Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3)

by Mitchell Olson

  It was another hot morning as the team headed down the road to East Hell. Being the opening day of the Summer Soulstice Festival, the streets were jam-packed with devil commuters and merchants. It was a little too early for flight, since most people were still in the process of donating flames to the morning sun. The artificial ball of flames grew quickly and shined a little brighter than ever before when it was finished forming. The Helio Star blazed brighter above.

  “This place is even busier than the Devil’s Duel tournament,” Ash said as they squeezed and maneuvered through the busy avenue. He wasn’t used to seeing so many people out and about at the same time. Living in Hell where demon attacks can and frequently do happen at any given time, people tended to stay indoors whenever possible. With all the people walking around in their warm weather outfits, Ash felt like he was back on his own planet for once.

  The added sunshine gave rise to a popular, and somewhat necessary new product: sunspectacles. Differing in size, shape, and quality, the sunspectacles ranged in price from twenty scorch all the way up to a hundred scorch for the more fashionable models. Ash chuckled as his friends both purchased their own pair.

  The team arrived at the East Hell field. Ash scoured the crowd that was fastly forming to find his new friends. Besides looking out for Aralia and the orphanage crew, the team was also on the lookout for Gio the tailor. Ash had spoken with him briefly on the topic of uniforms, and of course Gio was overjoyed to take on the project. The eccentric tailor promised to have matching uniforms prepared by the morning of the first game.

  Aura split to go buy himself a coffee while Ash and Shiva stood around people watching. The two hadn’t spoken much in private lately. Ash thought they’d become much closer as friends now that they lived together, but it was beginning to feel just the opposite to him. For one thing, whenever they were at home the girl kept to herself, hiding away in her room with the door shut all the time. She accompanied the boys on demon attacks and during some of the jobs that Goddard lined up for them, and of course for morning training, but otherwise kept her distance.

  “Seen much of Wilhelm lately?” Ash asked in a feeble attempt at making conversation.

  Shiva continued to scan the crowds as she replied. “Not as much as I’d like to.”

  Figures, thought Ash. He’s probably still keeping his distance. “Maybe he’ll come watch us play,” he said, trying to cheer her up.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she replied. Then, “Ah. There they are.”

  Ash followed her gaze across the field. Kurdis stood holding his donation cup in one hand, a tall pole with a white banner flapping in the breeze in the other. With him were a bunch of kids from the orphanage. Ash and Aralia locked eyes and waved. The excited girl gripped Uverstarr’s sleeve and pulled him along to meet up with the team.

  Aura had returned with his coffee when the group got together. Aralia happily greeted everyone, while Uverstarr gave a less enthusiastic “yo”.

  “I’m pumped to play some push ball!” said Aralia. “Let’s get out there and cream the opposition!”

  “We still have to find Gio,” said Ash. “He’s got our uniforms.”

  “I hope they’re super sexy,” said Aura.

  “They’d better not be,” Shiva growled with her arms crossed.

  From far off an official’s amplified voice rang out through the field that push ball would be starting soon. Ash’s team wasn’t slated to play until the fourth matchup, convenient since the team still had to find Gio and change into their uniforms. Aralia made small chat with Ash while Uverstarr and Shiva kept their distance from one another. Aura’s eyes bounced around the area examining the female options surrounding him. By accident he ended up spotting Gio.

  The tailor approached with a big sack slung over his shoulder and a familiar pleasant smile. He usually looked flamboyant with his short, spiky blond hair and a purple suit but in this heat he settled for a purple tracksuit. He nodded courteously to Ash and the gang as he joined them.

  “Nice to see you all again,” said Gio. He turned to the newest additions to the group. “You must be the new friends Ash mentioned. I’m glad to see he’s having luck in that area. My name is Gio St. James, what are yours?”

  “Raley.”

  “Uverstarr.”

  “It’s a pleasure,” replied Gio. “The uniforms are in here. I hope everything fits.” He set the bag down before the team. “The changing rooms are over there. You might want to get ready sooner rather than later. Push ball games tend to end pretty quickly, if you know what I mean.”

  They thanked him wholeheartedly. With a wink and a wave, Gio walked away leaving Ash feeling a bit confused. “I don’t know what he means,” he said. “I read the rules. It didn’t sound so bad. Maybe there’s something I’m missing here. Someone mind giving me a quick run down on the rules?”

  “Oh! Let me explain!” said Aralia, loud enough to drown out the competition, of which there was none. “In push ball, two teams try to push the big ball into the opponent’s goal zones, which are on opposite ends of the field. The teams of five are divided into three different positions. There are two pushers, whose job is to get the ball across the field and score. Two defenders, who protect the pushers from the opposing team, and one goal saver who’s only job is to block the team’s goal zone. Did I miss anything?”

  Aura and Shiva shrugged.

  “Yeah, I knew most of that,” Ash said. “It still doesn’t really sound like a dangerous sport.”

  A few men shouted for people to move out of the way. Something large was coming down the street. The team had to quickly move aside as the crowd broke and a giant round boulder came rolling towards them. Ash stared in disbelief at the huge stone that stood even taller than him as it went rolling by, a duo of shirtless men working up a sweat pushing it.

  “Ah, there’s the ball now,” said Shiva.

  “What?” Ash asked, staring blankly at Shiva. “I thought I heard you say ball…”

  “That’s the push ball,” Shiva replied. “It’s carved from stone bigger than our house and weighs a ton. That’s why this sport is so dangerous, and so fun. One wrong move out on the field and you’re crushed to death!”

  “Fun?” Ash said, shocked. “You people are sadistic!”

  “Yeah yeah,” Aura interrupted. “Enough chit chat. It’s uniform time!”

  The team reconvened some time later after splitting up to use the locker rooms. The boys joined the girls again outside the building, sporting their new uniform look. Gio had gone all-out to make the team look real slick. They’d all been given white jackets, made from a thin and airy material. The jackets had a giant version of the team’s flame-wing symbol on the front and even listed their names on the back.

  Ash, Aura, and Uverstarr were given white shorts, white socks, white shoes, and white shirts. They expected the girls to be wearing the same outfits, but much to Aura’s delight he found Shiva and Aralia wearing skirts and tanktops under their jackets instead. Both he and Ash were blown away at the sight.

  “These are the nicest clothes I’ve ever worn!” Raley smiled brilliantly, presenting her new look as the boys approached. “Well? What do you think?” she asked, looking at Ash and playing with her multicolored hair tied in twin tails.

  “Looking good,” Ash replied, his eyes darting between the two girls. “I don’t even recognize you. Either of you.”

  It was obvious to see from the color of her cheeks that Shiva was not used to the extra attention her outfit brought her, especially from Aura. She stood silently, uncomfortably, as Aralia continued to twirl her hair and look cute for the boys. She was proud of the feminine figure she'd worked hard to achieve.

  "We should figure out who we're playing against first," Shiva said. Without consulting her teammates she stormed over to the big board of schedules nearby.

  “What’s up her butt?” asked Uverstarr, not even trying to conceal an amused grin as he watched Shiva stomp away.

  “She’s a p
erplexing girl,” Ash said. “You’ll see.”

  “Definitely not feminine at all,” added Aura.

  Shiva returned moments later with a pleased smile. “Good news,” she said. “I found out who we’re playing first.”

  “Who?”

  “Look behind you,” Shiva told everyone, pointing. The group simultaneously turned to see their first opponents. The two orphans didn’t have much of a reaction, since they didn’t know the people. Ash and Aura gasped and groaned.

  Standing not far behind them in their own group circle was Aura’s former gang. The team led by Sars consisted of Vadnais, Fry, Dunger and…

  “Bora…!” Aura said, seething with hatred and clenching his fist.

  “Hi Bora!” Ash called to him with a friendly wave. “It looks like we’re playing you guys first today. Isn’t that nice?”

  “You’ll make a nice warm up for us,” Sars said as his team approached Ash and friends. He and Aura clasped hands in a friendly handshake. “Glad to see you signed up for pushball. Don’t expect us to go easy on you though.”

  “Like we’d need you to,” Shiva replied with a confident smirk.

  “Yeah!” Aralia said. “We’re gonna kick your butt!”

  Sars sized up the two newest additions to his old friend’s familiar team. When he reached a conclusion about them, he crossed his arms and looked smug. “Looks like it was slim pickings for players, huh? A frail-looking girl and a kid who should probably be playing in the junior league. Great picks.”

  Aralia frowned, conflicted, while Uverstarr flipped Sars off and stuck out his tongue. Ash was about to speak up and come to their defense but Shiva stuck out her arm to stop him. She took a step forward staring Sars down.

  “You can mock our teammates as much as you like,” she said.

  “Not exactly how I would have started…” Ash muttered to himself.

  “But,” Shiva continued. “We would not have chosen these two if we did not see an enormous amount of talent in them. You shouldn’t be worrying about them, though. It’s us you’ll have to look out for. We’ve kicked your butts in the past and we’ll do it again. This game is as good as ours.”

  “That’s perfect,” said Sars. “You’re confident now. But you won’t be when we take the field and you see how awesome our star player Bora is. He’s so good he could be considered a professional, if there were ever such a thing as a ‘professional ball game player’.”

  His group laughed and exchanged arm-jabs and high fives.

  “Oh, gee,” Bora said, looking embarrassed. “You flatter me, Sars. I just like playing the game, and I always give it my all. I’d love to give you all some pointers if you’re interested.”

  “Knock if off, Bora,” the big bearded man, Vadnais, whispered to his teammate.

  “We’re supposed to be trash-talking them,” Fry, the smaller man, added.

  “Oh, right,” Bora said, trying to put on a straight and intimidating face. “I hope for a good game, and that none of our friends get hurt today. Obviously, I’d like it if my team wins, but win or lose I’m buying everyone a round of drinks after the game.”

  “Come on guys,” said Sars, rubbing his forehead in disappointment at Bora’s trash-talking skills. “We’ve got to go change. See you all on the field.” Sars and the guys wandered away. Dunger gave Ash one last evil eyed grunt before he was gone.

  “See you Bora!” said Ash, waving him goodbye.

  “Damn that Bora!” Aura said when the team was out of earshot. “I was thinking about buying everyone drinks after the game!”

  “Let it go, man,” Ash said, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

  “Listen up guys,” Aura said. “I want to play defender out there, so I can beat the crap out of Bora.”

  “I want to play defender as well,” Shiva said. “It’s been too long since I last roughed up those jerks.”

  “Oh!” Aralia said excitedly. “Me and Ash can be the pushers! How about it, Ash? Let’s push together!”

  “That’s fine,” Ash said with some hesitation. “But what about…”

  Everyone turned to look at Uverstarr, who didn’t seem to be paying much attention. The kid looked up at everyone with a blank stare.

  “I’ll be the goal saver,” he said.

  “You know, it’s not a very easy position…” Aura said, reluctant.

  “You think you can stop that giant ball if it were rolling at you?” Shiva asked.

  Uverstarr blinked. “Yeah. I can.”

  “Have you ever even played this game before?” she asked.

  “Why does that matter?” Uverstarr shot back. “All I have to do is stop the ball from getting in our goal. It’s not that hard to get.”

  Sensing the building tension, Ash interjected. “Let’s go watch the first games and see what its like. If anyone decides they want to change positions, I’m okay with swapping.”

  The team followed as Ash led the way towards the crowd stands. The first game had just ended when the group managed to find some unoccupied seats in the stands. Right away the thing that Ash noticed first was all the blood leftover on the field.

  That’s an awful lot of blood for just one game, Ash thought to himself. He felt a knot forming in the bottom of his stomach. Back on Earth he was never very good at sports. He preferred video games.

  The next teams to play took the field. It was a mix of men and women, and it looked like the favored strategy was to use men as pushers and women for defenders. Both goal savers were also the biggest, strongest looking men on the team. This made Ash even more nervous for the childish Uverstarr.

  After a coin toss, the team that started with the enormous stone ball began pushing while the opposing team stayed back. It took them a few seconds, but once the pushers got the ball rolling it seemed like it could not be stopped. They passed over the centerline and the other team sprang into action moving into formation to stop them. The two pairs of pushers battled, both sides trying to move the massive boulder their way.

  The defenders were all action. Direct punches and flames were forbidden, but kicking, shoving, pushing, and tripping were all important components of the game. The defenders on the offensive side worked to keep their pushers safe by blocking the other team’s defenders, who moved in to try to tackle the enemy pushers. It looked like a brutal game, reminding Ash of rugby with a boulder.

  They tried to pay attention to the various strategies they saw, hoping to learn some valuable tips for playing better. It looked like the pushers were the quickest to wear out, since most of their efforts involved pushing the giant boulder. The defenders needed to be both quick and tough, since they’d be doing the most moving around. Goal saver was a tough job as well, since they were the last line of defense against the massive rolling stone. They watched two games and in all that time they rarely saw the goal savers successfully stop the giant ball. Even though that was the only position allowed to use flames, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

  “You sure you don’t want to play a different position?” Ash asked Uverstarr once more, hoping he’d reconsider.

  “Nope,” said Uverstarr without even thinking about it. “I’m cool with goal saver.”

  Ash looked to Shiva, who didn’t seem concerned at all. Aura wouldn’t take his eyes off Bora, who was seated lower in the stands with his team. Aralia returned Ash’s concern with a confident gaze.

  “Don’t worry about him,” she told Ash. “He’s tougher than he looks. Remember?”

  The last game concluded with only four injuries, making it the safest game they’d seen yet. As the final whistle blew and both teams walked or limped off the field, his friends started to stand up around him. Ash rose to join them as they left the stands, feeling nervous but excited. They cut through the crowd making their way onto the field, following Sars’s team. Ash wasn’t sure who’d win the game, but he felt confident that their uniforms at least looked better. Sars and his team wore matching shorts and shirts, but they were otherwise
plain looking.

  There was a coin toss to decide who’d start out with the ball. Shiva called it for the team and won. Ash and Aralia stepped up to the big stone ball to move it across the field for the starting play. It was no easy task. The two had to put their shoulders into it and push hard to get it moving. Once they gained a little momentum Ash was pleased to see the big boulder did move somewhat easily. Stopping it exactly where they wanted was a pain, and required both Shiva and Aura to step in the way to block it.

  Finally, with the pushball and all players in place, the ref blew his whistle and the game began. Vadnais and Dunger, the team pushers, waited patiently for their chance to block the ball on the opposite side of the field. Ash looked to Aralia.

  “You ready?” he asked her.

  “Let’s do this!” she screamed.

  The two pressed their hands against the cold stone ball and pushed with all their might. They were at a jogging pace when they crossed the centerline, Shiva and Aura following on either side of the ball. Once in enemy territory, the opposing team struck back. Dunger and Vadnais, the two big buff men, moved to block the ball’s path. Ash and Aralia could not see them or move to avoid them, and the ball came to a forceful stop as it collided with the two men, whose muscles bulged as they forced the ball back.

  Now it was a battle to see which pushers would lose their endurance first. The defenders went to work immediately. Aura saw his chance to finally take on Bora while Shiva focused on blocking Fry. They were a slippery pair attacking from opposite sides. Bora moved like a pro, spinning and pivoting to avoid Aura as the death toucher charged at him.

  Bora made it past Aura with ease and grabbed for the nearest target, which was Aralia still hard at work pushing the ball. Finding herself unexpectedly pulled off-center, Aralia fell to the side. Ash became distracted and lost the push-of-war against the other team. He narrowly managed to jump back and to the side in time to avoid being rolled over by the boulder.

  “What was that?” Shiva barked. “Pathetic! Get it together!” she shouted at her teammates. Her screaming did not help Aura’s mood, as he grew more frustrated chasing after Bora, the more experienced player. Aralia and Ash were back on their feet and chasing after the ball, trying to get in front of it carefully without getting run over.