The Venerate Order

Chapter 28

The entire right side of the field was open and Roya started sprinting toward the Goal Zone. The noise from the crowd was intense and fans were jumping up and down in their seats! The opposing Dodger tried to catch up with her, but it was too late; she somersaulted into the Goal Zone and scored her first defensive Brave-Down.

Roya held her arms high with the ball in her right hand and looked into the crowd. We could hear them chanting, "PIRATES!!! PIRATES!!! PIRATES!!!"

"YEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!! THAT'S HOW WE DO THIS!!!" I shouted as we ran up to Roya.

My smile spanned from ear to ear but it quickly faded when I looked back and saw a few players standing above Charity and one of our Wings; she was lying still on the ground. I ran over to check on her, Captain Cali was already bending over her.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Charity was clutching her right arm, writhing in pain. I could see tears streaking down her face, but when I saw the extent of the damage, I understood why. Her bone was poking out from underneath her skin.

"Blimey! Where're the damn medical people!?!" Captain Cali shouted.

A few people from the medical team came up to help her get off the field. They placed two gray bars on her sides and flipped a switch, activating a blue screen to form between them. The newly formed blue board now floated up and held Charity at waist height, and they carried her off toward the locker rooms.

"You'll be okay Charity!" I said to her before she left.

"Strafe, I think they cheap-shotted me, and he pushed Ronaldo down hard with his arm," she said while wincing in pain.

"Why wasn't it flagged?! They must have seen what happened?!" I argued.

"Arg, I don't think they be playin' by the rules 'ere Strafe me boy," Captain Cali said in a saddened voice as he looked at Charity, "I've been seein' some rough play and no flags be gettin' thrown."

"This shit really is rigged isn't it!?" I commented.

"Nah, just heavily skewed in their favor, me boy. I don't know what we're to do. Charity was our only Masterback," Captain Cali lamented, he looked at the ground as he rubbed his face.

"Cap'n, I think it's time to show the world our hearts," a voice said behind the wall of people.

Captain Cali turned around, "Ye think ye can handle it?"

"This is more than a game. People's lives are at stake. Let me help pave the way to winning the Championship!" the voice demanded. Moving up into the huddle, was the first mate Penty.

"All right, me girl. Don't let me down!" Captain Cali shouted.

After Charity was carted off the field, we made the personnel adjustments and for the first time in the tournament, Penty stepped onto the field. After we scored the extra point we were up 10-7. Castle Bell Royal got the ball back afterward and began to march upfield. I could tell they were getting more frisky and physical by the way they were pushing us around. Their coach must've told them to try to intimidate us.

The half ended with them scoring on a kick to even up the score at 10-10. We headed back to the locker room and took our break. We shortly returned to the field to begin the third quarter and heard the crowd now chanting, "Royal! Royal! Royal!"

I couldn't help but think how quickly they had forgotten that just before the half they 'd been chanting our name.

The game resumed after the break with the Blitz and Castle Bell Royal recovered the ball again. They tossed it up to their Dodger and he began to run it up the field on us. Roya broke off of her assignment and tried to tackle the Dodger but he jumped over her and kept on advancing. I was too far away and our Masterback was too slow. Their Dodger ran untouched into the Goal Zone for a quick score. All of our jaws fell to the floor. They made an incredible kick to make the extra point and the game was 17-10 just like that.