After our get together at Sugar Cube Corner, life went on as normal. School work was being done, and I continued to hang out with Dash and her friends. Wednesday wasn't much at all, and neither was Thursday. At least, not until after school that day.
I stood on the soccer field outside of the school, admiring the view. School had just ended, and instead of heading home, I went to the soccer field. I’d already told my brother where I was, so once again, I won't have any interruptions or fights. I smiled as I looked around the-
"Blitz! Look out!" I heard Dash yell from behind. I turned around to face her… and immediately saw a giant soccer ball speeding STRAIGHT AT ME!
I ducked just in time, allowing the ball to fly over my head. It then hit the bleachers in front of me, and bounced back to Dash, who caught the ball with both hands.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, "That's a helluva way to kick this off!"
"Heh, sorry about that, Blitz. I usually have more control of my shots than that." Dash apologized, her cheeks growing red in embarrassment. She balanced the ball on her right knee before continuing. "But, hey, I guess it’s pretty nice to see that I have some foot power!"
"No kidding, Dash. You’ve really got a lot of power!" I said. She chuckled to herself.
"What can I say, Blitz? Years of practice makes perfect." Dash said, now balancing the ball on her foot. "So, you ready to practice, Blitz?"
"Sure am. Show me whatcha got." I responded, giving off a cocky smile.
"Sure thing." she said, before tossing me the ball. "You go first, David Beckham."
I placed the ball down on the ground, and slowly started making motions with my foot. I soon burst, kicking the ball softly and moving forward.
Once I got close to Dash, however, she quickly reached her foot out and snatched the ball away from me before sprinting away in the opposite direction with it. I tried to catch up to her, but despite my best efforts, I couldn't catch up to her. After a moment, she kicked the ball hard, rocketing it straight into the goal at amazing speed. She threw her hands into the air.
"WOO! Score one for the girls back home!" she yelled.
I came towards her, panting heavily. "You... did… good, Dash." I said between breaths. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Geez, you’re tired already? We only just got started!" She held the ball and bounced it on my back as I was leaning down. "I’ll give you this, though: you did real good with your foot motions."
"Thanks." I said, giving her a thumbs up as I stood back up. She gave me the ball again. I shot a look at her. "Don't be too nice to me." I said with a smirk.
"Whatever gave you that impression, rookie?" she asked back with a cocky smile. The action commenced again.
I ran forward with the ball, doing the same foot motions as last time. Once I got close, Dash once again tried to take my ball from me. I wasn’t about to fall for that trick twice in a row. I quickly tapped the ball to the side away from Dash, knocking it just out of her reach before quickly running fast while kicking the ball forward.
Once I got close to the goal, I wound up, and with one mighty swing with my leg, I kicked the ball straight at the goal! I closed my eyes and smiled. GO-
"Miss!" Dash yelled, crushing my hopes and happiness as I opened my eyes to see that the ball had hit the edge of the goal post, bounced back, and rolled into my own goal instead. I put my hands down. "Friendly fire. You did it to yourself." Dash said.
I sighed. "This is gonna be a long game." I mumbled to myself.
"Hey, don't be so put down, man. It'll take time." Dash put her hand on my shoulder while holding the ball in the other. "I mean, jeez, you should've seen the first time I played soccer!”
“Why? So I could see that you were better than me ever since kindergarten?” I asked. Dash shook her head.
“Not at all! I'll admit this, but DON'T tell anyone, capiche?" I slowly nodded. She leaned in close to whisper in my ear, "I was exaggerating the other day when I said that I knew that I was born to play ever since I was a kid. The truth is, I was worse than you."
I looked at her in surprise. "Really?" I questioned. "Nah, you're over exaggerating. I blow nuts. You know I'm fine with taking criticism." I said, chuckling a bit.
"But no, seriously! I was really bad at soccer at first!" She sat down and played with the ball. "I was little, and I was clueless. I was like a little girl who just wanted to draw some sort of googly-eyed monster on paper with crayons. Whenever I played soccer at first, I fell, missed my kicks, and failed HARD at moving with the ball." She chuckled. "At least you seem to know what you're doing. I was just like, 'Soccer? What’' while I was in the game."
"Huh." I said.
"But, look at me now. I'm like Canterlot High's David Beckham, and the tomboyish bad ass!" I nodded. "And you know, the past was little me wanting to go draw crayon 'masterpieces'."
"I know, I know. But still, do you really think I have potential? To become some star in soccer?" I asked, facing her.
She shrugged. "Hey, if you try, you see. If you don't, you'll be blind to the possible future." I looked at the soccer ball, and surprisingly, I saw my own reflection. I saw myself smile on one of the black pentagons, and thought about it. "Again, your choice, not mine, but I'd like to see the best from you. Hey, my friend Twilight did a soccer duel with me, and between me and you, she was... well, sub-par. Borderline terrible, honestly. But at least she tried."
I stood up. "You know Dash, you can really work a man's mind." I said.
"So you up for more?" she asked.
"Unless you're done." I said immediately, cracking yet another grin.
________________________________________
After another kick after kick, goal after goal, we called it a day and drank a bottle of water. As we drank, I turned to her and said, "Good God, you're ridiculous!"
She tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.
“You’ve been running the entire time we’ve been playing! How do you keep going for so long?" I asked.
"Endurance." Dash said. "And about ten years of awesomeness." We were heading out of the field until suddenly, we saw someone holding a camera in the bushes.
Now it wasn't an adult by the look of it, considering the face was shown in the light, and plus he seemed to have the same height, but still, we were very aware. Dash yelled at the kid. "Hey, who are you?" she called out. Soon, the man jumped out of the bush, running away.
"The hell?" I question. "Who was that?"
Dash shook her head. "I dunno. Probably just some weird teen." She looked at me. "Wanna go on a walk?"
"Sure." We walked around the school, enjoying the nice breeze that blew. It wasn’t long before we began to chat. "So... you ready for that game?"
"You betcha." Dash said, smirking. “Detrot won’t know what hit ‘em! Plus, it'll be even more awesome with you by my side." I blushed a bit.
"Hey, I'll come." I said. "You seem like a girl worth rooting for." Dash also slightly blushed.
"Heh, Th-Thanks." she said.
"No prob." I said. "So, uh, how-"
"Hold it." Dash said, shutting me up and putting me up against the wall of the school.
"What's going-"
"Ssh!" We were at the corner of the school building, and Dash was right at the edge. She peeked her head out, taking a look at some people. People she knew all too well, sadly. "Damn it." She muttered.
"What?" I whispered. As it turns out though, I didn't need an answer, as I soon heard the voices from around the corner.
"Are you f*cking serious?" yelled a tough guy's voice. I recognized that voice. There was no question about it; that voice belonged to Rush Down
"Rush?" I questioned, in which Dash looked back at me and nodded. I obviously couldn’t see the company, so I didn't see who else was there.
"No, mate. She dug you up, buried you, and now she's in it for this prick." another voice said, though this one I couldn’t recognize. "Dude, I really feel bad for you."
"Yeah." said a deeper voice. "I mean, you're the all-star, dude! Rush Down! The NFL might as well put you in the hall of fame!"
"I don't give a damn!" said Rush's voice. "I care more about this. I mean, the hell is this? You had to have photo-shopped this during class or something!"
"What are they talking about?" I whispered to Dash. Dash peeked around the corner, certainly looking closely at the photo some guy was showing Rush.
"I can’t tell." she whispered to me. "We’re too far away."
"Then why not get a closer look?" came a voice from behind me. I looked behind me and saw a kid with brown skin and white, curly hair. He shoved me into Dash, making us stumble onto the ground, exposing us out of our cover. "Hey, Rush, my homie! Here's the couple of lovebirds!" he yelled with a smile.
"Lovebirds?" I ask, then getting a kick on the shin.
"Shut up, fool." the kid said. Rush approached us very fast. Within seconds, he was towering over us.
He shook his head in disappointment. "Tsk, tsk, Dashie. I see that you’re still hanging around with idiots as usual. Quite a waste, really. I think a guy like me can dig you up, huh?" He put his finger under her chin, but she slapped it away.
"What do you want, you idiot?" she asked.
Rush put his hands up. "Oh no, look out, guys! We’ve got a bad ass over here!" he said, prompting his cronies to start laughing. Once they’d finally finished guffawing, he continued to speak.
"Dash, seriously, so what if something... bad happened before? I won't let it happen again." He reached his hand out with a grin. "I promise."
I decided to waltz in. "Hey, if the girl says no, she-"
"Shut the hell up, bitch. You’re not part of this conversation." Rush said, pushing me. I angrily pushed him back, making one of the guys chuckle.
"Who says I ain't?" I said. "Just leave us alone, dude. Why don’t you try to fail somewhere else?"
Rush gritted his teeth in frustration, before pulling up one of his sleeves. “You know, kid, I come over and try to be the good guy, but you never listen, do you?" He clutched his fist tightly and glared at me. I was a little intimidated, but I tried not to show it.
"Yeah, you can say that." I said, feeling like a smart-ass. "Got a problem with that?"
"Yeah." The other guys closed in on us. "We do, actually." He looked to his left, where the kid who got us in clear view was standing. "Hang his ass. Only his."
Everyone came after me, sending a wave of fear through my body. I put my fists up, but before anyone could throw a punch, a voice was heard.
"Hey!" yelled a voice. I looked to my right, only to see someone with very pale blue skin, and dark blue hair. "Looking for a fight?" he asked the group.
"Soarin!" Dash said. I was quickly grabbed by one of the guys, and was put in a nelson lock.
The man named Soarin got closer, then stopped. "I'm warning you." he said, clutching his fist.
The kid who pushed us lined up a punch, straight for my gut. However, before he could make contact, Rush pulled him away. "Dude!" the kid who was about to punch me said, "What the he-"
"Just leave him. He’s not worth it." Rush said, very sternly. The person behind me let go, and I fell to the ground. "Let's go!" The entire gang ran away, just like that.
I looked at the ground, seeing a shadow come closer to me. I looked up, seeing Soarin. He held out a hand. "You alright, man?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said as I was pulled up. "Thanks, man."
"No prob." he then said, smiling. He was wearing a blue jock jacket, and white pants. Soon enough, Dash approached him.
"Damn, man," she said, hitting his shoulder lightly. "Never thought you had it in ya."
"I try." he said. Soarin looked at me. "Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before. What’s your name?"
"Rainbow Blitz." I responded. He slowly nodded.
"Cool. Name’s Soarin." We both shook hands, and after that, Soarin spoke again. "Listen Blitz, just stay away from those punks. They just mean bad business for you."
"No kidding." I agreed. "But, those guys got us."
"Oh, it's nothing new. Those guys'll grab anyone to fight with. Usually I'm the one to stop those fights." he said with a smirk. "Say, you think it'll be cool to head on over to Hayburgers? It's on me."
I shrugged. "Sure, I'm down with that."
"Sweet." he said, then turned to Dash. "You coming?"
Dash put a hand behind her head and blushed a bit. "Aw, thanks, but I..." she began.
"Aw, come on, Dash! Don't ruin the fun for your partner!" He exclaimed.
I choked up a bit. "Partner?"
"Soccer pals." Soarin answered immediately. Oh, thank God, for a second there... Man, I worry too much.
Dash stood there until finally, "You know what, Soarin? You win. I'll come."
He nodded. "Sweet. Come on, it's just around the block." Pretty soon, we set off to the Hayburger. Gotta say, though, Soarin... He's quite a bad ass.