Pokemon - The Apex of Time

Chapter 5 - Drama on the Pitch

The weeks went went by one by one, and everyone seemed to be improving. Every single one of us was getting more confident with how we played, and Darragh told us that in the run-up to the start of the tournament, it would be vital to keep our confidence high. I myself felt as if I was getting better little by little, and I felt like even though Scott put pressure on my spot in the team, I was holding it down well. That said, our rivalry continued to points where it would get sour, and I often lost my temper to the point where I wanted to lash out and hit him, but I never did. Nelly seemed to be forming a rivalry with Ryan, too, as she was determined to show that she was as capable with the ball at her feet as he was. Watching the two of them perform skills was a great thing to behold, and the audiences we gathered appreciated it too.

However, as our position-competitions went on, it seemed that our team-mates were getting frustrated. When we did shooting drills, Ryan wouldn't pass to the rest of the midfielders, and whenever anyone else got on the ball, Scott hardly gave the defenders any notice of what he was doing, seemingly on purpose. We had confidence, but the bonds within the squad were deteriorating quickly whilst the two new additions acted the way they did.

However, exactly one week before the tournament was due to start, we would find out just what was going to make us all tick-over with anger...

*

The drill I was doing on this day was a distribution drill. I knew I needed to be able to execute good passes forward, and it was something that hadn't really been practised yet, so I felt it had come at a good time. “Skyra!” I called out as I ran to the edge of the box. I served the ball up with my weaker hand (like I had learned) and kicked it with my strong foot, getting power from the rotation of my hips and the swing of my leg. The football went high in the air and spun under the bright sunlight. There were dark clouds closing in, but they wouldn't interfere with us any time soon. My pass dipped down straight to Skyra and he controlled it with one touch.

“Good pass.” He called back. I smiled and placed another ball down in the six-yard box. The only thing I needed to do now that I hadn't gotten the hang of was Goal-kicks. I just couldn't seem to get the ball off the ground all that high when it was stationary. Despite everything I had researched, I couldn't do it. I took a couple of steps back and ran forward, following through with my kick as I hit the ball. It left the ground, but spun completely wide of where I wanted it to go.

“Gah...”

“Don't worry, you'll get it.” Nelly smiled as she walked past.

“Yeah...”

“Let me show you how it's done.” Scott said from behind. He placed a ball down, took two steps back and pelted it high and far. Skyra jumped to control it on his chest, but it seemed as through it was too hard, and the pass looked to have hurt him instead. “There you go. I don't see how you can't do that.” He taunted.

“Rrgh, I can do it!” I snapped back.

“Hey, don't put him down!” Sam said to the tall boy. “Toby was making progress.”

I looked at the ground and just sighed. Then, from further up-field, there was more squabbling.

“Oh, would you just pass the ball?!” Xene yelled.

“Come on, already!” Holly moaned. Ryan was facing up to Gray and rolling the ball back and forth, trying to get past him.

“It's not working, just pass!” Ethan pointed. From the side, Harry came charging in and slid at Ryan's feet, slicing the ball away as well as slashing his studs across the knees of the tricky winger. It was just a knick, and there was no blood, but Ryan didn't seem happy about it.