Disclaimer: I don't own Supa Strikas. All rights go to Strika Entertainment, the owners of this cartoon. If you haven't heard of it before or watched it on TV, then simply type "Supa Strikas" into the YouTube search engine and watch some of the videos. I hope you won't be disappointed by what you find. Some of it is absolute gold! And just so you know, CJ stands for Cool Joe, except for when the other players are talking to him. Anyway, enjoy!
It was a normal day at Strikaland. The men in red were going through basic drills, and all was going fine until Coach asked them to split into attack versus defence. There was no problem with the attack, but defence was left one man short.
"Hey, dudes, anyone know where Blok is?" Shakes asked. "I can't see him anywhere!"
This made everyone stop training and look around them for any sign of their missing defender. True to Shakes' word, Blok was nowhere to be found. North Shaw even offered to go and look for him, but he returned alone.
"Don't worry, Shakes-man. Blok can look after himself, and he certainly isn't the type to go missing or be late without an explanation," Rasta said.
"In fact, Blok has just sent me a text explaining why he's late," Coach spoke up. "In fact, he's even bringing the reason with him. It may surprise you though."
Shakes wondered what Coach could possibly have meant by that, but shrugged it off and got back to training. But just when he was going to get a bib and start training, though, because that's when Blok arrived, accompanied by a small, excitable black Labrador on an extendable lead. The puppy was barking and trying to run up to the other players.
"Hey, Blok, you're back!" Shakes laughed, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw the dog. "Who's the furry friend?"
"Hergor rebar gar. Hebar regar abagar hegarar," Blok replied, making everyone look to Shakes, as he was the only one in the team who could speak Brislovian (Blok's native tongue) and tell them what Blok had said.
Shakes translated with, "It's my new dog. I got him from the pound last week and he wouldn't let me out of the house unless he came with me."
The group laughed at the story. "You had to take the dog with you because it wouldn't let you out of the house?" CJ laughed. "Man, that dog must really like you if he doesn't want to leave without you, man." Blok grumbled in an annoyed and embarrassed manner as he tied the puppy's lead to Coach's chair.
"I heard that a dog is man's best friend," joked Twisting Tiger, "but I never knew that they could actually stop you from leaving the house altogether!" Then he saw that the dog had gone, and had taken Coach's chair with him, and gasped. "Wait a minute, where's the dog gone?"
A second later, they heard a succession of happy-sounding barks coming from the defence end of the pitch, and North Shaw laughing. When they went to investigate, they found North collapsed on the floor, laughing hysterically, while Blok's dog was licking his stomach like ice cream. If you looked closely, you could see that North was trying to get him to move, but the dog was having none of it, or maybe he'd run out of the energy needed to push him away.
"Whoa there, little guy, get out from there! Hahahahahahaha! Get your furry head out of my jersey, doggy dude! It tickles! Hahahahahahaha! Why aren't you lihihistening to mehehehe?"
Seeing this, the rest of the team collapsed into helpless laughter at the partly-adorable, partly-hilarious scene before them. "You were right when you said that the dog must like him a lot to not let Blok leave without him," Rasta laughed. "Come here, man." The dog instantly stopped licking North's stomach and ran to Rasta, who picked him up and hugged him. The rest of the Supa Strikas stared, dumbstruck.
"Hey, Rasta, how come he listened to you," North started, "and not me?"
"What can I say?" Rasta smiled. "I have a way with animals. Dey always listen to me when I tell dem to do someting. Now, let's make sure that Blok's dog doesn't cause any trouble."
"Oh, that's easy," CJ dismissed, lowering himself to the ground so he and the dog were at the same level. "OK, little guy, time for a bit of obedience training. Sit." The dog licked CJ's face, and Shakes had to bite his knuckle just to keep from laughing. CJ glared at him.
"Sit down, doggy dude," North demanded, pointing to the ground. From then on, it just became a shouting match, where everyone except Rasta, Shakes and Blok yelled at the dog to sit. The dog in question lay down, put its paws over its eyes and whimpered. Rasta didn't blame the poor dog; after all, he felt like doing the same thing.
"Stop yelling at the little guy, you're scaring him," Shakes ordered, stopping everyone in their tracks. He then calmly attached its lead and led it to the bench, where he attached the lead to a nearby metal pole. The rest of the team stared again at exactly how easily Shakes was handling the dog. The two just . . . clicked.
"It's a dog, not rocket science," Shakes replied, to answer the question on their lips, so to speak. "You just have to be patient with it, and whatever you do, don't yell at it. Hey, Blok, do you have any treats I can give it?" Blok quickly handed over a small plastic bag of doggy treats, and Shakes fed one to the dog while rubbing its head. "Don't worry about them, little guy. Come with me."
"Nice one, Shakes," El Matador complimented. "Now, how do we train the dog to get stuff for me? Stuff like, you know, getting my water bottle that I accidentally left on the other side of the field, maybe?" Shakes and the rest of the team facepalmed at El Matador's classic vanity.
"Hergor bagar. Hegar tar," Blok pointed out.
Shakes translated with, "For commands to work, you'll need his name. It's on his collar." To test it, Big Bo went over to the dog and checked the collar.
"It's name is Loki," Big Bo told the team. Blok whispered something to Shakes, who laughed.
"Blok said he called the dog Loki because it causes a lot of mischief, just like the ancient Viking god it was named after," Shakes said.
"I agree with Blok," Twisting Tiger spoke up. "That dog is rather sweet, but it's a bundle of energy and won't stay still. Just look at it now." When they looked, they found the dog chasing its own tail, barking happily. Luckily, Loki's lead hadn't detached from the pole Shakes tied it to.
"Gotta admit, Loki's pretty cute," North mused, staring at Loki. But his daydreaming was cut short by Coach.
"OK, boys, we've had enough distractions thanks to Blok's new puppy. Let's try out attack versus defence." And so the team ended the practice with attack versus defence practice, and penalty shoots at Big Bo to test their accuracy, and to see how well Big Bo could defend against nonstop footballs coming his way. Loki appeared to be fine until the penalty shootouts started. That's when he started barking and straining on his lead. Suddenly, the clasp between the collar and the lead detached by itself, and Loki sprinted towards Blok and the team. Then he changed course and went for the balls, appearing to try and chase one before accidentally kicking it into the goal. Big Bo managed to save it just in time, but the scene was just too comical for the Supa Strikas not to laugh.
"You were almost beaten by man's best friend, Big Bo," Shakes sniggered. "Or should that be man's biggest soccer rival?"
"Don't annoy Big Bo about that, Shakes," Twisting Tiger joked. "If the press knew about this, his reputation would be ruined forever!"
"Boys, training is over for today," Coach ordered, although there was a twinkle in his eye. "Blok, you'd better make sure that Loki stays as close to you as possible. I don't want to chase after a dog all day." Blok nodded, attached Loki's lead and walked off.
A few minutes later...
"Are you sure that taking Loki into the locker room is a good idea, Blok?" CJ asked, wrestling with Loki for his trainers, which Loki had quickly grabbed off CJ's bench and ran around the locker room with until Big Bo quickly grabbed the shoes from him and gave them back to their rightful owner. Unfortunately, Loki had grabbed them back just as CJ was putting them on, resulting in the tug-of-war game with a difference. "I don't want my favourite trainers having bite marks in them because your crazy puppy's running loose."
"He still doesn't know how to fetch my water bottle for me," El Matador complained, although he was too tired to actually do anything from all the drills. "Dogs are trained to fetch stuff for people, so he should know this stuff! Do you have any idea how far away it was from where we doing drills? I was drying out from the inside out there. If I'd stayed there any longer, I'm sure I would have turned into a shrivelled up raisin."
"Stop complaining 'bout it, El Matador, the heat wasn't that bad," CJ disputed, finally putting his other shoe on. "You're just saying that cause you were thirsty."
"Let me see if he can fetch water bottles," Rasta said. "Hey Loki, can you get that water bottle for me?" Instantly, Loki swiped El Matador's water bottle from his bench and swiftly delivered it to Rasta, who threw it to Blok, who passed it to Twisting Tiger. From there, it was a frantic game of Piggy in the Middle, only this time there were two piggies instead of one. {The 'piggies' were Loki and El Matador, in case you haven't guessed yet.}
"Blok, you should definitely bring Loki here more often," Shakes yelled, to the agreement of the other Supa Strikas. This got the attention of Loki, who bounded over to Shakes and started nuzzling his legs like a cat. This tickled slightly, so Shakes grit his teeth and moved his legs so he was sitting cross-legged on the bench. By then, he had changed into his normal tracksuit and hoodie outfit. All that was missing were his shoes and socks, and just when he had let his feet touch the floor and was about to get his shoes, he was interrupted by feeling something warm, wet and . . . tickly on his left foot. Shakes looked down and saw Loki licking his foot. He clapped his hand to his mouth to suppress his giggles, but a few slipped out before his hand could make it to his mouth. He felt a few more almost get out, but he bit his tongue so his teammates didn't hear. This is torture! How do I get him to stop? Shakes thought. He was about to tell the others that Loki was tickling him, but that's when Loki licked Shakes' other foot. After that, it was like a dam broke - only it was much, MUCH louder.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LOKI, GET OFF MY FOOT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SHOO! SHOO!" The other Supa Strikas looked to see where the noise was coming from and what was causing it, but they didn't expect to find Loki happily licking Shakes' foot, and Shakes laughing uncontrollably. Shakes was even crying tears of laughter and banging his fist on the wall! "LOKI, STOHOHOP IT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EEK! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
Quickly, CJ pulled Loki off Shakes, whose face was now as red as Twisting Tiger's fiery hair and was gasping for air like a fish out of water. "Hey, Shakes, are you OK?" Twisting Tiger asked, worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Shakes panted. "Guess I just got Loki'd. Anyway, I need to wash Loki's drool off my foot." The team laughed.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to call it 'getting Loki'd' when it would be much better to call it 'being tickled senseless by a puppy less than half your size'?" North asked. The rest of the team groaned.
"Yeah, but saying that you 'got Loki'd' is quicker and better, and now, since we are one of the few people who have met Loki, only we know who you are talking about when you say it like that," El Matador argued. "And besides, you're certainly one to talk, North. You were Loki'd today too, just like Shakes was, and all of us could hear it from the other end of the field!" By now Shakes had just come back from washing his feet, and was just outside the door when he'd heard what El Matador had just said.
"I didn't bang my fist against the wall, or beg for mercy. With that reasoning, I'm pretty sure I coped better than Shakes," North maintained. By now, Shakes decided to make himself known, and walked into the room. "Uh oh," El Matador said nervously. "North, you better run! Shakes looks pretty mad at you!"
"Got it, dude! Thanks for the heads-up!" North shouted, as he took off out of the changing rooms.
And a chase began in earnest, with North running like a man possessed, with Shakes hot on his heels. The other Supa Strikas ran after them to either see what was going to happen next (definitely Twisting Tiger's idea) or to break up a potential fight (Rasta). The chase ended when North slipped on a wet patch on the floor that he hadn't seen (but everyone else had) and went flying. Shakes dragged him back into the locker room by the ankles. From there, uncontrollable laughter could be heard, and most of it Blok could recognise as North's voice. Peeking in through the wide open door, he could see Shakes straddling North whilst tickling his stomach and armpits, yelling, "Apologize, North! This is your last chance! If you don't, you will suffer the consequences!"
Blok quietly chuckled at the scene in front of them. It wasn't often that he saw his teammates loosen up like that, and it was either adorable, funny, or both of the above. Still chuckling to himself, Blok went home, handing Loki one of his favourite treats to shut him up so nobody would hear them leave. (However, it didn't stop him from taking a sneaky pic of the situation on his phone to blackmail North with later. This situation was too good not to cash in on, anyway!)
Hi, guys! FoxtrotTango543 here, giving you my first ever Supa Strikas fanfic! Now, I know I said I was thinking about a Sing! 2016 fanfic, but the idea just hit me one day and I couldn't forget it, so here you go! Until then, see ya!