(A/N) Hey all, time for another update for Grifball: Running Rampant! Sorry about the recent delay, we've lost a few writers lately, and the delay was because we had to cover for them. However, we have a great chapter here for Sophie Rush, written by the ever-fantastic Minaethiel, and hopefully there won't be any more delays for a long time yet!

Enjoy!


Chapter Forty-Nine – The Blame Game

Sophie Rush

Written by Minaethiel


"Dealing with jackasses on every front today. Good thing I have tiger blood and Adonis DNA." – Greg Cambell


Sophie hummed quietly to herself in the arena, seeing-without-actually-seeing what her battling teammates were up to. Practice had started nearly a half hour ago, and the only sound was the occasional clash of plasma on plasma. Sword practice had been going on for fifteen minutes now – probably because the assistant coach was busy talking to someone else – and Anderson had gone to get Ellen. Sophie couldn't possibly guess why at the moment, nor did she care that much. If Ellen was going to be late to practice because of her car breaking down or something, that was her problem. What really piqued her interest was that Anderson had left to actually go get her. After all, weren't the women on his team liabilities now?

Angry now, remembering Anderson's biting words at their initial lecture, Sophie bypassed her opponent's – Alex's – defences, brutally slamming her sword through his chest. Looking back, she probably used more force than was strictly necessary, as the starting Runner gasped in pain and disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing at the other side of the arena. Sophie took the moment to take into account how her teammates were doing. Jason was jogging over to her. With Ellen not present, Sophie, Alex, and Jason had decided to join in as one group and take turns sparring. Meanwhile, Jamie was sparring with Jackson and Kiara was circling Arika.

Jackson's moves had strength behind them, and, Sophie could tell, she wasn't the only one using more force than necessary for those killing blows. This was especially apparent as Jamie gave a surprised half-screech that cut off as Jackson's sword cut through her chest piece. Sophie didn't need Jamie's helmet off to tell that the other woman was ready to bring the hurt on the captain. Sophie really didn't know who she wanted to see go down next.

Kiara and Arika seemed to be the calmest pairing of the bunch, trading blows and dancing around one another, until Arika finally ducked beneath a swing Kiara aimed too high and stabbed the other tank through the gut. The redhead disappeared in a flash of light, calling out a compliment over to Arika as she respawned.

Had the atmosphere not been so tense, Sophie almost would have thought it was a normal day at practice. However, the cracks were there, and she could easily see them. Sure, they seemed small, but to her they seemed like bottomless caverns. One wrong step and she'd fall into them, and Sophie was not going to allow that to happen, not with her family's wellbeing on the line. She had already been afraid for her income after the scandal had first broke. If Rampancy had terminated her contract… Well, stepping a toe out of line again just wasn't an option.

Just as Jason had signalled ready to begin their spar, movement out of the corner of her eye caught Sophie's attention. Ellen was moving easily to stand beside Alex as she and Anderson entered together. From the stiff posture the defender was giving off, Sophie reckoned she was far from being in a good mood.

"Alright Rampancy, listen up! We'll continue with hammer training for fifteen minutes and then get into running and conditioning. After that we'll have a mock game. Teams will be Jackson, Kiara, Sophie, and Jason against Arika, Alex, Jamie, and Ellen. Now let's get to it, Rampancy! Pair off and get to work!"

Picking partners was like picking teams on a playground. Unfortunately, Jackson quickly called Jason over, and Alex obviously paired with Ellen. Arika opted to stay with Kiara to the pair could swap moves they'd picked up, and that left… well, shit. Jamie didn't seem entirely happy either behind her helmet. For a few seconds there was silence. In a sudden rush, Jamie raised her hammer threateningly and shifted into an offensive position.

"Ready to eat the dirt, Rush?" Jamie almost growled out, fingers moving to get a firmer grip on the hilt of the weapon. Clearly the hybrid hadn't forgotten their argument on the day the scandal had broken, and Sophie was positive that their loss to the Droppods had only made the irate team – including Jamie – even worse. Certainly Coach Anderson was less-than-pleased. When Alex's remarks had been plastered to an article after the game, it hadn't done anything positive to sooth tensions.

That, in turn, had made it extremely awkward for Sophie during her talk show interview. Most of the questions were directed towards the state of affairs in Rampancy, geared specifically towards Coach Anderson, Ellen, and apparently Alex, since heaven forbid a scandal go by without him mentioned. A small part of her felt sympathetic towards the runner. Just from this ridiculous circus of press, Sophie was exhausted from the attention. Alex had gone through the same thing plenty more times than Sophie herself had.

That didn't make her feel any better, strangely enough.

Still, training was not the time or place to dwell on thoughts like that. For the moment it was her facing down Jamie. Sophie wasn't all that confident in using the heavier weapon, but she knew for a fact that she was faster than Jamie. That could be all she needed to even the odds. Taking a firm grip, Sophie narrowed her eyes at the Hybrid.

"You'll be eating those words in a second," the Runner promised, not bothering to hide the bite in her words. With a yell, Jamie charged, slamming her hammer down with the intent to crush Sophie's skull. The Runner reacted instantly, hopping backwards in an effort to avoid the splash damage from Jamie's swing. Though successful, it was a close shave, and the impact sent Sophie back a few extra feet.

Despite the separation, Jamie was undeterred and charged again, this time swinging the hammer sideways like a bat, and twirling it in her hands to bring it down in a bone crushing impact. Sophie easily ducked beneath the original swing, but did not have the balance to avoid the second. With a cut-off yell and a flash of light, she respawned on the other side of the room. Sophie could almost see the satisfied smirk beneath Jamie's helmet, and an angry flush rose on her cheeks. Jamie would see that Sophie wasn't one to dismiss lightly.

Bringing the hammer back up, the runner sprinted towards Jamie at the top speed she could manage. Jamie readied her stance, planting her feet on the ground firmly and bringing her hammer up to swing. When Sophie judged herself to be close enough, she slammed the hammer down as hard as she could. At the same time, Jamie also slammed her hammer down, and the blast from both sent the two women backwards several feet. Sophie was the first to recover and pressed the attack, swinging from the side and over-handing the hammer, Jamie was forced to evade constantly, not getting the chance to go on the offensive.

The Hybrid, however, was no easy pushover. In a particularly daring move, Jamie darted forward just as Sophie was recovering for another swing, thrusting the hammer forward to slam into the runner's knee. Sophie cried out in shock, and, in a moment of panic, brought her own hammer up to slam into Jamie's chest to keep herself on her feet. Jamie flew backwards and landed on the ground with an ugly crunch, while Sophie fell back from the impact. A satisfied smile crossed her face as she realized Jamie had disappeared. Serves her right for acting so superior.

Just at a quick glance, Sophie could tell that Jamie was not amused at the instinctual hit.

"What a surprise that you take advantage of a cheap shot, Sophie," the hybrid taunted. "Can't take the heat so you bring somebody else down instead."

That froze the backup Runner in her tracks, and she lowered the hammer.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me just fine," the Hybrid said with an obvious smirk in her voice. The fighting was still raging around them, with hammer booms echoing frequently, often followed by Anderson's advice or that of the other coaches. However everything stopped between Sophie and Jamie as the two teammates stared each other down. Looking at them, it would be hard-pressed to find a shred of team unity between the pair.

"I'm feeling nice today, so I'm going to ignore that remark. Now are we going to practice or are you going to try picking a fight you can't win?"

Though Jamie couldn't see it, Sophie was raising a sceptical eyebrow. She was almost exhausted from all the attention between the media, her family, and the animosity between her teammates. All Sophie really wanted was a half-decent day of practice to take her mind off of everything else. She could still remember the awkward conversation she had with her sister on the day the scandal had broken.


"Sophie! Is it true that you and Ellen are maintaining a secret relationship behind your coach's back?"

The Runner sighed, still unable to believe the hailstorm that had erupted in a matter of hours. She was almost afraid to turn the TV on and see what the news was saying. All of a sudden it felt like there was a giant microscope on her personal affairs. Having Coach rail against them hadn't helped her mood. The sunny skies seemed far too contradictory to Sophie's current mood, which served to agitate her further.

"No, Annie, Ellen and I are not in a relationship. Take my advice: never trust anyone else with secrets that involve you."

That was the first thing she had decided to learn. Jamie and her damned phone! Had the woman just kept track of her things – or, heaven forbid, put a padlock on her locker – none of this would have happened! What was more, the hybrid hadn't even bothered to apologize fully! The entire thing was Jamie's fault and yet she was catching far less flak from the press – if any at all – and was catching equal scorn from the team as Sophie and Ellen were. It just wasn't fair!

Her sister easily picked up on her agitation.

"Do you want to order pizza tonight? Maybe we could watch movies?"

Sophie hesitated, and shook her head quickly.

"It's ok, I'll make us dinner. We can definitely watch those movies though."

At least it was a quiet night. However her nerves were still frayed and she found it difficult to focus on the entertainment presented to her. Eventually, she wished her sister a good night, reminded her to do her homework, and holed herself up in her room. She could only imagine that tomorrow would only be worse, too. By then everybody who was anybody in the industry would have heard, and that included fans.

Unsurprisingly, she found it hard to sleep that night.


Thankfully, Jamie had shut up after Sophie's warning. However the runner knew the day wasn't over yet. As they were all ordered to run, Sophie felt the first stirrings of excitement. Now this she could do, and do it well. She started off in a slow jog first, not bothering to push herself. The others steadily drew ahead, and Sophie grinned. They wouldn't be ahead for long.

Without even a warning, she exploded forward, racing along the track despite the armour she was wearing. Her strides ate the distance up easily, and she bypassed Jason and Jackson without issue. I might just set a new person-

Her thought was cut off at the sudden impact on her shin, and she cried out in alarm before tumbling to the ground, flipping over once or twice. Landing on her chest, the Runner jumped up in fury, whipping around to face the rest of Rampancy.

It wasn't hard to deduce what had happened. There sure as hell weren't any rocks to trip over, and the fact that Jamie was laughing uproariously tipped her off to exactly what had happened. Sophie stalked over to Jamie and shoved the hybrid as hard as she could, sending the other woman stumbling backwards.

"I was fine with being civil today, Jamie, but you're too much of an airhead to leave things alone, aren't you?! Probably like how you were too much of an airhead to keep track of your phone!"

The laughing had stopped by this point, and Jamie stalked right back up to Sophie, barely four inches between them.

"I'm not the one who accepted the dare, now am I? It sure isn't me the whole world is laughing at!"

"And why are they focused on me? Because somebody else fucked up!"

"Hey!" Now Ellen entered the conversation, clearly fuming as well. "You think you're the only one putting up with this? I just got trapped in my building because an entire horde of reporters was blocking the exit! Don't act like you got off worse here!"

"Oh, so now you want to start, Ellen?" Sophie challenged, clenching her fists. "I sure as hell didn't ask you to kiss me!"

"You might as well have since you asked for the dare!" Ellen retorted heatedly.

Sophie rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, I asked for a dare that included us kissing. Oh wait, that was Jamie's idea! So whose fault is it really, Ellen?"

The two looked at Jamie, who stood slightly taller in the face of the two wronged women.

"No one ever made you two lovebirds actually do the dare, you know," she said simply, her eyes narrowing as she spoke.

Sophie lunged for hybrid, but was stopped by Alex, whom had hooked his arm around her waist and was dragging her backwards.

"Not the time or the place," he said harshly.

"And it never will be," Anderson finally said, stepping in. His thunderous glance turned between the three quarrelling Rampancy members.

"I don't want another word out of the three of you on this matter for the rest of the session. Arika, take Jamie and work on conditioning. Ellen and Jason, I want you two to work on tactics for defence against Kiara and Jackson. Sophie, you and Alex can go over dodging tactics. Get to it, Rampancy."

The coach stalked off, but that didn't stop the chastised group of three from glaring at one another before separating to do their respective jobs. Another fight, and another rebuke; all because Ellen and Jamie were too stubborn to see beyond their own noses. Jamie was the one who'd brought them down. Until she received a proper apology, Sophie didn't see any way for training to go relatively smoothly again.

Actually, Sophie didn't see a lot of things going smoothly ever again.