Chapter II: The Victory




>> Shit! << Zak cursed.


The smoke around neon slowly subsided and everyone looked at him.


Stacer couldn't believe it - Neon was still on his feet. Angry and gritting his teeth, he held onto his right arm - it was injured. His hair was tousled and it seemed like some small metal splinters were stuck in his legs.


But one thing struck Stacer - Neon was pissed off, pissed off.


His hands were clenched into fists and his bloody face was visibly tense.


Then he opened his mouth and yelled something that upset everyone.


>> Go! Go on! <<


When a new ball came out of an opening in the wall, Neon took it and jumped over the astonished Cinnon with one leap.


He kicked the cyborg aside with a violent kick and ran towards the team leader of the Black Deaths, Chaster.


Chaster leaped toward Neon, foot outstretched.But this dodged to the side and when he was next to him, he struck him in the stomach with his elbow. Chaster staggered to one side with a gasp and fell over.


Now it was clear for neon. The only thing that was dangerous to him now was the ball. It was exactly three seconds before the explosion and the goal was already in sight, but Neon wanted to be on the safe side and ran on. He knew that he couldn't survive a second explosion intact, so he ran as fast as he could.


Two more seconds.


The sweat was literally dripping off his face, but he was about to throw up.


One second.


Now the ball was already turning red, but Neon knew what to do.


He stretched out his arm with the ball and darted forward. He darted towards the Black Death gate, glowing with lightning speed. Now the ball suddenly exploded, but Neon knew that before that. The small, glowing ball shot out of the black, opaque smoke and slammed into the goal with a loud crack.

Then there was a booming game-end. 4: 3 for the FZero.


The audience was breathless. There wasn't a breeze in the stadium - you couldn't even hear a cough. Then the cheering of the audience thundered like a roller over the Star Stadium. Confetti fell out of the small holes in the top wall and it was strewn all over the floor. Silver flags were held up - the color of the FZero. In the stadium there were on the one hand cheering, on the other hand booing spectators - cheering fans of the FZero and booing of the Black Deaths. You could hear the stadium a kilometer away, but that was the case at every Extreme Ball Match.


The one that was most celebrated was, of course, neon.


Then silver posters rolled down from all sides with the name of the winning team - FZero.


The dejected Black Deaths angrily retired to their cubicles


back. While Zak put his skills to the test with a double somersault, a glass hatch slowly opened at the edge of the field.When it was open, a gold goblet three feet high rose from the ground. After Zak and Stacer supported the weakened neon, they ran to the cup and proudly held it up. It sparkled in the light of the stadium and their happy faces were reflected on its sparkling clean surface.


Stacer had learned one thing about neon.


>> He kept playing to defend his pride! <<, he thought quietly.




The setting sun was reflected in his eyes in the dark red evening sky. Even though he was standing on a balcony far away from the Star Stadium, inside he could still hear the cheering of the crowd. It was the house of Zak, Neon and himself that they had bought for the 10th anniversary of the FZero. It wasn't a villa, but you could see the city from here because the house was on a small hill. Climbing plants meandered along the side, and the front door was decorated with gold.

It had a total of three floors and a basement. But the best part about it all was the pool behind the house.


Suddenly he saw some people in front of him on the street, pointing to the sky. They looked frightened and some took a few steps back.


When Stacer suddenly saw something yellow on the sunglasses he was holding in his hand, he turned up.


He couldn't believe his eyes.


The whole sky was suddenly covered by something huge and yellow.




Chapter III: The Beginning of the End




It looked like a second sun. Now gigantic, blue lightning bolts also twitched around the something.


>> Hey, what's going on here ... <<, Zak, who just came running onto the balcony and looked up, lost his words. He just mumbled words like "Oh God" and "What is that?" <<


Then neon came out too, having seen the crowd on the streets.


>> What the hell is going on here? People suddenly run into the street, stopping all the traffic ... << He stopped when Zak put his forefinger at the sky.

>> There! <<


Neon slowly turned his head up. His eyes widened and he rubbed them.


>> What is that? <<


Suddenly the color of something changed from yellow, to orange and then to red.


>> A ball of fire! << Zak managed.


Suddenly some madman ran screaming from an alley into the street and then knelt down on the asphalt.


>> We're all going to die! This is the end of the world! <<


At first Stacer scratched his head, but then it occurred to him that the idiot might be right.


When suddenly the earth began to shake, he became frightened.


Is that the end of the world?


Suddenly there was a crash and screams filled the air.


When Stacer looked around, he saw where it was coming from - a chunk of building broke off a skyscraper across the street and shot towards the street.


The people ran screeching around each other and tried to avoid the boulder - which works well, but the boulder crashed into a pile of cars with full force.

The cars exploded with a loud bang, tearing the chunks of the house into small pieces of metal.


All the people standing on the street threw themselves flat on the street to avoid the splinters.


Stacer, Zak, and Neon did the same. A splinter the size of a hand shot through the balcony next to Stacer and hit the house.


But the next danger was already on its way. A floating silver Ferrari was hit by a splinter in the tank and exploded. As a result, the front bumper flew very quickly towards a small child and threatened to kill him.


The 5 year old boy was paralyzed with fear and was not aware of the danger that threatened him. He was kneeling in the middle of the street crying and screaming for his mother.


Zak saw him and the bumper, took the opportunity, jumped over the balcony railing, got up shallow, and ran at insane speed towards the boy.Zak knew he had to hurry because the bumper kept bouncing towards the boy.


When he was only five meters away from him, he jumped forward and slid on his back towards the boy. He grabbed the boy in his right arm when he was next to him and ducked.


The rod brushed his neck, crashed into the wall of a high-rise, and then got stuck in it.


Zak stopped his foot and then gave the boy to his mother, who was walking towards them. Her face was full of happy tears. She thanked Zak and wanted to offer him 100 Earthis (1 Earthis = € 0.6).


But he knows it with thanks and instead looked around. He found wrecked cars, frightened people and building rubble - what could be worse. This question was answered immediately.


A small crack suddenly opened up under him. At first he did not notice him and looked confused at the approaching fireball.

An earthquake announced itself with a jerky tremor in the ground. Now Zak looked down, startled, and looked into the depths.


The initially tiny crack had enlarged so much that it almost tore Zak down. Then suddenly there was a terrible growl.


When Zak threatened to fall into nothing, his arms were suddenly held - Stacer and Neon!


They lifted him to solid ground and turned to the terrifying grumble. Suddenly the crack stretched and dragged a lantern down with it. You could still hear an audible clacking sound from her at first, then it got quieter and quieter until it was finally gone.


>> What the hell is that? No earthquake causes such destruction! << Zak asked the others, but they just shrugged their shoulders.


Suddenly a terribly large and hot jet of fire came out of the crack and rolled towards neon. He screamed and covered his arm protectively in front of his face - but that wouldn't help much and he knew it himself.Zak and Stacer tried to push him aside, but it was too late. With a thunder, the huge yellow-red vortex of fire rolled over Neon. You could still hear his groaning screams, but over time they fell silent. The other two could only watch as neon crashed into a wall, carried away by the fire. As the flames rose slowly into the sky, all you could see was the panting neon, pressed into the wall.


>> Neon! No! << Zak and Stacer shouted at the same time.


But suddenly Stacer heard a strange crackling sound from the ravine-like crack and stopped.


>> Oh no! What is happening now? <<, Stacer groaned a bit startled. As the crackling got louder, Zak stopped too. Then suddenly you saw a bright, bluish light in the street plan. Suddenly, thousands of tiny lightning bolts shot out of the crack - right at the confused Zak.


"Get out of here! '' Stacer shouted with all his might - but it was too late.

The lightning flashed through Zak like a sheet of paper. He was trembling wildly and gasped out a quiet >> Help ... <<. Then he collapsed. Stacer couldn't believe it.


>> Neeeeiiiiiinn !!! << Stacer shouted in anger and despair.


It looked like Zak was dead, and when Stacer approached and saw Zak's staring, empty eyes that were still