Soccer boy
It's a new day at third Street elementary school, at the start of recess King Bob called all grades to the monkey bars for a special announcement. "Behold! The King Bob royal cup!" King Bob said, holding up a trophy made of cans and other kitchen equipment, and all the kids started muttering to each other excitedly.
"Look at that thing." Spinelli explained as the eight friends were all standing near the front of the crowd of kids.
"It must have cost a dozen bucks." TJ agreed, feeling just as excited as everyone else was.
"Whompin' Bob-utabulous!" Vince said, ever the sports guy.
"This grand chalice will be awarded to the winning soccer team in this year's annual King Bob classic. Those who aspire to this honour will register with my royal referees Jordan and Jerome." King Bob said now holding the trophy in one arm and he gestured to Jordan and Jerome who were next to him. "As my royal scorekeepers, I appoint Smart Girl and friend of Smart Girl."
"Us?" Gretchen and Gus asked, making sure they heard correctly.
"Yes." King Bob confirmed. "Go and construct for me the finest of scoreboards. As for the rest of you, the tournament starts on Monday, so practice heartily and amuse me with your skill."
"Gee, sorry you guys got stuck with scorekeeping duties." Spinelli said to Gretchen and Gus as TJ grabbed a soccer ball from the basket.
"Are you kidding? We're royal scorekeepers. I feel like a duke." Said Gus, excited about his role.
"My heart is positively a-twitter with pomp and purpose. Come along, Gus. I've already visualised a state-of-the-art scoreboard design." Gretchen gushed.
"This is going to be fun, fun, fun!" Gus said as the two walked away.
"Those guys really know how to live it up." Said Paloma, happy that her friends were still gonna have fun, despite not being able to play in any of the games.
"Yeah, but we're going to have a ball." Said TJ.
"Ah, soccer, the passionate pastime of the romance-languaged nations. The mere thought of that hallowed sport moves me to verse. Playground warriors, athletes we, frolic, thither merrily--" Mikey recited.
"And crush them! right, guys?" Spinelli interrupted, ready to get started on practising. "Boy, I can't wait. A real-live tourney!"
"Yeah, but it won't be much of a contest. once I put a team together, that trophy's going to be ours for the taking." Said Vince, his competitive side coming out.
"You think so, do you?" A new voice said, making the remaining six look over to see Lawson and his gang standing there.
"Lawson."
"I got you this time. My buddy Jocko here went to soccer camp. Why, he can bounce a ball off his head." Lawson said and threw the ball to Jocko who head butted it back to Lawson. "beat that."
"OK." Vince said before he started to do a bunch of tricks, ending it with shooting the ball into one of the holes in the cheese box behind Lawson and his friends, making them gasp.
"Man, that guy's good." Said Jocko.
"Good? How many of you guys get fan mail from Brazil addressed to "El yanqui fantástico"?" Asked Dede.
"Well, all of us, but so what? You guys are a bunch of dummies. Now, come on. We got practising to do." Lawson said before him and his teammates left.
"Man, those guys are going to be toast." Spinelli said as she and TJ high fives each other.
"Yeah, if we all go by the game plan." Vince said putting his arms around TJs and Spinelli's shoulders and turning them to face Dede and Paloma. "Now, here's how I see it. Teej, you and I will be the forwards. You feed me the ball, then I score. Dede and Paloma will be our defence, you always work well on that during gym class. Spinelli, you'll be the goalie. Nothing gets past you."
"Pray tell, Vincent, what would will my position be?" Mikey asked from behind Vince, putting his hand on Vinces shoulder.
"Uh, actually, Mikey, I have a feeling this tournament is going to be a big deal."
"Oh yes, the biggest of deals."
"And it would be really cool to win that primo foxfire trophy."
"Indeed."
"So I think maybe it would be best if you were, you know, our man on the sidelines."
"Huh?"
"Vince, what are you saying?" Asked TJ.
"Yeah, Mikey's our friend." Said Spinelli.
"It wouldn't be right to just leave him out of the team." Agreed Dede.
"Surely one of us could switch with him every other match, so he can have a chance to play." Said Paloma.
"Look, guys, this is a serious sporting event. you don't want him out there daydreaming about, you know, frolicking and junk." Vince said, defending his choice. "And it's only five people per team, I don't think they'd allow a sub in every other game, besides he could mess everything up."
"I hadn't thought of that." Said Spinelli.
"And if Lawson wins instead of us, we'll look like dummies."
"Oof, don't wanna look like no dummy." Said TJ.
"Yeah, especially in front of Lawson." Dede sighed.
"You're not going to let me be on the team, are you?" Mikey asked, walking back over to the five.
"Sure we are, Mikey. You can serve us rehydrating sports drinks. That's a big job. And, of course, the trophy will be part yours, too." Vince said, trying to cheer Mikey up.
"No, thank you. I don't care about trophies. I just wanted to have fun playing soccer with my friends." Mikey then walked away from the five.
"It's OK. he'll go and write a poem and feel better before we know it." Vince reassured the other four, before they got to practice.
"Wey, Mikey, want to help us build our sandcastle? 18th century Bavarian architecture. Your favourite." Said a third grader as Mikey sat down next to them in the sandbox.
"Thank you, but today my heart was set on play of a more athletic nature." Mikey declined, sighing, as behind him Lawson ran over to his team with another football in his hands.
"Hey, why are you guys kicking balls at me?" Gelman asked with his back to a wired fence as he kept dodging footballs that were being kicked at him.
"You're the goalie." Explained Lawson as they stopped kicking footballs at Gelman. "Come on. This is soccer."
"Soccer? Hey, I thought we was playing dodgeball. I'm out of here." Gelman walked off, leaving Lawson team one man short.
"Hey! Gellman!" Lawson shouted, hoping to get Gelman back. "Oh, this is just great. Where are we going to get a goalie now?" Lawson dropped the football he was holding and kicked it out of frustration. The ball started to head towards the two third graders that Mikey was sitting next to, but Mikey saw it coming and quickly jumped over to stop the ball from hitting them. "What the..." Lawson then proceeded to kick another football over to the third's graders, making them scream and Mikey once again stopped it.
"Hey, please stop doing that." Asked Mikey.
"Sorry, Mikey, my fourth grade buddy. I had to make sure what I was seeing
with my own two eyes." Lawson said impressed with Mikey's moves.
"Oh, those were monster moves, man." Said Jocko.
"Say, I just got an idea. I mean, I noticed you're not practicing with LaSalle and those guys. How'd you like to play goalie for my team?" Lawson offered.
"Really? You guys would want me to play for you?" Mikey asked, standing up.
"Mikey, we would be real honoured."
"Wow!"
The next day the Viper Sharks, as Vince had called his team, were on the football field getting ready for the first matches, all dressed in their team's blue uniform. "OK, Viper Sharks, listen up." Vince said, pacing back and forth in front of the other four. "If you want to win, you got to have focus, you gotta have guts, and you got to have the killer instinct. Do you understand?"
"Go Viper Sharks!" Dede, Spinelli, TJ and Paloma all cheered.
"That's what I like to hear, that and the sound of Lawson crying when he sees just how good we are."
"Speaking of Lawson..." Spinelli said, pointing over to Lawson's team, see Mikey walk over to them, high-fiving Cheay, dressed in their red and white uniform.
"Hey, what's Mikey doing with Lawson?" Paloma asked.
"That, my friends, don't look right." Said TJ before the four walked over to Lawson's team.
"Then I pass to Jocko, and blammo... He scores!" Lawson said, explaining his game plan to the others.
"Excuse us. We need to talk to Mikey." Said Vince as he started to lead Mikey away.
"Hey!"
"It's OK." Said Mikey, letting Vince lead him away.
"Mikey, what's going on here?" Vince asked. "I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were playing for Lawson."
"He may be Lawson to you, but to me he is a friendly boy named Erwin, and unlike certain other people," Mikey said looking pointedly at the four. "He seems to appreciate my ability."
"But, Mikey, he calls us names." Dede defended.
"He calls me goalie."
"Gee, Mikey, I don't know." Replies Spinelli, not knowing what to make of the situation.
"No, Spinelli, Mikey's right." Vince said, turning to the other three members of his team before looking back at Mikey. "If Lawson says Mikey's his goalie, what we need to say is congratulations on your new team and good luck."
"Why, thank you, Vincent. May the best team win." Mikey shook Vinces hand before walking back over to his team.
"Mikey, playing goalie?" Spinelli asked before the five friends burst out laughing.
"Oh, man, those guys will never make it past the first round."
After Gus and Gretchen set up the brackets and all the kids that weren't part of the tournament were sat on the bleachers, excited for the first match to start. "Let the games begin." King Bob said from atop his throne near the scoreboard. The first match was Vince's team VS the Ashley's, as soon as Jordan blew the whistle Vince immediately snagged the ball and made it all the way down the field, passing to TJ.
"That is, like, so rude." Said Ashley B as TJ passed it back to Vince as she was going to try and take it off of him.
"Hold it till Thursday, then sell at 91." Said the chaperone that the Ashley's had playing goalie, on the phone, completely ignoring the game as Vince shot the ball into the goal, scoring.
"Mr. Chap, you better, like, get off the phone and play." Ashley Q said as the kids cheered for the goal, the scoreboard changing to show the Viper Sharks in the lead. "Daddy says, if you don't stop any goals, you're fired."
"Sorry, Johnson. got to go." The chaperone said, hanging up the phone.
The next match was the winning guys, and the group of five friends were all shocked by how good Mikey was a being a goalie, stopping every ball that came near him. The winning guys were first up in the second round, they were up again Randall's team, Mikey stopped the ball again, kicking it out into the field, hitting Randall. "I'm telling! Referee! Referee! The other team hit me with the ball!" Randall whined. The Viper Sharks next match was soon after the winning guys won theirs, they were up against Swinger girls team. TJ had the ball in his possession running to the other team's goal but ended up falling down a hole that one of the diggers had dug, making Jordan give out a yellow card. Vince was running with the ball, shooting a goal as the goalie was upside down girl. The next few rounds of football went on like this, both the Viper Sharks and the winning guys teams both winning all their matches.
At the end of the first day Gretchen and Gus were sitting alone at a table away from the Viper Sharks, discussing the tournament, while having their lunch. "Boy, it sure has been one great tourney!" Gus said, sipping his milk.
"Yes, and who would have imagined that both the Viper Sharks and the Winning Guys would make it to the finals?" Gretchen said, taking a drink from her milk.
"And no matter what, one of our friends is guaranteed to come out a winner."
"Oh, Vince, you're the greatest." Said a random girl as a few students surrounded the table the Viper Sharks were sitting at.
"You're rad, man, rad." Said another kid.
"Well, you know, as they say in Ecuador, "el Vinso es muy precisoso."" Vince said making the surrounding students gush in awe, only to be interrupted by laughter, looking over to see it was the winning guys coming into the cafeteria.
"... And then Mikey stops them all, just like a really big tree, except it can move!" Lawson exclaimed before they all started to laugh again.
"Hello, friends." Mikey said stopping at the table five of his friends were at.
"Hiya, Mikey. I noticed you're not doing too bad at the old black and white ball there." Said Dede.
"Yeah, Mikey. you're OK." Paloma agreed.
"Why, thank you." Mike said in happiness.
"But as a sports veteran, let me offer you a little advice." Said Vince, standing up to be closer to Mikeys height. "I hear you guys laughing it up over there. And I think I should warn you... Don't get too cocky."
"Yeah, you're doing all right so far, but you haven't gone up against a team like ours." Spinelli boasted.
"We'll try to go easy on you, but you'd better prepare yourself for the worst." Said TJ.
"We tell you this, Mikey, because, as your friends, we only have your best interests in mind." Vince explains.
"Oh, I thank you. Thank you so very much." Mikey said before raising his voice slightly. "Now I'd like to give you some advice."
"Um...OK."
"Enjoy your lunches while you may. Juices all around. Feel good about yourselves today, for tomorrow..." Mikey leaned down to be more In Vince's face. "You're going down." Mikey then left to join his team, high fiving them, leaving his friends all shocked.
"Someone is going to win a trophy tomorrow. I just hope they don't lose a friendship in the process." Gretchen said as she and Gus watched what was happening.
The next day was the highly anticipated finals, the Viper Sharks VS the Winning guys, the teams kept going back and forth, who had the ball, who made a shot and who saved a goal. As Vince currently had the ball as was running down the field, dodging the other team and making a shot, only for Mikey to save it, the crowd cheered for him.
"They should be chanting "lucky, lucky."" Vince almost growled. "Let's go get him, guys." And that's how the game continued on, all the way till half time where the groups could have a little break and re-strategize.
"Man, they're good." Said TJ as they all took drinks from their bottles.
"Maybe, but we're still better." Said Vince, putting his bottle down. "All we need is an opening."
"Maybe we could-" Dede started but stopped short as her bracelet went off.
"Oh no, not now." Spinelli said, looking at Dede's bracelet. "You are not leaving."
"I'll be right back, I just forgot something in my locker." Dede said before she ran off, beaming up to her ship as soon as she was hidden.
"Atomic Candy, bezar events have been happening all over the galaxy." Admiral DeGill said after the ship left earth, with Dede in her chair. "Kidnappings, thefts and mayhem." DeGill showed them the footage, only one seemed very familiars
"Hey, that's our plasma torpedo." Sparky said and got up to look out the window, seeing the alien with said torpedo in his hands. "Come back here you!"
"We were at a loss to explain why seemingly normal citizens are turning to crime." DeGill said, standing up on his chair. "Until today. Turn to channel 4623.69 on your 3V."
X-5 did just that, showing captain Chuck. "Welcome to, the minion." Chuck announced. "The reality show where contestants are to perform incredibly evil deeds, with the winner getting the job as the new sidekick to... The Maximus I.Q." Chuck moved aside to show Maximus sitting at a desk with a fan blowing his fringe for dramatic effect.
"Let's get down to business." Maximus said before turning the fan off.
"Ohh, I can't wait to see who wins." said Sparky, excitedly.
"You stole ten tons of gold? I did that when I was a kitten." Maximus said to an alien that carried in a bunch of gold, before he pressed a button, sending the alien through a trapdoor. "History." The next alien walked up with a death ray. "A death ray?" Maximus yawned. "How original. Put it alongside my 46 other death rays. History." Maximus pressed the button again, the alien getting carried out by a claw this time.
"You have to stop this crime wave." Said DeGill as he appeared on the screen again. "And stop the show from being made. Before total chaos descends on the universe." Before the screen went black they saw DeGills pipe get snatched out of his mouth.
"My senses tell me that the rible national bank in the questic quadrant is in the process of being robbed." X-5 said and that was where they headed.
When they landed Dede immediately set to making a plan. "Take the back, I've got the front." X-5 and Sparky ran off to do as they were told, leaving Dede to enter the bank alone. Upon entering Dede saw that there were more robbers then she thought. "You've just been cut from the show, folks. You're all under arrest."
"Atomic Candy?" The robot lady said. "Whoever catches and delivers her to Maximus is sure to be his new sidekick." This made every criminal in the bank set their death rays onto Dede. "I'm going to be the next minion."
"If you're big fans.." Dede smiled as she rolled her eyes, before pushing a button on her bracelet. "You'll like this." With that a small but powerful fan came out her bracelet, sending all the would-be criminals into the wall, giving Dede enough time to cuff them and wait outside the bank for the galactic police to show up. "Sparky? X-5? Hello, I could use a hand here." Dede said having not seen either of her teammates since splitting up, when she looked down she saw a little cube that popped out a hologram of X-5.
"It appears we are prisoners of the chameleon." Said the hologram X-5. "At this point I am not aware of our final destination, but we have everything under control."
"Help! Help!" Said holographic Sparky as he appeared in the picture, hugging X-5. When the message finished the galactic police had finally arrived, going to take the criminals away until they looked and saw Dede standing just behind them.
"Atomic Candy!" Dede looked up at said officer. "Capture her and we'll be Maximus' sidekick." Dede quickly saw what was gonna happen, so she manoeuvred out of the officer's grasp, using the stairs and bank itself to quickly get aboard her ship, flying away from the planet.
Dede then used her ship's tracking sensors to locate Maximus' headquarters, having a feeling that's where Sparky and X-5 were taken. Upon entering the headquarters unnoticed, Dede proceeded to search every room she came across, eventually finding the correct one that housed Maximus, the chameleon, Sparky, X-5 and the film crew.
"Hurray, we're saved." Sparky exclaimed, before turning to one of the camera aliens. "Should I put more emphasis on 'saved'? I can do that line again."
"I'm here to arrest you, Maximus, and put an end to the mayhem you've unleashed onto the galaxy." Dede said, ignoring Sparky.
"Good luck!" Maximus said. "My new minion will take care of you. Minion, destroy this tiresome creature with my new vaporising ray." The chameleon fired said ray at Dede, luckily Dede was able to put up her shield in time but it didn't stop her from getting pushed back. "Goodbye Atomic Candy, I won't miss you." Maximus gloats, unaware that the door behind him opens.
"Master! Atomic Candy is on her way here. I've come to warn you-" Said good Minimus, before he tripped over a wire, unintentionally pulling the vaporising ray out of the power socket.
"I'm an island, surrounded by a sea of idiots." Said Maximus, seeing what just happened. "Minimus, you're fired, again. Now, plug the vapouriser back in."
Minimus went to do that but Dede was already climbing up the machine to rescue her friends, when she got to the top, Dede made quick work of the ropes tying her friends up and together they all jumped down. Dede hitting the chameleon so hard that it broke the vapourising ray in the process, she kept fighting him until she was able to handcuff him before looking at Maximus and Minimus watching, going for them next.
"Cut, cut." Said Antoine Lucci, the director, stopping Dede in her tracks. "Brilliant Candy, but I'll need a little more feeling in the pummeling next take." Dede looked up at Antoine Lucci unimpressed as he went and patted Maximus in the head. "I'm sorry baby, I love you. But the ratings, they don't so much, right in the basement. So I'm dropping it and replacing it with, 'search for the next galactic guardian'!"
"And I thought I was evil." Maximus said turning to look at the camera.
"Oh, relax baby, please. Don't look at the camera as you're getting walloped, it looks too scripted." Maximus and Minimus just seemed to give up with Antoine Lucci as they left the room. "Wait, you can't leave, you're still under contract. I need you for a new show called 'home destruction'" Antoine Lucci took out his own death ray and shot the wall, as he and his film crew followed Maximus.
Back on earth, the score was still 0:0, with both teams giving it their all. Lawson had the ball in his possession and went for a goal, only for Spinelli to dive and knock the ball back, it however went to Jocko, who immediately sent it back to Lawson who had a clear shot as Spinelli was still on the ground. When Lawson kicked the ball it almost made it in, if it weren't for Dede who head butted the ball away from the goal, sending it to Paloma who kicked it to Vince.
"That was a close call, the winning guys would have scored if not for Dede showing up at the last second. But it's still Zero to zero with only two minutes left. Oh, man, this is too much." Gus announced.
"Sorry I'm so late." Dede apologised.
"There you are." Paloma asked as both groups were having a quick get together. "Were you out getting a job or something."
"No, I think it went to somebody else." Dede giggled to herself.
"Never mind that, who knew Mikey would be so good?" Asked TJ.
"It's like he's unbeatable." Said Spinelli holding the football.
"Come on. He's just Mikey." Said Vince. "Listen, I've got a plan. Spinelli, you come out of the goal. The whole team will charge him in a full-on blitz down the field. You know he couldn't take on all five of us."
"If you say so, Vince." Dede said.
When Jordan blew the whistle for the match to resume all five members of the Viper Sharks charged down the field, all passing the ball to one another, confusing the winning guys as to who they should be tagging. Dede was in current possession of the ball and was nearing the net, She made a fake shot as Lawson came to get the ball off of her, she kicked it over to Vince who was open on the other side of the goal.
"Nothing personal, big guy." Vince said as he took the shot. Mikey was, however, able to save the shot. Mikey then kicked the ball as hard as he could, leaving all the Viper Sharks in shock as there was no one to guard their goal, so they just stood there, watching the ball roll into the net.
"Goal!" The scoreboard called out as Jordan blew his whistle, signalling the end of the game. The Viper Sharks watched as the winning guys carried Mikey over to King Bob, cheering.
"I declare the Winning Guys the winning guys." King Bob said, handing them the trophy.
When the stands were cleared out the Viper Sharks stayed behind. "If it's any consolation," Gretchen said as she and Gus walked up to them. "You guys played a fine game."
"Winning Guys! Winning Guys! Winning Guys!" They all heard chanting, looking over they saw Lawson's team there.
"Hey, sorry, losing guys. Looks like you got to stay here and feel crummy. Us Winning Guys, we're going to go get some sodas and drink them from our brand-new trophy!" Lawson laughs as his team leaves.
"Enjoy yourselves, teammates." Mikey said, not following them.
"Mikey, you won." Dede said.
"Yeah, aren't you going to go celebrate with your team?" Asked Paloma.
"No. You guys weren't invited." Mikey said. "The last thing I would want to do is make my friends feel left out."
"Yeah, like we left you out."
Vince sighed.
"Guess we made you feel, well, kind of like we feel right now." Said Spinelli.
"I'm sorry, big guy." Said Vince.
"We all are." Dede stood up and gave Mikey a hug.
"Can you ever forgive us." Paloma said, also joining the hug.
"Apology accepted." Mikey said, returning the girl's hugs. "Now, I realize none of you is as good as me at eating ice cream, but if you care to join me for some, I'd be happy to go slow so you can keep up."
"Mikester, champ, we'd be honoured to try." TJ said as they all followed Mikey.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Just so people are aware, I know that some times when I've put in the word practicing it's spelt practising, this is because we have both here in the uk, so just ignore that as it's normal.
Also my tendency to put football instead of soccer, it's just what I'm used to writing, so if the transcript had soccer that's what was put, if not I did what was normal for me.