"You know, you guys never fail to surprise me with your immaturity."
"I'm freezing and starving under here!"
Protector of Silence
Chapter Fifteen – Snowball Fight!
"KELLYN!"
Kellyn exploded out of his sleep as he felt something leap on top of him. He raised his head from his pillow and saw Keith bouncing on his hands and knees in the space between Kellyn's top bunk and the ceiling.
"Wake up Kellyn!" Keith cheered, bouncing at the base of the bed now. The springs in the mattress caused both of them to be thrown up into the air every time Keith hit it.
Kellyn shot him a furious look that plainly said: "What do you want now?"
"Look out the window!" Keith cheered, standing up in a stoop to avoid hitting his head off the ceiling "It's snowing!" With a yelp of joy, Keith star-jumped off the bunk-bed and promptly face-planted the floor "I meant to do that!"
Kellyn turned and looked out the window next to him. Beside him, Luna was washing her paws. When she decided her paws were sufficiently clean, she too walked to the window.
It had been a three weeks since Starlight had first arrived at Ranger School. Now they considered him and Shadow rue members of the family. November had turned into December and now winter had truly begun. December 17th brought the first snow of the year.
"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Liam and Keith cheered in sync.
"Ow!" protested Starlight, Kellyn guessed he was rubbing his ears "If you're going to yell, yell in the common room!"
Kellyn heard the door open and close and guessed they must have taken Starlight literally. Two seconds later, this was confirmed as whoops of joy sounded from the common room. After about a minute of non-stop celebrating the two giddy preteens burst back in the dorm.
"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" They both yelled in the same tone as before.
'Apparently yelling so loudly they could bring the Brass Tower crumbling down for a solid minute doesn't stop them from acting like Mews on sugar-high' Kellyn thought.
He peered over the edge of the bed and saw the pair of them running around like lunatics, throwing coats and hats linked arms and half-trotted, half-skipped their way towards the door.
"Hold it!" Starlight sat up on the mattress in the corner where he'd been sleeping for the last three weeks "You guys do realise you're still in pyjamas, right?"
Liam and Keith ducked their heads with embarrassment before rushing back to their bunks to find some warm clothes. Isaac, Starlight and Nick all sweat-dropped. Kellyn and the Pokémon just blinked at the stupidity, like they couldn't believe that someone could actually be as ridiculous as Keith or Liam in snowy situations.
Once they were in suitable attire, the two tried to dash out the door again, only to be stopped by Starlight and Nick, baring scarves, gloves and hats.
"Why do we have to wear all this stuff?" Keith complained as Starlight wound a red scarf around his neck.
"Because if you catch a cold, you'll pass it on to all of us" Starlight answered "And I don't want to be sniffling all the way through next week's Christmas party."
Kellyn eyes widened. He suddenly remembered the Christmas party that Kate had been planning for Christmas Eve in a week's time. The holidays had begun, meaning that there were no lessons for the students to worry about and they could sleep in as long as they liked...well, if Keith and Liam didn't have a say in the matter.
"Alright! Done!" Liam announced impatiently, pulling on the other black glove Nick had given him "Now everyone, I expect you all out there in the next half an hour! Or I'm going to make like my Sinnoh cousin Barry and fine you a million Pokédollars!"
He bolted out of the dorm in full snow protection, followed by Keith.
Kellyn groaned, knowing Liam would live up to his words, and reluctantly kicked the duvet off him. Sitting up, he rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at the others. Nick was staring at the door in exasperation and Starlight was apparently thinking down the same road as Kellyn, rooting around in his bag of borrowed clothes for something warm enough to wear outside. Ponte was still asleep and Isaac was sitting on his bottom bunk, reading a huge book. Kellyn raised an eyebrow at him. Isaac caught his gaze.
"What?" he asked "Just a little light holiday reading."
Kellyn raised an eyebrow. 'That's light? Who are you, Hermione Granger?'
He then frowned at Nick. What was he doing with that pillow? The brunet half-climbed the bunk-bed ladder and pointed at Ponte's sleeping form that was snoring loudly. Kellyn grinned, clutching his own pillow. He climbed down the ladder of his bunk-bed and crept over to Isaac and Ponte's. Using the rungs on the side of the bunk-bed, he climbed up so he was standing on the wooden beam at the base of Ponte's bunk. He looked at Nick who was standing on the top rung of the ladder, pillow raised in the air. They silently counted down from three.
Three...two...one...GO!
Two pillows came whizzing down to meet the sleeping Ponte. The turquoise-haired boy yowled with fear and surprise as Kellyn and Nick proceeded to whack him with their pillows. After a few seconds, when Ponte realised he wasn't going to be beaten to death, he began to laugh uncontrollably and clumsily fight back with his own pillow. After a few minutes, Kellyn decided Ponte had had enough and jumped back down to the floor. Isaac rolled his eyes at the noise coming from the top bunk and continued his 'light' reading. Starlight was sitting on his mattress, chuckling at the entire scene.
"You know, you guys never fail to surprise me with your immaturity" he teased.
Kellyn stuck his tongue out at him before climbing up to the sanctuary of his own bunk. He'd better get changed before Keith and Liam found him in pyjamas and tried to drag him outside in that attire. Since it wasn't a school day, he decided against wearing his school uniform. Instead he removed from his drawer a pair of brown trousers, a blue shirt and a white jacket. Knowing how relentless Liam and Keith could be with mud and deciding they would probably have a mega snowball fight, he also located a hat, a scarf, a pair of gloves and a blue coat that was a little too big for him, but the extra-long sleeves would keep his hands warm. Finally, he slipped his locket around his neck and hid it under his zipped-up jacket. He decided against taking his notebook and pen. The paper would just get soggy in the snow and it was easy to communicate with the others now with just grunts and facial expressions.
"Looks like we're thinking down the same wavelength huh?"
Kellyn turned around and saw Starlight looking at him, just finishing tying his stringy silver hair into a ponytail. The teen was apparently wearing a similar outfit to Kellyn's, but made up of items out of the lost-and-found box. He was now trying to squash a green and white bobble-hat over his head, although it was clearly too small for him. Kellyn sighed and they swapped hats so Starlight didn't have to crush his skull. Starlight thanked him in return.
They waited whilst Nick and Ponte convinced Isaac to join in with them and then get dressed appropriately before heading outside. Luna and Shadow decided against getting their fur wet and circled up together under the blanket of Starlight's mattress as the boys left for their fun and games.
The school field was under half a foot of snow. It appeared there had been a massive snowball fight at one point as a good deal of the school walls and several students, mainly Keith and Liam, were covered in snow. Now most people were whispering excitedly in groups, like something was about to happen. The snowball fight had been degraded to a mini one between Kate, Sami and Tamie.
Kellyn almost gagged on thin air when he saw Kate. Her copper-coloured shoulder-length hair was down and blazed like fire as she ran amongst the white of the snow. Her smiling baby-blue eyes were a dramatic contrast to her rippling blood-red coat.
"Don't die yet, lover boy!" Starlight teased, clapping a hand on Kellyn's shoulder "I think Keith wants to see your expression when you hit Kate's 'adorable' face with a snowball!"
Kellyn groaned. 'Not you too Starlight!'
Starlight and Shadow had been the only ones merciful to him so far about the fact he had a few feelings for Kate. Even Luna had been beating him up over it, mentally anyhow. And now it appeared Starlight was joining the dark side too.
"Alright everyone! Listen up!" Liam called everyone over to gather around him and Keith "I know you all want breakfast, but since the teachers had other plans, Keith and I came up with a game to play!"
He looked at his partner-in-crime and the ginger took over. "The game will be a snowball fight. We'll divide into 4 groups of 3 and we'll all have 30 minutes to create walls and other covers that will be used during the game. The rules are simple. If you get hit by a snowball, you're out. The first team to be completely eliminated will be in the last place, then the third, and so on. The team that gets the first place will get first dibs on breakfast, fourth place last."
"We have to go into breakfast last if we lose?" Ponte's jaw positively hit the ground "That's so harsh!"
"That's how the rules work my friend" Keith grinned "We've already picked the teams: Reds will be me, Liam and Nick; Blues will be Kellyn, Kate and Starlight; Yellows will be Sami, Tamie and Verity; and Greens will Ponte, Isaac and Becs."
"What about Rhythmi?" Sami asked.
"I don't really want to throw things at people, I have to save my accuracy skill from when I'm an Operator and bossing Keith around" Rhythmi grinned, earning a cold glare from Keith "I'll be referee."
"Good idea" Liam spoke up since Keith was too busy glaring at the blonde "Rhythmi can be referee and she gets to eat with the team she bets on."
He turned to the others and they divided the field equally into four sections, adding as they ran to their corners: "To ensure that no team stalls unnecessarily, we'll have one hour for this game. If no teams are eliminated by that time, every team is considered to be in the last place. If three teams remain, then the three teams are in the third place, and etcetera."
Tamie handed Rhythmi a whistle and a watch. "Here, blow the whistle to start the 30 minutes to create cover then blow the whistle again to start the game. When the time is up, blow the whistle again."
"Okay. I think that the Red team will win. And…" Rhythmi suddenly blew into the whistle.
Kellyn wasn't sure how the darn whistle didn't wake up all the teachers, or at least Kaplan and Claire since their lab was right next to where they were playing. He half expected Mr Kincaid to come running out the door yelling about violating the school grounds and Keith 'accidentally'' ruining his hair with a snowball. But he didn't, and Kellyn hadn't time to think over these things because the epic snowball fight was about to begin.
The Reds quickly rushed to their corner of the field and began building a series of covers of varying heights. Becs, copying the boys, got Isaac and Ponte to build a series of covers as well. Verity, Sami and Tamie built a giant wall to defend against mortar shots. Starlight and Kate built a large barricade while Kellyn made ammunition for the snowball fight.
Rhythmi, watching the four teams building their bases, blew into the whistle when 30 minutes passed. The other 12 students all quickly dived into the safety of their covers.
"Remember, you can't leave your team's corner, and avoid hitting people in the face!" Keith yelled from behind his cover "And pretend to be dead if you get hit!"
Kellyn raised an eyebrow at the last order, but decided to just play along.
Keith and Liam exchanged looks and nodded. Keith picked up several snowballs and randomly hurled them towards the other teams while Liam moved closer to the farthest cover in the Red team's space. He peeked around the wall and took cover just in time to avoid a snowball. He took a large snowball and tossed it towards Tamie, who was the one who attacked him.
Nick looked around his cover at Becs. She waved at him and lifted a huge snowball, which appeared to be nearly as big as the girl herself. With both hands, she threw the snow-bomb directly at him.
"Holy Mew!" he exclaimed as he took cover. With a loud crash, the snow-bomb impacted with the cover and dismantled most of it. He looked at his teammates "Did you see what that girl just did?! No wonder she wins all the arm-wrestling contests!"
"Nick, I'm taking fire from the Green side!" Liam complained
"I was just attacked by a massive snow-grenade from Becs! I can't give you covering fire!" Nick protested. As if cued, another boom came from the other side of his cover "There's another one!"
Becs grinned as she gathered snow to create another giant snowbomb. She stopped as Ponte tapped her shoulder.
"Over there" he said, pointing towards the cover Sami was hiding behind "That wall looks awfully weak. Do you think you can break it?"
Becs glanced at the wall before she took cover again.
"Yeah, I think I can" she nodded "Just stand back, okay."
She looked over at Isaac who was holding and single snowball and mumbling quantum physics or something to try and get the angle of his throw right. Shaking her head, Becs decided he was too preoccupied doing maths to get in the way.
Ponte gave her 3 snowballs, which were compressed tight into essentially ice with his large hands. She examined one then lobbed it towards the weak cover the three girls had quickly set up a few minutes ago. The ice ball punched through the weak wall and barely missed Sami. The brunette shrieked in surprise. She quickly tried to move to a different cover when Ponte threw several snowballs at her. Tamie saw the motion from her cover.
"Look out!" she yelled as she dove towards Sami. She pushed her friend out the way, taking the 'shots' instead of her.
Sami shrieked again as Tamie went limp and collapsed onto her.
"Tamie, no!" came Verity's hollering. She rose to her feet and starting throwing the snowballs towards the Greens who immediately ducked and hid.
Starlight, noticing the distraction, threw a tightly compressed snowball at Verity and hit her right in the chest. The dark-brunette Yellow team member fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud.
"Wait a minute…" she started, still in her 'dead' position. "Why in the name of Jirachi did I do that? Great Latios, that was stupid!"
Sami tried to regain balance as Tamie leaned against her "Tamara, hang in there, please!"
"Someone tell her it's just a game" Becs sighed behind the Greens' cover.
Noticing that Sami's back was turned, Ponte threw an ice ball. At the same time, Kate tossed a snowball and Keith whipped one as well. The ice ball hit Sami in her lower back and the other two snowballs hit her in the shoulders. She yelped and gasped in pain (acting, yet the ice ball did hurt) as she dropped to her knees. She groaned a little before she collapsed to her side.
"Wow… that's some good acting…" Keith muttered "Maybe a little too much, though."
Sami opened her green eyes and looked at Tamie, who was looking at her with hazel orbs.
"Did I do well?" she asked.
Tamie nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.
"Why in the name of Celebi did you do that?!" came Verity's voice from behind them. Sami remained silent for a short while.
"I"m sorry. I must have gotten carried away…" she groaned.
"Hey, it's not your fault" Tamie said with a smile.
"Er, yes it is!" Verity complained again "Now we have to go into breakfast last! The boys will eat everything!"
"Well, Mum sent me come Celebrations for the party next week, but I'm sure we can break into them now" Sami offered.
Silence came from Verity's direction.
"I think we can accept them as a worthy compromise" she agreed finally.
"So… how long do we have to remain dead?!" Tamie yelled.
"Until the game's over!" the reply was shot back from Keith.
Meanwhile, Becs turned to look at the Red team. She picked up the last ice ball and whipped it towards Nick. He took cover and the ice ball almost pierced through the snow wall.
"Uh… Liam, I could use some help" Nick requested as he began reinforcing the wall.
Liam, who had created a huge pile of snowballs while staying under cover, began to use them to rapidly bombard the Green team. The Green team took cover from the raining snowballs. Isaac and Becs glanced at each other to ensure that they were alive. Ponte, however, remained motionless under a large pile of snow.
"Ow… I'm hit… a lot…" he muttered.
Becs gritted her teeth and began to build another snow-bomb.
Starlight poked a hole through his cover and looked at the Red team. Taking aim properly, he tossed several snowballs like mortar shots. Shortly after, he could hear Nick's cry.
"Got 'im!" Starlight cheered up, then called "You don't have to worry about Becs now Nick!"
"Yeah! Thanks a lot!" Nick didn't sound as impressed as he should sound.
Liam shook his head and peeked around the corner at the Blue team. Keith also peeked around his corner. They exchanged looks and each threw a snowball.
Starlight almost got hit on the shoulder but dodged out the way just in time. Kellyn quickly ducked behind his cover, dodging the snowball that Liam threw. But unfortunately, Kate was standing right behind him, thus when Kellyn ducked, she got hit instead. The snowball that Liam threw hit her right in the face. Kellyn gasped and quickly checked on her. She had her hands on her face and when she moved them away, he could see a big cut on her cheek. Apparently there was some ice in that snowball. He squeaked and Starlight crawled over to see what had happened.
"Kate, you okay?" he asked.
"I think so…"
"Medic!" Starlight yelled. "She's bleeding!"
Surprised, Liam looked around the snow wall, wondering if it was just a ruse to draw him out. He could see Rhythmi helping Kate up to her feet, and he could see some blood on the younger girl's cheek.
"Sorry, Kate!" he yelled. He knew Kellyn would literally skin him alive if he didn't apologise for hurting his precious Kate.
"I'm okay!" she yelled back.
Kellyn jumped up and started to throw snowballs towards the Red team, so that he may 'avenge' Kate. Liam and Keith took cover to avoid the rapid fire from the enraged midget. Becs, taking this opportunity, threw the snow-bomb with both hands towards Kellyn.
"Incoming!" Starlight cried.
Spotting it just in the nick of time, Kellyn ducked and the snow-bomb hit the cover so hard it almost fell over. Instead it showered over Starlight who fell like a night pin. For added effect, he spread his arms eagle-style and let his tongue hang out of the corner of his mouth. Kellyn silently laughed, then gulped. He was own...against Becs, Isaac, Liam and Keith. Talk about a fix.
"Would you two hurry it up? I'm freezing and starving under here!" Ponte called from under his pile of snow.
"Well you shouldn't have been hit!" Becs informed her 'dead' teammate before ignoring him and simply cheering at taking out the Blues' main thrower. Isaac just ignored them both and kept muttering equations. The snowball between his gloves was starting to melt.
Becs glanced over at the Red team. It was ridiculously cold, but she needed to fight for the sake of a good breakfast… Suddenly a snowball flew over her head. She prepared a snow-bomb. She counted down and lobbed it at Liam. However, seconds after her snow-bomb completely obliterated his cover, Isaac stood up and lobbed his snowball at Liam. The snowball was thrown with deadly accuracy and Liam was knocked off his feet by it. For a second, the remaining Greens thought Liam had actually been knocked unconscious, but they were proven wrong when he called:
"Keith! You're on your own from now on! It's up to you!"
"No duh Sherlock!" Keith grunted and chucked a snowball at Kellyn, but it flew over the boy's shoulder. Dang, that little target was so hard to hit! Since the Blues were plainly not going down, Keith turned his attention to the Greens.
He threw a snowball at Becs who seemed preoccupied with being stunned by the accuracy and speed of Isaac's hit. The snowball would've hit her right in the eye if Isaac hadn't stepped in and took the hit, knowing Becs had a better chance of winning them him (no really, he'd actually worked out the probabilities and the odds were Becs was more likely to survive). Becs snapped out of her thoughts and saw Isaac starting to fall towards her. Unlike Sami (who 'died' with her protector), she grabbed him by his coat from behind and began to use him as a shield. She threw an ice ball towards Keith's cover, who jumped out of the way just as the ice ball pierced through the snow wall. While Becs prepared another snowball, Keith had jumped behind the corner where Liam had been hiding before he got hit. By the time Becs was prepared to throw, Keith was on his feet, throwing a series of snowballs. It seemed that the ammunition Liam had created was still there. Since Becs was using Isaac as a shield, all the snowballs pelted him instead of her.
"Ow, ow, ow… Rebecca, can't you just lose?" Isaac asked, groaning from continuously being hit.
"Shut up! You're supposed to be dead!" Becs yelled at him, shaking him by his coat collar.
Isaac groaned again. "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this"
Keith took aim and threw a snowball… directly at Isaac's face. Hastily he yelled: "Isaac, duck!"
Isaac turned to look just in time to see the snowball flying straight towards his face. On instinct, he ducked, the snowball flew over his head and… hit Becs on the top of her head. She staggered backwards and soon fell.
"Alright! You're next Kellyn!" Keith yelled towards his bunkmate.
Gulping, Kellyn knew he was in trouble. Gathering some snow, he stood up to throw his snowball. Just as he was taking aim he felt something hard and wet smash into his chest. One of Keith's ice balls had struck him head-on. The force was too much for his small body and he was blown off his feet. He landed on his back...hard. His spine made contact with the snow and he felt all the air being knocked out of his lungs.
"We have a winner!" Rhythmi blew into the whistle, signalling the end of the game "Red team wins followed by Blue, then Green and finally Yellow! Now let's go get some breakfast!"
Liam and Nick cheered and tackle-hugged Keith, bowling them all over. Tamie, Verity and Sami went to dig Ponte out of his snow pile. Becs glared at Isaac.
"You betrayed me…" She growled at him on the way to the cafeteria.
"Hey, you're the one who used me as a shield!" Isaac argued back "Seriously, I'm probably covered in bruises thanks to you Rebecca! Besides, it was either that, or have my face ruined!"
Kellyn finally forced some air into his lungs and sat up. He groaned for two reasons: one because of the pain, two because of the fact he had let his team down.
"Alright there, squirt?" Kellyn felt Starlight lift him into a piggyback. It was a little patronising, but at the moment Kellyn didn't care as he laced his hands around Starlight's neck to make sure he didn't fall off. He felt the bobbing motion of Starlight trudging through the snow towards the cafeteria and turned his head to look at Kate, who was walking beside them.
"You did great!" she smiled. He shook his head and gave a high-pitched sigh.
"You didn't let us down" Kate reassured him "You did brilliantly, so don't you go putting yourself down."
Kellyn smiled at her. Then, for the first time since that memorable Halloween night, Kate heard him speak three words. They were very quiet, barely a whisper in the wind, but they were there:
"Thank you Kate."