"You're drawing with the Red Tigers! The Red Tigers!" Stressed Aarch. All the Snow Kids looked down at the floor, unable to keep Aarch's angry gaze. "It's as though you don't realise how important this match is! Forget what the bookies say, you can and you will lose this match if you continue to play like this!"
Aarch heard a sound from behind and turned to see Yuki and Micro-Ice help Thran through the door. Thran was limping and had his arms around Yuki and Micro-Ice's shoulders.
"How nice of you to join us," growled Aarch sarcastically, "Where the hell have you three been?" The three of them were silent for a moment and then Yuki opened her mouth.
"Sir," she began, "it was…"
"My fault," interrupted Micro-Ice, "I convinced Thran and Yuki to go for a walk before the game. I didn't realise that the snow storm was coming." He explained meekly. Thran and Yuki acted as though about to respond, but Micro-Ice raised his hand to silence them.
"You went for a walk?" Screamed Aarch incredulously. "Don't you realise that I'm responsible for you! If you'd run off and got killed then I'm the one in trouble! How could you be so stupid?" Thran, Micro-Ice and Yuki looked down at their feet, unable to take Aarch's tirade of anger.
"Aarch, maybe I should have a look at Thran's ankle," soothed Dame Simbai, walking over to Aarch.
"Yes," he muttered and then louder, "Yes, take him away, get all of them out of my sight."
Dame Simbai helped Thran to limp out of the room and Micro-Ice and Yuki followed them out sheepishly.
Aarch sighed deeply and then turned to his players. "You lot can win this, just play like you mean it."
The Snow Kids got to their feet and hurried out of the locker room.
"Don't you think you were a little hard on them?" Asked Clamp once they had all left.
"I don't think I was hard enough," answered Aarch stepping over to the view screen.
"I think its just sprained, but I'll have to take a closer look," smiled Simbai looking at Thran's bare ankle. In the other room Micro-Ice and Yuki sat, looking exhausted. Yuki put her hand on Micro-Ice's knee and smiled at him, gratefully.
"Thanks so much for taking the blame," she said softly.
"No problem," answered Micro-Ice, "I told you that I'd save you."
"Oh yes," Yuki replied seductively, "and I told you, that I would thank you."
She put her leg over Micro-Ice so she was straddling him and began to kiss him passionately. She stroked her hands through his hair and Micro-Ice felt as though he were in heaven.
"Nice tackle Mei, now lets attack. Don't stop!" Ordered Aarch.
Mei dribbled around a midfielder and passed the ball up to Mark. Mark turned his foot to a precise angle and the ball rebounded perfectly. Straight to Tia, confusing a Red Tiger defender.
Tia leapfrogged over a defender assisted by plenty of flux. She landed on the defenders shoulders and used him to power herself into the air.
She span gracefully, performing an elegant back flip and slotting the ball comfortably into the back of the net.
"A second goal for Tia of the Snow Kids! It's 3 to 2! Snow Kids have taken the lead!" Screeched an excitable Callie Mystic.
Rocket gave Tia a tight hug and then drew away looking embarrassed. Tia leant up and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
"Aww, Rocket and Tia really are the heart of the Snow Kids." Smiled Callie.
"With ten minutes left to go, can the Red Tigers pull it back?" Asked Nork.
The ball shot into the air and Rocket immediately took it, cart wheeling over his red adversary. Then he kicked it to Rose. Rose ran to goal, narrowly avoiding Red Tiger defenders. She punted the ball at goal but it was just deflected. Rose shook her head and sprinted off back down the wing.
"Bad luck Rose," Said Aarch, in her earpiece. The attacker sprinted past Rocket and headed up towards the Snow Kids goal.
Mark saw it coming, Mei was too far away. Derek was going to screw up again.
"Ahito!" He yelled in his earpiece, "watch out for Derek!"
Derek tripped, again. But Ahito was ready, scooping the ball up into his hands and grinning.
"Derek keep your eye on the ball," demanded Aarch, unaware of anything out of the ordinary to do with Derek.
Ahito kicked the ball back out to Mei. Mei was thinking about Derek. One mistake is an accident. Two: a bad day. But three? Three definitely meant something.
Mei passed the ball down to Rocket. Rocket crossed the ball to Tia, who sprinted down the pitch.
"Here goes Tia, will she score a hat-trick?" Gasped Callie.
Ti was racing towards goal, when suddenly she was thrown to the side by a vicious tackle. As though hit by a train she flew through the air, before slamming onto pitch, skidding a few yards.
Rocket burst across the pitch towards her, pushing past a couple of Red Tigers.
"Tia?" He gasped urgently. She moaned slightly, sitting up. She took his outstretched hand and Rocket pulled her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" He asked her and she nodded slowly.
"The Snow Kids have been awarded a free kick, which their captain, Rocket, will take," announced Callie.
Rocket took a few steps back from the ball. He glanced over to Tia who was rolling her shoulder, clearly in pain. He looked across to the defender who had hurt Tia and the defender smirked back at him.
Rocket clenched his fists and the Breath began to swirl around him. He ran towards the ball pulling his leg back and shot the ball hard. It was off target.
The ball was far to the right of the goal and the Goalie began to laugh. He stopped laughing when the ball rebounded off the defender who had hurt Tia and flew into the goal.
"Wow! Rocket scores by rebounding off the Red Tiger's head!" Laughed Nork.
"That will teach him to leave Rocket's girlfriend alone!" Giggled Callie. "It's 4-2 and it looks as though the Snow Kids will be representing Akillian in this year's Galactik Cup."
"Coach?" Asked D'Jok entering the room cautiously.
"What is it D'Jok," Aarch answered coldly, "I though you'd left my team."
"Coach," D'Jok began, "without the Breath I'm nothing. I'm just holding the team back." D'Jok looked as though he was about to cry and Aarch felt his anger residing.
"I'm going to go see my dad," D'Jok said, "maybe I can become a Pirate."
"What? You can't leave the Snow Kids D'Jok," answered Aarch, completely shocked, "it's where you belong."
"Not anymore," sighed D'Jok, "tell Mei…" he choked on his words for a moment, "tell her I'm sorry."
With that D'Jok left, slinging a bag over his shoulder and heading in the direction of the astroport.
Aarch sighed, today had not been a good day. He was too old to be having such mood swings, between rage and misery.
"Aarch," Said Clamp, breaking Aarch's train of thought, "the match is over. The Snow Kids have won!"
"I knew they would," Aarch answered without much emotion, "But now the hard part starts and to be honest I don't think they have much of a chance."
Aarch swept out of the room, leaving Clamp to congratulate the exhausted Snow Kids.
"You'll have to stay off that ankle for a bit Thran," explained Simbai, helping Thran to his feet and handing him a pair of crutches.
"Can I still go to the party?" Thran asked tentatively.
"Of course you can!" Laughed Simbai and Thran hopped quickly out of the room.
Thran entered the Akillian pub and was met by the entire Snow Kids team and all their parents.
"We're through Thran!" Laughed Micro-Ice, hugging Thran tight, "we're in the cup!"
"Well I can't play for a bit," muttered Thran, "Thanks to you and Yuki!" He glowered. Yuki giggled putting her arm around Micro-Ice and giving him a peck on the cheek.
"What do you mean, D'Jok's gone!" Repeated Mei, shocked at what Aarch had said.
"He went to go see his dad," explained Aarch, "I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"I guess," mumbled Mei, "I just don't see why he wouldn't tell me he was leaving."
Tia sat at the edge of the pub, not joining in with the festivities. A noise behind her made her look back to see Mark towering over her.
"Tia?" He asked, "are you alright?"
"oh… I'm fine… I just don't feel very well…" mumbled Tia.
"You should go see Dame Simbai," replied Mark, concerned.
"No…no I'll be alright," answered Tia. "Why aren't you celebrating with your parents?"
Mark visibly stiffened, pulling away from Tia and getting to his feet. "They couldn't come," he said bluntly.
"Why…" Tia began but Mark cut across her.
"They just couldn't come alright?" He asked angrily, "I'm going to bed."
"No, Mark, don't," Tia called after him, feeling bad.
"I'm tired," he replied, walking out of the room.
"What's up with him?" Asked Rocket, walking over to Tia.
"Oh, nothing," She replied, as Rocket sat down next to her.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, putting his arm around the petite blond. "You took a pretty bad foul back there."
"Don't worry about me," she smiled back at him, although inside she was still feeling somewhat queasy.
"Hey look the group choices are on!" Gasped Rocket. Everyone shushed each other into silence and the TV was turned right up.
"It's time to find out the groups," announced Nork, beaming a dazzling smile at the cameras. Behind him an enormous glass globe held the 32 balls of everyone in the tournament. "All the qualifiers are over and now the wait is over, the Galactik Cup group stages are about to begin."
The silence rang in everyone's ears as they gazed open-mouthed at the screen. A powder blue ball rolled out of the machine.
"In group A: the Snow Kids!"
The entire room burst into smatterings of conversations that were quickly silence as everyone waited to see their three opponents.
An orange ball rolled out of the machine, followed by a purple one and finally a fungus-like green one.
"The Snow Kids will be facing…"
The entire room held their breath, waiting to discover their upcoming opponents.
"The Wambas, The Pirates and The Xenons!"
Hope you liked it!
D'Jok's gone! (For now)
The Snow Kids know their group!
Yuki's back!
Please, read and review!