Rotten To The Core (Sander Sides Descendants AU)

Chapter 7

"Who's ready to get beaten into the ground?" Roman called as he joined Min and Aaron in the gymnasium.

"Keep telling yourself that, we'll see whose face is in the dirt after all this." Min smirked as she retorted. Roman couldn't help but get pumped up, gym class was a favorite part of his day. All his other classes were so boring, and it killed him to have to sit still for hours on end. Not to mention, with recent events, his less than stellar concentration was even worse than usual. Finally, he could blow off some steam.

"You think Coach will go easy on us? It's only the first week after all!" Aaron wished aloud. Min whacked him over the head lightly, to which he let out an indignant cry. "Where's your competitive attitude?" She chided.

"Still asleep."

"And you wonder why you're not Jousting Team Captain."

Roman laughed, "Anyways, you know Coach. There's no way this class will be anything less than intense."

"So you better get in the mood to annihilate, or I'm not letting you on my team." Min added. Aaron stuck his tongue out at her, and grabbed Roman's arm. "Fine, I'll be on Roman's team!"

Before Aaron and Min could bicker any further, a sharp whistle penetrated the chatter of the gym and drew everyone's attention to the figure standing at the front. Roman and his friends immediately straightened up by instinct.

"Alright, listen up noobs!" Coach barked at the crowd, "Congratulations on making it through preschool without enough emotional damage to keep you bedridden for life! I intend to change that very soon." He paced up and down the awestruck audience, glaring at everyone collectively. They weren't exactly awestruck because of the first impression he made, however. It was the fact that he wasn't a man, well not completely. He was very short, had horns sticking out of the sides of his head, and below his waist he had the furry rear legs of a mountain goat. Now, this angry goat man was berating a bunch of high schoolers, and nobody knew how to react.

Suddenly, the satyr's ears perked up and he marched over to one kid who was snickering quietly to his friend. "Did I say something funny?" Coach demanded.

"What?"

Coach grabbed the kid by his shirt collar and dragged him down to meet his face. "Am I funny to you? Huh? HUH?"

"N-no sir!" The kid replied, shaking slightly. The Coach's horns were an inch away from gouging out the poor guy's eyes.

Roman felt for the kid, but smirked a little nonetheless. He remembered getting the same treatment the first time he had Coach Phil, and he learned the hard way never to take him lightly. Besides, despite his stature, the satyr was a damn good coach, and every member of the Jousting Team had tremendous respect for him.

"My name's Coach Phil." he said after backing off that one guy, "My full name is Philoctetes, and if you decide to address me that way, I will not hesitate to put my hoof in your ass. Now that we're all acquainted, I'd like to introduce you to my little friend." Coach Phil pulled out the mother of all gym class games, to the delight and horror of everyone in the room.

"Dodgeball."

Everyone immediately split up into teams, taking into consideration who they were friends with and how much effort they wanted to put into this game. Naturally, Roman, Min, Aaron, and all the athletic kids ended up on one team, and all the losers, geeks, or whatever ended up on the other. Just about everybody was okay with this arrangement except for Coach Phil.

"You guys are killing me." He said, rubbing his face in exasperation, "I'm not getting paid to sit around and watch the lamest game of the century. Mix it up!"