Can that one reviewer please stop using all CAPS? It's quite offensive, you know? Just use small letters, because using all capital letters means you're shouting rudely. Please be nice with your reviews, okay?
Once again, this is another game that I made up. Surely it won't be as exciting as Donut Race and Groggy Ring… But still, I hope you like it.
Chapter 17: Skater Ball
"And the winner is Donoban and Gina!" shouts Tim with joy. The Foxy pirates are jumping with joy too.
"WE WIN!"
Ryu and Ren angrily stomp towards them with weapons in their hand, ready to beat up those cheaters, but their friends stop them from doing anything harmful.
Jun and Anna sadly walk back to the group. "We loss…" says Jun sadly. "I'm so sorry, Ren."
"It's not your fault, sister. Those dirty pirates dare cheat using that kind of devilish power!" Ren tells her.
"We crossed the finish line first, so we win!" says Gina. "You cannot complain about it!"
"Right! The point of this race is to cross the finish line!" says Foxy. "Losers just have to accept it!"
"So we have won! Now our boss shall choose a member from the loser's team!" says Tim. The shamans are once again struck with fear. Each of them wonders in their mind which of them is going to be taken.
Foxy slowly raises his finger. Ryu gulps in fear, thinking, "He's going to pick me for sure! With such a cool hairstyle, why wouldn't they?"
"I knew his eyes are on me!" Chocolove thinks in his mind. "Surely he wants a great comedian like me!"
"Oh god, please don't pick me again!" Lyserg says quietly to him in fear. He doesn't want to be hugged by an unknown pirate woman or by an ugly man again.
Foxy begins to speak. "I will choose… Anna Kyouyama!"
Anna's eyes widen in shock and all her friends' mouth drop down to the ground. Yoh is struck the most, "WHAT!"
Some Foxy pirates approach Anna and take her by the arm, dragging her away from the shamans. Yoh runs forward to get her back, but the pirates stop him from advancing. "NOOOO! ANNA! DON'T TAKE HER!" he shouts.
"It's no use, kid!" says a pirate. "We took her fair and square!"
"Now you are part of the Foxy crew!" Porche says to Anna as she gives her the mask that the Foxy pirates wear. "Swear your loyalty to the Foxy Pirates!"
Anna simply says, "Yes, I swear loyalty."
"Why would they want a dangerous girl like her!" says Horo. "This doesn't make sense!"
"Miss Anna! How can you swear loyalty to them!" shouts Ryu.
"There's a good reason I picked her!" says Foxy. "Do you see those blue and red monsters that she orders around? How great would it be to have powerful beings like that? That's why I chose her because she is the only one who can order them around!"
"So our captain has taken Anna from the Shaman Pirates!" says Tim. "We shall now begin the next game!"
Anna raises her head and looks straight at Yoh, and she shouts out, "Yoh, if you want me to be with you forever… THEN HURRY UP AND WIN THE NEXT GAME!"
"Don't worry, we will!" replies Ryu. "We will beat up those pirates real bad in the next game and win you back!"
"You can count on us!" says Chocolove.
-
"Okay! The court is ready!" Tim announces into his megaphone. "We shall begin Skater Ball without further delay! I'm sure you all heard of basketball and know how it goes! Skater Ball is just exactly the same, except the players must wear roller skates! This adds a new twist to the game!"
"Are you two good in this?" Ryu asks Manta and Chocolove.
"Of course I am!" replies Chocolove. "Do you know that famous basketball players are usually African Americans? I'm no different than them! In fact, my master said that I may even become the second Michael Jackson! And then skating is one of my hobbies when I was younger. I remember the time when I went skating on the highway and then hopped from car to car…"
"So Manta, how good are you in sports?" Ryu asks Manta, ignoring Chocolove.
"I hate to say it, but I'm really bad… That's why I'm short… But skating I know a little, because I have some friends back in school who know how to skate and they taught me some," replies Manta.
"Hey! Listen to me!" Chocolove shouts at them.
"We shall now introduce the players of both teams!" says Tim. "On the Shaman Team, we have Bokuten no Ryu, Manta Oyadama (did I get it right?), and the comedian wannabe Chocolove!"
"I AM a comedian!" Chocolove corrects him.
"And on the Foxy Team, we have the master mechanic Sonieh, the speedy Cheetah Man, and the octopus merman Takoman!"
"YEAH!" cheer the pirates.
"They don't look all that tough compared to the previous contestants," says Ryu.
"But that guy in cheetah-skin shirt looks like a tough one," says Chocolove.
"And that octopus merman… This is not good…" says Manta.
"Hurry up and put on your roller skates!" the referee shouts at the shamans. "We're about to begin!"
Ryu puts on his and tries to move around on it. "Wooo… A bit awkward to move around, but I'm sure I'll…" He slips and falls forward onto the ground.
"What's wrong, Ryu? I thought you said you're good at it," Horo calls him from the audience.
Manta puts his on and tries to move around, and ends up crashing into a pillar that is standing in the middle of nowhere. Chocolove, on the other hand, is indeed as good as he said he is; he is skating very fast around the ring while humming a happy tune to himself.
-
Now the contestants are inside the ring, ready to begin the game. Ryu takes note of the referee, and he is glad that it's not the same referee as the one in Groggy Ring. "The objective is simple! All you have to do is throw the ball into your opponent's basket!" says Tim. "Just like playing a basketball, you must dribble as you move around! The first to score three points wins! And just like Groggy Ring, no weapons are allowed.
"I hope this referee is fair," Ryu thinks in his mind.
"Okay, Ryu… Here's the plan," Chocolove whispers to him. "You and Manta defend the opponents while I take the ball from them. After I oversoul, I can move very fast, so surely they can't catch up with me."
"Sounds good, as long as you don't mess up."
The Foxy Team laughs at them, because they heard their plan. "Hehehehe! Do you think you can truly outrun me?" says Cheetah Man. "I grew up in the wilderness, wrestling with wild animals for living! Cheetah is my favorite animal, so I dedicated myself into acting like one! They are the fastest animal, and I'm no different!"
"Oh yeah? Surely you do not know the powers of a shaman!" talks back Chocolove. "You'll go dizzy when you see me run!"
Chocolove and Cheetah Man stand facing each other while the referee stands in the middle with the ball in his hand. "Get ready to catch the ball now." And then the referee throws the ball into the air, a bit towards the direction of Cheetah Man. He jumps up high and easily caught the ball.
"Hey! You threw it towards their side on purpose!" Chocolove shouts at the referee.
CM rushes very fast towards the basket while dribbling the ball. Ryu and Manta stand in front of him, ready to stop him. "I won't let you pass!" says Ryu.
Quick as a flash, Cheetah zips besides them so fast that they didn't see him! He jumps towards the basket and readies to slam the ball into it! Just then Chocolove zooms in front of him and snatches the ball away! "What!" gasps CM.
"Sorry, but I said I'm faster than you!" says Chocolove. He rushes to the opponent's basketball and jumps up, but suddenly, long tentacles reach forward and wrap around him! "What's this!"
"I caught you!" says Takoman, who is the one grabbing him. "I'm a very special type of octopus merman who has a very stretchy skin!" He pulls Chocolove back to him and Sonieh takes the ball from his hand and skates towards the other basket.
"They're here again!" says Ryu. "This time nobody gets past me!" Ryu opens his hands wide to block Sonieh's path. When Sonieh got near, he suddenly bounces up high into the air. "What!"
Sonieh falls towards the basket and slams the ball into it! The referee blows his whistle, signaling that the Foxy Team earned one point. "Our team earned a point!" shouts Tim. The Foxy Pirates cheer with joy.
"How did he jump that high?" asks Ryu.
"Hehehehe!" laughs Sonieh. "Did they not say I'm a mechanic? I added some cool stuff into my roller skates! I have added springs under my skates to help me bounce up high like just now!"
"That's cheating!"
"This isn't cheating. This is well prepared! Hahahaha!"
After that, they begin the game again. Ryu quickly tosses the ball to Chocolove, who is just standing in front of the opponent's basket. But before the ball reaches his hand, Takoman grabs it with his long tentacles and heads for the other basket. Ryu angrily charges at the merman and tackles him, making him drop the ball. The referee blows the whistle and says, "Violation! You shouldn't do physical contacts on other players!"
"Sorry…" apologizes Ryu.
They continue with the game. Takoman passes the ball to CM, who makes a run for the basket. Chocolove quickly zips in front of him and grabs the ball. "Sorry, but I said I'm faster than you too!"
He runs for the basket and throws the ball. He is very sure that it'll go in when suddenly CM rushes to the basket and pushes it away, making the ball fall to the ground. "HEY! YOU MOVED THE POSITION OF THE BASKET!" Chocolove shouts at him.
"There's no rule saying you can't move the basket around!" replies CM. He takes the ball and runs towards the basket. He moves so fast that the others can't catch up with him, and he easily scored another point.
"Incredible! Our team scored two points in a row!" says Tim. "It's clear who the winner is already!"
The other shamans are getting more and more worried. "Oh no… We're losing for sure!" cries Lyserg. "I don't want to be taken again!"
"You mustn't lose! Ryu, Chocolove, and Manta! If you lose, then I won't forgive you!" Ren threatens them.
"C'mon! You can do it! I trust in you guys!" shouts Yoh. "You must win back Anna!"
"They're all rooting for us. We must not let them down!" says Ryu.
"I know! We have to try with full force!" says Chocolove.
They begin the game again. This time, Ryu makes it towards the basket, but Sonieh gets in front of him to block him. Ryu quickly throws the ball over him, but it is instantly grabbed by Takoman's long tentacles. Chocolove hops onto Takoman's still extended tentacle and skates up along it, much to the merman's surprise. Chocolove snatches the ball from his hand and instantly dunks it into the basket!
"WOW! Chocolove performed a swift and amazing move that made his team earn one point!" exclaims Tim. "Looks like this game won't end anytime soon!"
"You rock, Choco!" cheers Yoh.
CM has the ball and moves swiftly towards the basket. Manta, who has been doing nothing but standing in front of the basket all along, trembles in fear as CM comes closer and closer. "I must be brave! I must get the ball from him!" Manta says to himself.
Maybe it is because Manta is too short, because CM didn't see him standing in front of him and he crashes into Manta and trips! He lost his grip on the ball and Chocolove takes it from him and heads for the basket. His swift speed prevented the others from catching him and he made another dunk.
"The shamans earned two points!" exclaims Tim. "Now comes the most exciting part! Only one more point for both teams before the winner is decided!"
"Curse you, brat…" says Cheetah Man angrily. "How dare you trip me…?"
"Sorry…" apologizes Manta.
Ryu walks up to him and says, "You're cool, Manta! You sure helped us big time!"
"Being short may have a good point after all…"
Finally, the end is approaching. Sonieh has the ball and, from afar, throws it towards the basket. Fortunately, it hits the board behind the basket too hard and bounces back towards the ground, right into Manta's hand. Takomon and Cheetah Man both rush at Manta, making him drop his mouth open in fear.
Suddenly, Ryu lifts Manta into the air and hurls him over the two opponents and towards the basket! "What is Ryu doing to his own teammate?" says Tim. "Can he be…? No… This isn't possible!"
The thrown Manta, with the ball in his hand, drops towards the opponent's basket! The Foxy Pirates are shocked and the other shamans are cheering happily. Sonieh jumps towards Manta to grab him, but Chocolove tackles him and says, "You are only goal-tending if you try to grab him!"
Manta flies straight into the basket, with the ball in his hand!
"S… Sc… SCORE!" shouts Tim.
TO BE CONTINUED…
That's another game down! Yes, this chapter is sort of rushed. It's mostly because I want to get to the final game fast, which will be starting in the next chapter.
Sonieh is one of the choices given for Luffy to choose in the manga and anime. Takoman and Cheetah Man, on the other hand… I'll explain first: I have never seen the anime version of Davy Back Fight, but I've heard that there is an octopus merman and a cheetah-looking guy in it, so I decided to use them, even though I have never seen them. Heck, I don't even know their names! So I made it up.
And please, listen to me for once… Please make your reviews longer and more descriptive instead of just a single short sentence. I have pleaded for this in the previous chapters, and almost nobody is listening… Pretty please, okay?