my brother and held out the scratch.
"Yes, of course. If I'm keen to have my fingers bitten off, I'll let you know.", My brother replied disparagingly.
Shrugging, I turned away and started with my left front leg.He raised the hoof politely and patiently had it scraped out. The other three hooves followed. When I was finally finished I proudly looked at my work. One of the orderlies brought me Diablo's bridle, a blanket, and a saddle. After that was all done, I took one last, scrutinizing look at my horse.
He looked just divine.
I led Diablo out of his box and into the riding arena section. A little further up there was a grandstand where Kai, the others, Mom and even Mr Dickenson sat. There were some obstacles in the middle of the hall that Diablo looked hopefully at. Finally I straightened my stirrups and sat up. What a great feeling to sit on here and my mom agreed.
"Start riding the track in crotch," Mom called to me from the stands and I pushed Diablo on.
With his head held high, his neck bent, and a smooth step, he walked along the wall of the hall.I had to smile, he likes to present himself to his audience.
"In step on the right hand and trot, lightly trot.", Mom gave the next command.
Diablo and I did as we were told and carried out their orders in a brilliant way.
"And change through the whole track. Sitting around at the turning point.", Came the next order from Max as they rode past the grandstand.
Diablo seemed to be having fun as hell and he acted like a real model horse. Diablo probably wouldn't have behaved so perfectly if I hadn't ridden with him for the past two nights. He hates riding in the hall and I feel no different.
"And gallop at work pace, the whole train!" Came the next order from Mr. Dickenson to my amazement. Did he also ride earlier? He's definitely here to see if Diablo is even worth leaving the team.His black mane bobbed back slightly, brushed my hands like a tender caress. I was so happy that I didn't even feel the tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Do you dare to do a few jumps?" Mom pulled me out of my thoughts and I nodded.
Diablo puffed his nostrils and took the obstacles with no problem. I was so happy that I stopped him, slipped out of the saddle, and wrapped my arms around his neck.
Mr. Dickenson, Max and Mom, Ray, Kenny, Tyson and Kai came into the hall.
"I think that's okay.", Mr.Dickenson said to me and smiled pleasantly.
Diablo seemed interested in the plump man and sniffed him from top to bottom. Tyson, too, had piqued Diablo's curiosity. Playful as he is, he grabbed Tyson's baseball cap and put it on Max. Reluctantly, Tyson began to stroke Diablo's nostrils.
"He's really nice.", the blue-haired Blader smiled and scratched the stallion between the ears. Diablo snorted and nudged Tyson gently.
"How does he behave during transport?" Asked Mr. Dickenson.
"Good. He goes into a trailer and into a plane with no problem," I replied.
"And why did he sprain his leg the last time?", Kai asked again in his arrogant way. I glared at Kai angrily and whispered a few threats to me.
"It rained that day and he slipped off the ramp.", Max answered for me.
"Can he also be loaded onto a ship?", Mr.Dickenson's questioning continued and slowly that got on my nerves.
"Oh, I'm sure if Luna is with him he won't cause any trouble." Mom said confidently.
I had no idea what that meant but somehow I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Why is Mr Dickenson asking me so much about Diablo?Is he going to buy it so I can stay with the BladeBreakers? Never in life !! I wouldn't even give it away for a million.
"Dawn and Arcanum will be happy to see Diablo again." I said quickly before another question came from Mr.Dickenson.
"Yes, but you have to be patient a little longer.", Said Max and smiled mischievously.
"When will Diablo and I actually fly?"
"You are going on the ship one day after the finale," replied Mr.Dickenson and grinned strangely at me.
"Did you hear that, sweetheart? We're going on a ship," I said, turning to the stallion and stroking his neck.
My mom also started to smile strangely and then said, "I hope he doesn't get cold."
I frowned in confusion at that statement. "Why should he get cold?"
"Oh, just like that.", Tyson said and waved him off."Then I'd better unsaddle Diablo." I whispered more to myself than to the others and led Diablo out of the hall again.

It was just before nine o'clock in the evening. The final was over. The BladeBreakers had won and were sitting in a fancy restaurant. Tyson devoured his dessert and grinned stupidly to himself. Kai sat quietly in a corner and Ray tried desperately to start a conversation with his captain. Kai blocked, however, and Ray involved Max in a riveting conversation. In my mind I was already at home. With Dad, Dawn and Arcasnum.
And Diablo will come with me. I had been secretly at Diablo's for the past three nights and rode out with him. I ran out of excuses why I was always so tired, but I still enjoyed it. Of course, Kai didn't care.
The only thing that makes me sad is that I leave Justin, Gary and Cliff alone. I will miss the others too.Even if I didn't want to admit it to myself at first, I also miss Kai a bit. He's the biggest idiot I know. Well, at least I'm rid of him now.
Absently, I fumbled with my straw and stirred through my orange juice. I didn't notice either Mom and Mr. Dickenson and Tyson's grandfather come to our table and sit down.
Only when Max nudged me with his elbows did I look up from my glass. I tried to smile as best I could. Justin, who was sitting across from me, noticed that I was torturing myself to do this and raised his eyebrows. That should mean something like "But you've done it better before"
And the look on his face made me smile honestly too.
Mr Dickenson cleared his throat. He probably wanted to congratulate and praise the BladeBreakers again, and then tell them about the rest of the trip. But he said nothing of the sort. "Judy and I have a little surprise for you guys."began the older man.
"And which one would be?" Tyson asked and left off his dessert.
"We thought it would be good for you if you got three days off," replied Tyson's grandfather.
Before anyone else could say anything, I asked my mom when I had to go with Diablo tomorrow. She frowned questioningly and looked at me blankly. "You will go with me tomorrow, your departure date has been postponed a bit."
Great! I thought and looked out the window and chewed on my straw.
"You're going to go to your grandparents' farm," Mom said and I let go of the straw.
To make sure that I got that right, I checked again. Mr. Dickenson confirmed everything.
I was so excited about it that I got hiccups. Of course, Gary didn't skip this opportunity and immediately started teasing me.But to his disappointment, for once, I remained calm and ignored his stupid comments.
We wanted to leave the next morning at six o'clock.
Tyson began to moan. Even when he found out that his grandfather was coming, it didn't improve his mood. On the way back to the hotel, I jumped around my ex-teammates and raved about the farm. I didn't even go into Kai's attempts to correct myself. But, I've never heard of Kai. Only when Ray put his hand on my shoulder did I calm down.
Diablo was there too. He's definitely happy to be at his birthplace. But it certainly makes him sad because his mother died there.
Hopefully my last few days with the BladeBreakers will be a pleasant one. And hopefully Kai won't give me a reason to kill him.