LAST TIME ON GALACTIK FOOTBALL

"Did that hard drive mention anything about super human strength or something?"

"Help me get her to the medic room."

"Will she be all right for the next match?"

"Tia please, we don't have to do this."

"Let's do this!"

THE HEARTS SORROWS

Rocket stumbled through the darkness of the corridors. Common sense told him that he shouldn't have turned down here but it was the only passage that didn't have mental fans shoving each other in a riot or armed robots coming at him. But now he was lost. He had escaped them for now but how long would he last, he wasn't at full strength himself and could feel his energy draining from him. Everything was quiet at the moment and used this opportunity to kneel down and laid Tia against the wall. He sat down beside her as he took a few moments to catch his breath and think of something. People had regarded him as a person who would come up with plans very quickly but right now his mind was drawing a blank. A moan distracted him from his thoughts long enough to look back at his girlfriend. Her body was shivering like mad and beads of sweat dripped down her face. For a second her eyes fluttered open and stared into his.

"Rocket!" She whispered urgently and reached out her shaking hand towards him. Greedily he grabbed her long slender hands and held onto them it tightly.

"It's ok, I'm here." He comforted, pushing back a piece of stranded white hair from her face. As soon as he place the strand behind her it back out of place again because the shivering was making it hard for anything to stay in place. A tiny whimper came from her mouth and Rocket brought her back into a hug. He could feel his shirt between to soak with the amount of sweat that was pouring down her forehead.

"Rocket they... they gave me something." Was all she could utter out of her mouth? It took the midfielder to realise what she was talking about. His grip tightened as he pulled her closer to him. They drugged her! They fucking drugged her? Rocket thought angrily, his mind now clouded with anger. The sound on metal tapping the floors caught his attention and he wanted so badly to go and beat the living crap out of them but Tia's condition only seemed to get worse and he knew he had to think about her health first.

"Come on." He whispered, putting one of her arms around his shoulders and one of his around her waist. Lifting both of them off the ground he guided her further into the darkness.

Tia didn't know where they were going, some tunnels look familiar, some she had never seen before and the others just seemed to blur together. She tried her best to keep up with her boyfriend since she knew he couldn't carry her everywhere but everything just seemed to be ten times more difficult. A sudden force within her struck her hard and she had to stop, leaning over vomit came from her mouth. Her head fell back as the weight of her head became too much and her eyes rolled to the back of her head, blacking everything out for a few seconds. Only the sound of Rockets voice began to welcoming her back to reality seemed to snap her back and her focus was back on him. So many emotions thunder through so fast she wasn't able to keep track of them all. Even some memories seemed to flash in her mind that she never recognised and the rest seemed blank, it was like she half knew him and half didn't. But right now she knew she had to trust him. She listened to the sound of comforting words that came from his firm mouth. When he head didn't feel as dizzy as it had been they began running again. However, in her condition and they had to stop multiple times to get her able to catch her breath. By the fifth time they had to stop she collapsed against the wall and was breathing heavily.

"Hey it's ok I'm here." Rockets soft voice spoke softly, rubbing the side of her cheeks. Despite the feel of his touch that she felt such a longing for she did not feel much better.

"It hurts." She cried watery leaks sprang from her eyes, it like there were a million nuclear explosions going on in her stomach. Rockets face twisted in pain when he saw what the drugs were doing to her. Mentally slapping himself, Rocket forced himself to get a grip of himself.

"It's ok Tia, I'm here." He whispered gently, swiping the sweat away from her forehead to stop the liquid blinding her sight (though there wasn't much eyesight anyway) it wasn't like he could do much, he couldn't even wrap a jacket around her to quick her warm. The sudden sound of footsteps echoing down the opposite hallway made Rocket's head snapped in the direction of the sounds but it also seemed to be coming from the opposite directions as well; they were trapped. Crap! Rocket thought –not to mention a whole lot of other curses- he hadn't even realised that he had scooped Tia back up into his arms and was holding him tightly against his chest. Beads of sweat were beginning to drip down his own forehead. He felt his back pushing further and further against the wall, trying to think of something but nothing came. The sounds got louder and the footballer began to see the shadows grow bigger. In the next second he didn't know what happened. He was in the corridor one moment, seeing the shadows grow bigger and then next someone's arm was wrapped around him and pulling him back. He was about to fight back until he saw a familiar face staring at him. Artie! He shouted out loud or would have if the hand was covering his mouth only performing a muffled, he was a little worse for wear but still he looked fine. The pirate placed a finger on his lips and made a shushing noise. Nodding his head was the only response that Rocket could give back and the sudden marching back to echo through the walls. His heart beat began pounding harder against his rib cage as he could hear the machines marching past. A small whimper echoed through Tia's mouth and everyone's hear stopped. The marching outside had suddenly frozen and everyone held their breath for the first. It had only been a few seconds but it had seemed like years to the people in the hidden room when the robots started marching on again. Only when the sound had completely disappeared did everyone let out a breath of relief. That was when the tight hand that had been keeping his mouth shut loosen and the midfielder was allowed to turn around and face the rest of pirates; coming face to face with the leader himself.

"Rocket! What's wrong with Tia?" Sonny demanded to know, helping Rocket to get over his shock.

"She mentioned something about them giving her something; I think she's having withdrawal systems." Rocket answered back bluntly and firm, keeping on his own toes with Sonny. The man stepped forward and placed his hand on her forehead, checking the girl's temperature. After a few moments of inspecting the ill woman, Sonny came up with a quick decision. "Alright men! Listen up." Sonny commander, making everyone stop what they were doing and look at their leader; a man everyone admired. "We're dropping the recon mission." At this announcement some of the pirates couldn't help but object to this sudden order but they were soon quiet again when they saw the serious look that had darken his face. Even Rocket, who wasn't even a pirate, was standing still and waiting for Sonny to give him orders- during the part where he wasn't trying to comfort Tia. "We're going to focus all our energy on an assault force."

"Stubborn old man. Stupid pirate instinct. Selfless bastard." These were the curses that Mei had to put up with as she sat relaxing against the pillows of the bed, while her fiancé continued to pace up and down the room.

"D'jok! Will you calm down; you're making me feel dizzy!" Mei had to shout at him. She couldn't take it anymore with his constant pacing and his annoying mumbling about how much an asshole is father was; not to mention the walking back and forth was actually making feel a little dizzy.

"I know Mei, it's just... grr, just frustrating!" He exaggerated, as he flung his arms wildly. After what seemed like he was getting rid of the rest of his energy and he slumped on to the bed. Crawling across the sheets, Mei made her way up behind him and gently placed a kiss on the base of his neck before she snuggled her face into his back. She wasn't sure she knew how to comfort him, in other stressful situations she would allow him to fuck her brains out but it didn't seem right for this situation.

"He's going to be fine D'jok." She tried to comfort him but these words seemed to have the opposite effect since D'jok jumped back on to his feet again.

"How can we say that Mei? He's fighting somewhere underneath Genesis against those robot's and..." He stopped short when Mei stood up and stomped her foot hard on the floor to cause a loud bang – it was either that or slapping him around the face.

"There's no need to have a go at me like that, I was only trying to help!" She screamed at him and tears came from her eyes as she stormed out the room. D'jok could only stand there wide eyed; he had not been expecting that. It was then that Micro-Ice came into the room and saw his friend frozen like a statue.

"D'jok! Are you all right?" He questioned, his voice seemed to break through the freeze spell that had settle upon the striker and bring him back into reality. "Hey what did you say to Mei, she looked pretty upset when I walked past here." The joker of the team added, jumping on to his bed in to a comfortable sitting position as he waited for his friend to talk.

"I need to go and see Mei." Was all D'jok could say as he marched out of the room to find where his beloved had gone off to?

"You're welcome." Micro-Ice shouted after him before the door could shut close and silence him.

Meanwhile, deep in the pits of Genesis, the whole underground was being pulled apart by technoid robots and men under the influence of Harris as they searched for the Queen of the sphere and the challenger who had kidnapped her from their master's procession; he was not in a good mood right now. Stuck in the middle of all this, two guard robots were searching through the dark parts of Genesis, tossing aside old crates that had been thrown down here because no one knew where to put them.

"I got a bad feeling again Harvey." One of the robot guards said to his companion as they did a scope around the halls. His body was already dented from the fights he had to break up in the stadium and was now searching for the boy who had stolen his bosses' prize; luckily he was not programmed to feel pain.

"Not your stupid feelings again Harvey!" His partner shouted from behind him, taking time out from his search to kick his team mate in the butt, making a huge crash as the robot was pushed into the wooden crates and squashed most of them in the process. "We've already been through this; robots are not programmed to have feelings." The partner told the other robot off. In shame and covered with wood, the robot lower his head like a child trying to hold back tears. But once again his instincts were about to be proven right as the wall behind him suddenly exploded and through the smoke, men jumped out with lasers and swords as they smashed their way through – the leader in the front of all this carnage was Sonny Blackbones himself. The last people to enter the scene were Artie and Rocket, who had been forced to hold back with Rocket carrying Tia in his arms and Artie still being a bit to wound to fight properly. The two young men looked at the ground around them and were glad to not have faced the pirate's wrath themselves. But once again the group was moving fast and the two men had to use all their strength and effort to keep up with them. They had to fight their way through the gun shots and metal heads blocking their way to the safety of the black manta. Their destination was almost upon them as they saw the exit and a view of the pirate's ship. Suddenly two more robots jumped down from the ceiling above them and were about to shot until Sonny slipped a device out of the sleeves of his jacket and through it at them. When the device activated, it became a magnet and the energy forced the robots together so much that they basically crushed into one another. Jumping over their bodies, the men made their way to freedom. Only the leader and his second in command stay beside the tunnel entrance to hold off the oncoming fleet.

"Get Tia to the ship!" Sonny ordered as he focused his aim on the metal people that were making their way towards them. Rocket only stopped for a second to give the pirate an admiring look before doing what he was told. As soon as they jumped on to the ship Rocket was directed towards the medical centre. Meanwhile, Bennet was ordering the pirates to get the ship ready but not to take off. Glancing a quick look over his shoulder to see everyone had made it safety on to the ship. "Corso let's go." He yelled, grabbing his friend by the shoulder and pulled him back just in time before a shot from the robots almost got him. Both men began running, trying to stay low as they ran across the streets of Genesis and avoiding the shots that were being fired behind them. The pirate leader signalled to the pirates in the front view to take off forcing the two friends to run faster and jump on to the back of the loading dock just in time. Without another second to waste, the pirates flew into the air flew straight to safety.

"No!" Harris cried out, slamming his fists on the key board as he witness through the video cameras Sonny Blackbones and his pirates escape with his prize. His angry reaction caused damaged to the inner hard drive and blacked out the screen. Taking a few deep breathes, the man behind all this corruption tried to calm himself down. However, behind him Mike could not help but let a small smile spread across his face as he cheered that the girl had escaped successfully, thought he worried about her health. Evil laughter began to echo through the room as Harris voice crackled with sudden delight, sending icy cold shivers down Mike's spine. Of course I don't need her anymore, Harris thought to himself. Sure enough it was a hard blow but he had already collected what he needed from her. Soon the galaxy would be bowing to his feet.