Wrangling teenage emotions is hard enough on good days, but what if on bad days they could manifest as giant flesh and blood monsters?
Pacific Rim meets Friday Night Lights as knee-jerk rebel Sage Sawyer is forced to join her high school "tourneytub...
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Snow falls and Sage listens.
There's nothing to hear, of course. Just a blanket of white thickening atop Trollwake Court. Even half an hour ago she could clearly see its grayish-blue concrete, but now a thin layer of ice hardens below the snow.
The crowd is here, braving the blizzard.
Sage watches them from the shadows of the visitor's locker room entrance. She leans lazily against Storm Zen, all suited up and ready to go. She blows her famous gum bubbles while cradling her burgundy helmet in her arms. All she's waiting for now is the go ahead from the umpire currently testing the ice out on the court.
Phoenix Beacon thunders up beside her. Sage can hear the Eagleheart Templar's pistons strain and release as it hunkers down into a crouching position. Genesis O'Toole climbs out, golden hair bouncing atop burgundy shoulder pads. She makes her way over to stand beside Gee. She fiddles with the wooden cross dangling, as always, at her throat.
Gee breathes in an unsteady breath.
"Real nasty storm out there." She says.
Sage turns her head to regard her. Before they lock eyes, Gee pretends to examine her scuffed brown boots.
"I dunno. I find it kinda pretty," Sage says, still looking at Genesis. She regards the scene in front of them again before long, "there's always something to be said for a little touch of chaos."
"I'm pretty sure you won't find it pretty if they ever let us play out there." Gee says.
"I'm pretty sure I will." Sage smiles.
They both slip into silence now as the snow continues to sink from the sky before them. Sage realizes this is the first time they've had a chance to conduct a full conversation since Thanksgiving. She swallows the bile creeping up in her mouth.
"Hey, about what you said. About me being a coward..." Gee is the first to break the spell. Still, she keeps looking straight ahead at the snow and the court and the crowd.
Probably safer than looking at Sage...
"Are you really gonna try and do this right now, O'Toole!? You've had like two weeks to come up and talk to me. Two whole weeks you spent avoiding me, I might add! But now, literally two minutes before we play in the final game of the regular season, a game we desperately need to win if we wanna play in the Owl County Cup next week, you choose to come over here and try to drag me back into all your bullshit again? No. Not tonight, Gee. Tonight is a night for victory. I don't have time for you." Sage marches over to Storm Zen's cockpit hatch.
She doesn't even bother to look behind and see if Gee watches after her.
Sage climbs inside Storm Zen, slams the hatch, and snaps on her helmet. She hoists herself into her usual seat in front of the dashboard and peers through the cockpit window. Gee is still standing right where she left her, arms folded, gazing out into the white. She stays like this for several moments before she, too, heads back to her own tub.
