Germafrost lay on the ground, on his side, his brain sinking to the bottom of his head. By this time, he was on the other side of the field. His mouth had dried up like a raisin again, and hunger was burning up his stomach from the inside. Time was hazily blurring together, and he hadn't yet found the bronze scoop-looking stick. If he needed another hint from that Hazz guy, it had to come soon. He had told him that said stick was probably hidden near a metal structure, more likely one built out of metal beams. The frames of these stands were just the type with their many L-shaped beams and poles, so it was likely blending itself in with them. It was easy for the stick to hide here, but unluckily impossible for him.

His senses swayed like he'd just left a stirring pool at a waterpark, and phantom waves were still pushing him backward as his fur was drying off. He'd quite literally turned this spot upside down, so he wanted to get up and find another place to search. That was what he'd be doing right now if he had any slivers of energy to move with. If you asked Germafrost how he'd rank himself in terms of how active he was, he'd say he was moderately active, or about as active as a guy his age should be. This whole thing was a mix of painful, scary and confusing.

The last time this had happened to someone in Germafrost's life was to his maternal grandfather, back when he was only a puppy. Even so, he'd only seen him once or twice at the occasional royal gathering. So, when the news arrived at the castle door, the only response invoked in him was a brief, simple "Oh."

For the next few months, he'd seen his mother with her face hanging low and hadn't heard one sound coming from her during important royal duties. It was a drastic change from the chatty, newsy mama he'd gotten to know. In the late afternoons, he couldn't find her in her usual places. As it turned out, she'd started going to bed at earlier times, and so he and his siblings were often told to quiet down. Some days, his papa felt the need to rest with her, so the pups were looked after by their parents' staff until it was their bedtime. All the while, Germafrost watched her from the other side of the room, unable to find words or actions.

The simple impression he'd gotten that she wasn't feeling alright was an underestimation of how bad it would be. It was like he was a chip-ball player in his prime, leading his friends and loved ones to victory. But then, a devastating accident had him benched indefinitely, and no one would let him play again, not even his own body. He was doomed to sit on the bench until the season was over, or until he was at least okay enough to head back on the field, whichever came first.

The only thing his body and mind allowed him to do was listen to the commotion behind him. He hadn't yet seen the white specks landing right next to his ear.

Wait- white specks landing next to his ear?

"Please, PLEASE, not again..." he thought.

Of all the things his clouds could have chosen to ruin, why did it have to be a chip-ball game? If he wasn't... wasn't nothing right now, basically, he'd look for a good spot to watch the game in secret. It would've been the perfect way to take his mind off of everything that had been going on lately.

That idea brought him back to when he'd kick a ball around the castle when he probably should have been reading up on his notes from the last low sugar awareness meeting. He'd often leave that to his sister, for she was next in line to assume the throne. It was also because, even though neither of them could keep a conversation going, at least she didn't immediately shoo other people away. Sometimes, Germafrost couldn't even bring himself to go near them.

When there was a chip-ball in front of him, he could give it a push with his paw and watch it cruise along the ground for hours at a time. The way it moved was so attention-grabbing that there was seemingly nothing but the ball. Passing moments swirled with excitement, wonder, and little chip-ball-patterned discs popping out of his head as Germafrost sent the ball rolling, going wherever it took him. Other than where it was going to stop, nothing else mattered. The ball was a very close friend of his, and when they'd gotten to know each other well enough, it decided to acquaint him with the sport it came from. It also introduced him to some teammates to share his newfound love of tackles and shots with. The thrills of working together to score a goal blew all of Germafrost's inhibitions away every single time.

Even when watching the sport, a pastime considered boring by many, the suspense of which goal the ball would end up in kept him on the edge of his seat every single game. He'd spend hours in front of the screen, not leaving until he saw which team would leave the field victorious.

A memory of the ball rolling up to his sister flashed. Maybe, even if he was in the mood to see the game, he'd just be reminded of her again. If she hadn't noticed him lightly nudging a ball he'd found in the snow, and if she hadn't started joining him in his games, he probably wouldn't be as passionate about the sport as he was. Nor would they be as close as they were if he hadn't received her encouragement.

He was helpless to stop the new clouds from stretching themselves over him. Even when he was tired and doing absolutely nothing, they wouldn't let him be.

"It'll pass," he thought to himself as he slowly turned over onto his tummy. His mama's sorrows persisted for a while after his grandfather broke apart for the last time. Eventually, though, she was engaging in her duties and daily tasks again, and she talked almost as often as she did before. Germafrost had seen it for himself. If it ended for his mama, it would end for him too. The clouds were going to fade, he'd be able to get up, and he'd get things back to how they were.

Right?

He tried his best to just stop thinking so that the clouds would dissipate. But, not even ten seconds passed before his tilting and turning emotions spilled tears out of his eyes.

❄️

In the next play, the midfielder bumped the ball harder than he did before to pass it to the midfielder behind him. She caught the ball between her ankles and whistled to a teammate on her left as three of the Downers came running up behind her. A Downer striker stole the ball away before it could reach them, but they stole it back with a move consisting of several long jumps and a bodily twist to the right. Despite the striker's offense, they dribbled their ball to the side of the field and passed it to a striker on their team.

When someone tried to take the ball from him, he detached his upper half from his lower half. As he moved the ball forward with his legs, he used his arms to run while simultaneously defending it. The Downers' defense players lined up to surround him and block him out, but he didn't let that stop him. When he came closest enough to the penalty area to shoot the ball, his top side launched itself backward onto his bottom. His right foot launched the ball forward so hard that a shockwave blew the defenders onto their backs. He scored a top bin, his move met with thrilled cheers from an amazed crowd.

Hawkodile, still shaky, tapped his friends on their backs or arms. They kept their eyes on the field, watching the Rainbow Raiders return to their spots. He couldn't see what kinds of rad scoring techniques the forwards would use next, at least not right now. Even at a fun event, he kept his feet firmly planted on the ground in case he had to launch himself up in the air, and he did bicep curls with hot dogs from the vendors to keep his fists in fighting shape.

"Can you smell that, Hawkodile?" Unikitty then told him. "It smells like ice cream!"

He redirected her to the wild spectators surrounding them. "But where IS the ice cream?"

"Somebody in the crowd must be eating some," said Unikitty.

"But for you to smell it, it would have to be melted, and they'd have to be sitting within a two-foot radius of you," Dr. Fox pointed out. The sight of her maybe analyzing her surroundings on his right made some gratitude and trust emulsify in Hawkodile's stomach.

"Knowing this kingdom, it's not really surprising," Richard said, right before he quickly dodged an incoming popcorn bucket.

"It might just be the new smell generators I installed!" Unikitty then assumed.

"When did you put those in?" asked Puppycorn.

"A while ago. I wanted to make everything here smell yummier, so..."

"Oh, right! That was after a trash monster turned this place into a landfill," Hawkodile recalled. Following the beatdown he'd given the monster, he had to wash his shorts with those purple scent booster thingies five times to get the smell of the garbage out.

"And you didn't remember until just now?" Richard asked.

"This game is way too exciting for me to think about anything else, Rick!" Unikitty fumed, her cheeks morphing into little red fireballs.

"I totally get that. But just in case, remind me to do a perimeter check later," Hawkodile told her.

"I can help you if you'd like," said Dr. Fox. "We could be partners!"

Hawkodile scratched the back of his neck. His tough insides softened up. "Heh heh... sure! I'd be honored!"

Suddenly, she didn't know why, but Hawkodile's gruff voice rang in her mind. "You take my breath away..."

Some sort of energy boosted her excitement levels up and out of her head in the form of starry sparkle matter. On her left, Hawkodile gave her two thumbs up, and her chest twisted into a knot. To get herself back to reality, she breathed in for about 10 seconds, exhaled for twenty, and then rubbed both sides of her face intensely. She had no time for this. There was still so much sporting activity left to carefully observe.

❄️

In a match that took place about twenty minutes later, the Dismal Downers ran so quickly that many of the Rainbow Raiders had trouble catching up to them. The Raiders' full-back tried to steal the ball from a Downer midfielder and pass it to their wing-back, but she stumbled. Another midfielder from the Downers stole it and passed it to another attacker. The defenders did their best, but the striker outran them both and shot the ball at a speed too fast for the goalie.

Brock nudged Master Frown's arm. "Woah, dude! We finally scored one!"

Just before his character burned to a crisp for what would have been the eleventh or twelfth time, Frown finally striked the finishing blow on a difficult boss. He gasped aloud. "YES! I finally scored one!"

"No, WE finally scored one," said Imogen. "As in, our team scored a goal."

"Did we?" Master Frown questioned. If there was a Losing to the Unikingdom contest, for sports or otherwise, Frowntown was sure to (ironically) take first prize every single time.

"And that's the first point for Frowntown!" Bigbang commented as Brock turned to the scoreboard. Master Frown's eyebrows raised. "Perhaps the tables will turn for them soon."

Before the next play began, Brock gave Master Frown a tender kiss on the cheek. "Bro, even if they didn't have the sneakers, I just wanted you to have fun here with us," Brock said sweetly.

"Yeah!" said Imogen. "That's a thing that friends do. Especially here, right?"

"Imogen, we're totally gonna take you here a lot more," Brock told her. "You're never gonna get bored. There's, like, so much to do!"

Master Frown's eyes turned to Brock, to Imogen, and then to the field. "And so much to spoil. It's time, you two. Let's go find that blue dog!"

"What blue dog?" Imogen asked.

"You didn't see them? They must have been why it was randomly snowing back there. So, I'm gonna get those clouds onto the field so everyone will leave!" Master Frown briefly explained.

"You don't think we can just, like, invite them to watch the game with us?" suggested Brock.

"We don't know them, though," Imogen noted.

"We don't have to know them," said Frown. "We just have to move the clouds and cover everybody in snow!"

"I don't know about this, dude..." Brock said hesitantly.

"Hey, Brock, what do you usually do whenever he's, uh... working?" Imogen asked him.

Brock checked the timer on the scoreboard. It had counted up a significant amount of time since the game began- almost to 45 minutes, to be exact. "I'll show you in a sec."

A striker from the Downers kicked the ball towards another, but this time, the Raiders' wing-back was able to take the ball from him. She tried to pass it to one of the midfielders, but another Downer swooped in and stole it. He turned around and ran up to the goal, but just before he could take his shot, an attacker zipped the ball away from him at lightning speed. She zoomed all the way to the other side, all the while keeping the ball adjacent to her feet. The Downers' goalie was able to block the ball, but she kicked it right back and scored.

The very moment the Raiders' point was tallied, sparkles were fired over the field from an unseen cannon.

Bigbang, sniffling a little bit, then announced, "It looks like it's time for my 15-minute break! I can't believe this game's half-over already..."

Unikitty flew up to the press box. "It's okay. You'll have lots more events to commentate on this summer!" she said to them. She kissed them on the side of their megaphone head.

Colorful lights flashed, poppy music played, and a wide hole opened up in the field. A stage with a group of glamorously clad dancers on it appeared, and the crowd went wild for them as they boogied their butts and tails off.

The crowd stood up to dance along, and Swanna and Lee joined Unikitty and the gang as they followed the dancers' moves. When they spun each other around, Hawkodile held out his hand for Dr. Fox, but she turned away. Nearby, Sgt. Wolf dropped herself to the floor so as to breakdance, but her foot slipped on the edge. The Raiders' bench players got up from the bench and joined in.

Brock pretended to rope Master Frown and pull him towards him, straining as he tugged on his imaginary rope. But Frown tugged him in the opposite direction, dragging him along the floor, as he moved past the jiving spectators in a zig-zagged way. As he narrowly avoided bumping into someone, Brock accidentally got stepped on more than once. Imogen took his bag out of the row and down the stairs, but a nudge from a purple girl with a yellow propeller on her head knocked her sideways. When she tried to get back up, she unexpectedly stumbled down the stairs.

The air around her went cold again. The clouds hadn't faded away and were now about as big as a coffee table, but it wasn't snowing anymore. Master Frown followed them around the bleachers for their source, this time with a spark of fire lighting up his eyes. Recomposing herself, she followed the boys.