Nebula

     Taking in a large inhalation of breath, a tracksuit-clad Zenor Kevix exhaled it with unabashed glee. The Academy was very much the newly-retired Team Kreludor right forward's baby. The Blue Grundo had long dreamt of setting up a Yooyuball Academy in his retirement with his best friend Qlydae Wegg, somewhere where little Grundos from all across the moon could gather and hopefully become professional players. The Federation lacked the sort of youth set-up that many of the teams in even the Neopian Central Leagues had and even though his friends did do excellent Summer Training Camps there was a definite need for something more permanent. Even if everything had come together a bit sooner than he had intended.

     Standing atop a meteorite the size of a small spaceship, Kevix surveyed his almost complete sporting venue. At the entrance was a fully furnished little blue pod that acted as his Academy's Office and Reception area - important for making a good first impression. Behind that were two larger blue pods, one a Changing Facility for the adjacent Training Pitches and the other an Indoor Gym/Training Hall for when meteor showers made training outside a bad idea. He had ploughed his savings into the school, attracted sponsors and even managed to get Zorlix on his side. It had been hard work but worth every second of it. He planned on doing the coaching himself for now with small groups but expanding the business with Wegg when he eventually retired too. There was only one thing left to take care of.

     "Huh," remarked a tracksuit-clad Qlydae Wegg as he swaggered over to the meteorite his old Team Kreludor teammate was perched on, "Not too shabby, Kev." The Orange Grundo was impressed, as much as he tried to hide it. His best friend had often spoken of his dream to set up somewhere like this but to actually see it jump from doodles in his notepad to the surface of Kreludor was something else. They were better facilities than they'd had back in Altador Cup I. "Not too shabby at all," he smiled, approvingly. The left forward was fresh off a space shuttle from Altador Cup XVII and was more than pleased to have something positive to focus on. The tournament had been... a lot.

     Somewhat nervously, the Blue Grundo carefully clambered down from the space rock to where his counterpart was standing. For this venture to succeed, Kevix needed his approval. Though it was the former right forward who was the brains of the operation, Wegg was set to be the eventual face of the school. Partly because the Orange Grundo was by far the most popular member of Team Kreludor amongst the moon's inhabitants but mostly because Kevix was far too quiet for that sort of thing. "Glad you think so," he laughed, self-deprecatingly, before wanting to catch up with his friend, "I'm sure you've had a busier time though. You know. With the Cup and everything."

     His fellow Twin Grundo Terror's bravado vanished in an instant.

     "It wasn't... that bad..." Kevix was perplexed. "...was it?"

     Wegg feigned excitement. "Prfft... no. No. It was. Good. Yeah. Great, even."

     But he'd been seen through. "Tenth isn't exactly awful, mate."

     "We finished second last year."

     "Yeah... I was there, I do remember."

     Wegg wrinkled his brow. "Can we just not talk about the Cup? We finished tenth. The new guy Motor got banned from the Press Room. And for some reason Fonnet ended up on the Top Scorers list instead of Ealyn. That was it. Total snoozefest. You're all caught up." Before surveying the scene. "You told me on the Communicator that you needed some help finishing this place off. Where's that stuff you need shifted?"

     Kevix suppressed a smile. "Over there. I kinda ran out of money to pay labourers but this shouldn't take too long." His best friend's expression softened as the former right forward explained the task, "Basically, the last thing that needs doing is the Training Pitches." Pointing towards their general direction he continued, "I have a full-sized Yooyuball Pitch loosely marked out as well as some smaller pitches that will be used for drills and stuff. I just need some help setting up the equipment and clearing the fields of meteorites. They're thankfully not too heavy in the weak gravity or I really would've got some labourers in."

     The Orange Grundo rubbed his hands together.

     "Well come on then, they're not gonna move themselves!"

     -----

     Through the morning, the two friends worked together to get the Training Pitches ready for Kevix's first class of students in the coming weeks. Drilling the Yooyuball Nets deep enough into the surface so that a powerful shot wouldn't send them into orbit, planting the Corner Flags to claim this land for little Grundos everywhere and painting the pitches' lines onto the moonrock below with glow-in-the-dark paint so they were usable during Kreludor's 'nighttime' took the duo all the way past lunchtime and into midafternoon. Deciding it was time for a break, Kevix headed to a Cantina located down the nearest lava tube and came back laden with food. It was no Cafe Kreludor but it was better than Grundo's Cafe back home on the Space Station.

     Arriving back at the Training Pitches, the Blue Grundo was in for a shock. "Whoa, Wegg..." he exclaimed out loud, having seen what his former teammate had been up to whilst he was gone. In the time it had taken him to wander over to the shops and back, the Orange Grundo had managed to amass a large pile of meteorites that had previously been strewn across the largest pitch. Which is saying something as Kevix hadn't exactly slowed down in his retirement. It had come at a cost though. Panting in the thin air, Wegg was crouched over the mound exhausted. His shock turned to concern when it looked as though he wasn't in any mood to leave the other pitches for later. "...you can stop for lunch, you know?"

     Telling Qlydae Wegg to stop wasn't exactly a red rag to a Kau but it wasn't too far off. What it was, was a challenge. Shaking his head, he struggled to stand up straight before waving away his best friend's concerns. "Nope. Not gonna happen. I'm totally fine. Never felt better..." the left forward responded weakly, still trying to catch his breath, "...I've totally got this." The past season had taken more out of him than he had realised but he was undeterred. Turning his attention to one of the smaller Training Pitches, he took a step towards it... before realising his feet hadn't quite got the message.

     "You sure have," muttered Kevix to himself. One of the many things that made Wegg, in the Blue Grundo's scarlet eyes at least, one of the best forwards in the game was his desire to always do better. Better than his opponents or himself. That desire though didn't come from the healthiest of places. And his insecurities could lead him into trouble. Putting their lunch down before grabbing the Orange Grundo by the arm, he carefully led his best friend to the pile of meteorites and encouraged him to take a seat on one of the beanbag-sized ones. Once he had, he pried, "So... what's up?"

     "Nothin'."

     "Nothing?"

     "Nope."

     "Nothing at all?"

     "I..."

     "Just say it," Kevix insisted, "you'll feel a lot better for it."

     "I dunno, Kev..." Wegg's eyes sank to the surface of Kreludor. "...I guess I just feel..."

     "Yeah?"

     "Like... I dunno. Like I... let you down or something."

     "That's... uhh..." the Blue Grundo blurted out, more than a little taken aback by his former teammate's words. His counterpart wasn't exactly known for his humility. That was very much Kevix's style. But occasionally Wegg's mask of bravado would drop and you could see what he was truly like underneath. Watching the Orange Grundo pick up a pebble-sized meteorite from by his feet and begin inspecting it, the former right forward knew he had to tread carefully. Or else he might never get to the bottom of what was going on between his best friend's antennae, "...how so?"

     Wrinkling his brow, Wegg impetuously threw the small meteorite away. The sharp 'clang' noise it made when striking a nearby larger rock caused his antennae to twitch. Even the environment was getting on his nerves these days. "I du..." The left forward sighed. Talking about his feelings wasn't his style either. "Okay, look. Before Ealyn came, I was Team Kreludor's Top Scorer. Now I'm not." The Blue Grundo had a feeling he knew where this was going as he watched his best friend stagger back to his feet, refusing to make eye contact. "If the Board thought we weren't scoring enough goals, then I am the one who should've went. Not you. Your job was always to set them up."

     "Wegg..." his counterpart winced as an awkward silence descended.

     A silence broken by a low, rumbling sound.

     Followed by the moonrock below shaking under foot.

     Before the puzzled duo could react...

     ...a giant rock creature erupted from where Wegg's thrown meteorite had landed!

     Its roar echoing around, the gnarled stone monster surveyed the scene before spotting the buildings that made up the Kreludan Yooyuballing Academy in the distance. Furious that its long slumber had been interrupted, the rock creature lurched towards the sporting complex as it placed one lumbering foot in front of the other. Kevix froze on the spot. Zorlix had assured him that the area was clear of any such beings. And now all of his hard work was in danger.

     But not if his fellow Twin Grundo Terror could help it.

     Refusing to let his best friend down again and gaining something of a second wind, the Orange Grundo bounded over to the opposite side of the rampaging stone monster before waving his arms frantically in the thin air. "Hey!" Wegg shouted with all of his might, "Over here!" It did the trick. Unfortunately. Slowly but surely, the angry rock creature turned to face him. Its glowing red eyes fixed on his position. Which was pretty much where his plan ended. Not sure what to do next, the left forward cautiously began walking backwards in an attempt to guide his foe away from its original target.

     Somewhat inevitably, he couldn't keep it up for long. Tripping up over a small meteorite in his path, Wegg landed in a heap on the ground. Seeing his best friend tumble over snapped the Blue Grundo back to his senses. "Clear off!" he yelled angrily at the oblivious being, his naturally quiet voice failing to make much of an impact on proceedings. Gritting his teeth, Kevix scooped up the lunch that had been left scattered across the floor thanks to the stone monster's many moonquakes before bounding over to just in between the lurching rock creature and his fallen over comrade.

     Dropping the pile of food by his feet, the former right forward grabbed a Meteor Meat Pie from its top and slung it towards the gaping mouth of their still-roaring foe. Gulping it down, the rock creature seemed almost... grateful? "Uhh... I think you're onto something," muttered the Orange Grundo to his former teammate, before flinging a Cheese Star Sandwich at the being himself.

     Soon enough, their lunch was gone.

     The duo gulped.

     They needn't have worried though.

     Sufficiently satiated, the rock creature yawned loudly before curling back up into a ball.

     Wegg and Kevix sighed heavily.

     Before carefully tiptoeing away from the sleeping giant.

     With his stomach gurgling so noisily that it might reawaken the stone monster, Kevix decided to set the record straight as they finally went for their belated lunch. "Listen," the Blue Grundo attempted to reason softly, "the Board weren't completely wrong when they said I was distracted." His best friend's antennae twitched again. "I mean, I don't think I was..." he elaborated further, "but I was putting in a lot of time sorting out the groundwork for this place. Obviously we never planned on opening it so soon but when Zorlix approaches you with a plot of land... I mean, you can't really say no." He smiled before looking over his shoulder one last time.

     The Orange Grundo frowned. Not for one second had he ever believed that his counterpart had been distracted and he never would. As far as Fonnet was concerned, it was another prime example of boardroom politics at play at the heart of the Kreludan Yooyuball Federation. This was more to do with them not wanting to support his Academy than Team Kreludor coming a 'measly' second in Altador Cup XVI. And (as loathed as he was to concur with Derlyn on anything), Wegg was inclined to agree. But still. "I should've went to the Board myself," he grumbled, "playing Yooyuball for Kreludor was your dream, after all."

     Kevix's smile broadened as his attention turned to the horizon. Playing for Kreludor hadn't been his dream growing up. He was from the Virtupets Space Station. Every night, he would look through a porthole and see the moon in the distance. His dreams back then were full of the freedom and possibilities that lay one space shuttle ride away. The idea of representing Kreludor in a sporting competition during a time of peace and prosperity for his kind... Well, that really was living IN a dream. And now it was over. "Yeah..." But that was okay. "...but every Pet has to wake up eventually. And besides," he chuckled gently, "waking up to this place every day is a pretty good reality. At least that's how I see it."

     Wegg's frown faded.

     He did feel a lot better.

     "Can we finally stop talking about the Cup now?" the Orange Grundo laughed, "I'm famished!"

     The End.