CHAPTER 6: “Practicing for the City Cup"

The day after the draw it was announced that the City Cup would start in 5 weeks, in Thunder World the practices for it began, so Rubencho arrived very excited and told the team that there was a technique in his grandfather's diary that he would like them to practice, it was called "Thunder Storm" this technique was complicated, since three players had to synchronize perfectly to perform it, everyone liked this idea and Bruce said: "Rubencho... choose two more players to practice this technique":

- Rubencho... choose two more to practice that technique- at that moment Kitty arrived saying:

- the training room for goalkeepers is ready....

- Bruce I will go there... I need to train a technique that is in my grandfather's diary, "Double Thunder Punch"- mentioned Rubencho.

At that the young man gave Bruce a copy of the technique and went to the training room. The coach looked at the others and said: "This technique requires speed and precision, I need the strongest and fastest players, that's why Diego, Marcos and Alejandro will do this technique, the rest of you train your techniques in the different training rooms".

Rubencho arrived to the goalkeeper training room, there was a machine that threw balls, Rubencho activated it and started to practice this technique, at the beginning the balls hit him in his face and all over his body because he couldn't get the way to generate the thunder in his left hand, the young man felt frustrated and tired, at that moment Valentina arrived, she turned off the machine and asked him: "Are you ok?

-Rubencho blushed, but in spite of this he answered her saying:

- Yes, I'm fine... I can't do that technique, it's too difficult- Valentina took the newspaper and looking at him she said: -This is what you are trying to do-:

- this is what you are trying to do-

-Yes... it's very difficult- taking a sigh- I'll keep on trying, I can't give up- the young man answered her.

He gets up from the floor continuing with his training, Valentina sits on the stairs that were in the living room reading the newspaper. On the other hand, Diego, Alejandro and Marcos started to train to perform the technique "Thunder Storm", Bruce next to three machines throwing balls and accompanied by Kitty tells them:

-To perform this technique the three have to be coordinated to perfection, they have to synchronize both their speed and strength and movements is why we have these machines which will shoot upwards at the same time the three must run and catch the ball in the air at the same time ... until they can not do it perfectly we can not move forward ... well let's start.

The three of them got in position and immediately the three balls shot very high in the air, the three started to run but when it was time to reach the ball Diego had more speed than the others and was propelled higher so they tried again but they couldn't get coordinated they needed more training, Rubencho, Diego, Marcos and Alejandro stayed up late training. At night Rubencho was exhausted and Valentina came to help him get up and accompanied him home, the young woman was worried because he was over-exerting himself so she decided not to give him the diary to read it and find out how to perform the technique. Two and a half weeks went by, everyone was still training, the young man was trying harder and harder but he had no success, Valentina after days of analyzing the technique realized how she could perform it, so she approached the young man and said:

- According to what I could analyze, you need some time to synchronize the thunder in your two hands... that's why your efforts are in vain- the young man complains a little but answers her:

- What can I do, how am I supposed to synchronize both hands - they both think for a long time until Valentina comes up with an idea saying:

- I know, how about if you cross your arms before extending them, maybe that way you can synchronize them- The young man got in position to see if the idea worked, and surprisingly it did, finally performing the technique the boy was so happy that he hugged Valentina but when they looked into each other's eyes he blushed, leaving her embrace and saying: "Thank you, I couldn't have done it without you!

- thank you, I couldn't have done it without you- when he finished saying this Rubencho fainted and fell to the floor, valentina helped him saying:

- you tried so hard, that's what makes you so cute, I hope someday you'll notice me.

On the other hand Diego, Marcos and Alejandro finally managed to synchronize after many attempts, that technique was difficult so it cost them several days to be able to do it. A few days before the start of the City Cup, the information of the first team to face had arrived, and they all met in the tactics room where Kitty explained to them next to a holographic blackboard: - the first opponent to face is Lionkat, it is a team to be considered as strong being one of the ten teams that controls Zone Zero... their captain is Reimon Garcia according to the history of the City Cup this team has won all their games with almost no goals against anyone, there have been few teams that have managed to score a goal against them, this is due to the technique that the midfielders perform "Imperial Barrier" being an almost impenetrable technique - everyone was surprised because they were facing a very strong team and the chances of winning were slim, Rubencho, seeing everyone's spirits a little low, encouraged them by telling them: don't lose hope team! It's one more barrier to overcome!