Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (18 page)

Part Two

Festival of Disarray

Chapter Twelve: Game Day

“Maybe we should take a minute to think about our team options one last time,” said Aura. He was walking with Ash and Shiva to the first game of the festival they’d signed up for. Push Ball. The play field was located in East Hell, so they had a decent amount of time to debate.

“Why?” Ash asked. “I don’t mind playing with Aralia and Uverstarr.”

“Aralia’s fine; it’s the bratty kid that I’m worried about,” Aura replied. “He just doesn’t strike me as a team player. I want to
win
as many games as possible, because
winners
get all the babes. But I seriously doubt our chances of winning if the kid’s going to be off in his own little world being an uncooperative brat.”

“I
also
want to be a winner,” said Shiva. “Though my reasons are not as stupid as yours,” she added, eyeing the lecherous Aura. “Still, that child’s behavior worries me as well. We’ll see how this first game goes, and if Uverstarr
causes
more problems than he solves, he’s gone.”

Ash was against removing Uverstarr from the team at all for a variety of reasons. He didn’t want to disappoint Aralia or Kurdis, who seemed so happy that Uverstarr was finally involved with some people. He knew the child had some behavior adjustments that needed to be made, but he wanted to give the kid a shot and hope for the best. Ash would not voice these opinions though, unless need be.

“We’ll see how it goes, then,” the half-human said, hopeful.

It was another hot morning as the team headed down the road to East Hell. Being the opening day of the Summer Soulstice Festival, the streets were jam-packed with devil commuters and merchants. It was a little too early for flight, since most people were still in the process of donating flames to the morning sun. The artificial ball of flames grew quickly and shined a little brighter than ever before when it was finished forming. The Helio Star blazed brighter above.

“This place is even busier than the Devil’s Duel tournament,” Ash said as they squeezed and maneuvered through the busy avenue. He wasn’t used to seeing so many people out and about at the same time. Living in Hell where demon attacks can and frequently do happen at any given time, people tended to stay indoors whenever possible. With all the people walking around in their warm weather outfits, Ash felt like he was back on his own planet for once.

The added sunshine gave rise to a popular, and somewhat necessary new product:
sunspectacles
. Differing in size, shape, and quality, the sunspectacles ranged in price from twenty scorch all the way up to a hundred scorch for the more fashionable models. Ash chuckled as his friends both purchased their own pair.

The team arrived at the East Hell field. Ash scoured the crowd that was fastly forming to find his new friends. Besides looking out for Aralia and the orphanage crew, the team was also on the lookout for Gio the tailor. Ash had spoken with him briefly on the topic of uniforms, and of course Gio was overjoyed to take on the project. The eccentric tailor promised to have matching uniforms prepared by the morning of the first game.

Aura split to go buy himself a coffee while Ash and Shiva stood around people watching. The two hadn’t spoken much in private lately. Ash thought they’d become much closer as friends now that they lived together, but it was beginning to feel just the opposite to him. For one thing, whenever they were at home the girl kept to herself, hiding away in her room with the door shut all the time. She accompanied the boys on demon attacks and during some of the jobs that Goddard lined up for them, and of course for morning training, but otherwise kept her distance.

“Seen much of Wilhelm lately?” Ash asked in a feeble attempt at making conversation.

Shiva continued to scan the crowds as she replied. “Not as much as I’d like to.”

Figures
, thought Ash.
He’s probably still keeping his distance
. “Maybe he’ll come watch us play,” he said, trying to cheer her up.

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied. Then, “Ah. There they are.”

Ash followed her gaze across the field. Kurdis stood holding his donation cup in one hand, a tall pole with a white banner flapping in the breeze in the other. With him were a bunch of kids from the orphanage. Ash and Aralia locked eyes and waved. The excited girl gripped Uverstarr’s sleeve and pulled him along to meet up with the team.

Aura had returned with his coffee when the group got together. Aralia happily greeted everyone, while Uverstarr gave a less enthusiastic “yo”.

“I’m pumped to play some push ball!” said Aralia. “Let’s get out there and cream the opposition!”

“We still have to find Gio,” said Ash. “He’s got our uniforms.”

“I hope they’re
super sexy
,” said Aura.

“They’d better not be,” Shiva growled with her arms crossed.

From far off an official’s amplified voice rang out through the field that push ball would be starting soon. Ash’s team wasn’t slated to play until the fourth matchup, convenient since the team still had to find Gio and change into their uniforms. Aralia made small chat with Ash while Uverstarr and Shiva kept their distance from one another. Aura’s eyes bounced around the area examining the female options surrounding him. By accident he ended up spotting Gio.

The tailor approached with a big sack slung over his shoulder and a familiar pleasant smile. He usually looked flamboyant with his short, spiky blond hair and a purple suit but in this heat he settled for a purple tracksuit. He nodded courteously to Ash and the gang as he joined them.

“Nice to see you all again,” said Gio. He turned to the newest additions to the group. “You must be the new friends Ash mentioned. I’m glad to see he’s having luck in that area. My name is Gio St. James, what are yours?”

“Raley.”

“
Uverstarr
.”

“It’s a pleasure,” replied Gio. “The uniforms are in here. I hope everything fits.” He set the bag down before the team. “The changing rooms are over there. You might want to get ready sooner rather than later. Push ball games tend to end pretty quickly, if you know what I mean.”

They thanked him wholeheartedly. With a wink and a wave, Gio walked away leaving Ash feeling a bit confused. “I don’t know what he means,” he said. “I read the rules. It didn’t sound so bad. Maybe there’s something I’m missing here. Someone mind giving me a quick run down on the rules?”

“Oh! Let me explain!” said Aralia, loud enough to drown out the competition, of which there was none. “In push ball, two teams try to push the big ball into the opponent’s goal zones, which are on opposite ends of the field. The teams of five are divided into three different positions. There are two pushers, whose job is to get the ball across the field and score. Two defenders, who protect the pushers from the opposing team, and one goal saver who’s only job is to block the team’s goal zone. Did I miss anything?”

Aura and Shiva shrugged.

“Yeah, I knew most of that,” Ash said. “It still doesn’t really sound like a dangerous sport.”

A few men shouted for people to move out of the way. Something large was coming down the street. The team had to quickly move aside as the crowd broke and a giant round boulder came rolling towards them. Ash stared in disbelief at the huge stone that stood even taller than him as it went rolling by, a duo of shirtless men working up a sweat pushing it.

“Ah, there’s the ball now,” said Shiva.

“
What
?” Ash asked, staring blankly at Shiva. “I thought I heard you say
ball
…”

“That’s the push ball,” Shiva replied. “It’s carved from stone bigger than our house and weighs a ton.
That’s
why this sport is so dangerous, and so fun. One wrong move out on the field and you’re crushed to death!”

“
Fun
?” Ash said, shocked. “You people are sadistic!”

“Yeah yeah,” Aura interrupted. “Enough chit chat. It’s uniform time!”

The team reconvened some time later after splitting up to use the locker rooms. The boys joined the girls again outside the building, sporting their new uniform look. Gio had gone all-out to make the team look real slick. They’d all been given white jackets, made from a thin and airy material. The jackets had a giant version of the team’s flame-wing symbol on the front and even listed their names on the back.

Ash, Aura, and Uverstarr were given white shorts, white socks, white shoes, and white shirts. They expected the girls to be wearing the same outfits, but much to Aura’s delight he found Shiva and Aralia wearing skirts and tanktops under their jackets instead. Both he and Ash were blown away at the sight.

“These are the
nicest
clothes I’ve ever worn!” Raley smiled brilliantly, presenting her new look as the boys approached. “Well? What do you think?” she asked, looking at Ash and playing with her multicolored hair tied in twin tails.

“Looking good,” Ash replied, his eyes darting between the two girls. “I don’t even recognize you.
Either of you
.”

It was obvious to see from the color of her cheeks that Shiva was not used to the extra attention her outfit brought her, especially from Aura. She stood silently, uncomfortably, as Aralia continued to twirl her hair and look cute for the boys. She was proud of the feminine figure she'd worked hard to achieve.

"We should figure out who we're playing against first," Shiva said. Without consulting her teammates she stormed over to the big board of schedules nearby.

“What’s up
her
butt?” asked Uverstarr, not even trying to conceal an amused grin as he watched Shiva stomp away.

“She’s a perplexing girl,” Ash said. “You’ll see.”

“Definitely not feminine at all,” added Aura.

Shiva returned moments later with a pleased smile. “Good news,” she said. “I found out who we’re playing first.”

“Who?”

“Look behind you,” Shiva told everyone, pointing. The group simultaneously turned to see their first opponents. The two orphans didn’t have much of a reaction, since they didn’t know the people. Ash and Aura gasped and groaned.

Standing not far behind them in their own group circle was Aura’s former gang. The team led by Sars consisted of Vadnais, Fry, Dunger and…

“
Bora
…!” Aura said, seething with hatred and clenching his fist.

“Hi Bora!” Ash called to him with a friendly wave. “It looks like we’re playing you guys first today. Isn’t that nice?”

“You’ll make a nice warm up for us,” Sars said as his team approached Ash and friends. He and Aura clasped hands in a friendly handshake. “Glad to see you signed up for pushball. Don’t expect us to go easy on you though.”

“Like we’d need you to,” Shiva replied with a confident smirk.

“Yeah!” Aralia said. “We’re gonna kick your butt!”

Sars sized up the two newest additions to his old friend’s familiar team. When he reached a conclusion about them, he crossed his arms and looked smug. “Looks like it was slim pickings for players, huh? A frail-looking girl and a kid who should probably be playing in the junior league. Great picks.”

Aralia frowned, conflicted, while Uverstarr flipped Sars off and stuck out his tongue. Ash was about to speak up and come to their defense but Shiva stuck out her arm to stop him. She took a step forward staring Sars down.

“You can mock our teammates as much as you like,” she said.

“
Not exactly how I would have started
…” Ash muttered to himself.

“
But
,” Shiva continued. “We would not have chosen these two if we did not see an enormous amount of talent in them. You shouldn’t be worrying about them, though. It’s
us
you’ll have to look out for. We’ve kicked your butts in the past and we’ll do it again. This game is as good as ours.”

“That’s perfect,” said Sars. “You’re confident now. But you won’t be when we take the field and you see how awesome our star player Bora is. He’s so good he could be considered a
professional
, if there were ever such a thing as a ‘professional ball game player’.”