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The teacher had just finished their speech, and everyone had come together in the space between the hinder legs of the Bear Mountain, where a myriad of sports and games were being played. I asked about the rules of lacrosse to a storyteller just last night, and had just grasped the basics, really. Differently from me, however, Spruce looked quite confident in that game:
"Come on guys, let's sweep the floor with those guys!", the little person shouted at Ike and me, raising one fist up.
"Y- Yeah", Ike and I copied Spruce's motion.
"Coyote: you're too goody-goody, so you'll be in the goalie. Ike: I still don't know if you're really in the winning team, if you know what I mean, so you're going in the middle. So, don't worry and leave the goals to me, guys."
"Are you sure?" I looked over Spruce and to the adversary team. They looked quite comfortable while holding the playing gear, and were confidently chit-chatting between themselves while occasionally throwing looks at us and laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, trust me, dude."
"Are you ready, or do you need more time to put up your makeup?", the man with jewels in his teeth screamed at us.
"We are ready to show you some respect, kid!", Spruce shouted back. Looking at us with a smirk, he concluded: "Okay guys, get to your positions."
And so, we did. From my position by the goal, I had a clear vision of the rest of the field, and when the game started, I saw Spruce being easily hurled away, and rolling on his back as soon as the face of for the ball began.
I sighed, as the midfielder of the opponents, the one Ike called Hook, dashed closer to our side of the field, and the little person struggled to follow him as his legs were too short when compared to the human.
I didn't know why I still fell for Spruce's banter.
Fortunately, the attackers didn't have as much of an easy time, for Ike was surprisingly quick, and intercepted their passes with ease.
"I'm just beginning!", Spruce bragged, getting the pass from Ike. "Ouch!", He immediately was sent tumbling away with a bash from the lacrosse stick from the other team's defender and lost the ball.
"Good start, kid", the opponent defender joked and passed the ball to his midfielder.
"Kuh!", the midfielder, Hook, struggled to not lose the ball to Ike, as the awkward boy kept pressuring his opponent. "We're also just beginning!", the adversary midfielder then smiled, knee-striking Ike on his belly, and successfully passing the ball to their attacker.
Was that a legal move?
There was no time to think about such things, for the attacker was already with his toes within the goal crease, and though my strength, perception, and speed greatly increased with every chain link I broke, I could still fail for being distracted.
Not that time, however, for I easily intercepted the ball before it entered the goal.
"Tch! 'ts just luck…", the attacker frowned at me while I hurled the ball back to ike. I simply shrugged in response.
The game hadn't cooled down even a bit, however, and as Ike tried to pass the ball to Spruce, the adversaries' defender crossed the midfield and stole his ball. Another rule infraction, this time for sure.
Ike was still looking a bit hurt from the knee strike he received, but ran after the ball anyway and managed to steal it back once again. Just to have Hook trip him down, and kick him in the face while getting back the ball, and passing it to the attacker.
Attacker who, this time, put a whole foot inside the goal crease, pulled his stick back, and with his full strength threw the ball toward the goal.
"BAM!", I hit the ball with the handle of my stick, throwing it back to Ike.
"…Don't get cocky, loser. Do you think I didn't fucking saw your marks? You're a no one", the attacker said centimeters away from my face. When he turned around he purposefully, even, tried to hit me with the handle of his stick by a fake accident. He didn't look any happier when I blocked that too.
The rest of the game proceeded not so differently from those first initial moments, with rules infractions, violence, and disrespect from the adversary team, and with resilient resistance from my friends and I. Spruce had been thrown away so much, he was covered in grass and dirt, and could barely walk anymore, as he had to run twice as much as everyone else, and was breathing too heavily; poor Ike already had bruises all over, his lips were bleeding, and he was breathing hard too. The same way we didn't manage to score a single goal, however, our adversaries still had zero points, even while cheating, and they grew more and more impatient.
Finally, then, it was time to change our fields, but before the game could resume after the rotation of goals, there was a brief pause.
Spruce, Ike and I sat together and drank some water, resting for a moment, but our opponents had other necessities. To vent out their frustration.
"Come here, backpack!", Hook called for Ninebark, who was carrying a bunch of stuff for the other team and watching the whole game unrolls. "You took too long! Can't you fulfill your only fucking purpose in life!?", he pulled the ugly girl by the hair and slapped her across the face once she got close enough.
"I'm- I'm sorry, master! I promise it won't happen again!"
"Is that what you call an apology?! Get on the fucking ground already!"
"Yes, master!", Ninebark got on all fours, and the midfielder stepped on her head, pressing it against the ground. "I'm very sorry, master!"
A disgusting scene overall, even if I couldn't say I felt much empathy toward the girl who tried to stab me. Still, I didn't want to turn my drink water sour from looking at that situation for too long, so I just turned back to my friends.
To my surprise, however, one of them was paying very close attention to all of that, with bloodshot wide eyes.
"…Spruce. Let's change our position. I want to be the attacker from now on", Ike asked, without taking his eyes from the degenerate entertainment of the opposing team for even a second,
"He, I like your attitude!"