I'm so happy that everyone is enjoying this story, thank you all my good friends.
The following morning all the Guardians could be found at the local bowling alley, just having a little bit of fun.
"I'm glad the four of you are alright, you guys took a beating." Ash whispered to her friends as she finished her frame.
"RZ said all we suffered is bruised ribs, we should be good to go in a few days." Ish said with a smile on his face, which earned head nods from the other three injured Guardians.
"You believe RZ is considering choosing another Guardian ?" Troy said in a whisper so that neighboring bowlers couldn't hear the conversation.
"It's hard to believe since the six of us have done such an amazing job, but I see his point in choosing another Guardian," Tua said as he held his chin in contemplation, "I honestly cant wait to see who he picks." he finished as he got up to bowl his frame, which consisted of a 7, and a spare.
"I just hope it's someone who can carry their own weight," Troy said as he rolled up his jacket sleeves, "I mean I welcome a new Guardian and all, but that means we have to train them, and that could be difficult." the Korean-American Guardian said as he folded his arms for extra emphasis. Loud voices caught the five young Guardians attention and they turned in their chairs to see the cause of the noise, and saw their fellow football players Carlos and Joseph approaching.
"What up, guys, and girl." Joseph said with a smile on his face as he spotted his friends, as he and Carlos walked over to them and took up two empty seats.
"Not much, just bowling a few games, what about you?" Ish asked as he eyes his two friends.
"Well I like to bowl, so here I am," Joseph said with a large smile as he stood up and made a bowling gesture that got everyone to laugh, "mind if Carlos and I join you?" he asked his teammates.
"Sure, let me just enter you into the computer." Ish said as he stood up and entered his two friends into the small computer that sat in front of them, allowing for Joseph and Carlos to enter into the bowling game.
"You guys ready for the upcoming season?" Troy asked conversationally.
"Yea I'm ready to sack some QB's, how 'bout you, Joseph?" Carlos asked the young defensive back.
"I'm ready for the season, I'm ready to prove myself after an injury sidelined me half of last season, I blame the Cyclones 6-10 record on my injury. If I hadn't got hurt, I feel I could have made a big difference in the way things turned out." Joseph said as he took a bowling ball of the rack and got into his bowling stance, and threw the ball down the ally with all his might, where it collided with the pins and knocked them all down, giving the young football player a strike.
"Yea, that's how you bowl!" Joseph said as he pounded a fist to his chest.
"Chill man, it's just bowling." Carlos said as he stood up and took a ball off the rack, before making his throws, a five and then sparing it on the second throw.
"Carlos, Coach Jones said you're from the Clippers across town, why did you leave them after such a good season?" Marty asked the young defensive lineman as he returned to his seat.
"Well we moved form across town to this part of town, the drive would have been to long for me to play for the Clippers, so I joined the Bulldogs. You guys won the championship last season, so that helped in my decision." Carlos said as he leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.
"You made the right choice by joining us," Troy said in a boastful tone, "we're going to repeat as champions this season." the young Korean- American boasted as he got some of his jet black hair out of his eyes.
"Don't be so confident," a voice called out from behind them which made the group turn in their seats to see who had addressed them, "The Tigers are coming for you this season." Ricky said with a small laugh as he took the last remaining empty chair.
"What up Ricky?" Ish said as he stood up and gave his friend a high five.
"Just came here to bowl, and saw you guys, so I thought I'd join in, you mind if I join?" he asked his friends.
"I don't know man, this is Bulldog territory, I don't know if a Tiger is welcomed here." Carlos said in a tone that clearly indicated that he was joking, "I mean the Bulldogs beat the Tigers in the championship game last season." Carlos said with a small laugh.
"Well we beat them in the regular season." Ricky fired back in a joking tone of his own.
"Nobody remembers what happened in the regular season," Joseph said as he stood up and began flexing his legs, "people only remember what happened in the post season, and the Tigers got finished off in the championship game." he said in a challenging tone, which caught Ricky off guard.
"Come on man, it was only be seven points, by the way, who are you?" Ricky asked since he didn't recognize the young player in front of him.
"Joseph Sanders, the Bulldogs new staring Cornerback," Joseph said in a challenging tone as he offered a handshake to the young Mexican-American football player.
"Pleasure to meet you," Ricky began as he shook Joseph's hand, "I hope you're not to disappointed when we stomp you guys this season." Ricky said in a challenging tone of his own.
"I hope your not to disappointed when I intercept everything you throw to my side of the field. I'm going to make sure you have a very long day." Joseph shot back in his own challenging tone. Before Ricky could fire back the six Guardians NFL R's started to beep on their wrist, indicating an incoming message.
"Can you excuse us, we got to go." Ish said as he and his five Guardian allies stood up and walked away, leaving Carlos and Joseph just sitting there.
"Well that just happened." Carlos said as he and Joseph where now the only Bulldogs sitting at that lane.
"That was weird Joseph said as he stood up and flexed his right leg again.
"Hey man, I noticed you flexing your leg in practice a lot the other day, why do you do that, is that to stay limber?" Carlos asked his friend.
"No I hurt my leg last season, so I'm flex it when I start to feel pain." Joseph said simply as he took a seat next to Carlos.
"I heard you got hurt last season, what exactly happened?" Carlos asked his friend.
"Let me tell you about it..." Joseph said as he began telling the story of his injury.
The Cyclones where tied with the Vikings 0-0 , but there was ten seconds left exactly and the Vikings where in easy field goal range.
"Got this one in the bag, jerks." The Vikings team captain Bruno Boston bragged as he took the field and took up his position on the offensive line in order to protect his kicker.
"Alright let's do this!" Joseph yelled to his defense as he put his helmet on his sweat soaked head, as he and his fellow defensive teammates took the field. They all lined up in a position hoping that they could get through the line and somehow block the kick. Joseph leaned in close to the center and whispered six words, "Sanders got something special for you." he challenged as he stood back up and took his position.
As soon as the ball was hiked Sanders jumped over the line and blocked the kick, resulting in the ball bouncing backwards and just laying there on the turd. Sanders raced to the ball and scooped it up, and he started running as fast as he could towards the other teams end zone. As he got closer to it he looked behind him and saw Bruno closing in on him, preparing to make a dive tacked at his legs. Joseph decided in a split second decision to perform a juke in order to avoid his legs being taken out. He performed a perfect juke resulting in Bruno diving and missing him completely, Joseph a few seconds later found himself in the end zone. As he turned around to face his teammates he suddenly was tacked to the ground by his knee, but he heard and felt something pop in his knee, resulting in him going down like a sack of bricks, leaving him there just lying on the turf, screaming for the team doctor.
"Quit your whining, you still have you other knee." Bruno bragged with a nasty laugh as he punched the ground inches from Joseph face walked away.
"Dang man, that's a cheap shot if I ever heard of one." Carlos said as Joseph finished his story.
"Yea, that jerk badly hurt my knee, and the knocked me out for the rest of the season," Joseph began as he clenched a fist as he felt the anger surge through him, "I heard we might play the Vikings this season, if we do, it's payback time!" Joseph said as he pounded a fist into the table they where sitting at.
I hope you all really liked this chapter even though the focus was more on Joseph than the Guardians. Next chapter will focus more on the Guardians my good friends.