Ultraball #1
Page 19
Strike and the other Miners cautiously approached Boom, but she waved them back. “One-on-one. Stay out of it.”
An excited buzz lifted through the crowd. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Just two players lined up, face-to-face. The other eight Ultraball players stood out of the action near the sidelines, watching along with the rest of the spectators.
“Are you sure about this?” Strike asked through his helmet comm. In the open field, the offense always had the advantage. It was all too easy for a defender to miss a tackle or get juked the wrong way. And a hundred U-bucks was on the line.
“Quiet,” Boom said. “I need to concentrate.”
A ref in steel plate armor blew his whistle and circled his arm. White Lightning walked up to the ball and stood over it, waiting to see what Boom would do. He waved his hand forward, goading her on.
With fifteen seconds counting down on the play clock, Boom approached, coming to within a meter of him. She got into a three-point stance and raised her head. With her free hand, she pointed at the ball.
As White Lightning bent down over the ball, Boom jumped up and backed away as if she were dropping into coverage. She hit the edge of a disruptor zone, her Ultrabot suit crackling with giant arcs of electricity. She planted her back foot and charged at him.
White Lightning flinched at the sight, but he didn’t hike the ball.
Stopping just before the line of scrimmage, Boom bent down into her three-point stance again. She jumped up to repeat her defensive drop-back. The moment she did, White Lightning reached down and snatched up the ball.
But this time, Boom had only backed up two steps before charging forward like a rocket to smash into White Lightning. The QB tried to throw a stiff-arm as Boom blitzed hard, his glove smacking her helmet with an echoing thud. But Boom drove into him, relentless in her charge.
White Lightning spun around in a frantic effort to escape. He punched wildly at Boom with his free hand. A tremendous uppercut crunched into Boom’s visor, snapping her head back. White Lightning shook her off and started running. He almost broke loose, but with a mighty leap, Boom shot herself at him, catching one of his boots. He lost his balance for a split second, and that was all Boom needed.
Boom threw her arms around the QB, picking him up off his feet. Leaning back, she spun him in a circle, whipping him around faster and faster until he was just a blur.
Then she let him go.
White Lightning soared backward, landing in a disruptor zone, a storm of electricity lighting him up into an explosion of fiery orange sparks. He cradled the ball as he sprang to his feet, disoriented, trying to figure out which direction was up.
A split second later, Boom raced into the disruptor zone, her Ultrabot suit exploding into crackles. She threw a monster uppercut at White Lightning’s glove, her aim dead-on. The Ultraball smacked loose, bouncing backward toward the Shock’s end zone.
Boom’s momentum carried both players clear of the disruptor zone, the storms of electricity dying out. They both scrambled toward the ball. White Lightning had the angle, but Boom threw a hard elbow into his visor to knock him off balance. She dove for the Ultraball, and it clanged to her electromagnetic glove. Leaping to her feet, she raced toward the end zone, diving just as White Lightning crashed into her side. They careened sideways, but Boom stretched to full extension. Writhing and twisting, she smacked the Ultraball into the end zone.
Kicking White Lightning away, Boom jumped to her feet, punching her fists into the air, screaming in elation. She did a double backflip and then kicked the Ultraball so high it cracked off the roof of Saladin Stadium. The Miners swarmed to her, whooping and hollering.
White Lightning crumpled to the ground, smashing his fists into the turf.
“Every radio, TV, and phone is going to be playing this all night long,” Nugget said. “Number one on LunarSports’ Top Ten Plays.”
“Number one play of all time,” Pickaxe said. “You fooled him good. Berzerkatron and the Mad Mongol are going to go to town on White Lightning.”
“A hundred U-bucks,” Strike said. “That’s a ton of money. What would you have done if you’d lost?”
Boom shrugged. “Not my problem. Money stuff is handled by the general manager of the team.” She pointed at him with a sly grin.
Strike’s smile nearly split his face in two. He shook his head, grinning at Boom’s gutsy plan. She might be insane, but she had just single-handedly moved the Miners up out of the fourth playoff seed into the third.
Next up on the road to the Ultrabowl: a semifinal game against the Tranquility Beatdown.
RESULTS AND STANDINGS, END OF REGULAR SEASON
RESULTS, WEEK 7
Miners
112
Shock
56
Neutrons
84
Molemen
21
Flamethrowers
84
Venom
56
Beatdown
98
Explorers
42
STANDINGS, WEEK 7
Wins Losses Total Points
1 Neutrons
7
0
672
2 Beatdown
5
2
630
3 Miners
5
2
623
4 Flamethrowers
5
2
616
Explorers
3
4
504
Shock
2
5
294
Venom
1
6
287
Molemen
0
7
161
PLAYOFF SEEDINGS
1
Neutrons
(at Neutron Stadium)
4
Flamethrowers
2
Beatdown
(at Beatdown Arena)
3
Miners
ULTRABOWL OFFICIAL BETTING LINES
Bet
1 Bet Pays:
Neutrons Win
0.37
Miners Win
2.64
Neutrons Score First
0.94
Miners Score First
1.04
Chain Reaction as MVP
0.65
Fusion as MVP
1.45
Boom as MVP
3.54
Strike as MVP
5.49
Co-MVPs
10
Anyone Else As MVP
15
No MVP Chosen
25
Over / Under: 150.5 Total Points Scored
0.98
Over / Under: 1675.5 Total Meters Gained
0.98
Game Has 1 Overtime Series
1.75
Game Has 2 Overtime Series
2.12
Game Has More Than 2 Overtime Series
2.27
At Least 1 100-Meter Passing or Rushing TD
5
At Least 1 Passing TD Thrown Through Slingshot Zone
7
At Least 1 Passing TD Bounced Off Roof
10
No Four-and-Out Series During Entire Game
500
One Player Drains Suit Power
50
Blackout in Neutron Stadium During Game
100
Two or More Players Drain Suit Power
250
Any Ultrabot Suit Malfunction During Game
1,000
Solar Flare Hitting Moon During Game
5,000
At Least 1 Pass Breaking an Impactanium Barrier
100,000
Meteor Strike (Class 3 or Higher) During Game
250,000
20
Ultrabowl X
RIDING THE MOMENTUM of their huge win during their last
regular season game, the Miners rolled the Beatdown during the semifinals. Even facing a hostile crowd at Beatdown Stadium, the Miners came out in full attack mode, burying the Beatdown 49–21 by halftime. The spanking accelerated into the second half, the crowd actually heading toward the airlock exits halfway through the second half. The final score of 84–70 didn’t tell the story of what a blowout the game had been, as the Miners eased up on the Beatdown during the last minutes of the game.
For a fourth straight year, the Ultrabowl would be a showdown between the Miners and the Neutrons.
The Miners’ reversal of fortune took the moon by storm, reporters from LunarSports Reports, SmashMouth Radio Blitz, and the Touchdown Zone converging upon Strike and Rock’s apartment building, permanently camping out in hopes of getting an interview. The SmashMouth Radio Blitz broadcasted continuously, Berzerkatron and the Mad Mongol going for twelve hours a day, and Genghis Brawn taking the other twelve. It seemed like everyone on the moon was trying to get to Strike, which was no surprise, given how much money was riding on the game—LunarSports Reports estimated that over fifty million U-dollars had been placed on hundreds of different bets. Strike hardly had a chance to get outside, except to and from practice, and that was always with an entourage of Taiko Colony citizens acting as their bodyguards.
Strike tried to keep things light as the Miners prepared for the game of their lives. Things were going great—Pickaxe getting his mojo back, the Miners on a roll, Torch flushed out as the traitor—but one thing kept eating away at Strike: TNT had never come to the junk hole. Strike had gone there at midnight every day for a week, but TNT hadn’t shown.
Strike had to find TNT. He put feelers out through friends from the Tao Children’s Home and from the apartment building. Every single one came back empty. With each passing day, Strike felt more certain that the Blackguards had chased TNT down and arrested him. It made him sick to think about TNT in a prison cell—or worse—after everything he had put himself through to make things right with Strike.
The day of Ultrabowl X arrived, and the Miners sat in the visitors’ locker room inside Neutron Stadium. “We’ve been through a lot together,” Strike said. “And this game will be the biggest challenge that we’ve ever faced. That crowd is almost one hundred percent Neutron fans. We’re not going to be able to hear anything.”
“We have to trust each other,” Boom said. “That’s when we’ve been unstoppable.”
“Boom’s right. Trust each other. And Miners, about the season. About trust.” Even though he had said the words a hundred times to Pickaxe, they stuck in his throat yet again. “I’m so sorry.”
“For clarification purposes, he’s sorry about being an idiot for thinking that you could possibly be a traitor,” Rock added.
Everyone laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Rock asked in bewilderment.
The announcers’ pregame routine blared outside the locker room, the crowd roaring so loud the Miners could hear the chanting through the door. “All right, guys,” Strike said. “We’ll huddle up with clear visors so I can give you the plays. Duck down low so no one can steal our plays using telescopes or whatever. I bet Neutron Stadium has all sorts of high-tech spy equipment. Hands in.”
Everyone put their hands on top of his.
“Neutron Nation is going to boo us like crazy,” Strike said. “They’re going to throw rocks and trash at us. Just remember, none of that matters. We got this. We’re the better team. We’ve prepared more. We’ve studied more. We’ve practiced more. We showed the Beatdown who’s the best team in the league last week. And today, we’re going to teach the Neutrons that same lesson. It’s our time, Miners. Ultrabowl X champions. Let’s go do this thing. Win it all. For Taiko Colony.”
“For Taiko Colony,” everyone repeated.
“Oh yeah,” Strike said. Love and pride for his teammates surged through him, and he bellowed out a joyous scream. “Miners together!”
“Miners forever!” everyone shouted back.
As the announcer read off introductions for the Miners, Strike opened the airlock door to a sound wave that nearly slammed him backward. Nugget and Pickaxe went first, then Rock. Before Boom went out, she held out a fist. “Leave it all out on the field,” she mouthed.
Strike emerged last out of the tunnel as his Miners were getting pelted with rocks, bouncing off the players’ helmets. Blackguards were in the stands to stop it, but they weren’t trying very hard. Almost the entire stadium was decked out in Neutron red, making it look like the stands were flickering with the flames of hell.
Only a small section was wearing Taiko Colony blue, Governor Katana surrounded by a team of bodyguards at the fifty-meter line. Even in the midst of a sea of Neutron fans swearing and booing at them, Governor Katana and his bodyguards screamed out the Miners’ slogan at the top of his lungs, leading the Taiko Colony section in a chant of “Miners together, Miners forever.” Holding out a fist with his thumb sticking straight up, he smiled broadly at Strike. But it was too big of a smile, like that of a hostage being told to say they were fine.
Strike nodded back, trying to look confident. The Neutrons were a five-person wrecking crew. In their semifinals game, they had annihilated the Flamethrowers in a 105–56 rout that was over even before halftime. The next sixty minutes would be a battle royale, ten Ultrabot tanks pounding one another into submission, with nothing less than the fate of three thousand people hanging in the balance.
From the very first play, the Neutrons’ Radioactive Waste defense was relentless. Fusion kicked off, putting heavy backspin on the Ultraball. Strike tracked it as it soared halfway up to the roof, seeming like it would smash into the protective barrier behind them. But the crazy spin on the ball made it start curving upward, then almost stop in midair. It dropped down with an eerie slowness, right over Strike’s head.
Strike’s visual targeting system locked on easily. But as he waited for the Ultraball to come down, all five Neutrons shot themselves through magnetic slingshot zones simultaneously, accelerating and blasting out like nuclear missiles. They cracked into Strike’s blocking wedge, exploding the tight formation backward into Strike. It was all he could do to catch the Ultraball and yank it into his chest plate before Nugget and Rock both smashed into him, everyone whomping backward into the clear protective barrier before crunching down to the turf.
He pushed his teammates away and jumped back to his feet. But a bright red arm smashed into his throat and whipped him back to the ground. Other Neutrons piled in, smothering Strike in his own zone. Underneath it all, the lead defender grabbed Strike’s throat as if he were choking him, pinning Strike to the turf.
Touchdown, Neutrons.
Not even thirty seconds had passed, and the Miners were already down, 7–0. The Neutron crowd went insane, all ten thousand people on their feet, stomping and roaring for blood. The throbbing waves of sound slammed into Strike’s ears, his helmet yellow, alerting him to potentially dangerous noise levels.
The lead Neutron was still on top of Strike. He flipped his visor to clear. Chain Reaction’s cracked and peeling face loomed over Strike as if he were the grim reaper. A ref came in to clear the scrum. Just before Chain Reaction got yanked off, he pulled back his cracked lips into a ghoulish smile and smashed a double-fisted rabbit punch directly into Strike’s helmet.
The Miners’ first few possessions were more demoralizing. Even with Pickaxe and Nugget giving Strike solid blocking on the line, there was no way the Miners could defend against the Neutrons’ array of swarming blitzes coming from crazy angles, from above, off side walls, even sliding low between Pickaxe’s and Nugget’s legs as they expertly used the magnetic slingshot zones to rocket in. After the first four sacks, Strike placed Rock in the backfield as an extra blocker, but that barely slowed the Neutrons. The Radioactive Waste defense racked up hurried throws, batted balls, interceptions, and sack after sack after sack.
On offense, Chain Reaction was an unstoppable force, scoring TDs on the Neut
rons’ first three series. For the third one, he launched himself through a slingshot zone and superjumped off Fusion’s back, soaring so high and fast that he smashed into the roof, kicking off hard to ricochet like a bullet into the end zone.
It was the highball bounce play that Torch had sold to Raiden Zuna.
A couple of big touchdown throws from Strike to Boom kept the Miners in the game. But not having as much practice with the slingshot zones as the Neutrons, they fell behind by as many as twenty-eight points. When the whistle blew for halftime, the Miners jogged to the tunnel amid the crowd’s deafening roar, people pelting them with trash and rocks again. Strike looked up at the scoreboard, shaking his head: Miners 35, Neutrons 49. The Miners were lucky to be down only fourteen points, but the way the Neutrons were playing, that fourteen-point lead looked bulletproof. The Miners were dead men walking.
Inside the locker room, Strike stood in front of his team, sweat dripping off his brow, trying not to look shaken in front of his teammates. What his team needed now was strength. And a plan. “It’s rough out there,” he said. “But we can do this. We’ve come back from a lot worse than this. Boom, awesome TD grabs. Rock, fantastic blocking. Big hit on Chain Reaction a couple of plays ago. Pickaxe and Nugget, you’re doing a great job keeping me alive out there. But the Neutrons’ defense is chasing me all over. I need more time. More protection. Ideas?”
“What about Torch’s dual quarterback sets?” Boom asked.