaffle right out of her fingertips. Her blue eyes narrowed in frustration and she quickly turned herself about, pushing herself forward to catch that superstar player of the oriental world.

Hitomi glanced behind her for a quick second and smirked at seeing the little blonde one coming after her with such determination. Aw, she thought sarcastically, she thinks that she can actually catch me. How cute. With that, she only urged her broom forward, adding more distance between herself and her opponent. Let's see just how fast you are Katherine Bell.

Seaver sped along at Katie's side, but not to stop Hitomi, but to calm the blonde down. "Kate! You've got to let up, your putting out too much energy too soon in the bloody match!"

Her captain's words must have sunk in, because in the next instant, Katie was pulling back and slowing to a stop, allowing Hitomi to zoom off toward the goal where both Richard and Oliver awaited her, both preparing to throw the woman off her game and make a potential steal or incredible save.

"You've got to calm down, Kate," Seaver muttered to Katie, patting her gently on the shoulder before flying off to midfield, waiting for the possesion of the Quaffle to change. Katie remained where she was, trying to recollect herself, but she didn't have time when Richard was able to pull of a miraculous steal, and five figures began to speed in her direction. I'll have to calm down later, Katie thought as the Quaffle went flying in her direction.

"Did you see that steal that old chap made, Maggs? I do think Richard has been playing better ever since being on the Chuddley Cannons. You'd really think that being with such a young team might discourage him a bit, but he's always been an unusual fellow." Clint announced, causing the crowd to cheer even louder in support of the eldest member of the team. "And it seems that the Cannon Nation is supporting him."

Maggie glanced at Clint once more, cocking her head to one side and lifting a lone eyebrow, "Cannon Nation?"

Clint grinned, "I thought it would be kind of catchy. Think so?"

"No.. Not at all."

Katie caught the Quaffle easily and was immidiately off toward the one of the three hoops so she could finally score ten points for her team and get this game officially started off. Unfortunately for Katie, there was minor flaw in her plan.

Hitomi.

Crystal leaned against the railing and leaned forward, blinking repeatedly, making sure she hadn't seen wrong. Hadn't Hitomi just been on the other side of the field? Now the woman was right next to Katie in less than a half a second! There was no way anyone could possibly fly that fast. "It's if she's appearing out of nowhere," she breathed, half believing what she was, or was not seeing.

"Clint! Please tell me you saw Hitomi fly, at break neck speed, across the pitch to get to Katie Bell who now has the Quaffle." Maggie said quickly, pointing at the field in extreme excitement. "Did you see it? Did you see it?"

Clint shook his head, "Anyone who blinked missed that one, and I'm afraid didn't see it, because I was one of many that was blinking."

The crowd us in an uproar, most trying to figure out how the woman had managed to cross the field so quickly and match speed with Katie in little to no problem. Confusion was everywhere and the focus was redirected from the game to the magic Hitomi was making on the field.

"That cheater," Oliver growled after letting a stream of swears pass through his lips. "She's got to be cheating, there's no way she could possibly cross the pitch in that short space of time."

Hitomi bumped Katie's shoulder ruthlessly, in attempts to throw the blonde off her balance, but she was unsuccessful and only continued to bump and shove the blonde. "Give up, Blondie. Your fame ends with this match." Another bump was delivered, but Katie only took it, focusing all her strength and concentration on flying toward the hoops.

Suddenly, the feel of the Quaffle had vanished, and Katie discovered that Hitomi was no longer at her side, but a good quarter of the way in the opposite direction, heading toward the hoops protected by Oliver. Katie's eyes widend as she slowly stopped. How was Hitomi moving so quickly? And how come Katie had been able to feel the woman steal the Quaffle from her?

"And again, Hitomi makes another mad flight pattern across the pitch, as if she's disappearing and reappearing out there!" Maggie announced, watching intently. "I don't know what you're thinking, Clint, but I think things are getting a little crazy out there."

"You're right, I've never seen a Quidditch match like this before," Clint responded, brows furrowed in confusion. "Something about this is totally unnatural."

Crystal quickly called a timeout, urging her team to hurry to the deck. The Cannons were prepared for the coach to blame them for the world's problem and then scream at least one of her lungs out, but they were in for the shock of their lives when neither happened.

Slowly inhaling and exhaling, Crsytal counted to ten before speaking, "You guys aren't doing to bad-- well, I'm not going to lie to you, yeah you're doing pretty damn bad, but the point is, it's not entirely your fault, though most of it is."

"Hitomi's cheating!" Katie hissed nastily, "She's cheating and no one's calling her on it, and--"

"I was getting to that, Bell," Crystal growled, fighting to keep a calm note in her voice. "What we have to figure out is how she's cheating and how we're going to stop her."

"Well it's quite simple really," Richard spoke up silently, more to himself than anyone else, "I was able to discover a curious little charm on her person when I was able to steal the Quaffle." He was silent for a moment as he realized that all eyes were now on him. He cleared his throat before speaking on, "Well, it's a low level speed charm, not detectable by the high level measures taken by the officials. That's all."

Everyone blinked, absorbing what the eldest member of their team had just informed them. Crystal drew breath to speak, but Oliver quickly stopped her, knowing that she was going to explode. "Richard," he began slowly, "is this charm removable?"

"Well of course it is," was his response, as if such knowledge were common sense, though it should have been since they were only dealing with minor magic. "A quick flick of the wand, or even the finger, could remove the dratted little thing."

"Then why the hell didn't you just take care of it before?!" Crystal growled furiously, forcing herself not to whack Richard, repeatedly, over the head. "You've got the quickest hands, so take care of this damn situation and the rest of you get out there and make something happen!"

The team nodded, remounting their brooms and taking flight to pick up where they had left off. As expected, Hitomi was moving awfully fast across the field, to the point where some could barely see her move, and it was putting Katie on the edge. It was fifteen minutes and five scoring goals later that Richard recieved his chance to set things at a fair advantage.

"I don't see how your precious Cannons are going to get out of this one," Maggie commented drily, "The score is 40-10 in favor of the Samurai and to be frank, Hitomi is killing them out there, especially Katherine Bell. The girl hasn't even scored yet."

Clint nodded his head in agreement, "But the Cannons are holding tight and, though the current situation seems pretty hopeless, you've got to remember that Tevin O'Reiley is one of the finest seekers in the league. The Cannons could still win this thing."

"Say what you want, Clint," Maggie began, preparing to argue, but she stopped when she gasped suddenly, her eyes glued to the pitch, "Did you just see that!? Richard just wiped Hitomi completely out!" She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, "Traditionally, the man doesn't have a single aggressive bone in his body."

The crowd roared its support of Ricahard's actions, and waved their brilliant orange banners. It seemed the match had taken a dramatic turn, though they only believed it was because of Richard shoving Hitomi off her broom. In truth, Richard had only done so, so that the charmed broom would crash into the stands where it would be splintered beyond immidiate repair.

"It looks like the officials are calling a brief timeout for Hitomi to retrieve a new broom, but no foul for Richard's actions," Clint observed with a small smile.

Maggie shook her head and grinned, "Well after seeing something like that from him, I doubt I would call a foul myself. You never know what might happen if you do."

Crystal whooped loudly and jumped into the air, probably the only form of praise the team would ever recieve from the coach. "Now finish this match!"

Sorry it took me so long to update.. I'm dead tired and working all the time. Hope everyone's enjoying!