Dragon Games update Chapter9

We're in the ending-chapters now, and I unfortunately had to do a bit of an expo dump at the start of this chap so we can move on to the finale sooner. Let me know if its too much I can do some reworks. Oh, and 3098 words.

Chapter 9

1

The Mythics progresses smoothly through the season, winning game after game, the only bump in the road towards the finals being a draw that went all the way to full-time. Both teams would have a rematch in the semi-finals, Jim hoping he’d be able to recover in time and lend a hand to his friends. It was difficult going so long without being on the field, sports had been a part of his life for a long time, but he had to trust his teammates to see the season through.

Jim always told himself he was integral to the Mythics, but in his absence, the team seemed to be getting on just fine without him, and a part of him was troubled by that. Holding the sideline was the one thing he knew how to do well, and he didn’t want to be forgotten or worse. Maybe he was just being selfish. Hell, he believed he was better than any other wingman out there, but it was the one thing he loved doing, and being good at it was the cherry on the top, he didn’t want to lose that.

And yet, perhaps it wasn’t the only thing he was good at. The drama club, the Pokémon actresses and their troubled little group, he’d helped them out, had he not? More than that, he’d saved them, pulled them out of their dingy hall and into a spotlight they’d always wanted but were too scared to face.

But who was he kidding? He’d be an ass if he told himself they owed him. In reality he wouldn’t have batted an eye at their troubles if Cassidy hadn’t been there in the first place, and the same worry he had about the Mythics still persisted with the club – they were all really good actors, and the club would go on, Jim or Jimless, it was obvious to the young man he wasn’t all that needed anymore, he’d done his part, that was all their was.

Perhaps all his time spent with Cassidy had forced him to learn a bit of humility, or he was just being stupid, that was always an issue. She’d made him a better person, that was why he loved her, their encounter that night in her house always fresh on his mind. What he’d said hadn’t been spur of the moment, he’d meant it with all his heart, even when her father had given him a nasty look when he left later that night. He hoped one day to get on her father’s good side, but for now he was just going to focus on Cass and his studies.

“Light four, please!”

-And the drama club, of course. Kendra’s voice snapped him back into the present, Jim hitting the switch on the spotlight in front of him. He was up and behind the curtains on a catwalk with Caius, the two in charge of lighting. It wasn’t very engaging work, but he got a nice view of the ongoing play, and it was a perfect place to share some private time with Cassidy whenever she snuck up to see him.

After a few calls in sick and some rewrites with the manuscript, the production was getting delayed as the weeks rolled on by. November was right around the corner and not even half the play had been fully rehearsed, and the tension could be seen on the faces of the Pokémon, Jim tracking Amelia’s half-frowning face with the light as she walked across the stage. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days, not good for someone who’d be in most of the play’s scenes.

Props were a whole other matter. Isaac’s uncle had agreed to loan some set pieces for the play for free, but not until days before the play was set to begin. For now the club would have to practice on a blank stage, and it didn’t leave a lot of room to get used to a proper set. Costumes were the same story, but at least Mrs. Felix was more reliable than some random uncle Isaac happened to bring up months ago.

The actors tore through the plot from one end to the other, first starting with just a gathering round the stands before moving on to choreography, Jim lingering off to the side as he watched the club progress. Amelia would be taking the main lead after a few final decisions by Kendra, and it was amusing to watch her go at it with Sasha, who’d been chosen as the main antagonist of the plot. The Lapras was probably the nicest person out of the whole club and had probably never been in a fight, Sasha was pretty much her entire opposite, it was an interesting choice.

Cassidy’s character was to be the lead singer in a musical score that would happen roughly halfway through the play, because who else would she be? When he asked her if she didn’t want to go for one of the more prominent roles, the Garchomp merely replied that Amelia and Sasha were way more suited to the attention than she was. Despite her differences with the Salazzle, it seemed the play was setting aside whatever loathing they had for each other.

His concussion fared a little better with each day that passed, until Jim slowly felt normal again, the young man racing up to see the campus nurse as soon as the recovery period she’d given him was over. Cassidy had insisted on coming as well, the dragoness taking a seat in the corner as the medical staff put him through some basic tests.

“Your balance and coordination are certainly better than before,” the nurse admitted, peering over the top of her clipboard as Jim pumped a victorious fist. “though I cannot be certain you have fully recovered. Your movements and by extension your cognitive functions seem a little slow.”

“I was like that before I got brained,” Jim explained. “So I’m good to go, right? Yeah?”

“Listen to the nurse, Jim,” Cassidy chided. “if you’re still too injured to play, you should take her advice. If you’d seen yourself when that game got ugly…”

He was about to say something like you’re not my mom, when Cassidy flashed him a worried smile. He supressed any sort of retort he had, his shoulder saggins as he sighed. “Alright, I will. So what’s your prognosis?” he asked, turning to the nurse.

“While I can appreciate the young miss’s concerns, there is nothing of serious note to stop you from returning to your sporting activities. However,” she added, holding up her pen. “I hope it need not be said that you avoid any sort of brawling with humans or Pokémon, I do not want to see you back here, young man.”

“You won’t!” Jim said, pointing a finger-gun at the nurse and winking.

“That’s what they all say…” the nurse sighed.

“You’ll still try to make the drama club sessions, won’t you?” Cassidy asked as they left the building, turning in the direction of the ovals. “If your team gets through to the finals, you’ll have that plus the exam batch we’ve got coming up. I don’t want you to neglect either of them, but…” She shrugged at him.

“Neglect, shmeglect,” Jim replied. “You know I wouldn’t miss your play. I’m as much a Mythic as I am a drama clubber, thanks to that Charizard’s stunt.”

“Almost makes me want to thank him,” Cassidy chuckled. “Speaking of, let’s head to the beach this afternoon, we could-”

“Grab a skiff and head out to the Isles? Do some spooning?”

“I was going to say study for the exams, but we can make time for that as well. Spoon study.” She laughed.

Jim was allowed back into the season, Mr. Bahril clapping him on the shoulder when he told the coach the nurse had given him the all clear. Despite his overall eagerness to get back on the field, his stomach still knotted with apprehension when the day of the next game arrived. What if he was too rusty, stuffed something up? Maybe he'd been right all along and he would get replaced.

But on the bus ride to the field where the next game would take place, he and Cassidy got a bit of privacy on the second level of the double-decker, the Garchomp relieving his tension, if one caught the drift, giving him a cool head before the kick off.

The game was rough going, as one would have expected it to be, but at least their opponents this time didn’t have a Pokémon backing them up. The ruesl of the season were harsh – once a team lost a game that was it, they were eliminated from the competition, so the teams who’d come this far would have to be more than good. But that went both ways, and by halftime the Mythics were up by two points, Jim doing his part by scoring the goal that put them up on the scoreboard. It was still quite the battle, however, Jim and the team shoving many slices of oranges into their mouths as they recovered.

The cheerleaders had their own share of excitement during the game that Cassidy told Jim about afterwards. She and the other girls did their fair share of cussing during their chants and ballyhooing, and none of the players really minded on either side throughout the past couple of years, but apparently a concerned mother was worried about all the foul language being used and had gotten into a screaming match with an umpire about them.

“My kids shouldn’t have to listen to such vile words!” -was what she’d said. So the cheerleaders had to stop, but Cassidy had an idea, and Jim nearly choked on his orange peel when he saw what she and the girls had done. When they danced and built up to their chants, the girls would put down their pom-poms and raise signs into the air, with the lyrics to their war cries plastered onto the bits of cardboard. The F word, the S word, even the K word, written in giant black letters. At least the children wouldn’t be technically listening to those words. The mother did not show up again.

The score didn’t end up changing when full-time was reached, the Mythics securing their place in the semi-finals with the last blare of the whistle. The Mythics were ecstatic at the development, Jim being rewarded with a heavy smooch from Cassidy right before the team went to get changed, the boys one step closer to the end of the season.

“Settle down, everyone,” Mr. Bahril said during their cooldown. “we’ve still got another game before the finals, so don’t get a hard on just yet.”

It was difficult not to, the past few seasons the Mythics usually got dropped during the quarter finals, but now the grand championship was in sight, and the team’s morale was high in no small part to Jim’s return. As long as nothing went wrong, the season would be in the bag.

2

“Somethings wrong!”

When Jim and Cassidy returned to the hall the next day, there was an ambulance parked just outside the doors, the red and blue emergency lights spinning wildly. The driver had rolled it up through the surrounding meadow, tire tracks leading down the incline to one of the side gates nobody used.

The moment the Garchomp spotted the vehicle, did she fall into a run after stating the obvious, Jim jogging to catch up with her as she made for the hall.

The drama club was just inside, their backs to the door as they regarded something Jim couldn’t see at this angle. He saw Kendra just off to the side, chewing on one of her nails hard enough to deform the material. He tapped her on the shoulder and asked her what happened.

“It’s Bernard,” she explained, her tone somewhere between furious and panicked. “He was up on one of the catwalks and it gave out, I think he broke his arm.”

He peered over the Typhlosion shoulder, seeing two paramedics kneeling beside a prone Bernard. The Blastoise was sprawled out like a snoozing alligator, his massive shell reaching one of the medic’s shoulders at its highest point. Jim grimaced when he saw his arm was bending the wrong way.

“You think?” Jim asked sarcastically. “Look at it, it’s in reverse! What was he doing up there anyway?”

“Well someone wasn’t here to keep an eye on the lights, so he volunteered!” Kendra snapped. “He’ll be okay for the play though, he’s… he’s tough.”

Jim glanced over to see one of the catwalks hidden just behind the curtains was separated down the middle, the loose strip of metal dangling like an old rope swing. There was an obvious imprint on the stage, the wood cracked and splintered in a circular shape. The walkway wasn’t able to handle Bernard’s weight it seemed.

“Didn’t his shell protect him?” Cassidy asked, appearing on Kendra’s right.

“I think he landed on his front,” Kendra mumbled. “He’s okay, but. Sure he is...”

The paramedics moved a little so that Jim could see Bernard’s face. He was bleeding from his lip, and the side of his jaw was swollen and red. With the help of a few of the Pokémon they managed to place him on a stretcher, one of the medics, a Groudon, made sure Bernard’s head didn’t move so much.

“Geez,” Jim said as the club made way for the medics, wheeling the injured Blastoise out to the ambulance. Bernard plugged the back of the van much like how a cork plugs a bottle, leaving little room for the medics to squeeze in beside him. When Cassidy asked the human paramedic for the prognosis, he shook his head grimly.

“His collarbone may be fractured, and the arm has been dislocated from the shoulder. He’s broken a few blood vessels, but I’m more concerned about the collarbone. Has his family been notified?”

“Yes, the school’s called them,” Kendra replied.

The paramedic shut the ambulance doors, the van reversing down the hill towards the adjacent street. The sirens whirred to life as they pulled out onto the road, the noise slowly fading until it could be heard no more.

For a while nobody said anything, the club looking at each other cluelessly. It was Jasmine who eventually spoke first. “D-Did he say collarbone? Is that… bad?”

“Of course it’s bad!” Caius snapped. “I had a friend who needed surgery after breaking her collar!”

“Surely he’ll be better off than that, he’s a Blastoise!” Amelia added. “And, well, he was still conscious, so that’s good, right?”

“There’s nothing good about this!” Kendra exclaimed. “He couldn’t have fallen two or three months earlier or later? What are we going to do about his role in the play?!”

“He’ll be back before the big day,” Cassidy tried, but the Typhlosion shooed her away.

“And if he’s not? What do we do then? Jesus Mary, why now of all times?”

As she dug her nails into her temple in anger, Jim raised an explanative hand. “Can’t you just write his bit out?”

“No, Jim, I can’t just right him out, he’s supposed to be the antagonist’s right hand, and he’s prominent in the third act!”

She was almost shouting at this point, but Jim was used to her raising her voice by now, keeping his cool as he replied. “Alright so just get one of the others to take his place.”

“And who’s going to do that?” she asked. “It’ll be jarring enough to have the same actor in two different roles, but now someone has to get double the amount of workload with barely any time left? Any volunteers for that?”

Everyone who Kendra looked to either shied away or shook their heads. Jim was no expert, but he could tell that acting as two different characters would be a bit of a stretch, especially since the more experienced of the bunch would be busy with their own main character roles. This wasn’t to mention the number of lines they’d need to remember, he himself could barely recall his lecture notes not five minutes after writing them. Only someone brave or incredibly stupid would think to put their hand up.

“I will do it.”

All eyes turned to the volunteer, wide with disbelief. The young man planted his hands on his hips, looking stoically out into the distance as he waited for the club’s reaction.

“You’ll find someone?” Kendra asked.

“No I mean I will play Bernard’s part,” Jim elaborated. A murmur passed over the club, Jim feeling himself swell with pride when he saw they were nodding along in agreement.

“That could work,” Cassidy mused, turning to address the contemplating Typhlosion. “Think about it, he’s been around for a while, and he’s been watching us rehearse, he’s even read the script as much as we have, I’d say he’s the best choice.”

“Only choice,” Kendra corrected. “Time to see if the critic can actually act straight. Consider yourself enlisted, Jim.”

Although she didn’t seem happy, the rest of the club looked relieved, slowly filing back into the hall one after the other as they were left with no choice but to continue on with rehearsals while they waited for news on Bernard.

Before Jim could follow the group inside, Kendra stopped him, the Pokemon waiting until they were alone. “You listen here Jim,” she began. “you better not screw me on this, you hear me? You fuck up in any way and I will fuck, you, up, understand?”

“Chill,” Jim said, raising his hands like she was about to strike him. “Get your panties detwisted, this is no biggie.”

“Everything I’ve ever dreamed of is on the line here, I will not chill,” she replied. Despite her obvious fury there was a certain pleading behind her words, her voice cracking not with anger but something else. “You feel lost in any way you come straight to me, is that clear? I’m not going to let you screw things up for me, I’m c… I’m c-couuuuu…. Urghh…”

It was like the next words had to be vomited out, which was objectively true for the Typhlosion. “I’m c…. counting on you.”

“Yeah you are,” Jim said with a satisfied nod, relishing in how irked she looked.

“Just shush and get inside, your lines won’t remember themselves.”

“Hey you’re keeping me held up,” he pointed out. He gestured at the doors. “After you, lady.”