Enneagon
Chapter 9: At Each Other's Throats
Hmmmmm that title, who could I possibly be talking about? ::cough:: EchoIce ::cough::
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[Hexagon Academy, Briox]
[9.21.2065]
"Good, that's good!", Tigerheart yelled encouragingly from the side of the track, watching Bumblestripe pass by on his sixth lap. "You have two more, then you're done!"
Two more laps. Two more laps, Bumblestripe hissed at himself as he slogged by on the track, trying desperately to conceal his side stitch. The track ran by under his feet in an orange blur as his feet stirred up little dust clouds around his ankles. He'd run six laps already. Six laps, a far cry from what'd he'd been able to do a few weeks earlier.
He reached the start line. "Lap seven!", Tigerheart yelled. "You're almost there! One more lap, keep pushing!"
"Goddamn, he sounds just like Ashfur", Bumblestripe muttered to himself.
"I heard that!"
It took all the strength Bumblestripe had left to haul himself over the start point after the eighth lap. "How does the sauna sound?", Tigerheart asked sympathetically, watching Bumblestripe rub miserably at his legs. "That always makes me feel better, especially when Cloudtail makes us do the really long runs."
Bumblestripe heaved up his water bottle.
"Hell yes."
...
[Hexagon Academy, Briox]
[9.21.2065]
"...I can't with those two, they're impossible, I swear to StarClan…"
Breezepelt pushed himself into a sitting position among the pillows, looking up at Ivypool on the other end of the bed. She was sitting on the edge of the mattress with her feet dangling off the side, angrily bundling her platinum blond hair into a ponytail. "The way they behaved, you'd think they were children! Little fucking children!"
She stuffed her left foot into a soccer sock and began yanking it up her leg. "All they do-," she paused to give the sock a particularly vicious tug, "-is fight! We're supposed to be a goddamn team and they're over there squabbling amongst themselves. How is our midfield supposed to get anything done when those two are constantly trying to kill each other?"
Breezepelt chose that moment to look not at her, but at the sock, which gave a slow, ominous ripping sound before tearing straight down the middle.
"Dammit", Ivypool seethed, kicking the shredded remains of sock off her leg. "Now I'm going to be late."
…
Sure enough, the second Ivypool reached the soccer field, it had already started up. Lionblaze came scurrying over at top speed the instant he saw Ivypool's platinum blond ponytail bobbing near the door, looking very much like a man in over his head.
"Ivypool!", he exclaimed. "Thank StarClan, they're driving everyone up the goddamn wall."
"Well then, maybe everyone should grow a pair and tell those two to knock it off", Ivypool grumped, slinging her backpack off of one shoulder and onto the ground. "What is it this time?"
"No idea. They were trying to kill each other before they even got through the doors." He inclined his head to a spot near the ball nets, where the distinctive forms of two girls were snarling at each other like a pair of territorial cats. Echosong was visibly furious, puffed and bristling with rage. Icecloud, on the other hand, was calm and mocking, dancing out of Echosong's reach while sing-songing insults.
Ivypool gave a long, suffering sigh and massaged at her temples. She could already feel the oncoming migraine.
"Why the hell did I agree to the team captaincy again?", she muttered irritably as Lionblaze tried to sneak away. "HEY! Lionblaze! Don't think you're off the hook, you're a captain! This is your problem, too!"
"Yes, but unlike you-", he gave her a hard poke on the forehead. "-I'm not blessed with a terror-inducing resting bitch face. Bossing people around is more your area of expertise."
"You're lucky that you're a captain, or I'd have killed you for that."
"Nah, I'm lucky that you can't be bothered to do all the captaincy paperwork by yourself."
Their conversation ended like that, because Echosong chose that moment to let out a blood-curdling shriek of rage. Both captains spun around just in time to see Echosong lunge at Icecloud with a howl.
"Oh fuck", Ivypool swore, sprinting across the turf to break up the fight. Getting between the two spitting girls was one of the few moments she ever felt thankful for Brokenstar. She doubted she would have been able to break the two of them apart otherwise.
"What in the fuck-", Ivypool was able to edge out as Icecloud swiped at Echosong from behind her back, "-are you two even fighting about?! Great StarClan, calm down!"
Echosong calmed first. She smoothed her coal-black braid down with one hand, looking disgruntled. "She insulted-", Echosong began haughtily, before Icecloud cut her off, "Don't even bitch, you started it."
"Don't you swear at me!", Echosong snapped back. "With a mouth like that, it's no wonder you're from a dungheap."
"Who the fuck are you to call my hometown a dungheap? Last I checked, your bitch of a mother is the one proposing the budget cuts!"
"Stop acting like you know politics, you imbecile."
"How about you shove it up your ass, princess."
"You-"
"Alright, that's enough", Ivypool interjected, once again rubbing furiously at her aching temples. "The two of you need to get this little problem," she gestured at the two of them pointedly, "under control. Or I will talk to Ashfur about getting both of you removed from the team. Are we clear?"
Both of their mouths fell open.
"Removed from the team?", Icecloud sputtered, staring at Ivypool like she'd grown a second head. "You can't be serious."
"The two of you are disrupting team chemistry, which is my responsibility as captain. So yes. I'm dead serious. Get a fucking grip."
When Ashfur sent his team to get water at the end of practice, everyone's jaw was on the floor. The only exception was Bumblestripe, who appeared to be too sore to do anything but groan miserably up from the ground.
"Removed from the team?", Berrynose asked cautiously, no doubt wondering if Ivypool was about to blow up again. "Don't you think that's a bit harsh?"
"No", Ivypool snapped shortly, irritably pushing a sweaty hank of hair out of her eyes. "They're messing up the whole team's harmony. I don't know about you, but I can't focus with those two bitching at each other. Not to mention that the midfield's been a mess for the past two days because those two can't chill out."
"I mean yeah, but Icecloud's been a part of this team since we were freshmen! It doesn't seem fair to boot her off just because some new girl is disrupting the peace."
"Don't think I haven't considered that. I'm no more fond of Echosong than anyone else, but it takes two people to argue and Icecloud is just as responsible for the fighting as Echosong is. What would be really unfair is if Lionblaze and I only kicked off one person out of favoritism. Isn't that right, co-captain?"
Lionblaze, who had been in the middle of opening his mouth to disagree, suddenly looked slightly ashamed of himself.
"I suppose", he said, sounding disgruntled. Cinderheart next to him snorted in amusement.
It was in that moment that Ashfur decided to stroll into the middle of the circle, clipboard in hand. "Alright, all of you shut up", he interjected bluntly, cutting off all remainders of conversation. "So I have some important news for you tod-" Ashfur cut off mid-sentence. "-hold on a sec, can someone go check on him? Is he okay?" He was gesturing to Bumblestripe, who was still on the floor.
"Ah...coach…", Scorchfur said awkwardly, tugging at one of his cornrows. "He had running practice this morning."
From the expression on Ashfur's face, Ivypool couldn't tell if he was unimpressed or trying not to laugh. He remedied this by turning back to his team, leaving the exhausted Bumblestripe to stew in muscle soreness behind him.
No one could tell whether Ashfur was just choosing to ignore the sour-faced Icecloud and Echosong in the back.
"Alright then", Ashfur said, as if his talk hadn't just been interrupted by the fact that his goalie was a puddle on the floor. "So- I had an announcement. Right."
He rifled through the papers on his clipboard, and pulled out a piece of paper with a large "LAS VEGAS" sign on it. A few people on the team exchanged confused looks, but kept their attention on Ashfur regardless.
Ashfur held the paper to his team with a look of pride on his face, not unlike a child presenting a mud cake to a mother. "I got us into the Vegas Cup!", he announced proudly, waving the paper around. "I thought it might be getting a little boring to play the same few private schools over and over again, so! I got us into this tournament! And it wasn't easy, when I tell you-"
"Wait a sec", Toadstep called from the back. "Vegas? We're going to Las Vegas?"
"For soccer!", Ashfur admonished. "And for nothing else. But yes, seeing as we can hardly participate if we don't go, now can we?"
"Yes!", Berrynose whooped, standing up from his seat and grabbing the paper out of Ashfur's hand. "Blah blah blah…..October 4th through October 10th! Six whole days, and in Vegas, holy shit-"
"Don't get too excited", Ashfur retorted, snatching the flyer back out of Berrynose's hand. "You still have to do schoolwork. Your teachers will be preparing off-campus work folders for each and every one of you."
"Oh, come on", Toadstep groaned.
"Sorry kiddo, I don't make the rules." Ashfur, looking around at the suddenly glum faces of his team, decided that would be the perfect time to drop his final bombshell.
"HOWEVER."
The ears of every single one of his players seemed to suddenly perk up in interest.
"Since this is such a unique opportunity, and also because Firestar thought you deserved to have some moral support at your games, each of you may choose one person to go with you."
The chaos promptly broke out again, and Ashfur, fighting to be heard, raised his voice. "Did you hear me?", he bellowed. "I said ONE."
End Chapter 9
Aaaaah, I love using real tournaments I've played in as inspiration. A note about the Hexagon soccer team: because the private school league is far too small to have a proper tournament system (in this AU at least) each school's soccer team is actually classified as a club team. Which is why the Hexagon team can play in a tournament that normal high school teams wouldn't be allowed in.
Azra out!