Chapter 28- Vengeance Served Hot - chapter 29- The Exhibition Rally
“Mr.Rosehearts? And I see you’re with… Ah.” Crowley looked at Leona before back at the small group behind Riddle.
Riddle nodded, putting a hand on his hip. “Correct. They are the victims of this incident.” I smiled and walked to Trey who smiled back and gave me a quick hug, holding onto my hand before looking at Crowley.
“Headmage, speaking on behalf of the victims I have a request for you. We would like you to permit Savanaclaw House to play in the tournament despite their crimes.” Trey spoke calmly, squeezing my hand a couple of times as he spoke.
“What…? Are you saying… you wish to forgive their crimes?” Crowley looked and sounded absolutly bewildered by Trey, Crowley’s eyes darted between me and Trey, his eyes darting down to our hand before his eyes darted to look at Riddle.
“You guys…” Ruggie smiled softly, I looked down at his arm and could see major cracking from Leona’s signature spell.
“No. That's the last thing we want.” Jamil spat out, anger crossing his face at the miscommunication, he put his hands on his hips as he glared at Leona.
Trey chuckled and pulled his hand from mine, crossing his arms. “If Savanaclaw is disqualified from the tournament, we’ll lose our chance at revenge.” Trey shook his head…. I might actually love this man.
“Wh-whaaat?!” Ruggie looked shocked, his ears folding back as he tossed his arms out in surprise at Jamil’s and Trey’s response.
“Revenge?!” Jack looked just as shocked, his ears fully standing up and he brought just one hand to his chest, he’d be clutching pearls if he was wearing any.
“After all, fighting with magic is forbidden on campus.” Riddle crossed his arms, oh god, these guys are more menacing than I originally thought.
“But during a Spelldrive game, it’s all in the name of sport, right? It just happens to be a sport where players face off using the fullest extent of their magic.” Trey had an evil looking smirk on his face as he looked at Leona before Trey put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me into his side…. If this man lets me get him alone again, I swear…
“Yeah. If we lose our chance at revenge, it’ll gnaw at us all year!” That one Heartslabyul student who we first met with after getting hurt spoke up.
“We throw down the gauntlet! Duel us!” oh hey, it’s that Pomefiore student that I kicked the legs out from under.
“Plus, I dunno what happened here, but it looks like it left the Savanaclaw kids in even worse shape than we’re in.” Jamil’s face grew a smirk as he spoke in a condescending tone as he looked over the Savanaclaw students.
“What we’re saying is: now that we know who did this, we have an opportunity to hash things out on the field instead of letting grudges fester.” Trey chuckled as he stared Leona down, giving a glance to Crowley and Riddle.
“You’ve said it yourself, Leona—fighting doesn’t break school rules if it’s part of a Spelldrive match!” Cater stated before he walked up beside me and Trey, giving Trey’s hand a glance before he leaned up against me.
“Normaly, I would demand their heads. But if Trey and others insisted on settling their grudges on the field… I am willing to overlook their disregard for the rules this once.” Riddle closed his eyes and sighed, obviously fighting himself over the rules.
“I understand where you’re coming from. However, the question is: Are these Savanaclaw students even capable of taking to the field? Mr.Kingscholar has only just regained consciousness!” Crowley seemed slightly panicked looking over to Leona who burst out into laughter.
As Leona laughed he put his hand on Crowleys shoulder. “Heh heh… Hah ha ha! Don’t you underestimate me, Crowley. I wouldn’t even need to be awake to handle this sorry pack of wounded herbivores.” Leona’s smile faded away and he shook his head, glaring towards the group of injured boys.
“Wow. Now THAT is audacious.” Jamil crossed his arms with a grin, shaking his head slightly as he looked towards Leona.
“I got no intention of bowin’ to anyone. If you want my apology, come and take it.” Leona spat out, pulling his hand away from Crowley’s shoulder as he continued to stare them down, I slowly took a step forward, in-between them, narrowing my eyes and Leona scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“Do we have your blessing, Headmage?” Trey looked towards Crowley.
“Dear me. Aren’t I the fool for thinking you all wanted to talk about your feelings?” Crowley muttered, speaking quickly and quietly before clearing his throat and placing his hands on his hips. “Your petition is granted. Savanaclaw will be allowed to participate in the tournament, as originally planned.” Crowley looked towards me and leaned forward slightly. “And as the headmage, I very much appreciate that this will keep our little scandal under wraps as the whole world is watching.”
“Yup, just sweep it under the carpet. Nice example you’re setting, Headmage.” I shook my head as I moved away, looking to go pick up my coat and putting it back on before picking up Grim, who hopped up into my arms and nuzzled against my neck like a lil cuite pie.
Crowley cleared his throat before looking around at everyone else. “Well, the spectators have surely grown weary of waiting for the players to appear. Do make haste.” Crowley began to rush us.
“All right, let’s—” As Leona began to walk he paused and huffed out. “Urk! That hurt…” He put his hand on his side, right where I kicked him earlier.
“Don’t think you’ve earned my forgiveness.” Ruggie shook his head as he held onto his bandana.
“Right, and?” Leona looked towards Ruggie.
“Still… I couldn’t tell you why, but… it still pains me to see that pathetic look on your face. Your usual smug, sneering grin— somehow, that suits you better. So come on, now! ‘Laugh with me!’” Ruggie lifted his fingers to the corner of his mouth and pulled his mouth into a smile.
Leona followed in suit, doing the same thing Ruggie did, his fingers pulling his corners of his mouth into a smile. “Owwww! Ruggie, what are you doin’...?!” Leona’s words were muffled by his fingers in his mouth, a forced smile on his face.
“Shyeheehee! I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do this!” Ruggie’s voice was also muffled as he laughed… Like a true little shit of a brother.
“Knock it off! Now!” Leona shouted, his words slurred and muffled as he glared at Ruggie.
“Oh look at you Leona. Such a charmin’ smile!” I smiled at Leona who just Glared at me in response.
“You guys are a buncha idiots… heh.” Jack laughed softly as he crossed his arms and walked past Leona and Ruggie.
I snapped my head around and towards Jack “You actually laughed!” I smiled brightly as I looked up at him as I held Grim.
“I… I did not!” Jack pinned his ears back as he brought a hand up to his chest in startle. He shook his head before pausing and relaxing. “I owe you guys for this. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to go out there and give 100%.” Jack gave a little smile that reminded me of a :3 .
“But on that field, we will be enemies. We will hold nothing back.” Riddle smiled at Jack.
Jack nodded and looked proud of himself. “I wouldn’t have it any other way!”
Grim hopped out of my arms and began to weave himself through Crowley’s legs like cats do while looking up at Crowley. “Hey, Headmage! We caught your guy! You know what that means… Time to cough up the reward you promised!”
“What? Ohhh… I did promise you that, didn’t I?” Crowley nodded, putting his hand under his chin as he crossed the other over his chest. “But it’s far too late. The tournament brackets have already been announced. What to do..?”
Grim’s ears pinned back as he looked up at Crowley. “WHAAAAAAT?! You wretched, backstabbin’ swindler!” Grim shouted as he ran to jump into my arms, burying his little furry face into my chest before looking at Crowley with anger. “I am gonna make it rain fire, you liar! MYAAAAH!” Grim took a deep breath, preparing to spit fire, making me laugh slightly.
“Stop, please! Restrain yourself for a moment! I will… come up with something. Uh…” Make a loud ‘hmm’ing noise, trying to make it seem like something was actually going on inside of his birdbrain. “Ah! I’ve got it! What would you say to playing in a special exhibition match? If it were held before the tournament itself, it wouldn’t interfere with anything. And the eyes of the world would be squarely on you!”
“On me?!” Grim’s ears popped up and I sighed.
“B-but of course.” Crowley stammered, nodding quickly.
“Well, so long as I’m the center of attention, I guess that will do. This’ll be great! After the scouts see me kickin’ tail on TV, they’ll be swarmin’ all over me!” Grim fantisized.
I shook my head, looking down at Grim. “But Spelldrive teams need seven players… How do you plan to fill our team?” I looked back up to Crowley who began thinking, mumbling to himself.
“The other players… Ah, right. And we’ll need an opposing team as well. Perhaps we could cobble one together out of faculty members…” I’m going to kick Crowley’s ass.
“Myah?! You haven’t given this any thought at all!” Grim whined.
Suddenly I felt an arm around my neck, Ace was leaning up against me with a shit-eating grin. “Hey, so, couldn’t help overhearing…”
“If you need some teammates, we could help you out.” Deuce finished Ace’s sentence as he walked up on the other side…. Are these two dating?
“What are you doing? You’re members of Heartslabyul!” Riddle scolded Ace and Deuce.
“There’s no tournament rule that says we can’t play for another dorm’s team.” Ace turned his head to look at Riddle, this little shit read the tournament’s rules… who would’ve ever seen the day come?
“Ha! He’s right! I guess no one thought that would ever happen, so no one ever wrote it down.” Trey laughed as he crossed his arms, shaking his head as he looked to the ground.
Suddenly Cater pushed Ace to the side as he grabbed my hips, pulling me back against him as he rested his head against mine. “Ooh, now this sounds totes fun! I wanna be on y/n’s team too!” Cater whined as he held onto me.
“B-but you’re an actual member of our team!” Riddle stammered as he watched our PDA, he shook his head and moved forward, swatting Cater’s hands off of me.
Cater let go of me and took a step back. “Oh. Shit…” Cater shook his head before pausing and looking at Riddle, who looked back with disappointment at Cater for cussing.
“I didn’t go through all that just to sit back ‘n cheer for you guys. If i’m getting the chance, I wanna play!” Ace laughed, pointing at me with his thumb as he looked at Riddle.
“I’m not like him, okay?! I just want to have my friends’ backs.” Deuce looked at Riddle and quickly looked at me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me lightly as he looked me in my eyes.
“If you need someone to play against, Savanaclaw will be happy to help.” Jack shoved Deuce to the side as he looked down at me, his tail wagging slightly as he looked down at me with a proud looking smile, his hands on his hips.
“Myah?! You will?!” Grim perked up in my arms as he looked up at Jack.
Jack’s smile faded as he looked down at Grim. “Of couse. Playing against the faculty would be no fun. We’ll give you a proper match.” Jack’s voice was suddenly serious, his tail wasn’t wagging any more… Does he hate Grim?
“Sa-weeet! Guess you ain’t such a jerk after all.” Ace patted the back of Jack’s arm, causing him to swing around.
“Don’t get the wrong idea— this is just payback! I don’t want that debt hanging over my head. You don’t have a problem with it, right?” Jack rubbed the back of his head as he looked back to Leona and Ruggie, he sounded desprate for us to believe he wasn’t doing it so we’d have a team to face for fun.
Ruggie sighed loudly. “...Yeah, sure, what’s one more game when we’re already at the brink of exhaustion? You’re a monster, Jack.” Ruggie looked towards Leona, waiting to see his opinion.
“Pfft. I don’t even care anymore. Come and take your best shot, herbivores. It may be an exhibition match, but we ain’t gonna be playin’ footsies' here. You better be ready for us.” Leona scoffed as he looked me dead in my eyes.
“Would not mind playing footsies with you.” I paused as soon as it left my mouth. “I’m tired, ignore what I just said.”... I guess you could say I was completely ready for Leona.
“I was going to anyway.” Leona shook his head before looking at Crowley.
Crowley shook his head and cleared his throat. “Ah, splendid. And here I was bracing to endure another three-hour scolding from Professor Trein. Well, I believe that’s four members on your team now, y/n. You only need three more!”
“Hey, that’s still not enough! And that’s WITH people comin’ from whole other dorms to join us! Why does our dorm only have two people in it?” Grim whined and complained, he looked up at me and his ears pinned back. “What’s with that evil look?” Grim muttered as he looked up at me.
“Does our dorm only have two people in it, Grim?” I grinned down at Grim and his ears popped back up and he jumped out of my arms.
“Oh… that’s right! If they live in the dorm, they’re our dormmates, right?” Grim looked at my boots as he thought outloud.
“Sounds like solid reasoning to me.” Ace nodded, crossing his arms.
“Then there are more members of Ramshackle House than just the two of us!” Grim looked mischievously up at me before turning to look at Crowley.
“The players from ninety years ago!” I laughed out as I looked at Crowley who had a startled look on his face.
“Pardon? Are you telling me you intend to register ghosts as members of your team?” Crowley sounded bewildered as he shook his head, crossing his arms and taking a step back from us.
“One of ‘em said he used to be a real good player! They’ll be perfect! Sit tight, I’m gonna go get ‘em! Wahoo! I’m gonna be on TV!” Grim began to run off as quickly as he could.
“Run, Grim, run!” I yelled after him as he darted out of Savanaclaw.
“Seriously? A match against ghosts?” Jack mumbled out as he rubbed the back of his head with a nervous expression. Ace walked up and patted Jack on his back.
“Hey, y/n is playin’ despite having about as much magical talent as a box of crayons, so what’s the problem?” I drew back and punched Ace in his side. “OW! I’m just kindin’ around… it's true though.” Ace waited to say the last part after he hid behind Deuce as if he would stop me.
“I’m actually going to be on TV? S-suddenly my knees won’t stop shaking…” Deuce leaned against me as his legs shook, he looked pale in the face as he stared at the ground.
“Hurry off to the tournament site, now. Ah, but first, has anyone spotted a black, stone-like object on the ground?” Crowley looked around the ground.
“Huh? A black rock?” Ace asked.
“Did you lose something like that, sir?” Deuce began to look around too.
“No.. simply wondering if anyone had noticed one. Right, then. Let’s all hurry to the coliseum now.” Crowley began to wave us off.
Jack walked up to me and put his hand on my back. “C’mon, y/n.”
“Let’s all do our best!” I shouted as we all rushed off.
As we entered the stadium and were introduced everyone went wild, I say rows and rows of people, the stadiums were filled to the brim, the ghost came flying in as everyone got in position, Leona, Ruggie and Jack were all upfront as the rest of the Savanaclaw team was behind them. Grim, Deuce and Ace were at the front of our team.
When we began playing our team got it first and was rushing through the field, Ruggie came at us from above while on a broom, Ace blocked all his attacks and out of nowhere Jack rushed in and stole it before driving it into our goal, getting a point.
After that we returned back to our places, we were given the disc once again, this time when Ruggie came at us from above we were ready, striking again and again before Ace tossed it to a ghost who drove it into Savanaclaw’s goal, giving us a point.
This continued happening, a back and forth of who was getting points. Just as we were about to get another point and win, Ace shot it over to Grim as I rammed into Jack (Which I’m allowed to do.) Just then I turned my head to look at Grim only to be met with the disc which was only a few inches away from my head. I only had enough time to shout. “FUCK!”
I felt the hit and everything immediately went black. I could hear screaming but I couldn’t do anything.