Callie's Heroes

PART III: FOR PETTY REVENGE

"You all understand this play?" Callie said, looking up at the other players surrounding her. There were nods all around, although Jesca's was a little nervously hesitant.

Koda looked at the drawing that had been passed around the circle, and he scratched his neck in consideration. "This is risky, Callie. If we don't get the ball, they'll have a clear path all the way to the end with nobody defending. Do we really want to begin with them scoring? Lena, this relies on you, so what do you think?"

Everyone turned to the Elf, who, while standing in the circle like the others, was busy looking up at the stands, smiling and seeming distracted. Callie followed her gaze, seeing several of her friends sitting together. They were in a group consisting of Ambria and Koka, Lhawni and Chown, Vanis and Juniper, and Tazrok towering over all of them. Nothing seemed distraction-worthy. "Hey! Lena! Get your head in the game!" Callie snapped.

"What? Oh, sorry!"

"You know your part, right?" Koda asked again, waving the play in front of Lena. "This is risky and you seem …"

"Yes! I know my part!" Lena snarled, refocusing back to the other players. "Don't worry, I'll get it done."

"Good," Callie coached. "Everyone, this will put them off their game from the start. I want to crush them today, got it? To do that, we need to absolutely annihilate them from the start." She gestured towards the playing field. "Let's get this play done in under ten seconds, if we can."

"I thought we were going to keep the score closer? To help the other team save face. Has that plan changed?" Xin asked.

"Yup. No holding back any more. I want them to feel this shame well into next week, if not longer."

"Why?"

Callie paused, thought for a moment, and then shrugged while grinning. "Because of simple, petty revenge. I owe Reynard some payback."

"Ah, a very good reason, then," Xin said with a grin, not even asking for any more information. "Should we also break any of them?"

Callie almost gave that question a second thought, but then shook her head. "Nah, just pummel them with the score. Leave them demoralized from this first play."

"Three digits," Pixyl said from where she was hovering overhead, holding up three fingers. She had a sour, scowling look on her face as she glared across the field. "I want to see our score having three digits."

"Well," Koda said, straightening as he handed the play back to Callie. "You heard the Marshals, everyone. Three digits." He put his paw into the circle. "For petty revenge."

The rest of the players all put their hands or paws in, too, laughing and chanting out, "Petty revenge!" The circle broke, everyone clapping as they fanned out to take their positions.

Not far away, Arkan Pelidri quietly watched, his enhanced hearing listening in on the recruits planning and plotting. He couldn't help but grin in amusement. "Petty revenge," he mumbled to himself as he continued on his way, shaking his head. While it was an interesting motivator on Callie's part, the rest of her people seemed to latch onto it without even a need for explanation. He found that intriguing, just as he was finding this Gnome, Callie, more and more intriguing by the day. He needed to talk to Xera again about how best to make use of her, so that her capabilities weren't ultimately wasted.

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Walking a little ways up into the seats, Pelidri found a spot that would give him a clear view of the field for this complicated first play. There, the recruit players had largely taken position, but the team of trainers and staff was still on their own sideline, seeming to be arguing about something. He'd been told by several people about the previous games, and he was quite curious to see how this was going to play out, especially with Callie deciding they weren't going to hold back. The Bearkin had been right, though, this first play the Gnome wanted to attempt was quite risky, and required everyone to get their parts exactly correct.

After another couple minutes, the camp's team finally jogged out onto the field. If Pelidri recalled the personnel correctly, it looked as if the lead Shaman trainer, the one that had just missed reaching Platinum, was acting as the Sergeant. Around her, the Major and the others got settled into their positions as well. All attention turned to the camp's high-sergeant, who was acting as the referee. Whistle in his mouth, everyone tensed. Then, he blew a short burst, throwing the ball high for the start of play.

As Pelidri watched, everything happened in a blur. First, Koda, and the Rhinokin, Shirax, charged forward, knocking people aside and creating a gap, including sending the Sergeant-Major sprawling. Behind them, Lena ran forward, actually running up Koda's back and leaping off his shoulders with a bit of a spin. She reached the ball first, the spin continuing. Below her, through the hole that had been created, charged Xin. The Lizardkin was running fast, almost ferally, on all fours.

Lena used her spinning momentum to sling the ball to the side, where Jesca, now also possessing the Acrobatics perk, had done just as Lena, running up the back of another player to leap off their shoulders. She gracefully caught the ball, also having a bit of spin in her leap, and quickly lobbed to Fynisse, who was running all out down the sideline. In turn, the Warlock recruit took five long strides before making a lazy, underhand pass to Moka, who had just caught up to her. He took four or five more steps of his own, before doing another easy underhand pass to Xin.

Xin caught the ball, screeched to a halt to get set, calling out a loud, "You better duck!" to the camp's Sentinel, who was running ahead as fast as they could to get to the bunker. The Sentinel didn't question the advice, and simply dove to the ground, sliding through the grass as the ball just missed his head. Xin had put all her training as a Spearmaster into the throw, and the ball whooshed loud enough to be heard from the stands, perfectly threading through the hole in the bunker wall.

"Wooo!" Callie called out as the referee whistled everything to a stop, the score increased by seven points. "How long did that take Jesca?"

"Um, just under twelve seconds?" the Catkin replied, her sense of time now reliably perfect.

"Twelve! We needed it at ten!" Callie exaggeratedly threw out her hands, calling out a loud and mocking, "Oh well, I guess we just have to keep doing it over and over and over until we get it right." She looked across the field at a somewhat embarrassed Reynard, catching his gaze. Then, she pointed a finger to herself and then Pixyl, before pointing two fingers at her own eyes, and then reversing them to jab towards her trainer, making sure the point was clear. Callie and Pixyl then broke down in mutual laughter, several others on the recruit team laughing along.

"Petty revenge, indeed," Pelidri chuckled to himself, standing from his seat. He'd freely admit he had a soft spot for Gnomes, he'd been married to one after all, and couldn't help but be a little proud of Callie's antics. It wasn't just that she was standing up for herself, apparently in a mocking response to something that Reynard had done to offend her. No, it was that Callie was doing it through the other recruit players as Field Marshal; in effect doing it through her soldiers, that truly impressed him. They didn't even ask her what happened, but simply accepted the vague insinuation as a good enough reason. Callie may never be officer material, or at least not any time soon, but if she could replicate what she just did once she reached the front, she would no doubt be a force of nature.