Chapter 3
It was the first match of the tournament. But before the match there was going to be an opening ceremony. The eight teams were to be officially presented to the public. Each team was given a change room to use and each team was not allowed the see the other teams until they played against them. The stadium itself was huge. It had 523 soccer pitches and enough seats to house 6.5 million spectators. It was called the Vita Post Mortem stadium, Latin for the Life after Death stadium.
Each team came out one by one. The first two teams were the Raptors and the Allstars from America. A band played the American National Anthem on the pitch and a large section of the stadium screamed and cheered with their team's flags flying high in the air. A group of American Cheerleaders came out waving their pompoms in the air and grinning at the largest audience they had ever seen. It was a sigh to see, but the performances that followed were to be even better.
The two American teams left the pitch and on came the teams from Australia, the Phoenixes (the girls' team) and Original Sins (the boys' team). The band began playing the Australian anthem, and an Australian flag joined the American one. Another section of the audience cheered.
The English teams were the next teams presented. The English anthem was played by the band and yet another section erupted in cheers. Ben turned to Kai.
"Umm, Kai? I left something very dear to me in the change room. Can I go back and get it?"
"Yeah, sure, Ben. What was it?"
"My, err, Violet Crumble!""
Ben went back into the change rooms and found his bag. He threw his clothes across the room as he searched for his chocolate. When all the clothes were gone, he picked up the bag and tipped it upside down, shaking it hard. No chocolate fell out. Ben dropped to his knees, his hands raised to the heavens.
"Nnnnnnoooooooooooo!"
Ben started to sob, uncontrollably.
"Are you looking for this?"
Ben turned around to see the pretty vice-captain of the Phoenixes, which was the female Aussie team. She was holding the Violet Crumble. Ben sighed with relief.
"Oh, thanks so much," he said.
"Sure, whatever." She unwrapped the top of the chocolate. Ben Froze. She couldn't. She wouldn't, would she?
She did. She took a huge bite out of the bar.
"No, my precious!" Ben yelled. The girl pulled a face in disgust, then threw the Violet Crumble high into the air before walking away. Ben ran wildly toward the airborne chocolate and dived for it, not looking where he was going.
He collided head first into a stern-looking man.
"Watch where you are going! I could have you suspended form your team. You would never …"
The man stopped in mid-sentence when the chocolate bar hit him on the head. He growled before stamping down hard on the chocolate. Before the man could say anything, Ben took the bar from under his foot. He ran back into the arena holding the bar up high. He held it like a trophy won by a triumphant hero.
By that time, the Demolition Boys and the Fearsome Halflings were on the pitch. Everybody turned to see Ben waving his chocolate around. The Russian supporters were almost drowned out by the cheering of the English supporters for Ben's chocolate bar. After his moment of triumph, Ben quickly ran to join his team-mates.
Soon the Opening Ceremony was over and the teams went their separate ways. The Wolves stood at the door rating the girls that walked past. The Phoenixes were the first to leave. They giggled and waved goodbye to Ben as they walked out the door.
"It looks like someone's popular with the ladies," said Daniel, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"Yes. It does look like someone's gaining status in the popularity sector," stated Luke.
Everyone turned to look at Luke and their jaws dropped.
"Huh?" they all said simultaneously.
"Sex appeal."
They saw the last of the two Russian teams leaving through the other door.
"Pity they're not coming this way," said Matt. "They probably went that way to avoid the paparazzi," said Kai sarcastically.
The group turned to see Peter, the coach of the Russian teams, speaking to a large crowd of reporters.
"I apologise for our Russian teams being unable to make a statement to the public. They will have plenty of time after winning the tournament."
The group turned to face Kai.
"You were saying?" laughed Matt.