Hi! Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed, I'm glad that most of you liked the chapter. This is the second chapter (ok, that was a bit obvious ;) ) Please review and tell me what you think, it's interesting to hear what people's opinions are of the story, merry Christmas:)
As Commander Root stormed into the executive meeting room at Police Plaza a hush went over the waiting officers. Holly hurried to the back and slipped into a chair beside Foaly, who was there too.
"Any news?" She asked him.
"Yes, but I'm not sure that Julius is going to like it," Foaly replied warily.
"Stop talking at the back!" Root ordered. "Unless you have something important to say."
"Well actually I do," Foaly stood up. "I have been informed by Chief Scarlet, the head fireman, that the blaze at the Eleven Wonders Apartments was started deliberately.
A collective gasp went round the room, and Grub Kelp squeaked and fell off his chair.
"Control yourself Corporal!" Commanded Root, as several people laughed. "This is serious. A firebug is on the loose in Haven and we have to be on high alert," he paused. "Corporal Kelp, you've been on prison guard duty lately, take Frond with you and try to get information out of the inmates. Someone must know a person we can investigate." Grub and Lili Frond retreated slowly out of the room, looking decidedly nervous at having to interrogate a bunch of hard-man criminals by themselves.
"Uh, Commander?" Trouble raised his hand. "Will all this 'high alert' stuff affect the Police League Crunchball match tomorrow?"
"No Kelp, the match will go ahead as normal," Root assured him.
"Good thing to, I've been training for weeks," Holly whispered, and the meeting was adjourned.
"Don't forget to be at the pitch early tomorrow," Trouble Kelp reminded his team (he was team captain).
The next afternoon Holly hurried to Haven's only park which was situated in the centre of town. The autumn leaves were dry and crunchy on the park floor. Even though they weren't exactly real trees (what plant is going to grow at the centre of the earth?" they still did what normal trees on the surface would do.
"Short!" Trouble yelled. "We thought you weren't coming!"
"Well then you thought wrong!" Holly replied happily. Crunchball was one of her favourite sports and she felt honoured to have been picked to play second Dunker on the team.
Today the Haven Hotshots Police Team were playing the Atlantis Allstars Police Team, an ugly bunch. As the supporters found their seats Holly's stomach churned nervously.
"Stop it!" She told herself. "Everything's great, you've trained lots and eaten breakfast –you're going to be fine." But somehow she couldn't shake her ill feeling, this was a bad sign as fairy intuition is never wrong; then the game began and Holly forgot all about it.
"Hello!" Boomed the announcer, "and welcome to the last Police League game of the season, and a very important one it is too, as the Haven Hotshots," the commentator paused as cheers and boos filled the crisp (even if it was recycled) afternoon air. "The Haven Hotshots have won five games, as have the Atlantis Allstars."
"Boo!" Shouted Holly, though she was drowned out by the cheering of the team around her.
"So this game is very tense –now let's go!" The announcer waved at the Referee who was a goblin who must have been pumping iron for at least two hours a day to get muscles that big.
"Let the game commence!" He cackled, and they were off.
Holly pulled down her safety helmet and set off along the track with the bal under her arm, the Throwers from the opposite team chucking paintballs at her all the way, trying to make her drop the ball. Once she neared the middle of the track the Allstar Pouncers started to run side to side to block her way –but she passed them. At the end of the track she threw the ball to Chix Verbil who tried to kick the ball successfully into the net but failed, so Holly threw the ball back down the track over the heads of the Pouncers to Trouble who set off towards her as she ran back. And so the game continued in this way, which was very confusing as their was two Goalies at each end who had to keep the opposite teams goals out, and let their own ones in.
"Whoever made this confusing and pointless game up should be punished," thought Commander Root (quite forgetting that he had once been a Crunchball champion himself) as he watched from the stands and ignored the scary faces that Commander Newt of Atlantis was shooting at him.
"Half time!" Shrieked the referee-goblin, and two thoroughly exhausted and paint-splattered teams collapsed at the sidelines.
"Remind me why I play this," Holly gasped.
"Team!" Trouble geared up for a pep talk. "This isn't good enough!"
"Oh shut up! You sound like Commander Root," Chix Verbil complained, "anyway, have you seen the size of their Goalies, they must be half troll, surely!"
"I wish you would stop eying up the Goalies," Holly remarked as Trouble snorted, "and catch the ball! You've missed half my throws!"
"Prepare to play!" Bellowed the Referee. And the banana-sellers who were walking around the stand trying to sell fruit went away.
Holly took up her position once again, the all too familiar churning returning to her stomach.
"Go!" Holly had the ball, she was running, she was nearly at the middle…wait a minute, what was that? Someone had thrown a banana skin onto the track and there was no time for her to stop herself sliding. As she fell Holly grabbed onto the only thing that was there to try to balance herself, a Dunker –who was from the opposite team- as she went down, so did he.
"FOUL!" Screamed all the Allstar supporters in the stands. "CHEAT, CHEAT!"
"Wheet!" Blew the Referee's whistle, as he held up a red card. Holly couldn't believe it! She was being sent off!
"No wait! You don't understand, there was a banana skin…" Holly gestured to the spot where the skin had been but it was gone. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a nasty Allstar Shooter shove the banana skin in his pocket.
"You are off!" The goblin yelled to Holly. "Bring on your substitute," he said to Trouble.
"No! Not Frond!"" Trouble buried his head in his hands. In the stands the Allstar supporters howled mercilessly. They had never seen anything so hilarious as Lili Frond try to put on Holly's Dunker helmet without messing up her perfect hair. "You can't send Holly off just for that!" He looked at the Dunker who was sprawled theatrically on the track groaning with an evil twinkle in his eye.
"Leave it Trouble," Holly sighed dejectedly, she couldn't bear to watch the remainder of the game and so she wandered slowly back to the changing rooms, which were on the other side of the park (no prizes for the park designer). As Holly got further and further away from the pitch it got quieter and quieter, until Holly was walking through a silent wood.
Suddenly Holly's pointy ears quivered as a branch snapped behind her. As a hacking cough could be heard she demanded "Who's there?" A flick of a match, and then fire. Someone had set the changing rooms alight! It was amazing how quickly the surrounding area went up in smoke as the dry leaves that had been lying there all season curled and turned black in the heat.
When people began to scream and smoke could be smelt the Commander knew that something was wrong. He stood up, all the players had stopped on the pitch and were turned towards
"The changing rooms!" Yelled Chix Verbil, running off.
"Holly!" Trouble followed as Grub slumped to the floor in a dead faint. Root went down to help him, he didn't want to be there when they pulled what was left of Holly from the fire –as he was sure they would-
3 hooded people emerged from the flames and made their way towards Holly. Her field instinct kicked in and she reached for her gun –which of course wasn't there as she was wearing her sports clothes-
"D'arvit!" Cursed Holly. "I ask you to drop your weapons and surrender, I'm the LEP!" She continued nevertheless.
"Hark at her!" Snorted one of the arsonists, in a voice Holly recognized but couldn't quite place.
"I'm the LEP!" Another mocked in a baby voice.
"Oh shut up!" Commanded the tallest, who seemed to be the ringleader, "and seize her! We can't have any witnesses to our little Bonfire now can we?"
"No, no, certainly not," chortled the other two, rushing forward eagerly. As Holly opened her mouth to protest the smallest guy reached up and sprayed something in it. She was out for the count.