Super Sports Spectacular

by George Ivanoff

  When the ball finally comes your way, you find yourself sandwiched between two players twice your size.

  It’s a bit scary and you’re not sure you want to play anymore. It might be best to keep a low profile until it’s all over.

  If you want to avoid the ball and stay out of the way of other players, go here.

  But if you decide you’re not going to be intimidated and to play your best, go here.

  You figure that even though you’re scared, you’ll still give it your hardest. So when the ball comes towards you, you make a dash for it.

  You dodge past two opponents, weave between a few of your own teammates and grab the ball. You turn towards the goalposts, ready to kick, but…

  A furious, snorting vision of horror is charging right at you. It’s Crusher! You don’t even have time to yelp before she tackles you. You’re knocked off your feet and smashed to the ground, Crusher’s substantial weight on top of you. You lose your grip on the ball as your face is pressed into the muddy grass.

  Crusher jumps up, treading on your hand. She scoops up the ball and runs off, bouncing it as she goes.

  You struggle to your hands and knees, a wave of dizziness almost overwhelming you. You’re not capable of continuing the game. You slowly crawl off the oval and ask the coach to take you to the first-aid tent.

  ‘Sure thing, kid,’ he says. ‘As soon as the game is over.’

  With no one to help you, you crawl all the way to the first-aid tent, adding grazed knees and hands to your other injuries.

  You spend the rest of the day in bed, feeling very sorry for yourself.

  You head back to the soccer line-up, thinking of excuses if Matty asks you where you’ve been.

  But Matty hasn’t even noticed you were gone. He’s still talking about soccer as if you’d never left.

  ‘… and soccer has a proper ball. It’s round, like the way a ball should be. But you can’t really call an Aussie Rules football a ball. For starters, it’s the wrong shape. I mean, really, how can anyone…’

  You smile to yourself and nod at your friend as if you’ve been listening all along.

  Go here.

  You decide it’s best to avoid the ball and the other players. If the ball goes one way, you go the other. It’s a great plan … but it doesn’t quite work out.

  Someone kicks the ball towards you. It’s a high kick that goes way over your head. You run in the opposite direction, but there are two players chasing the ball who are charging right for you.

  You turn back towards the ball. Suddenly Crusher appears, ready to take a mark. You throw yourself out of the way, trip, roll forward and somehow manage to jump back on your feet … right in front of an oncoming throng of players.

  You turn again and are carried along, propelled towards Crusher. You’re shoved in the small of your back and stumble forward. You smash straight into Crusher’s back and, like a panicking monkey, scramble up to escape the players behind you.

  To your surprise, you find yourself kneeling on Crusher’s shoulders, the ball heading right at you. You have no option but to catch it…

  ‘Cor, what specky!’ shouts one of the players.

  You jump to the ground, the ball in your hands, looking rather confused.

  Crusher rounds on you, murder in her eyes. She snorts. You’re surprised that steam isn’t coming out of her nostrils. She’s about to pound you into the ground, when the coach steps between the two of you.

  ‘Strewth,’ says the coach, putting up a hand to stop Crusher. ‘That was flamin’ awesome!’

  The next thing you know, the coach is pushing Crusher to the side, putting an arm around your shoulders and talking to you about joining the football team.

  Your team wins hands down, and it’s all thanks to the superhero girl. You suddenly realise that you don’t even know her name.

  ‘Brianna,’ she replies shyly.

  As team captain, you feel you should reward her in some way. Maybe you could buy her some lunch? Or get her some public recognition by announcing her victory over the PA system?

  If you decide to take Brianna out to lunch, go here.

  If you’ d rather go to the announcer’s tent, go here.

  The pogo stick people are here because of you, so the least you could do is help them.

  You race to the nearest pogo person to ask what you can do. But your question distracts him and he gets zapped by an electric sweatband. Whoops!

  As he falls from the pogo stick, you grab it and jump on. You bounce around the court, dodging basketballs, weaving around players and avoiding flung sweatbands. It’s more luck than skill, because you’re having trouble controlling the stick. It’s the weirdest pogo stick you’ve ever seen (not that you’ve seen all that many) – there’s a little control panel in the middle of the handlebar.

  Looking up, you see a basketball headed straight for you. You slam your hand down on the controls.

  Your pogo stick rises up into the air on jets, bashes you into the ceiling then veers off to the right. Bouncing off the wall, you go shooting down the centre of the court, people scattering out of your way.

  You crash into the bin by the side of the main door, sending basketballs flying around the room. Two of them head straight for the Wantmore coach. She jumps out of the way and they hit the floor.

  KABOOM!

  The explosion propels her into the air. Arms flailing, she sails across the court with a spray of spit in her wake, and lands head-first into the hoop. Slam dunk!

  With the coach trapped and suspended upside down, a pool of saliva collecting on the floor under her, the pogo people round up the basketball teams.

  The woman in the yellow tracksuit jumps off her stick. ‘Well done,’ she says, helping you up. ‘Want to join the Xpogo team and help us fight for truth, justice and the sporting way?’

  You shake your head. You’ve had enough sport to last you a lifetime!

  You run to the edge of the court and fling yourself under the bench. Peering out, you watch the battle unfold.

  Laser beams hit basketballs. Explosions rock the gymnasium. Nets ensnare players. Electrified sweatbands knock people off pogo sticks. It is utter chaos!

  A stray basketball lands on the edge of the bench, the blast sending it across the court and forcing you out of your shelter. You look for another place to hide.

  You make a dive for the lost property bin and land in a heap of sweaty, old gym clothes. The smell is eye-watering – but it’s better than being out in the battle.

  Eventually the sounds die down. You lift your head, risking a quick look.

  Unconscious forms litter the floor. Only the two coaches remain standing. They are facing off in the centre of the court. Cutlip is no longer on her pogo stick. Each is holding two basketballs. They are circling each other, stalking each other, like rival tigers.

  ‘Prepare to meet your doom,’ yells Sylvester, a spray of spittle escaping her lips.

  ‘See you in hell!’ answers Cutlip, with a battle cry.

  The two of them throw their balls.

  You duck back under the smelly clothes but it’s not enough to save you. As the balls collide in mid-air, the resulting explosion blasts the coaches, you and the entire gymnasium into oblivion!

  Time to organise a natural disaster!

  As the next over begins, you leave one of the other players in charge and dash off. You race through the sports grounds to the announcer’s tent, peeking in through the flap.

  The announcer is taking a break, preening his wavy bouffant hair in the mirror, adjusting strand after strand. This could take ages, and you need him out of there now.

  You stick your head through the flap and shout: ‘Oh my goodness, they’re giving away free hair products by the pool!’

  Shoving past you, he is out of there in seconds.

  You slip into the tent, switch on the microphone and make an announcement about an earthquake on the other side of the country. You say that the place has been hit really bad a
nd that they’re in desperate need of a superhero to help out.

  By the time you return to the game, the girl is gone and the match has returned to normal. The rest of the opposition is quickly bowled out and your team comes up to bat.

  It’s a close fight, but your team sneaks in by one run.

  Just as the coach declares your victory, ready to pin a stick of celery to your shirt, two policewomen show up with the announcer. He’s soaking wet and very angry.

  ‘That’s the kid,’ he declares, pointing at you. ‘The one who made the announcement about the earthquake AND who lied about the hair products.’

  The police arrest you and take you down to the local station. Apparently your earthquake announcement caused a bit of a panic. And there was a poolside riot due to the lack of free hair products. Your parents are called to come and collect you.

  You are in a heap of trouble.

  But, hey, at least you won the cricket match!

  You don’t like the idea of cheating, so you tell Wesley to stop controlling the bat now that the superhero girl has been bowled out.

  It’s a long match and a really close one. And it ends in a draw.

  You may not have won, but you and your team had the best time playing the game.

  You’ve got to do something – now!

  You burst into the tent, demanding that the coach let the kid go.

  ‘You shouldn’t have come in here.’

  You whirl around. It’s the strange boy you warned about the pole. He’s standing by the tent flap, blocking the way out.

  ‘We are not ready to reveal ourselves to the world yet,’ says the coach.

  The crates along the edge of the tent creak open. There are kids inside them. Boys and girls with blank faces. Not blank as in lacking emotion, but blank as in without features.

  In unison, they all step out towards you.

  ‘No!’ says the strange boy, stepping forward. ‘He saved me. I must protect him.’

  ‘Stand down, Robot 323,’ says the coach.

  ‘I am unable to comply,’ says the boy.

  The kid-bots advance on your robot friend. He jumps into the air, hands and feet a blur of martial arts moves.

  ‘I will protect you,’ says the boy as he karate chops and kicks at the kid-bots, knocking off their faces to reveal circuits, snapping off their arms and legs to leave dangling wires. Within seconds they are nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

  ‘You will not find me so easy to defeat,’ says the coach.

  The coach’s skin turns metallic grey. Bits of him retract. Other bits pop out. It’s like his mechanical body is turning inside out. Before your eyes he transforms into a death-machine with claws, flamethrower and rotating sharp things.

  ‘Run!’ says your robot friend, grabbing your arm and pulling you out of the tent.

  As you are dragged through the Super Sports Spectacular by your robot protector and chased by a coaching death-machine, people screaming and panicking all around, you can’t help but wonder if you made a mistake choosing track and field.

  You take Brianna to the announcer’s tent and recount the cricket match and how she won it singlehandedly.

  The announcer immediately jumps onto the microphone and tells everyone about it. He then does a live interview with Brianna.

  The announcer has barely asked the first question when a strange guy in a purple cloak and helmet marches in.

  ‘I’ve been searching this stupid sports spectacular all day trying to find you,’ says the stranger. ‘And now, at last, I have you in my power.’

  ‘Not so fast, Dr No T Boi,’ says Brianna. ‘You forget that I have superpowers and you don’t!’

  ‘But,’ says Dr No, ‘I have this.’ He pulls a lump of rock out from under his cloak.

  Brianna cowers.

  ‘That’s right,’ says the evil doctor. ‘A piece of your long-ago destroyed home planet, which, in Earth’s atmosphere, is able to sap all your superpowers, leaving you helpless. At last, I’ve beaten you!’ He cackles maniacally. ‘And to think, I might never have found you if not for the announcement.’

  This is all your fault. It’s a bit weird. But it’s still your fault.

  Brianna tears a hole in the back of the tent and staggers out. Dr No gives chase.

  You wonder if there’s anything you can do to help. You dash outside, but they have both disappeared. You never see either of them again.

  You spend the rest of your life wondering if you caused the death of the only superhero you have ever met.

  You offer to take Brianna to lunch. She nods enthusiastically.

  On the way to the food marquee, you comment that she doesn’t talk much.

  ‘I’m a little shy,’ she says. ‘But once I get to know people, I open up.’

  And open up, she does. It’s like you’ve released a floodgate.

  ‘As it happens, I really like talking to people. So once there’s someone I’m comfortable with, I can get very chatty. And I find that people really like hearing about all the superhero stuff I do. And I do a lot of it…’

  On and on she goes as you walk. Along the way you see a bunch of people on pogo sticks bouncing towards the sports complex entrance – where they attack a truck full of guys in balaclavas.

  Eyes wide, your mouth hanging open, you try to point this out to Brianna, thinking she might be able to help … but she doesn’t notice. She just keeps on talking.

  When you finally reach the food marquee, you see a bunch of freakishly tall basket ballers chasing someone into the trees beyond the sports complex. You hear distant explosions. Again, Brianna is too busy chatting to see it.

  As you’re eating lunch, Brianna continues to speak through mouthfuls of food. You keep having to dodge bits of stray souvlaki that come flying from her mouth. Then you see a boy running amok, people sprinting after him. When they catch up to the boy and try to grab him, his head falls off … revealing wires. It’s a robot!

  But again Brianna doesn’t notice and can’t be interrupted.

  Finally, she finishes her meal and gets up, wiping garlic sauce off her glasses.

  ‘Thanks for the food,’ she says. ‘You have no idea how hungry being a superhero makes you. It takes a lot of energy having to be alert all the time – keeping your eyes and ears open for things that go wrong, for those in need of your help. People forget that observance is one of my most important superpowers. Anyway, see you round.’

  You stare at her, wide-eyed, as she walks off.

  Well, that was … interesting.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  George Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. He has written over 70 books for kids and teens, including the Gamers trilogy. He has books on both the Victorian and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge lists, and he has won a couple of awards that no one has heard of. As a kid he loved reading interactive books, where he got to make decisions about the direction of the story. Now he is ridiculously happy, having the opportunity to write that type of book. He has had more fun plotting and writing the You Choose books than pretty much anything else … and he hopes you have just as much fun reading them. George drinks too much coffee, eats too much chocolate and watches too much Doctor Who. If you’d like to find out more about George and his writing, check out his website: georgeivanoff.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  You Choose 7: Super Sports Spectacular


  9780857988423

  Copyright © George Ivanoff 2015

  Illustration copyright © James Hart 2015

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  A Random House Australia book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  Random House Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

  First published by Random House Australia in 2015

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

  Author: Ivanoff, George, 1968–

  Title: Super Sports Spectacular [electronic resource]

  ISBN: 978 0 85798 842 3 (ebook)

  Series: You choose; 7

  Target Audience: For primary school age

  Subjects: Plot-your-own stories

  Dewey Number: A823.3

  Cover and internal illustrations by James Hart

  Cover design by Christabella Designs

  Internal design by Midland Typesetters

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