THE ONLY PEOPLE TRULY stunned by his answer were Elric and Allison. Even after sharing their past, he still remained steadfast in his decision to ride Dyna Blades.
"Don't get offended," he said. "We've all worked really hard to put this team together. I'd prefer not to abandon all that just because someone's date went wrong."
Veins began to appear across Allison's face when she heard that. In a serious tone, she said, "Stephen Huntley… Please do as I say before I lose my temper…"
Smirking, Stephen pointed two fingers right in front of her face. "If you really want me to quit so badly, then put your skills where your mouth is."
Those words left her speechless. She was clearly getting angry, but seeing someone she called a brother standing up so confidently reminded her of something from her past.
"If I lose here," he said, "I'll hand over my Dyna Blades for good. But if I win, then don't get in my way about riding again."
Elric laughed hysterically. Praising him for his bold behavior, he said he was undoubtedly a Road Rider. Allison turned to him, upset that he was applauding Stephen's efforts. In response, Elric strolled over to Stephen's side.
"Sorry about this, Allison," he said. "I'm with this dude right here."
Even though Elric understood from experience the trouble riding Dyna Blades had caused him, he still didn't regret it. All he desired was to change the world, and the last thing he wanted was to see someone else's dream taken away.
Allison's anger exploded! She roared, "I see now I was wrong for thinking you men were capable of rational thinking!"
The other Tennyson sisters panicked at the thought of the trouble they were about to face. Sensing their apprehension, Allison turned to them to see if they were still going to side with Stephen. Terrified, they stuttered, trying to find their words.
"If you betray me, you'll get it," she warned. "And I know you know what 'it' is!"
The group panicked as memories of "it" surfaced. Hidden somewhere in the house were torture devices used when they rebelled. Stephen scoffed, stating he already had the right number of people by his side. When Allison asked what he meant by that, he crossed his arms beside his team, composed of Castiel, Maxwell, Elric, and himself.
"That makes five against four," Stephen said. Although Allison counted only four on their side, she was left perplexed when Chappy raced past her to land on his shoulders.
"You think you can beat me and my sisters?" she challenged, furrowing her brows. Stephen remained grinning. The confident look in his eyes told everyone he believed he could win. Elric pointed above them to a large stadium. Little did they know, they were all standing next to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"How 'bout we play a little Extreme Football to settle things?" he suggested.
Extreme Football is a B-ranked race in Wheels War. Rather than a race, however, it's an unofficial sport Road Riders play. And since it's on Dyna Blades, it can only be played in large enough settings. The dynamics are similar to those of a game called gatorball.
Each person is divided into two teams. The objective is to score on the opposite team's goal, which is a basketball hoop about ten feet high. Riders face head-to-head with one ball on the field.
The ball may be picked up, kicked, passed, or shot, and it's designed to be airless. Its unique holes allow it to be bounced, dribbled, and caught both on the ground and in the air. It's far superior to a soccer ball, can be gripped better than a basketball, and can be thrown farther than a football. The only con is that it can't be used outdoors.
As such, American football stadiums are the ideal choice for playing this game on Dyna Blades. If it weren't for the number of resources needed to conduct this game, it wouldn't be ranked this high in the Wheels War rankings. The rules are akin to Ultimate Frisbee minus the regulations. Score as many times as possible in the opposite team's goal, and whoever has the most points wins.
The game starts like soccer, with the ball placed on the ground. The only time you can pick it up is if it's in the air, and lastly, no self-passes are allowed. A self-pass is when someone passes the ball to themselves.
There are multiple ways to score. If the ball is thrown, shot, or dunked into the basket, it counts as one point; if kicked into the basket like a soccer ball, it counts as two points. Additionally, if a team scores from behind the thirty-yard line, it doubles that point.
The three Tennyson sisters sulked for having come here in the first place. Only Kimberly seemed the most dissatisfied because she was going against Stephen.
"Then it's settled," Elric announced. "All the male riders versus all the female riders."
If defeating him to get him to quit riding Dyna Blades was what it would take, Allison agreed to the conditions. She was more fired up than anyone else in the room. Once inside the stadium, she personally paid to rent the entire venue for thirty minutes. It was expensive, but she wasn't putting a price limit on how important Stephen's career was.
They each entered the stadium together. Separating on opposite sides of the field, Castiel asked if it was alright to let Elric play. His suggestion was that Elric stay back to defend their basket. Laughing at being underestimated, Elric proposed a race starting from the fifty-yard line.
Stephen had similar thoughts as Castiel—until he saw Castiel lose!
What Team Toris didn't realize was this was the famous leader of the original Lion's Den: Zephyr, the former lord who piloted the Gale Road. Despite how thin his upper body looked, he had enough strength in his arms to accelerate from zero to sixty miles an hour in seconds, due to the mechanical software built into his wheelchair.
While they weren't automatic like Dyna Blades, they allowed him to reach top speeds. Convinced he was beyond the skill level of a mere goalie, they allowed him to play on the offensive end. Much like a drone, this Wheels War battle allowed riders to attack each other—however, conflicts could only be initiated when a rider had possession of the ball.
As the teams met in the middle to start the match, Stephen's team noticed that Allison was not wearing any Dyna Blades! Elric suggested they walk back home to get her some.
"Who do you think I am—a hypocrite?" she replied.
Her response alone caused Elric to sweat a little. When Stephen looked at her closely, he noticed something he had never seen before at home. She was menacing, like there was a dagger between her teeth and deadly roses with thorny vines wrapped around her head.
This wasn't going to be a normal battle for Stephen. He was about to face the former lord who once directed the Evergreen Road!
Via a coin flip, it was decided that Stephen's team would take first possession. Maxwell kicked the ball inbounds to Stephen. Minus Allison, her team came over to harass him, so he quickly kicked the ball into the air for Elric. Catching it, he extended condolences for making the right play.
Racing toward the forty-yard line, he was cut off by Kimberly. She immediately attempted a spin kick, but he evaded it easily, skidding across the ground. She then went for a complicated aerial kick to his head. Elric's wheelchair tilted so far to the side to dodge that he was practically parallel to the ground.
Before Kimberly knew it, he bounced back up and began to spin away. Trying to stop him by tripping the wheels of his chair, he simply jumped over her. Despite being bound to a seat, his skills were far too great to be hindered by his handicap. And it was clear that Kimberly knew who he was, as she had the strongest desire to face off against him at least once in her career.
"Well, well," he said, sweating. "Not surprised since you still skate every day and whatnot." Just as he noticed Victoria and Mila closing in, he backflipped into the air and kneed the ball backward. The ball moved faster than either of the three sisters could respond to. "'Kay, juniors, let's see what ya got!"
When Elric looked back, he was shocked to see that Stephen, Castiel, and Maxwell were farther than he expected—and sweating profusely.
"What the…? What the heck are you guys doing?!" he screamed as Allison intercepted the pass. The ball would undoubtedly have been secured by at least one of the three boys if they had caught up to her. Elric shouted that if he wasn't being guarded so tightly, he would have attempted to score himself. The problem wasn't with Elric; the boys simply couldn't keep up!
'They're moving too fast,' Stephen thought. 'Way too fast!'
Allison's glare at their weakness made Elric frantic. Maxwell and Castiel were equally stunned. They believed their leader to be the best rider in the world, but they had never expected his own roommates to be this experienced.
"Max, look out!" Stephen yelled.
Allison threw the ball straight at Maxwell. In the blink of an eye, a blurry figure swooped in front of him to grab it. It was Victoria, and she had the ball right in her hand. Had Allison not judged how slow Maxwell was both physically and mentally, she wouldn't have been able to play him like that. Before anyone knew it, Kimberly had swerved past the three.
Seeing her, Victoria flipped forward to pass her the ball. Castiel tried to intercept it, but the way it curled allowed only Kimberly to catch it. Like an Olympic sprinter, Allison then sprinted in a straight line. Elric yelled at his team to play defense. "Don't let them through! Block them with your whole body!"
Maxwell and Castiel chased her to the edge of the out-of-bounds line near the ten-yard line. She came to a sudden halt and then backflipped to kick the ball in Allison's direction. Stephen read the play correctly, but when he went to intercept it, Allison planted her feet on his shoulders and caught the ball!
"This is the best you can do?" she taunted, still on his shoulder. "And you think you're the next sky king?"
Before Stephen could land, she jumped off him and shot the ball like a basketball. High in the air, the ball came down and swished through the net without touching the rim. When they both landed, Stephen stumbled to one knee, clutching his shoulder as if someone had stabbed him with a large thorn. "In my day, you would have been road kill on the streets," she said, disappointed.
Stephen panted on the field, shocked by the sheer power the sisters had just displayed. His team could barely react, and worst of all, Allison wasn't even wearing Dyna Blades. She turned away in dissatisfaction, walking off as she said, "There's no way you can handle this. You're too pathetic."
'This is bad,' Stephen thought to himself. He looked back at the last play and recalled what he had felt. The ball was clearly thrown high enough for him to intercept. But the moment he jumped, he was sure he felt Allison's hands preventing him from leaping higher. It was a small force, but enough for her to climb over him, dragging him back to the ground.
'This really sucks!' he thought. 'She's degrading me right in front of my face!'
Then there were his other roommates. Victoria was like a freight train, charging in whenever she pleased. Mila acted as though she were on a playground with kids her age. He had ridden with Kimberly before, but he had never expected her to be holding back this much—and it still felt like she was holding back.
Before he could dwell any further on his humiliation, Elric came over with the team to offer reassurance. Elric had high hopes, believing that he was the famous hawk people spoke about. Sadly, he was merely a chick. Yet that didn't stop Elric from praising their efforts. "Alright, juniors, I hope ya'll were payin' attention."
"Yeah, we got destroyed," Maxwell admitted.
Elric grabbed the muscular boy by the neck and pointed at Allison, who was walking away. It was evident he didn't grasp what he was trying to convey.
"Kid, ya should train the muscles in your brain, too. Notice how the other girls didn't score? Why do ya think that? Well, it's simple… Between soccer, basketball, and football, only Allison knows how to play all three sports."
What Elric was getting at was that Allison would be the main person scoring the ball. A professional sports team would often be at a disadvantage without enough scorers, but that's what made Allison special. Elric elaborated on her wide range of movements. Not only was she a renowned fighter, but she could use her entire body to change directions as if she were gliding across the ground. "She's the giant tree of thorns that nobody can get through. That's why she rides the Evergreen Road."
It was time for Stephen's team to make a comeback. More determined than before, Elric fell back and allowed Maxwell to take the lead. Victoria and Mila were already on his trail, so he kicked the ball up to Stephen. The kick was so slow that if Elric hadn't been blocking Allison, she would have easily intercepted it.
Stephen jumped high to catch it. The leap was impressive, but Allison's unimpressed expression let him know he still had a long way to go. Landing near the forty-yard line, he was immediately confronted by Kimberly. In a serious tone, he said, "Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you."
Kimberly blushed at how cool he looked and sounded but snapped out of it when she saw Stephen spin right. It didn't take much for her to block his path, but what happened next left her frozen. Stephen shot the ball right in front of her!
"Huh?!" she exclaimed.
The girls thought he was crazy for making the shot until they noticed Elric speeding toward the rim. As the ball descended, he lowered his upper body and jumped. For a split second, Stephen could have sworn he felt the wind rush through the stadium.
But that didn't matter because the moment Elric caught the ball, he slammed it inside the basket!
The alley-oop is a high pass caught by a leaping teammate who tries to dunk the ball before landing. Stephen fully understood that Elric was skilled enough to perform such a maneuver, even while bound to a wheelchair.
"Great pass, kid!"
Elric noticed that Stephen was ignoring him. Turning to Allison, Stephen said, "I admit it. You're strong. But the next time you try to bring me down like that, I'll blow away all those thorns of yours."
Chills ran down Allison's spine. It was the first time she had ever seen Stephen get this serious.