Without a single thought, Chase's body reacted on its own. His left arm extended and his fingers clutched the farthest side of the scorching ball.
His hand screamed in protest, but for some unexplainable reason he had refused to let go.
Before he knew it, his feet were no longer touching the ground.
Trees flew past his vision so fast that they had turned into a frenzy of green blurs.
He gasped for air, the ball's furious momentum dragging him across the arena like a ragdoll in flight.
The sudden realization of his situation dawned on him, causing one of his fingers to slip. His heart was pounding like a drum in his chest, and his body felt lightless from his momentary flight.
As the ball began to slow down, his feet touched the ground and he immediately tripped over himself.
Still refusing to release the ball, he rolled and collided with everything in his path. Finally coming to a stop within a long crater that skidded for at least twenty meters, he quickly gathered the strength to push himself up.
His body was completely beaten and bruised, yet he forced himself forward. He prayed that he was heading in the direction of the opposing team's goal, until a sense of dread dawned on him.
'No, no, no...'
Three boys around his age stepped out from behind multiple trees who were wearing the same Skytide silver jerseys.
His knees nearly buckled at the sight of the stone-faced defenders. He put tucked the ball underneath his non-dominant shoulder, and scanned his surroundings.
The only escape was behind him—right where Skytide's captain waited. Worst option by far.
But in front of him, were three very athletic looking boys, all with black hair and cold expressions on their faces.
So he did the only thing that he could think of at a time like this...
He charged the three of them.
That seemed to have caught the Skytide boys off guard and had bought him a couple of seconds to build up speed.
His legs were raging with pain, but he willed them to keep going.
Once the boys finally realized Chase was about to run right past them, they instinctively jumped into his way.
One reached for him, but he pushed off of the ground and into a slide to the right.
His knee hit a rock which caused him to let out a slight yelp. Another took the chance to lower his shoulder and sprint right toward him.
Chase used the moment of his slide to force himself into a limping run. He outstretched his right hand out of pure panic, once he realized that he was not going to get around the defender.
Right before the boy's shoulder met his chest, his hand made contact with the mask of the defender's helmet.
Using all of the strength left in that side of his body, he pushed downward with all of his might.
It felt like he was trying to stop a full sprint horse with a single arm, yet somehow the boy lost his footing and Chase's strength surprised even himself when the defender was launched into the mud below him.
He stumbled over the body of the boy, and tried his best to continue limping forward, but before he could even think about getting away a set of heavy arms wrapped around him from behind.
His body protested, but there was nothing he could do now that he had no way of freeing himself.
He tried to thrash around, and even yell for help. But of course, no one came to aid him.
Out of sheer terror, he threw his head back and his helmet met the one behind him.
And for a short second he thought that he would be able to free himself from the unescapable strength of the third Skytide boy.
Then he felt it...
That pressure returned—the same presence that had tossed him like a ragdoll just minutes into the game's start.
The captain was here, and now there was nothing that Chase could do.
Helplessness finally began to radiate throughout his very soul.
"Lady Herra! You're here finally here!"
The boy behind him gasped out with a voice full of excitement.
The captain, whose name was Herra began to speak in a low, and disappointed tone.
"I thought that three defenders of such caliber would be able to stop a scumblood, but I suppose I was wrong..."
Then something happened that caught Chase off guard, and even gave him the slight chance at an opening.
The boy behind him weakened his grip as he spoke.
"M'lady?"
He sounded like his world had crumbled, as if pleasing the captain was the one purpose that he had in life.
Chase out of pure desperation: Threw his head back again, slamming into the defender's head. Even though there was a chance he could destroy the bones in his legs, he pressed into the ground and channeled what was left of his Axis energy.
Launching himself forward, he broke free of the boy's clutches and landed nearly thirty meters away with a painful collapse.
When he came to a stop he had felt every single joint in his legs crack, and felt as if magma was being pressed against the entire lower half of his body.
Then his world crumbled...
He was thrown back, and the aetherball flew out from his grasp.
With a dozen chaotic rolls, he landed against the trunk of large maple tree. Feeling dazed, and beginning to lose his vision: He looked up only to see the outline of the captain of Skytide looking down at him with the ball held loosely in her left hand.
The only details he could make out were those of a disgusted look on her face.
Then she turned, and sprinted at incredible speeds toward the other side of the coliseum. It was true, Chase would have been no match for her, even if it were a fair one on one.
Hell! Even Hans or Neo would have trouble dealing with someone with her strength.
But Chase didn't care about any of that. In fact, he was boiling with rage. Even if his body was in ruin, he was not going to give up here.
He hadn't ever attempted using more Axis energy than he had within his body, but there was no time like the present.
Instead of using it to reinforce just his lower half, he forced the energy to flow from his core, and into a network that flowed throughout his entire body.
Pain was the only thought that crossed his mind, and his vision nearly turned to black; however, beyond that he felt as if a newfound power was surging within him.
He shot forward, but instead of coming to a stop he began to continue to push off the ground with each step.
Chase had no way of knowing how fast he was traveling, but he eventually began to notice a silver blur rushing forward in the distance.
She was moving much faster than him, but he didn't falter.
His body groaned and screamed from the rage, yet he pressed even harder.
Then the inevitable happened...
His body gave out, and he came to a painful stop.
Even though he had been sapped of his energy, his body didn't stop flying forward at impressive speeds.
It wasn't until he had fully stopped that he came to his senses.
He was laying face down in a small human-sized crater in a small mound of dirt.
His body was soaked from both sweat and mud, his mind was racing and some of his bones were completely numb, while others were so sore that he was tempted to just decapitate his own limbs.
Then something happened that made the pain that much worst.
"GOAL!"
A rage inducing voice bellowed from no specific direction.
The crowd had already gone completely silent, as his ears began to ring.
Then only moments later a loud bell rattled his bones, and shook the ground of the arena.
"The clock has reached thirty minutes! Players return to your team's locker room!"
That same voice called out.
Chase tried to lift his arm, but he could only lift it up about to his chest before it began to shake terribly.
"Damnit all..."
He groaned, as he began to hear footsteps in the bushes behind him.