"Fighting" Is An Understatement

Chase was standing aside two other teammates as the front force of his team.

Michael had been assigned as the captain for team two, so he just told him to play the position of attacker, and to just pass to Equan, who had showed up nearly ten minutes late to the practice. 

He reached down and plucked at his compression sleeve, which was currently strangling his arms as he stood, waiting patiently in agony.

As Gerald started to state the rules of the match, Chase began to connect the straps of his padded white helmet. 

Said helmet, he was already finding extremely uncomfortable, and even caused him to consider even cutting his lengthy hair, which would get stuck inside of the small greaves on the inner part of the helmet, causing him quite the pain.

Chase was not acquainted with most of the members on his team, except for Michael who was stationed as the central defender, and Equan, who had been put at the flank of the attackers. 

He also knew that Jack- Yes, the same brat who had gotten bodied by the Manticore only a couple of days ago- was the central attacker of team two.

On the other side, three upper classman which Chase did not know the names of were standing lazily on the opposite side of the Phoenix logo engraved in the dirt, which marked the center of the arena. 

'Ugh, damn this stupid helmet!'

He thought, smacking the top of it, with his teeth clenched together.

"Alright, I don't care if you are ready or not... Begin!"

Gerald yelled, who was currently playing the role of a referee. 

Suddenly, a powerful aura escaped the eye of the Phoenix logo, and from it shot up an orange leather ball, that was covered in flames.

It stopped in its tracks about three meters into the air, as the flames on it had started to disburse.

Jack got himself into a lowered position, and Equan strapped his padded gloves together. 

The other team had also started to ready themselves for the match, that must have been truly starting in only a few short moments.

Chase did not get into any position, and just stood patiently, as he kept his eye on the aetherball, his breaths were calm, and yet his heart was beating at a rapid pace.

Suddenly, with a loud roar, the leather ball shot into the direction of the eastern side of the arena, which just so happened to be the side that he was closest to. 

He pushed his feet into the ground, and launched himself into the direction of the ball, as he made short eye contact with the other attacker who was heading in the same direction. 

As Chase was just about to catch up to the ball, and grasp it in his hands, a powerful slam hit him directly in his blindside. 

With a loud thud, and several daunting impacts, his body slammed into the ground several times as he was thrown directly into the dirt. 

'Son of a-'

Chase quickly pushed himself up, just to end up rolling to the left.

The attacker on the opposing side must have been directly targeting him, instead of even caring about getting the ball.

'No wonder this team is hopeless!'

Chase screamed inside of his head, as threw his arms up to try to negate the damage of the incoming onslaught. 

However, before the impact came, a loud whistle echoed from a nearby clearing. 

"Targeting, number six! You are suspended for the next five minutes of the game."

Gerald had called out, in a rather angered tone.

"Oh, piss off!"

The opposing attacker yelled, as he slowly began to walk away, giving Chase a rather ugly glare as he stepped away.

Ignoring the clearly obvious attack on a Stray such as himself, he began to sprint in the direction he had seen the ball last. 

Chase's white sleeveless jersey had already been quite stained, but now he was absolutely drenched in mud and dirt.

Of course, it didn't help that his compression sleeves, and leggings seemed to be practically unused, and now were also stained along with his padded white helmet.

'Five minutes...'

He thought, remembering what Equan had told him earlier that day in Social Society class. 

The games were sixty minutes long, with a fifteen minute break that started once the clock hit thirty minutes in.

Each team was granted one timeout per half that could stop the clock for around two and a half minutes, and from what Chase had heard about Aetherball, time was a very important thing.

As well as momentum, which is why he made sure to hurry in the direction of the ball, and when he finally spotted it, a sense of dread filled his insides.

The ball must have went toward the opposing team's side of the field, as the bronze haired upper classman was standing alone at the top of a small hill, holding the leather ball tightly underneath his right arm.

A twisted grin appeared on his face.

"Come and get it, Stray..."

He said, in a low and menacing voice, as his grin began to show his strangely sharp teeth.

This upper classman, he had learned was the co-captain of the team, and is the second best vanguard on the continent, directly behind Reinhart who had been terribly injured in the game against Frostfang.

Just thinking about that name made Chase's insides churn, and a vein popped out of his head.

He pushed himself off of the ground once more, and shot toward the vanguard who had possession of the ball.

The problem with Phoenix Academy's team wasn't that they weren't stacked to the brim with talent: It was that they were the youngest team out of all of the schools on the entire continent, and had little to no experience even playing the sport.

Chase was now only a meter away from the vanguard, as he held his hand out to grab the ball.

Normally, this would have been a terrible idea, considering the fact that he stood zero chance in a fight against this absolute powerhouse.

However, Chase was not as stupid as the bronze-haired boy had thought he was.

The outstretched hand was just a feint, and he had thrown himself into the ground at the last second, narrowly avoiding a lowered shoulder directly into his chest.

Chase tried his best to weaken the impact, but had decided to just use the momentum, to swiftly wrap an arm around the vanguard's ankle, bringing him to the ground with him.