Chapter 32 : Scorpion vs Phoenix

A volley of snowballs flew through the air and Jack dived behind the

nearest snow wall.

'OUT!' cried Emi.

There was a great cheer from the crowd and for a moment Jack

thought he'd already been caught. Then he saw Saburo wiping the remains

of two snowballs from the front of his kimono. His friend gave a halfhearted bow before slouching off to the sidelines.

'Jack! To your right!' warned Akiko.

Taking advantage of Saburo's departure, Hiroto was sneaking forward

and now had Jack directly in his line of fire.

Jack ducked as a snowball whizzed past his head. He threw two balls

back in retaliation but they missed, striking the spectators instead. A

mixture of catcalls and boos broke from the crowd. Jack retreated to behind

a snow mound on his left, randomly throwing balls as he ran.

'They're going to overrun us if we don't attack!' shouted Tadashi over

the growing chants of the Scorpion Team's supporters.

With that he launched several snowballs at Moriko, who was

advancing down the right.

'OUT!' cried Emi.

Pretending she hadn't heard, Moriko kept lobbing snowballs.

'OUT! Or forfeit the game!'

Moriko kicked the nearest snow wall in frustration and hissed at Emi.

The Phoenix supporters booed Moriko's dishonourable behaviour.

'Cover me!' shouted Jack as he sprinted forward to join Tadashi

behind the central wall.

Akiko and Yori let loose a round of snowballs. Three of them struck

the lumbering figure of Raiden as he stepped out from behind his defence to

target Jack.

'OUT!' announced Emi.

The Scorpion Team retaliated with a barrage of snowballs. A moment

later, there was a squeal of pain from behind.

'OUT!'

'They're using ice balls!' cried Yori, a large bump already swelling on

his forehead as he staggered to the sidelines.

Tadashi gave Jack an uneasy look. 'And I thought this was supposed to

be a friendly game.'

Tadashi stood up and quickly blasted Kazuki's team with several balls.

The rest of the Phoenix Team joined in, but despite a courageous offensive,

a long shot from Kazuki took out Akiko. Fortunately the ice ball struck her

arm and not her face.

Only Jack, Tadashi and Yamato were now left against four Scorpions.

Tadashi spotted Nobu trying to ferry ice balls to Kazuki. Launching a

lightning attack, he managed to smack Nobu twice in the rear.

'OUT!'

'Shame we're not using ice balls,' commented Tadashi, giving Jack a

mischievous grin.

'Or snowballs for that matter,' replied Jack. 'I've run out.'

With the fight now three on three, their main problem was the

dwindling supply of ammunition. Tadashi indicated he only had five left,

but he nonetheless passed three to Jack.

Tadashi then spotted Saburo's original stockpile by the bokken and

signed his intention to get them. Jack threw a covering shot at Kazuki while

Tadashi zigzagged towards them. Tadashi dived the last few paces but was

plastered by two ice balls from Hiroto and Goro.

'OUT!'

Tadashi thumped the snow in annoyance, then got up and and walked

off the court. As he did so, he secretly signed to Jack where one of the

Scorpion Team was hiding. Jack nodded his understanding.

'Scorpions! Scorpions! Scorpions!' chanted the supporters of Kazuki's

team.

Jack and Yamato now stood alone in defence of the Phoenix bokken

and the small group keeping up a chorus of 'Phoenix!' were in danger of

being drowned out.

Yamato indicated to Jack he was out of snowballs. Jack pointed to

Saburo's pile. Yamato took a deep breath and darted over to them, sliding

behind the semi-circular snow wall as an ice ball skimmed overhead.

As Yamato attempted to pass Jack some snowballs, Goro had a clear

view of him. He emerged from behind his defence but Jack, having been

tipped off by Tadashi, was ready for him and flung a snowball at the

Scorpion. It struck him cleanly, but too late. Goro had already launched his

ice ball at Yamato.

'OUT! OUT!' declared Emi in quick succession, dismissing both Goro

and Yamato.

Now it was two against one.

Jack peered from behind the protection of his shelter, trying to locate

Kazuki and Hiroto. They had retreated to their bokken and were huddled

safely behind the semicircular rear wall plotting their strategy to get the

Phoenix's bokken without being hit by Jack.

Jack had one snowball left. How on earth was he going to defeat them

both? Jack ran for Saburo's remaining stockpile, but a barrage of ice balls

sent him diving for cover behind the nearest mound. It was then that Jack's

eyes fell upon the shattered remains of one of the ice balls. Hidden inside

was a shard of rock. Not only had the Scorpions compacted their snowballs

into ice, they had now made them doubly dangerous.

Jack didn't know what to do. He had a single snowball. He could

attempt to reach the remaining stockpile, but he would surely get hit and

seriously injured. He could surrender, but he was certain Kazuki would

throw his lethal iceballs anyway. Or…

Carefully peering round the edge of his snow mound, he spotted the

perfect target. Ducking back down as an ice ball sailed past, he grabbed a

couple of handfuls of extra snow and squeezed them together with his

remaining snowball until he'd compacted it into a large ice ball of his own.

Then, with all his strength, he lobbed it high and hard over the heads of

Kazuki and Hiroto.

The Scorpions' supporters heckled loudly at Jack's wild pitch.

Jack ignored them. Instead he watched the ice ball sail up on to the

peak of the Hall of the Hawk's roof. He smiled in satisfaction as it slowly

began to roll down the steep angled roof.

'Pathetic!' cried Kazuki with glee.

But, unbeknown to Kazuki, the ice ball had picked up speed gathering

powder snow as it went. As it reached the heavily laden eaves, its

momentum caused the amassed snow to cascade like an avalanche. Kazuki

and Hiroto glanced up just in time to see a wave of powder snow come

crashing down on them. Within seconds, they were buried up to their necks.

As more and more snow slid off the roof, they rapidly disappeared from

view, much to the amusement of the crowd.

Jack emerged from behind his shelter, strolled over to the Scorpion

Team's bokken and lifted it high above his head in a victory salute.

'I pronounce the Phoenix Team the winners!' Emi announced, smiling

broadly at Jack.

The rest of the Phoenix Team rushed over, lifting Jack high into the air

to cheers from all the spectators.

'Brilliant!' shouted Yamato.

'Inspired!' agreed Tadashi, slapping Jack hard on the back.

However, their celebrations were cut short by the jeering from the

Scorpion Team.

'The gaijin cheated!'

'He played without honour!'

'Nothing in the rules require snowballs to be aimed directly at an

opponent,' declared Tadashi above the shouting. 'No question about it, we

won.'

Jack couldn't help but smile as he watched Kazuki and Hiroto being

dug out of the snow. He had beaten the Scorpion Team.

But his smile faded as an irate and shamed Kazuki shouted for all to

hear, 'Gaijin, you're going to pay for that with your life!'