Bentwhistle the Dragon Box

by Paul Cude

  Similar to the opening part of the match, punches, kicks, streams of flame were all being thrown in that very confined area, high up in the middle of the arena. Once again the Gipsy Kings took possession and pressed the attack. Unlike their previous offence, this one led to them knocking down a tooth and scoring a goal, and it was the young forward who'd failed so spectacularly last time, who'd got it. He scored from a long way out after a double tailed attack (very illegal) on Silverbonce, which the referee failed to spot, left the Indigo Warrior's mouth wide open. The crowd went ballistic, jeering and spitting flame in the direction of the harangued official. The players were up in wings about it, hovering around the referee, blowing smoke at him, the whole lot. He had no intention of changing his mind, however much his mistake was pointed out, so the match continued. 1-1.

  If Peter's language had been colourful before, it was nothing to what Tank's was now. It was all Richie and Peter could do to get him to sit back down and watch the match restart once again. Peter looked over at his friend waving his oversized fist animatedly at the television, threatening the official, wondering how somebody as sensitive and caring as Tank, with not a selfish thought in his body, no matter what his form, could get so worked up about something like this.

  'The humans,' he thought. 'We're all becoming more human. Is that even possible?’ It was an odd thing to think, but something about it rang true. He vowed to give it more consideration at a quieter moment.

  Gathering again in the centre of the stadium, waiting for that captivating ball to come shooting out, the dragons soared and rolled, drifted and dived. From the concentration on the faces of the Indigo Warriors players, it was clear they were discussing tactics telepathically. The young Gipsy Kings forward, pleased at having just scored the equaliser, was trying desperately to taunt the Warriors, but sensibly, they were ignoring him, or perhaps were just too busy planning their next attack.

  As the ball shot out of the ceiling the Indigo Warriors, with the exception of Silverbonce, all grouped together and made for the ball. A Gipsy Kings player reached it first, but a split second after bringing the ball under control, he was hit full on with the concussive force of four dragons travelling at full tilt. The Warriors gained possession of the ball, while the surprised Gipsy Kings player tumbled clumsily towards the roiling surface of the lava, eventually hitting it head first. As the injured dragon floated on the surface, clearly unconscious, a small passageway opened in the middle of one side of the cavern, right above the lava. Out shot two medic dragons, dragging behind them a giant green net. Heading straight for the injured dragon, the two medics continued as the match became more frantic all around them.

  The Warriors collective on the ball were lining up for a run at the Gipsy Kings' mouth. Their opposition, a dragon down, had got themselves between the Warriors and their mouth, but were a little unorganised. As the collective swooped towards the mouth, one by one Gipsy Kings players hurled themselves at the cluster. Although seemingly born of desperation, it was quite an effective tactic, taking out at least one of the Warrior players each time it happened.

  With all this going on around them, the two medics had scooped up the Gipsy Kings dragon in their net, and were now flying with him in between them towards the opening from which they'd appeared. Now that the injured player had left the arena, the Gipsy Kings were finally able to bring on their substitute, albeit a little too late to help with the current action they were having to defend. All the Gipsy Kings players, with the exception of their mouth guard, had hurled themselves at the collection of Warriors players. Only Barf from the Warriors remained flying with the ball, after having been at the centre of the troop. As he zoomed towards the mouth with only the guard in the way, he looped the ball up and over the isolated mouth guard, while at the same time blasting him with a sustained stream of flame from his giant jaws. Momentarily disorientated, the guard could do nothing as Barf soared around behind him, gathered up the ball and shot at the undefended mouth.

  On the edge of their seats, the crowd watched in anticipation at what would likely be just a tap in from a short way out, and one of the easiest shots Barf was ever likely to have, given that he had all the time in the world.

  Inexplicably though, Barf had got all his bearings totally mixed up, whether from over confidence or maybe just nerves at the importance of the occasion. Unbelievably his shot sailed well wide of the exposed mouth, only to be picked up by a very surprised Gipsy Kings substitute in the corner of the arena. Roaring in disbelief, the crowd, along with the players and the referee, couldn't believe what they were seeing. Gipsy Kings fans cheered wildly, some hurling abuse at the distraught Barf.

  Shock had overtaken the three friends as they sat unmoving on the living room floor. Tank broke the deafening silence.

  "I've seen eggs that haven't hatched that could have put that away," he suggested angrily.

  Peter buried his head in his hands, feeling as though the chance had passed for his favourite team to take control of the game.

  "Clearly... Barf is not a big game player," quipped Richie solemnly. "I say substitute him and get Zip on."

  "Huh... like Zip's gonna do a better job," moaned Tank.

  After a few seconds of his head spinning, and feeling more than a little sorry not only for himself, but for his friends and his team as well, Peter picked himself up and with a deep breath, and the belief that tonight was going to go his way, announced,

  "Come on guys. We can still win. So Barf made a mistake. We've all done that."

  Richie looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

  "Most of us have done that," he amended. "The Warriors can still win. We just need to believe. It's not like we're even losing. It's still a draw and there's plenty of time left yet."

  "Well... I hope they start pulling their wingtips out, that's all I can say," put in Tank, trying to pick up on Peter's optimism.

  "I still say we need to bring on Zip... but I'm pretty sure we can still win," professed Richie, taking a long sip of her drink.

  Back in the arena, the Indigo Warriors poured thoughts of confidence, understanding and support into their telepathic collectiveness, letting Barf know that the miss didn't matter, but it didn't seem to do the trick. He was utterly inconsolable as he flapped his wings dejectedly on his way back to defend.

  Retaining possession, the Gipsy Kings had started to string two or three great passes together, the Warriors all the time chasing the ball and the players, without a great deal of success it must be said. The movement and co-ordination of the Gipsy Kings in this phase was very much reminiscent of two seasons previously, when they had gone on to become league champions for the second time in a row. Worryingly, the Warriors were barely able to get near the ball, let alone intercept it.

  As the Gipsy Kings closed in on the Warriors' mouth, Steel made a last ditch attempt at a tackle, but missed quite spectacularly, tumbling into the side of the cavern, injuring himself badly in the process. The player with the ball wide on the right, about mouth height, had two players in the middle to pass to. Silverbonce, unusually for him, didn't know whether to come out to the player, or stay and defend the mouth. Just as he'd decided to come out, the wide player thrashed the ball across the middle towards his two waiting teammates. With such amazing speed and agility that it seemed almost impossible, Silverbonce changed direction in a flash, and was on top of the closest Gipsy Kings player in an instant. All of which would have been great if it weren't for the fact that this player, in all his wisdom, dummied the ball and let it fly right through the middle of his wings to the player behind him. Again it was the young forward, and as Silverbonce scrabbled about in an attempt to get over to him, the youngster, calmly as you like, gathered in the ball with his tail and hammered it aggressively into the mouth, turning one of the teeth at the end to dust.

  Appearing to be in total disarray, the Warriors floated back towards the middle of the cavern to await yet another restart. Barf looked as though he just wanted to be somewhere e
lse. Cheese and Silverbonce were arguing over some aspect of the previous attack that had led to the goal, while Steel just looked on, a cold, reflective expression on his face.

  The mood back in Salisbridge wasn't that much better. Whereas only moments before it had been optimistic and full of hope, you could now have heard a pin drop as the friends studied the screen, willing their team to buck up their ideas and give the Gipsy Kings the damn good thrashing they deserved, but in their heart of hearts not truly believing it was possible. Historic game or not, it looked very much like the evening was over and that for this season at least, the Global Cup run had fizzled out like a damp squib. And much as the three friends hoped they would, the Warriors never really recovered from that particular moment. Almost straight from the restart, the Gipsy Kings scored another goal, shattering any small amount of confidence the Warriors retained. Shortly after that, Barf was substituted for Zip, much to the watching Richie's delight, but even though Zip had lots of energy, covering a massive amount of air, it didn't really impact on the match very much.

  And so it was that with five minutes to go, a determined Steel had made a conscious decision to retrieve the ball and make a singular run on goal in one last concerted effort to get his team back into the match. However, his opponents though were currently playing the ball around for fun, just like they would in a training match, knowing that a 3-1 lead and such disorganised looking opposition meant all they had to do was keep possession for the match, and a place in the final, to be theirs.

  Steel, in much the same way as his demoralised teammates, had spent most of the last half hour chasing the ball around without much success and was quite frankly getting more than a little bit fed up. But unlike the others, who seemed to have all given up on their hopeless situation, he believed implicitly that they could turn the game around and get through to the final. All they had to do was get two goals and they would go through, because in cup matches, whoever scores first will win the game should the match be drawn. As the Warriors scored the opening goal, they would win the match should the score be 3-3 at full time, something Steel thought the Gipsy Kings had realised, and knew they were not quite as safe as they evidently assumed, despite their current showboating.

  Steel, while flying around chasing the ball, had hit on an idea about how to get it back from the Gipsy Kings. Their young forward had taken up a position low down, just above the surface of the toxic, bubbling lava, roughly in the centre of the arena. Every sixth or seventh pass would go to him, where he would just keep hold of the ball until one of the Warriors closed him down. If nobody from the Warriors managed that, he would just hover, keeping possession, running down the clock. Knowing he had to work quickly for his plan to work, Steel feigned an injured wing, acting as though he were in a fair amount of pain, and drifted over to the nearest rock ledge, far from the main action. All the time rotating his wing, he sent out a message to his teammates, telling them not to close down the young forward, but to stand off and be ready to attack when the time came.

  Cheese and Zip were covering an enormous amount of air, chasing and harrying their opponents who were more than happy to keep hold of the ball in less dangerous parts of the arena, playing out time. While the Gipsy Kings had noticed Steel flying down to the ledge, supposedly injured, they didn't think much of it because the Warriors had already used their only substitute when they'd taken Barf off. Things continued much in the same vein, with Cheese and Zip following the ball around the cavern at top speed, closing down players, never actually getting near enough to intercept a pass. Meanwhile, if anyone had been paying attention, which they hadn't, they would have noticed that Steel was no longer on the ledge or, for that matter, anywhere to be seen.

  Back at Peter's house, the friends had all but given up on winning the match and going through to the final. With the screen focusing solely on the ball and the players it was travelling between and with no commentary, the friends had no idea Steel had feigned injury or that he was on his way in a daring attempt to put things right.

  Ticking down now, the clock showed that four minutes remained of the match. Dragon supporters of both teams had started exiting the arena, hoping to hop on the monorail and beat the crowds with the result already a foregone conclusion.

  As the Gipsy Kings players passed the ball about with ease, the look on their faces said it all. They were already planning what they were going to do in the final. That's how confident they were that this game was already wrapped up. Cheese and Zip continued to chase the ball, that is until... the ball was passed to the young forward, hovering just above the lava.

  From the look on HIS face, not only was he planning his moves in the final, but also rehearsing the speech he was going to give on raising aloft the Global Cup, having won it. With the ball nestling gently against the scales on the tip of his tail, the cocky smile on the young forward's face grew tenfold as both Cheese and Zip drew to a halt in mid-air. Cheese wiped his head in mock exhaustion, Zip just shook his downheartedly, looking as though he'd already given up. With his teammates encouraging him just to keep the ball, the youngster was happy to oblige with his opponents having already chucked in the towel.

  Through the shimmering air, Zip and Cheese exchanged worried looks. Something must have gone wrong. Whatever Steel had planned had not come to pass and here they were, seconds slipping away, watching the opposition hold the ball and gloat. Even through their telepathic link, they could not sense him anywhere, which could mean only one thing... he was under the lava. Well under, for them not to be able to sense him. Diving beneath the lava in a laminium ball match is a risky business. Usually the lava is the hottest and most volatile found outside the Earth's core. Even a dragon's highly impervious scales can be susceptible to exceptionally high temperatures after a prolonged period of time. Because of this, dragons in a laminium ball match wouldn't last any longer than ten seconds beneath the surface. Steel had been missing for over thirty.

  The extraordinarily large clock built into the ceiling of the arena clicked on to three minutes left, with the entire Gipsy Kings team drifting effortlessly in their own positions. Remaining in possession of the ball, the young forward held his position just above the lava, disgusted with his opposition for just giving up. Beneath the young forward, the orange and red lava hissed and spat, crackled and sizzled, all the time swirling around in mesmerising patterns as great plumes of steam rose into the humid air. Small bubbles broke the surface unnoticed. The rising panic asserting itself across the Indigo Warriors' telepathic collective turned to relief as the players suddenly felt the presence of Steel, heading upwards from well beneath the lava at quite a speed. Those small bubbles underneath the young dragon had turned into much bigger ones that were spluttering and bursting like bladders at an old people's home. A sense of disbelief and quiet anticipation ran through the crowd, who were aware, unlike the young forward, that something was about to happen. Before anyone could warn him... happen it did!

  Like a fiery phoenix erupting through the gates of hell, Steel burst through the surface of the lava, huge streams of dazzling orange and red liquid exploding all around him. His naturally shiny scales were dull, some even black, and on fire. Appearing directly beneath the young forward, he flew straight into him, making sure to gather up the ball on the way. Dragon bones cracking and breaking echoed around the vast arena as the inevitable collision took place. Steel, of course, came away with the ball, the young broken forward falling unceremoniously into the steaming mass with a gigantic 'PLOP'. No surprise to anyone that the two medic dragons exited their hole at speed, just catching up with the injured dragon as the last vestiges of his body dipped below the lava.

  Having taken everyone by surprise and with the crowd roaring him on, Steel was winging his way towards the Gipsy Kings' mouth, smoke and lava pouring off his ravaged body. Two and a half minutes remained.

  With almost every player caught by surprise at Steel's audacious move, only one Gipsy Kings player stood a chance at intercepting hi
m before he reached the mouth and the very nervous mouth guard. In Steel's mind, there was no question about what had to happen. Only about two minutes remained, so he had to score immediately, without any fuss, and hope that some miracle opportunity presented itself to score again instantly after the restart. He cursed the fact that it had taken him so long to find the young forward from underneath the lava. He'd been submerged in different types of lava before, some for longer periods of time, but none had felt quite like this. Once under, he felt as though he were shrouded by a blanket of ice and not heat. Only a metre or so beneath the surface the lava had lost its warm kiss, to be replaced by a needle sharp darkness that had enveloped everything. Nothing was as it seemed, down and up were gone, his enhanced sense of direction nullified by his surroundings. What he knew to be his one shot was hanging by a thread. If he broke the surface at all, the game would be up. It took every ounce of courage and bravery he possessed to fight his body's urge to resurface, and stay under long enough to find the right route up to the surface directly below his young opponent. But he couldn't help wonder now, if having taken so long, it would all be for nothing.

  Terror and alarm pulsed through what was left of the Gipsy Kings' telepathic bond at the surprise development of the last few seconds, even though they were still two goals ahead. As Steel closed in on the terrified Gipsy Kings mouth guard, the unthinkable happened. The only Gipsy Kings player close enough to get to Steel in time had done so, but had undoubtedly been consumed by the desperation and alarm through the telepathic bond. Instead of trying fairly to wrestle the ball from Steel, or even just slow him down, he had in fact come in jaws first, grabbing the Warriors captain by the throat. Growling in disbelief, both sides of the animated crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was the worst kind of foul that any dragon could commit during a laminium ball match. Not only that, but it was taboo in the wider sense of the dragon community. It was a violation, an attack, one that was feared by every dragon on the planet, buried deep down in their very DNA. Even his own players were appalled. One dragon did not put its jaws anywhere near another dragon's throat... EVER! The referee stopped the match as the entire team of Warriors gathered around their stricken captain.