The Phoenix Fallacy_Book II_Norm

by Jon Sourbeer,

  Janus took a moment to glance towards the Flames’ goal, the teams were still furiously battling it out – even the Rangers goalie had transitioned back to regular play to assist with the blue. It seemed unlikely another score would happen for some time.

  Janus was surprised to see Marcus in the corner of his vision, sprinting neck and neck with him to help out Valers. Marcus is really fast, Janus realized. He had covered a lot more ground than Janus had. Janus pushed himself faster and made a quick one-handed sign for separation to Marcus. With a nod, they split to give maximum coverage on a rebound.

  Dozer shot.

  As he watched the Boomer sail towards the goal, Janus caught sight of Celes in the crowd, and he sprinted even harder. Marcus was just slightly ahead of him.

  Valers reacted in slow motion, leaping lazily for the Boomer; it curved in a gentle arc away from him and toward the corner of the goal.

  The bile rose in the back of Janus’ throat despite his labored breaths. Marcus…

  But suddenly, Valers fingers brushed the Boomer as it slid by, changing its course ever so slightly. As the Red rebounded off the edge of the goal, the crowd let out a wild roar, approving of Valers’ amazing save. Janus felt a pang of relief, and also pleasant surprise: Valers is a good goalie.

  The cheers were short lived however, as the Boomer bounced oddly, right back into Dozer’s hands. Janus and Marcus hesitated; Valers was totally out of position. Dozer tossed the ball into the goal with a quick flick. Captain Roger’s squads cheered from the stands as a minus two appeared under the Sigma Strikers score. Janus looked towards the center, expecting another Boomer, but none arrived. Only the Blue Boomer remained – he’d assumed another Boomer would appear. He would have to review the rules again later.

  Marcus shook his head in disappointment and took off, back into the melee. Janus looked to the group of Sigma 3 Adepts who were watching the game; they looked slightly crestfallen. Celes simply shook her head. Janus turned away quickly, and ran over to Valers to help him up.

  “Good play, Valers. Sorry we blew it.”

  Valers looked a little dazed, but his broad smile remained and he said, “Hey, no problem, I’m as surprised as you are that I stopped it.” Janus returned the grin.

  Marcus called out from closer to the center of the arena, “Come on, Janus, move it. Good try, Valers.”

  Leaving Valers to reorient himself, Janus rushed back towards center, the minus two looming overhead. But few opportunities to change it arose as the clock ticked away. The high flying Blue Boomer landed just steps away from him, but a Ranger blocked him out, running interference while Emmanuel snatched it from the air. She launched it right back at her team and away from every nearby Sigma player.

  Both teams were getting more aggressive, if that was even possible. It seemed as if Walters had meant it when he said, ‘get it out here’. Finally, after what seemed an interminable wait and with a loud 10 second countdown, another Boomer entered play. It was a Red, and a weak pass from a Flame striker let Marcus intercept it. Surrounded by Flames and Rangers, he whipped it over to Jones, who caught it and leapt over the Flames’ right guard. The horde bearing down on her, she flung it over to Holloway. Unfortunately for him, having possession of the Boomer was a relative term, and Emmanuel gave him a ferocious body check before the Red had even arrived. As Holloway went flying, Emmanuel snagged the Boomer and headed for the Flames goal. After a moment, Holloway stumbled to his feet and gave a thumbs up to the team, albeit somewhat less enthusiastically than before, his blue eyes looking a little dazed.

  The match did not improve from there, and when the third Boomer finally launched into the game, Janus noticed both he and his team were lagging considerably.

  They were running for every ball, but not as a team, and Janus realized they had little hope of regaining any points with their current strategy. He felt his muscles turning slowly to lead, and looked longingly at one of the Flames strikers as he switched positions with Forrenza, who moved forward as the new striker.

  They needed some new ideas, and was about to say as much when Marcus signaled for Sigma to withdraw. They pulled back as a group to just in front of the goal box, so Valers could join them. This seemed to pique the crowds’ interest, understandably; teams rarely held conferences in the middle of a battle.

  “This isn’t working, we need a new strategy,” Marcus said, keeping an eye on the battle raging at the other end.

  Jones spoke up, “We clearly aren’t up to par as a team. If we want any chance to win this match, we need to give ourselves some sort of edge over the other teams.”

  Holloway, breathing heavily and his blond hair stuck to his forehead, was clutching his chest where he had been struck earlier. “That’s easier said than done. Although I think we can definitely take a page out of the Ranger’s book. They are aggressive, but they don’t hesitate to pass. They have lost control of some good Boomers, but on the whole they tend to strike deeper into opposing territory than either us or the Flames.” Holloway looked at Marcus. “And you are at least as fast as Rogers, if not faster. You and Janus can easily strike if you work together.”

  Marcus nodded, “Agreed. Besides, we need the practice passing.” A roar from the crowd momentarily distracted them as Forrenza shot a blue Boomer into her goal. The Flames were now only down by one, and the shouting crowd gave impetus to the team. Both sides doubled their efforts. The scoreboard flashed: Rangers 0, Flames -1, Strikers -2.

  Marcus turned back, “Holloway, sub out with Kirsten.”

  “But—“ Holloway protested, glancing at Janus, who nodded and shrugged, “He’s right. Good job, but that one shot really slowed you down. We need fresh legs if we want to pull this off.”

  Marcus’ look was inscrutable as Holloway sighed and then hustled over to the sub-box, where Kirsten waited.

  Janus watched Forrenza try to take a shot on the Ranger’s goal, only to collide painfully with the goalie. The Flame supporters let out a disappointed cry as their score dropped to minus two again.

  With Kirsten subbed in for Holloway, Janus spoke up, “I have an idea.” The team wrenched their eyes from the rapidly diminishing clock to look at him. “Since neither team considers us a threat, we can use that to our advantage. We should pull Valers out of the goalbox.”

  Marcus interjected, “Out of the question, we’ll be too vulnerable. They’ve already tried to take advantage of a one-on-one before. Imagine if we have no goalie how often they’ll try.”

  Janus shot back, “Well, we certainly aren’t winning with our current strategy. What’s the worst that can happen, lose by even more? And there’s only one Red out. The Rangers and Flames would much rather score against each other than us. With so little time left, there’s no guarantee they’ll get another one.”

  Marcus’ expression grew darker.

  Janus looked to the rest of the team, “If we all strike together and focus on the blues, we might have a chance to even up the game. We won’t be able to keep it up forever, because eventually the other two will realize they have to deal with us, but it might give us the opportunity to change the pace of the game.” Another roar from the crowd; they had lost interest in the Sigmas and now cheered as the Flames scored another Blue Boomer.

  Kirsten and Jones agreed.

  Marcus worked his jaw slowly, but studied the expectant faces of Kirsten and Jones. After a moment, he said, “Just go for blues?” Janus nodded his head.

  “Right,” Marcus looked around the group, “We can still win this, let’s get to it.”

  Janus felt a surge as the team broke apart again and glanced at the clock, only 5 minutes remained in the battle. There were two Boomers in play, one was blue. They would have to move quickly.

  Marcus signaled Valers out of the goal, and after a moment’s hesitation, he joined the team. With fresh energy the Sigma team reentered the fray to the roar of the crowd. Rogers bulled his way through a Flames’ defender, and was surprised by the sudden appearance of Janus and
Marcus around him. He got off a weak pass as Marcus connected with heavy check to his gut. Kirsten, with her fresh legs, intercepted the Blue Boomer and with several quick passes had sent the Boomer to Valers on the edge of the melee. Leaping over a desperate tackle by a Rangers’ guard, he flung the Boomer toward the Sigma goal. It wasn’t a great shot, but fortunately, Marcus was there to give it an extra boost.

  The crowd cheered; the game had suddenly turned much more interesting. It had only taken seconds for Sigma to score; Janus glanced upwards at the scoreboard: Rangers 0, Flames -1, Strikers -1. Marcus took a look at the board as well and flashed a grin at Janus. And he noticed Celes in the crowd for the first time, too, flashing a smile at her. She cheered with the other Sigma Squad members, encouraging the team on.

  With only a red ball in play, Sigma went defensive again, much to the chagrin of the other two teams. Three minutes, Janus started a countdown in his head, we need some luck…

  With the clock counting down, a deathly stillness suddenly settled over the crowd. Here comes the first, Janus thought. With a sudden surge he bolted toward the middle, as Sophie and Quentins did the same. A Boomer burst from the center, and Janus skidded to a halt. Red…he looked at Kirsten and Holloway, both had stopped and were waiting, tense. Janus stared at the clock nervously,

  Just have to be patient, Janus struggled to calm himself.

  He looked over at Celes, she was watching from the edge of her seat. He turned back to the battling teams. With only two minutes to play, the sudden stillness once again overtook the crowd, and Janus felt himself tense. Sprinting forward, just behind Marcus, he watched the center open up and a Boomer burst out.

  Blue!

  With a high flying leap, Rogers was there, snatching the ball from the air. He delivered a heavy kick to Marcus, and with a quick pass sent the Boomer hurtling towards his goal.

  Janus pursued, while Marcus flipped himself back up from the blow. A Flame Guard intercepted the Blue, and it careened back into the center, much to Janus’ relief.

  But the Flames weren’t ones to easily pass up an opportunity to hurt another team: with their goal open and empty, Forrenza took the opportunity to send the Red Boomer in a long slow arc toward the Sigma goal. With a shout of dismay, all Janus could do was watch.

  Chapter 8: Victors and Villains

  It was a guaranteed goal, if Marcus hadn’t been waiting for it.

  With a powerful kick, Marcus cleared it back towards the Ranger’s territory from inside the goalie box. Walter’s signaled a foul on Marcus, but Janus knew it would be inconsequential. With less than two minutes and four team fouls remaining, it seemed unlikely to factor in again. Janus gritted his teeth, it had been too close, and fortunately Marcus had been there to stop it. Sigma had dodged a bullet, but could they afford to keep someone out of the goal box and avoid another devastating Red Boomer?

  The clock counted down; only a minute remained and yet Marcus still held back towards the goal. Janus glared at him in annoyance. And then the final Blue Boomer began to flash red.

  No! Not when we are so close… Marcus! Now or never…

  Janus charged forward, pressing the attack on Forrenza, who possessed the slowly flashing blue boomer. Janus rushed in with everything he had, joined by the Rangers’ Emmanuel, and the pair launched forward towards the Flames’ leader. Forrenza danced backward and the Boomer flashed faster. If the Flames could score, they could tie up the game with the Rangers’ squad with just seconds remaining. All Forrenza needed was an open lane to pass through the tight defense. In the corner of his eye, Janus caught a glimpse of what he had been waiting for—and suddenly collided painfully with Emmanuel, knocking them both flat.

  With just moments remaining, Forrenza hurled the Boomer to her open man.

  But unfortunately for her, this was the situation Marcus had wanted – he came flying from out of nowhere to intercept the pass. Spinning back, Marcus sent it flying back over the heads of the melee without taking a moment to look. And Janus was there.

  With a high bounce the Boomer landed right in front of him. There were only seconds to spare, the Boomer was almost a solid red. With one final surge, Janus leapt up and booted the bouncing Boomer as hard as he could.

  It sailed true, but as it crossed through the goal, it turned Red. Janus turned to the scoreboard: The Sigma score flashed, and a zero appeared.

  The crowd erupted. Janus glanced at the clock, 40 seconds…

  With only a Red remaining and a score of -1, the Flames couldn’t possibly win. But Sigma wasn’t likely to either, once the game hit sudden death and the Flames were eliminated. Hunched over at the edge of the goal box, he glanced at the faces of Jones, Valers, and Marcus down the field. Everyone is too exhausted… The Rangers would destroy them in sudden death. Faced with this proposition, Janus made a risky bet…

  Straightening up, he shouted to his teammates, “Push up! Give the ball to Forrenza’s team if necessary!”

  Jones yelled, “What?”

  “Just do it!” Janus yelled. They pushed up, passing around to Flames players, who turned out to be surprisingly cooperative. Janus smiled, better to beat a rival…

  The clock seemed to slow – 20…

  19…

  Even with both teams working together, the Rangers realized all they needed was defense. Emmanuel booted an incoming ball away.

  We’re not going to make it.Janus sprinted across the arena when Marcus’ shout halted him.

  “Stay there, Janus! We can’t afford a late goal against us!”

  “We don’t have time for this!” Janus shouted back, glancing at the clock.

  15…

  “I’m the team leader, stay there!” Marcus commanded.

  14…

  Janus clenched his fists. We can’t win this way…

  13…

  A botched ball by Jones made up Janus’ mind. He sprinted across the field, desperate to clear the distance. The Red that Jones had fumbled was still being kicked around in the melee just in front of the Rangers goal. As Janus put on in one final effort, it rolled free in front of him. He took aim in the final approach; he wouldn’t miss at this distance.

  Emmanuel materialized in front of him, checking him hard in the gut, and nailing the boomer toward the Sigma goal. Janus could only watch in horror as the ball curved gracefully around his body.

  4…

  The Boomer landed with a high bounce, regaining the air and speeding towards the untended goal box.

  3…

  2…

  The Boomer seemed to inch towards the goal. Janus’ gaze flitted rapidly between the ball and the time.

  1…

  The ball crossed the line as the buzzer sounded. Janus just stared at the score in disbelief: Rangers 0, Flames -1, Sigma -2.

  The Rangers erupted into cheers, mobbing Emmanuel as she slid on her knees across the floor with a yell. Janus sunk to his knees, staring at the scoreboard. His fellow teammates were equally dejected. Disappointment etched their faces. Marcus ran over to him, livid.

  “What were you doing?” he exploded.

  Janus stood up, “I was going for the win, not second place!”

  “I ordered you to hold your position in the goal!”

  “We couldn’t win that way! We couldn’t beat the Rangers on our own. They’re too good and we’re too tired and inexperienced. Sudden death would have been a slaughter!”

  “You don’t know that! Maybe you couldn’t do the job, but some of the rest of us could!”

  Janus moved a step closer to Marcus, “Don’t tell me you are so full of it you honestly believe that!”

  “I’m full of it?” Marcus turned away in exasperation, “I’m… full of it?” He turned back to Janus, sneering, “I’m not the one who tried to take control after ignoring the team captain’s orders.”

  A large crowd was watching him and Marcus, and Wouris and Hawkes were moving toward them, each from a different direction. Janus sneered back, “Captain’s orders? This isn
’t some Adept squad, it is a Brigg’s ball game! If you had just let me go instead of ordering me around, I would have gotten to that Boomer in time and we would have won! Besides, in case you’ve forgotten, I outrank you now, so show some respect!”

  Marcus bristled and Janus smirked at him. Janus was momentarily distracted as Hawkes and Wouris started pushing their way through the crowd, both looking angrier than Janus had ever seen them.

  He turned back to Marcus to see his fist moving towards Janus’ face. Janus was totally unprepared for it; he mentally braced for the upcoming pain.

  The punch never landed.

  Celes had stepped in between the two and blocked the blow. Both Janus and Marcus stared at her, but it wasn’t her sudden appearance that shocked them. It was the fire blazing in her eyes. Celes was smaller than both Janus and Marcus, but each of them took a step back from her penetrating stare.

  “What are you idiots doing?” she yelled.

  Janus noticed both Colonel Hawkes and Sergeant Wouris had stopped in their tracks. The anger had vanished from their faces, but they viewed the unfolding drama with great intensity.

  Celes turned first to Marcus, “Are you trying to end up in the brig the day before a mission?”

  Marcus clenched his fists and looked away, even angrier than before.

  Janus was still stunned by the explosion of anger in Celes when she whirled on him. “And you? When did you become such an insufferable fool?”

  Marcus whirled back to watch, mouth agape.

  Janus immediately became defensive. “Now hold on – fool? You know that my strategy was correct! We couldn’t have won with—”

  Celes cut him off, “Nobody gives a damn!”

  Janus shut up. He had never heard Celes ever, ever lose her temper, let alone utter anything remotely close to a swear.

  “The day before a mission you manage to nearly cause one of your own to punch your stupid lights out. Not that I blame him – do you really think your new promotion makes you that much better than everyone else?” Celes’ words were like acid.