Chapter 31

131 21 66
                                    

Planet: Eteran

First Insurgency War

JAMES

Goals rang out, and his failure persisted against his shoulders as Rayan exhausted himself for the team. Here I am, letting every little flyball past me and letting Jon deal with it... It came close to half-time, the score in an ever shifting draw with Rayan fighting to score just as many points as the other team did together. It ticked in his ears as he checked whichever frontliner dared to intrude on their territory, but they pushed past him with growing ferocity and irritation and Rayan's subtle taunts from the center line. I can trip them up, but we need a break...

It came when the bell rang, and he hurried over to their side of the bleachers, where he tore his helmet off to free himself of the plastered effort across his brow. Rayan took too long to wander over, tossing his helmet to the side as Jon passed towels to them.

"We're almost there," Jon said with a pat on their backs. "Just a little longer. Save our energy for the important shot. Rayan, you can't keep up the Vanguard Chase."

Rayan slumped against their team bench and wiped his hair with a towel. "I mean, I think I'm doing a good job," he said, breathless.

James considered the rest of the team, out of energy, dragged down by his stupidity. James clenched his fists, and drowned himself in his water capsule while Jon shook his head.

"You'll be flattened by their wing backliner if you try again, they've caught onto it," Jon argued. "We need to create an opening instead of forcing through it. I need you to be able to take the shots, Ray — you can't do that if you're fighting for breath instead of fighting to knock their asses to the dirt." Jon threw a fresh water capsule at Rayan, where it bounced off his chest. "So, calm your scout jets for this quarter. Let me defend if they get past our backline."

Here I am, I'm not nearly as out of breath as they are. James took another sip of the water capsule while the rest of the team slumped down while the coaches spoke to each other on the centerline. Classmates cheered them on, and he turned his attention to the crowd. Ava sat between Yvonne, Katie, and Meryn, she frowned at him, and he found himself unable to look in the mirror. Jon gathered the rest of his team, but he found no strength to join them as he stayed on the ground with Rayan.

"Jamie," Rayan whispered.

James eyed him, where Rayan set his head back with a growing smile of sparkling rebellion. James raised an eyebrow at the nonverbal signal while Jon delivered his half game prep talk to those who needed it, where Jon had wasted his time on him early game. James tightened his grip on his netbat, then tipped his head at Rayan, who rubbed the speed dialler.

It's not going to work... I'll just fuck it up. He winced.

Rayan shook his head.

Bells rang.

"Let's make this round count," Jon said as he tugged Rayan to his feet, and James hauled himself up. "Just one goal. I can survive with a draw."

"No you can't," James joked. "We'll win this one, Jon."

It was back onto the field, where James settled in for his eventual mutiny. Rayan pulled off the centerline, following Jon's ploy for the time being, but from the way Rayan tensed in the legs, the plan was already in motion long before the first bell rang. It cracked against netbats while the frontliners tried their best to act as the first line of defense, to get the ball out of their territory. James prepared himself when the frontliner with the ball broke through Tomas, with Tharan pulling back to give chase and allowing his frontliner to come forwards.

Wolf HeartWhere stories live. Discover now