Chapter 5
Mrs. Serenston?
Alfa woke up and raced down the stairs, chuckling as he remembered Wendy's threat of knocking him and Ice out with a spoon the night before. It was good to have a woman in the apartment to keep the boys' idiocy in check. Ice was already downstairs at the table with Kellyn and Sven. Keith was still asleep and Wendy was making breakfast for everybody. They had all been told to report at nine o'clock sharp. He glanced at the clock. Eight o'clock. Why wasn't Keith up yet? As if he had read his mind, Ice started speaking.
"Sven, Kellyn and I wanted to have a bit of fun with Keith this morning, so last night Kellyn snuck into his room and turned the alarm off. There's an overhead ventilation shaft in that's in every room. And all the beds are under them to keep us cool. So we thought one of us could creep through the shaft with a bucket of ice cold water, and douse him awake."
"I'll do it." Volunteered Alfa. Sven got up and filled a bucket with cold water from the sink and sealed it shut with a lid while Kellyn pulled up a map he'd gotten from the superintendent.
"Okay, the three of us will hoist you up from the vent in your room, and you'll turn end up at a three way parting, use the central path and you should wind up above Keith's room. After that, we'll come back down and you'll have to drop down on your bed so that you can pretend you were in your room all along. Clear? Oh and by the way, I'm designating this as a quest, so we'll get the operators to give you something when we leave. But eat breakfast first. We shaft you at eight thirty." Instructed Kellyn.
Half an hour later, the four boys were standing in Alfa's room, hoisting him up into the vent. The second he was in with the bucket, they left the room and shut the door. Alfa started crawling and reached an air vent. Looking down, he saw the sleeping form of Keith in front of him. Kellyn was also in the room, resetting the alarm to make it look like he had slept through it. He gave Alfa a thumbs up and a grin as he quietly left the room, shutting the door right behind him. Alfa suppressed a smile as he unlidded the bucket, and dropped the water. The second the deed was done, he scuttled back to his own room and dropped down, closing the shaft and running to the table.
He shoved the bucket into a cabinet as he sat down quickly to make sure there was nothing suspicious before Keith arrived.
"Quest Clear." Kellyn muttered in his ear. Five seconds later Keith came down and Alfa realized just how much water was in that bucket. He was in his pajamas, soaking wet, water dripping from his hair, a bewildered expression on his face.
The pipes are leaking. Tell the super." He said as he turned around to go to his room and change.
As soon as he was gone, the whole table burst out into laughter.
About an hour later, the six of them were standing in line in the unions training center where rangers usually practiced capturing. Today however, it had been converted into a football field.
"Let me explain the difference between Pokémon football and regular football." Began Professor Hastings. "I'm sure you've all played a game of football in your child hood. The rules are the same. The only changes are somewhat major. The first half played by humans. The second half played by their Pokémon. There are some rules such as machamp only being allowed to play in positions other than keeper. Pokémon may use moves but only moves that require physical contact."
"You will be divided into two teams for the time being. Blue and red. Captains, are well, nobody yet. I will decide the teams for you." Said Chairperson Erma. "Let's start with Alfa; blue. Nage; red. Murph; red. Kellyn; Blue. Keith; red. Ice; Blue. Lunick; red. Solana; red. Sven; blue. Marcus; red. Wendy; blue. Spenser; blue. Joel; red. Ben; blue. Rythmi; blue. Summer; red. This match will be half an hour, eight versus eight. The next half hour will be for your Pokémon. Pick your own captains now."
The two teams separated from each other and began to discuss.
"Cast your votes on who should be captain." Stated Sven.
"You." Replied almost everybody.
"Okay then. Whose good at what?" asked Sven.
Fifteen minutes later, they were all in position. Ice was in the goal. Spencer, Ben and Rythmi were on defense, Wendy and Kellyn were in midfield, and Sven and Alfa were on attack.
The game began with the red side kicking off. They had Joel in the goal, which meant that either the guy in glasses was good or their team had made an idiotic decision. They stuck hard at the core of the blue defense, but then Murph got the ball and decided to give it to Nage. Nage tripped over the pass and allowed Wendy to steal the ball. She carried it far into the red side, Kellyn running all around her, safeguarding the ball. She managed to get into the penalty area and passed it to Alfa, who managed to get past the guards, several of them tripping themselves up in the process of defending, and kicked it to Sven who headed it into the goal.
The score was 1-0 to the blue team. All of a sudden, Joel threw the ball into the air and let Lunick jump up and get it, piercing through the midfielders. He passed it to Solana who slipped it past Rythmi, and then she passed it back to Lunick who was practically at the goal. It was a high kick, but Lunick received it, kicking it into the goal from the air with his right leg. But before he could celebrate, Ice's hand stopped the ball dead in its tracks. He had taken a dive to his right, where Lunick had kicked the ball, his knee pushing Lunick out of the goal and his hand catching the ball.
He tossed it out into midfield as Kellyn took up the pace. He ran forward with the ball Wendy trailing behind him. He passed it to Sven who was hoping for another goal but Joel stopped the ball and tossed it back out to midfield where Summer and Keith took it as far as the goal before Solana tried to score again. Ice stopped the ball with a magnificent save and threw it the whole distance of the field, save a few meters, to Wendy who immediately shot it at the goal. Joel barely saved that shot and had just thrown it to Murph, but Alfa jumped in front of him, stopping the ball with his chest and kicking it straight past Joel, bringing the score to 2-0 to the blue team as the first half ended.
The players complimented each other's performances and attempted to decide which Pokémon would go where in the second half. It was settled that Blaziken, Cranidos and Sceptile would led the attack. Feraligator, pichu, Articuno and Fearow would take the midfield since they were all quick. Latios would be in the goal, Swampert, machop and Luxray would be on defense.
The opposing side had Dodrio in the goal, with Slowpoke, Croagunk, Oddish and Crawdaunt on defense. Attack would be played by Staraptor, Infernape and Meganium. Midfield would be covered by Buizel, plusle and minum.
The blue team kicked off since they had scored the last goal, the scores would stay the same and the red team would have to play hard to try and win. Articuno took the ball into the air and blasted it through plusle and minum to Cranidos. Cranidos immediately took it forward and tried to head-butt the ball into the goal, but Dodrio stopped it with one foot and its beak extended towards Cranidos. Using its three heads, Dodrio juggled and hit the ball into midfield to Buizel, who managed to bring it forward to Infernape.
Infernape took a shot at the goal which was reflected by Latios's right hand and shot right back in by Meganium's pound. Latios dove to the left to stop the ball with a header but Infernape recovered it and shot it in with a mega kick while Latios was still getting up.
Greatly agitated, Latios did some shouting to the other Pokémon and tossed the ball out to Fearow who took it all the way to Sceptile, who attempted to shoot it in but was denied access by Crawdaunt. Blaziken retaliated with a Blaze kick, which Dodrio's left head rolled up its beak, and it's central head hit it out, but Sceptile caught the ball on its chest, rolled it up to its head, and sent it skywards from where Blaziken shot it past Dodrio with a miraculous sky-uppercut using its leg. The whistle blew for time and the match was over.
"You will be told which players and which Pokémon made the team tomorrow. Now, you will resume your regular daily activities." Instructed Professor Hastings.
Alfa and Ice headed to their respective floors. At the top floor where rangers where examining the missions and designating them.
"Good game." Said Lunick, as he boarded a Staraptor and headed out with Solana and Spenser trailing slightly behind him.
"No missions for you today boys." Said Rythmi as she took her seat at the operators' desk ad looked at all crisis reports. "You may as well go home for now, if the professor will allow it."
"Does it matter if we have his consent or not? Chairperson Erma is the one who dismisses us." Replied Kellyn.
"That is true dear." Said Chairperson Erma herself, as she came up from behind them. "And you may leave. The results for the tryouts will be on the board tomorrow." She said.
The next day, at around eleven in the morning there was a scramble to see whose name was on the board for the team. The digital display read out:
Player Position
Alfa Snowbelle Forward
Ben Oblivic Defender
Ice Snowbelle Keeper
Keith Windbone Midfielder
Kellyn Alaric Forward
Lunick Breakstone Forward
Marcus Person Defender
Murph Henstinst Reserve
Solana Hester Midfielder
Summer Livineb Defender
Sven Serenston Forward
Wendy Brendonson Midfielder
Pokémon
Latios Keeper
Swampert Defender
Infernape Defender
Luxray Defender
Feraligator Midfielder
Meganium Midfielder
Articuno Midfielder
Buizel Midfielder
Blaziken Forward
Cranidos Forward
Sceptile Forward
Next to each name in the human category, there was a lock symbol. Alfa guessed that it was covering the little C that would indicate who was captain. 'Probably Sven.' He thought to himself.
"Everybody upstairs for the captain announcement." Ordered the professor. Everybody rushed upstairs regardless of whether they were in the team or not. The moment they were in line, the professor keyed in a passcode which removed the lock symbols. Alfa was looking at Sven's name. There was nothing next to it. Slowly he moved up the list until he was stopped dead in his tracks. The symbol was next to his name.
"Congratulations, Alfa!" exclaimed Chairperson. Alfa looked around. Sven himself was missing from the line. All of a sudden, Wendy stepped forward.
"Professor, you've gotten my last name wrong. May I correct it?" she requested.
"That's what it says in our record, but of course."
"You might want update the records then." Said Wendy as she walked up to the console and keyed in her name again; Wendy Serenston.
Immediately after this, she opened the glass roof with a command as Sven flew over it, dropping envelopes from a Staraptor. Alfa picked up one addressed to him and read it;
Alfa Snowbelle,
We expect your company at our wedding. I already changed my name, so be there. The wedding is one week from now, on the 15th of July. The reception begins at twelve.
Sven and Wendy Serenston.