And…the usual disclaimer: Disney owns the Mighty Ducks. The name, the characters, Orion, the Varsity players, and Linda are not mine. However, I do own any characters you don't recognize…i.e. Ken's parents, Ken's grandfather, Elaine, Brian, Sky, Tony, Sonja, etc.
Annie918 – glad you liked it! And thanks for all the encouragement; I promise I won't abandon this story. I couldn't do it anyway, I'm too deeply involved.
Flat*Out*Crazy – Yeah.,.I dunno…cheese could be made in goats for all I know. I don't even know if I got the Latin right…I speak French.
percussion – yeah, I liked the idea of them all muttering in different languages…my roommates and I do that on occasion.
And I love you three for reviewing!!! You guys rock!
And if you're taking the time to read this, you rock too! Drop me a line and let me know what you think…or just say hi! I don't care; I just get really happy when I have emails in my inbox! Who doesn't?!
Okay, I know I said I'd post this chapter a couple days after the last one…two weeks later…! I decided I didn't like where it ended, so I wrote another chapter to go along with this one, since it's so short. Plus, life has been crazy the last several weeks, and I've got a Cellular Biology exam and an organic chemistry exam both at the end of the week. Augh. So, of course, instead of spending time actually studying, I'm working on my fanfics! Go me.
The crowd roaring around him, Kenny Wu stood at center ice in the Olympic Amphitheatre. Poised in his opening position, Kenny, despite his young age, understood the full weight of what he was about to do. The opening notes echoed through the arena and Kenny took off down the ice, leaving all fears and doubt behind. He completed his opening jump combination, a triple Lutz – triple toe-loop, flawlessly and the crowd cheered its approval. He began the connecting moves down the ice to set up for his next jump, a double Axel. Or – He could do it. He had to do it. Kenny took a deep breath and jumped into a triple Axel.
As he came down from the jump, he felt his right ankle twist painfully under him just before he fell. A silence came over the crowd and Kenny got up, knowing he had to go on. He pulled into a camel spin, his next element, and tried to calm himself and get his mind back in the program. He set up for his next jump, a triple loop, but having lost his concentration on the Axel, opened his hip and fell on the landing. Kenny made it through two more spins and some footwork before his next jump, a triple flip. He went through the set up but felt his ankle give way right before the take off. He hadn't even gotten off the ground. Again Kenny pulled himself to his feet, knowing he couldn't stop. He had to finish.
He managed to pull off three more jumps in his program, a triple Salchow and two triple toe-loops, but the other jumps were too painful on his ankle. The crowd applauded him for finishing, but Kenny barely heard them as he took his bows and skated off the ice. Sonja helped him off the ice and over to the bench and Kenny began to unlace the skate on his injured foot. A backstage attendant ran over with a pack of ice and Sonja began examining his ankle.
Kenny kept his head down, pretending to be occupied with the ice pack as his scores were announced. He didn't even bother to listen; he knew his chances were gone. He was furious with himself. He had never skated that badly in his life; not even the time he'd had the stomach flu. He'd just humiliated himself in front of 6,000 people, not to mention how many more watching on TV. And he'd humiliated his coach and his family. He looked up and found his family in the stands, his mother's face shining with tears, his father holding her, and his grandfather simply sitting, his face set, his expression unreadable.