The cloth ran over the plate, and I rubbed the surfaces clean with my fingers, before placing it in the drying rack. I grabbed another and washed it thoroughly.
“Good job.” Nelly smiled beside me. We were washing the dishes in the kitchen, whilst the rest of the family were watching television in the living room. It wasn't something we did too often, but it wasn't exactly a task that was beyond us. “How are your nerves?” I asked. It was the day before our second match, and we had all tried our hardest to put in a solid effort in training.
“Well, I can't say that I'm calm...” She replied, running the warm water of the sink over a bowl. “But I think we'll do better this time, because everyone's been trying really hard...”
“Especially you.” I smiled.
“I...”
“Don't deny it, Nelly. I've seen you up front. You work so hard on all aspects of your game. Without you, the team would be nothing.”
“N-no, I wouldn't say that.” She blushed. “You're just as important as any of us... Think about our first game – the scoreline would have been a lot less respectable without you in goal.”
I looked at her and felt warm inside. “I only do what I have to. And I always think of you back there. You're what drives me to make saves, because if I can react to those shots, I know I can react better to things in general, and... I'll be able to protect you better.”
Nelly placed the final plate in the rack and shook her head as she dried her hands. “You know how to say the sweetest things...”
She leaned in towards me, and I went towards her. Her eyelids flickered and her lips trembled slightly as our noses touched, then we closed our eyes...
“Ney!” A voice came from behind. Nelly and I pulled away from each other abruptly with red faces, as we turned to see who was there. Standing in the doorway was Maruki, Nelly's little brother who was now just over a year old.
“Oh, hello Maruki.” Nelly smiled.
“Hi!” The boy giggled. “Ney?”
“Yeah?”
“Toto cuffle?” He asked.
“What was that?” I whispered.
“I think he means 'Toby cuddle'.” Nelly shrugged.
“Yeah.” Maruki nodded, hearing what his sister had said.
“You want Toby to give you a hug?”
“Noooo.” The child shook his head and pointed at Nelly. “Ney cuffle Toto!”
I swallowed awkwardly and laughed.
“Oh... You mean like this?” Nelly wrapped her arms around me and rested her hear on my chest.
“Nelly...” I slowly put my hands on her back and buried my face in her hair.
“Hehe!” Maruki clapped and smiled.
“Maruki!” Alexis' voice came from in the other room. “Leave Nelly alone, Sweetie.”
“Ok!” He said, before running back into the living room.
The second he left, Nelly tightened her grip on me and buried her head into the crook between my chest and chin. I playfully ran my fingers through her dark brown hair and smiled.
“I love you.” She told me.
“I love you too.” I squeezed her tight.
*
The next day, we were back out at the pitch at the Pokemon League. However, this time, things were different – it was raining. It was only light drizzle as we waited to walk out onto the field from the tunnel, and the grass didn't seem to be too badly effected. The team Darragh had chosen for this game was largely the same as the opening match, except Torch and Gazelle were starting up front ahead of Ethan and Sam. We were lined up ready to take our places in the centre of the pitch, where our opponents would follow and shake our hands this time. Leading the line was Nelly, who had the captain's armband fastened around her left arm. I was stood behind her, looking at the number twelve on the back of her shirt as she gently bobbed up and down on her toes. “It'll be ok.” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah...” She looked back at me. “We're going to win today!”
“Yeah!” Everyone rallied.
Then, the voice of Harvey came through the speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, here they are! Destiny Angel!”
That was our cue.
The rain patted down on our heads at odd intervals as we stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the pitch, watching the Deathy Vipers stroll towards us. This time, Ryan was playing, as he was in the line of eleven players.
“Today, the Deathly Vipers could wrap it all up and win the competition with a victory!” Harvey informed everyone around the stadium. “Destiny Angel need to go all-out for a win if they want to play in a third and final match. Now, alongside me today is Fred, and also another good friend of mine, Andy Smith! Andy is a much better football commentator than I am, and he's here today to talk about what happens in the match, and hopefully provide a helpful analysis on events today.”
Andy was a man with short black hair and spectacles, seemingly in his forties.
By now, the last player of each team had shaken hands, and it was time for the match to get underway.
“Good luck.” I said to Nelly.
“Thank you... You too, I know you'll do well.” She smiled, before kissing me goodbye. The crowd cheered once again at that, much like the game before. Just like that day, it gave me confidence, and I jogged off to my goal happily, pulling my gloves on as I went.
“We've got this one. I know we can do it.” I convinced myself.
“And Destiny Angel get us underway here.” Harvey announced. “Andy, how important is it that they get off to a good start here?”
“Well, it is important that they try and make something early on, because it'll boost their confidence a lot for the rest of the match. Even if they were to go one down early on, it still gives them time to improve.” Andy replied.
I watched on the screen as Nelly had the ball halfway down the opposition's end. Gazelle was being marked up ahead, but in the corner of the screen, Torch was starting to peel away into a space left behind by a vacant defender. Nelly saw this just in time, and launched the ball over the top.
“Nelly's put through Torch here! He's one-on-one with Scott! Takes a touch...! My word!”
“Ooooh!”
Our fans erupted with cheers as Torch took the ball down with his left foot and smashed it into the top corner with his right.
“What a finish, Andy!”
“That's so hard to do, Harvey, to take the ball out of the air and get it out of your feet like that – wonderful goal!”
I looked to the bench and saw Darragh clenching his fists in celebration by the touchline. On the other side, Derek Quagmire's expression was blank and unphased. It was great to have scored, but it was only the third minute. We needed to concentrate. But it was a lack of concentration which almost cost us dearly...
“Here comes Charles, thirty yards out, what can he do? He's got Daniel to his left if he needs him.”
The striker was looking for a way through, but Harry was in his way, alive on his toes and not letting him past. With a quick shift of his weight, Charles slid past Harry, the rain aiding his effort, before he shot from distance. I was bouncing on my toes already, watching the ball as it arched slowly to my right. But Jamie was in the way, and he threw himself across to try and head the ball out. Instead, he got the slightest part of his forehead on the ball and was unable to stop it, but made it change course to the left.
“Charles strikes it! Oh, it's deflected! Toby's wrong-footed!”
I was already moving to my right when Jamie accidentally sent the ball back to where I was a moment ago. I slammed my foot into the ground, pivoted back and threw myself in the opposite direction. The ball dipped down, and I got both hands behind it, parrying it back out into the box, where Gray thundered back and hacked the loose ball up-field.
“Oh! Toby makes a wonderful save, and it's cleared to safety by Gray!”
“I was just about to congratulate him on scoring a nice goal there, but the keeper, what a stop! Excellent reach from the young stopper.”
“Good save.” Gray offered his hand. I took it and stood up, thanking him.
After a while, the ball pinged loose from midfield, and was left in space. Ryan surged forward, faster than anyone chasing him, but wasn't quick enough to beat Jake, who lunged in, sliding across the ground to kick the ball back out for a throw-in. The rain probably helped him, as he slid a lot further than he likely would have done. The following play came to nothing, and the ball was recycled into the middle of the park.
“We're approaching the half an hour mark now, and it's still one-nil to Destiny Angel. However, here's Ryan now, breaking free!”
The tricky winger blazed down the line and into the box, where he was held up by my four defenders, who refused to give him a n inch of space. In the end, he resorted to passing back to his team mate, who returned the ball quickly. Now, our midfielders had come back to help, and Ryan tried to bait them in. It worked. Nick closed him down, and had a clear sight of the ball, until Ryan started to run beyond him. The Ranger stuck his foot out to knock the ball away, but Ryan got his toes to it just before, and poked it clear, leaving Nick to trip up the winger, who fell like a sack of potatoes onto the ground.
“That's a rash challenge from Nick!” Harvey winced. “The referee's blown his whistle... And it's a penalty!”
The man in black pointed to the spot with the whistle between his lips, and produced a yellow card for Nick, who held his head in his hands. Charles picked up the ball and talked to his team mates around him, and my heart flipped inside. A penalty. The hardest thing a goalkeeper could possibly face...
Almost every player from each time was lined up on the edge of the box, waiting to either poke in a rebound, or clear away the ball. If I were to save the penalty, that was. Charles had placed the ball on the white circle, and I was stood on my line, my heart racing. Which way was he going to go? Left? Right? Down the middle? I had no idea. I saw Nelly's face amongst the players, and she looked at me with fear, nervousness, belief and trust all in one emotion. When the referee blew the whistle, Charles would take the penalty...
He blew.
I bounced from left to right on the spot as Charles ran towards the ball, and threw myself down to my right the second he struck the ball. My fingers met the grass, and the ball whacked against my right palm with pace and power. I had saved it! But the ball spun up and back towards the opposition's striker...
“It's Charles... And it's saved!!... He's there for the rebound!...!”
I got back on my feet as fast as I possibly could, the crowd behind me cheering, then suddenly going quiet as Charles jumped up to volley the ball back towards goal. I back-tracked furiously, before throwing myself down to the opposite corner as fast and as forcefully as I could. Before I hit the ground, I clawed at the shot with both hands, and the ball bounced once before spinning out over the line for a corner.
“AND AGAIN! TOBY DENIES HIM!”
“What a fantastic double save that was! How he got up that quick to keep the second one out, absolutely superb! Well done Toby Grazier!”
The crowd behind me erupted with noise that was louder than anything I'd ever heard before. I leapt to my feet and there were hands all around me, reaching, patting me, and voices screaming my name. I looked on as Nelly ran towards me and threw her arms around me.
“That was incredible!” She shouted above the noise. Everyone else on the team crowded around me and huddled in, thanking me.
“Now it's your turn!” I told them all. “Let's go!”
“Yeah!”
It came round to half-time, and there were three minutes of added time. It was in the added time that Torch latched onto a through ball from Gazelle, and stormed into Scott's area. The keeper rushed out and pushed the ball away from the boy's legs, but he beat the defender too the rebound, and curled his shot in from an awkward angle on his weak foot, and it clipped off the inside of the post, spinning away from Scott as he attempted to recover in time.
“Goal! It's Torch again! Just before half-time!”
“That was an awkward one to take on!” Andy commented. “He showed great composure there. Destiny Angel are well on their way to earning their place here next week!”
As everyone celebrated, I looked over at Derek Quagmire. He was right up beside the pitch now, and he had pulled Ryan over. The manager was whispering in his player's ear, and from what I could tell, the winger looked almost horrified at what he had said. A glance at the big screen showed Gazelle frozen to the spot, watching on as the others celebrated. His eyes were focused on the two by the touchline, and his fists were clenched. Had he heard something? Then, the screen went on to show the replay of Torch's goal.
A minute later, the game kicked off again, and it was only a matter of seconds until the referee would let us take our break. I watched the screen whilst I strolled along my line. Holly passed the ball to Torch, and then something seemed to click in the atmosphere. I noticed Ryan break from the formation and he tore up the field towards the striker from behind. Torch passed the ball off to Skyra, but still, Ryan kept charging, with a sour look on his face. It was too late by the time the rest of the team noticed. Ryan's feet left the ground, and he lunged feet-first at Torch's legs, studs pointing up.
At that moment, Gazelle barged Torch out of the way with his shoulder, causing him to stumble away. Ryan's boots made full contact with Gazelle's shins, and he was swiped clean off his feet. The boy came crashing down onto the grass, his face contorted in agony as he held his leg with both hands.
Everyone in the stands gasped, and a roar of shouts came from all over the place. My team mates squared up to Ryan as he got to his feet and tried to walk away.
“Oh, what is he doing?!” Harvey yelped. “That's dangerous, and painful, by the looks of it! I don't think the referee's got much choice here, Andy.”
“No, he hasn't. That was despicable. Instant red.”
Sure enough, the referee stormed over to the crowd, separated the conflict and produced a red card for Ryan, pointing to the bench. He took his punishment without complaint, and walked off towards his manager with a blank expression. After that, the referee called for half time. We started to walk towards Darragh, as a medical team came out with a stretcher for Gazelle. Our manager was talking to the medics, pressuring them to be careful with the boy. At the other end, Ryan plodded past Derek Quagmire, and the man patted his back. I frowned and growled at the gesture, looking away straight afterwards. “He told him to break Torch's legs.” I thought.
Torch was kneeling over Gazelle on the pitch, with his expression one of anger and sadness. The two of them were like brothers. I had learnt that much the first time I met them. Gazelle had been there for Torch when he sustained a bullet wound, and now Torch was determined to stick by his friend.
“Why did you do that?” He sniffed, groaning at the same time. “He wanted me!”
“I know...” Gazelle breathed in heavily, wincing. “I wasn't going to let him do that to you... I'm sorry...”
“Don't be sorry... You saved me... Dammit! I'll do something...” Torch shook.
I looked at the ground in disgust as I walked off the pitch. “That man is sick. Ordering someone to injure a person...”
“We'll win this for you, Gazelle!” I shouted back as he was gently lifted onto the stretcher.
He looked up, smiled and gave a weak thumbs-up, before laying his head down and closing his eyes.
“Hell yeah we will!” Torch ran back to the bench ahead of me.
The second half started, and it was never going to be the same when it was eleven versus ten. Sam had been substituted on at the restart, and it was him who set up our third goal.
“Here's Sam now, looking to get beyond Seth. He's poked it through... And he's got there first! It's just Dexter ahead of him!”
Our striker thundered a hard shot at the goal, but the defender stuck out a foot to deflect it towards Scott. However, the lanky keeper was wrong-footed, and had to throw himself down to push the ball away. As it zipped across the grass, Nelly slid in, poking the ball over the line with her left foot.
I jumped up with the supporters to cheer, and Darragh seemed ecstatic on the touchline. She looked so happy up on the big screen, and as her team mates surrounded her she waved in my direction. I waved back, proud that she had scored again.
“This is incredible stuff.” Harvey spectated.
“Wob!” Fred agreed.
“Yes, Harvey. They're walking all over the opposition! And we're only ten minutes into the second half!” Andy commented.
Five minutes later, Daniel and Charles linked up on the edge of the box to string together several passes, trying to find a way past Gray and Jamie. Before they could, Etienne, who had been subbed on for Nick, slid in at Daniel's feet, launching the ball into the air. Harry ran in and leapt highest, sending a glancing headed pass straight at me. I caught it, nodded at him, and looked up-field for a counter-attack. Soon enough, I spotted Skyra drifting wide near the halfway line, and I drop-kicked the ball towards him. He controlled it with his right foot, then burst off into space down the wing. Three defenders had spaced themselves out across the final third, and were tracking Skyra's run forward. Only Nelly was keeping pace, but she was running through the middle, between the centre backs. It would have been incredibly difficult for Skyra to accurately swing the ball in for her from the left wing. Luckily for us, Skyra's dominant foot was his left.
“Skyra down the wing. He's got Nelly surging towards the box. Can he pick out a pass?”
One more step and Skyra wrapped his left foot around the ball, sending it swinging into the box. The cross was perfect – at the start, it was going towards Scott, but the whip and bend Skyra applied made it curl away from him and towards Nelly.
“The cross comes in!”
“You can do it...” I willed her on.
Nelly threw herself forward, flicking her head as the pass connected, sending the ball spinning into the top corner.
“She's reached it with a diving header to score! The ball didn't even touch the ground!”
“Amazing!” Andy shouted above the crowd's noise. “Destiny Angel have a perfect understanding between their players! Incredible!”
I glanced over at Derek Quagmire. His expression was one of disgust. “You tell someone to break her legs, I'll kill you.” I hissed under my breath.
For the rest of the game, Quagmire's team were just out of the contest completely. They couldn't fashion anything, and their passes seemed uncharacteristically sloppy. In the eighty-fifth minute, Nelly hammered the nail in the coffin with a wonderful solo effort.
She was surrounded by three players, who were all on their toes, ready to pounce, though they seemed tired.
“Nelly's closed down, forty yards out. What can she do?”
Nelly looked around, before turning her back to the opposition's goal. She then flicked the ball into the air, which enticed the defenders to come in and take it. As the ball came back down, Nelly turned rapidly and ran towards the goal, using her heel to flick the ball back over her head. The defenders were left frozen as the ball landed at her feet and she raced onwards.
“Oh! Super skill!” Harvey laughed. “What was that? She's made them look like fools!”
“Some sort of Rainbow Flick.” Andy marvelled. “Great improvisation.”
But she wasn't finished there. After running forwards a few yards, Nelly looked down at the ball and struck it with all her might. From thirty yards, her strike didn't gather any spin – it simply thundered low through the air, crashing into the back of the net with immense power.
“MY WORD! She's scored! From there! Unbelievable!”
“YYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH!” The cries erupted from all over the place, as people jumped up and down, grabbing each other, screaming to the sky.
“What a strike! Pure power there! She knew exactly what she was doing!”
“With that wonder goal, Nelly Ora-Yuki completes her hat-trick! It's a perfect one, too! Header, left foot, right foot – absolutely magical! Destiny Angel lead by five goals to nil!”
“Haha, amazing!” Gray said as he walked past.
“Why couldn't we all have played so well last time?” Jamie laughed.
I looked up at the big screen as the cameras replayed the goal from the perfect angle, as the ball squeezed in beyond the keeper's outstretched fingers.
“Well done.” I smiled.
“We're into extra time now, and there'll be two minutes of it, as Katie combines with Kyle to set Luke on his way!” Harvey told everyone. Jake put pressure on the black-haired boy as he ran forward, but couldn't make a tackle without risking a foul. However, he managed to push him wide left inside the box, meaning his angle was awkward. Two of his team mates were waiting in the middle, so I moved towards the centre of the goal. But then, Luke tried something I wasn't expecting. He was on the other side of Jake, yet managed to strike the ball with his weaker left foot. It was a shot instead of a cross. The ball glided across the grass towards the bottom corner, and instinctively, I bent my legs and stuck out my left foot. The shot cannoned off of the inside of my foot and spiralled over to the middle of the six-yard box, where the opponents were waiting.
“A shot from a tight angle... Saved! But it's loose in the box, and Katie's there! Surely this is one back?!”
I gritted my teeth and used my stance to propel myself across. Luckily, the midfielder had waited for the ball to drop to her on the volley instead of heading it in, which gave me just enough time to make it. She hammered her foot into the ball, and I brought my arms into my body, as a reflex to protect my face. The ball crashed into my right elbow, hit the ground, then hit my left knee, where it spun into the air as I landed on the grass, the white goal line right below my shoulder.
“A fantastic double save! Toby throws himself across to get something in the way of the follow-up shot!”
As I scrambled to my feet, Gray burst in and performed and acrobatic clearance as more of the opposition closed in. We high-fived each other and shouted with adrenaline. Everything was going our way in this game.
“Gray cleans it up, and the ball flies out by the halfway line! Heroics from the defensive unit today, Andy.”
“Oh, definitely. Torch and Nelly have scored some wonderful goals, but the team can thank their goalkeeper and defenders for the massive score difference.”
“Before the game ends, who's your man of the match today?” Harvey asked, as the cameras focused in on each player Andy spoke about.
“It's not an easy choice, because players like Torch, Gray and Jake have done extremely well today. Toby's played a blinder as well in goal, but I think I'll give it to Nelly – Destiny Angel knew they needed to win today, and she ensured that they did with three beautifully-taken goals.”
“There you go! Nelly is the ma-err-uh-best player of the match! And with that, the referee blows his whistle! A fantastic performance all around from Destiny Angel today! Thank you all for coming, and of course, we now have to go down to the wire – the deciding match will be next weekend! I trust you'll be back for that one, Andy?”
“Absolutely!”
“Goodbye, everyone! Take care!”
We started to leave the pitch, clapping the fans who had come to watch. The rain had disappeared long ago, but I only noticed now, as a rainbow peered out from behind the clouds. As well as that, I realised that I had kept a clean sheet. I hadn't let in any goals! I took my gloves off and smiled. Every save I made was just as important a the goals we scored.
“Toby!” Nelly called. I turned to see her running towards me.
“Nelly!” I smiled, hugging her as she jumped into my arms. “You did great!” I said. “You're amazing!”
She blushed a little bit before taking my hand as we walked off the pitch towards the tunnel.
“You were brilliant, too!” Nelly praised me. “I knew you could do it! You saved a penalty! Not only that, but it was a double save! Toby, you kept our hopes alive.”
“Nah, it was you – your performance spurred me on to do what I did.” I winked.
“Hehe, I could say the same.”
Darragh patted us on the back as we walked into the tunnel, away from the noise.
“Well done, you two! You both played extremely well, and I'm proud of you.”
“Thank you.” We blushed.
“If you can do that again next week, we can win, no doubt about it. Toby, never lose your determination. And Snowflake, always oppose the impossible – your third goal showed that.”
We nodded happily, pleased that our work had been appreciated. “I'll see you back at the bus.” Nelly's father said, walking off towards the exit.
It was time to get changed before we could go home and rest – the whole team deserved it too. Apparently Gazelle was having a scan, and Darragh would be told what damage had been done by the end of the day. But we did what we promised to – we won it for him.
“Right, well, I'll see you in a minute then...” I said as we reached the changing rooms.
“Yeah... Toby?” Nelly asked, squeezing my hand.
“Yes?”
“I love you...” She gave me her sweet, loving look.
“I love you too, Nelly.” I said. I pulled her in and kissed her.
She smiled and returned the favour, before waving a brief goodbye as we went into separate rooms.
I pushed the changing room door open, and was immediately swarmed by my friends, who put their arms around me and cheered.
“Great game!” Sam congratulated me.
“Awesome saves.” Ethan nodded.
“Thanks guys, but you all did great today...” I smiled.
“What took you so long getting here, anyway?” Max asked.
“Oh, uh...”
“You know.” Jake winked and nudged my side. I went red and a few of them laughed playfully, before patting my shoulder and going off to change.
I pulled my amethyst pendant up from beneath my top and kissed it, before closing my hand around it. Nelly had given it to me, and it was a constant source of mental strength.
“We can win this...” I thought to myself as I watched everyone gather up their belongings. “I know we can, and I know I'll do well next time. As long as I've got you...”
I kissed the pendant again and went to get changed.