Never Surrender

"Today is the day... The time to show who we are... To show how have we come this far... And to prove we deserve every last shout, every last clap we have gotten so far.
We've had our rises and our downfalls... But we now stand here today, on this field, because we have hearts burning with fire and tears of pride for our nation dropping down our cheeks."

"I know it..."

"We will win today."

***

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand up for national anthem of Mlbb White Tigers!" The voice is loud and calm yet it rose the crowd in the stadium on their feet. It's the moment, all the fans sang with the team in white-yellow striped dresses cheering for Bruno and his team.

He was the captain who rose the moral of his whole team with his speech earlier that day. He is the best known football player in the world, yet although they reached the finals few times by now, they've never managed to win.

Every time, that one unlucky event would separate them from the trophy they've wanted for so long... This time, they are shooting big. They have beaten even the 'unbeatable' Croatian team who kicked out all the favourites, Argentina is gone, Germany is gone, Portugal is gone, Danmark is gone. Now the last stand in front of Mlbb White Tigers is a team nobody has ever heard of before...

The voice from before now spoke again: "Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand up for national anthem of Mlbb Toxic!" Some of the crowd started clapping but it was nothing when compared to the cheering that happened after White Tigers' anthem.

Bruno smiled softly patting head of the girl who stood next to him before whispering: "Angela, I know you'll do well. I have a feeling you'll be the MVP of this game. Only one team to go and I promise you'll hold the trophy in your hands."

Shortly after saying that, he turned his back on her and walked towards the referee. On the other side, a dread looking lady approached. At first, the experienced footballer thought it was make up... or some kind of silly joke until she came closer revealing her body which was slender and her skin that has an unhealthy bluish tone.

As a well-mannered player he was, he offered her a hand to shake until he felt a very cold touch of her hand. The grip wasn't tight at all, she seemed like she was dead and came there just to confuse the living. "Bruno." The brightly bronze-skinned boy said with a warm smile, his eyes watching the girl who stood in front of him.

"Vexana..." She said before pulling back her hand.

The announcer's voice spoke again from the loudspeakers. Before every match, he would repeat the same but every time it was nice to hear how beautiful the words sounded.

"The World Cup is the tournament celebrating the beauty of this sport. Everybody is invited try but only the best team may win. Gender or age don't matter. What matters is how skilled you are, the skill level is important, not only how your wield the ball but also how great of a player you are for your team.

With that said, I call our referee Harley to officially start the final match between Mlbb White Tigers and Mlbb Toxic."

Although the crowd went wild once again after this, it didn't matter to either of the two team captains. They turned to the referee who was wearing the bright yellow shirt and had a big black and purple top hat so everybody would notice him on the field.

"Vexana, yellow or red?" The unnaturally short boy asked holding a coin that had a yellow and a red side.

The girl gazed at Bruno before picking her colour. "Yellow." Her voice and her gaze were more intimidating than anything else Bruno was ever met with throughout his journey on the World Cup. He took a deep relaxing breath before nodding and saying: "Then I guess I'm taking red."

Within few spins and flips the coin made in mid-air, it landed on the ground with yellow side on the top. The enemy team got the ball, but it's okay. They can always take the ball away and organise a counter-attack.

Few more moments passes until everybody was on their position. White Tigers worked great together with Bruno in the front, Angela as right wing and Chou on the goal. Those three were the best friends since they were just children and stuck together on their way to the top.
They met few other teammates they formed great relationships with such as Miya, the young elf with whole life in front of her and passion in heart, Alucard, the attractive guy who was the only one in the team more popular with girls than Bruno, and Roger, who was just a hunter with love for this sport, but the starting trio was always the dream team responsible for win in mostly every game.

Harley's whistle announced the beginning of the game.

Ball was between the legs of a dangerous and wild looking guy who definitely doesn't know the meaning of the word 'shaving'. He carried a staff in the stadium although it wasn't on the list of classic football equipment. He grinned and said "I hope they're stronger than me!" before charging forwards with the ball between his legs. He was fast but looked rather clumsy. Miya and Bruno didn't let his words confuse them so they took the advantage of his clumsy was of running with the ball to surround him two on one.

The elven girl with silver hair tied up in a ponytail with a beautiful blue flower as a decoration slid in and took the hairy monkey's ball. The guy looked at her angrily before putting on a little act and falling to the ground, fake tears welling up in his eyes. He screamed so loudly that the referee stopped the game with a whistle.

Both Miya and Bruno rose their eyebrows. The girl gazed at him and said: "Gosh... Chill out, will ya? Stop overreacting."

As she was trying to approach, she was met with a yellow card stuck in face by the referee. "You need to lower down the aggression! And the ball is for team Toxic!"

The monkey-man simply rose up from the ground and grinned. "Nobody messes with Sun." He chuckled madly while the everybody from Bruno's team was staring at him. He didn't care.

The captain of White Tigers, Bruno, seeing everything happen in front of his eyes walked up to the referee and cleared his throat slightly. "Excuse me but how did that deserve such a radical punishment? She just took the ball from him, I was here, I saw everything, he was just acting." He said, remaining as calm as possible.

Harley shrugged. "Please, I know what I saw and besides, who are you to complain to the referee?" He asked, his tone slightly irritating the blonde football player.

"Who am I?? I'm the captain for God's sake, I have the right to tell you what I saw!" He snapped at him crossing his arms.

Harley frowned. He said nothing more just rose another yellow card and shoved it in Bruno's face before whistling loudly and letting the game continue. Was this just a misunderstanding or something else?

Meanwhile, the players of Toxic have approached the goal so Sun could clearly pass the ball to some of his teammates.. But he chose not to. Instead, he shot towards the goal and it clearly flew too high for anybody to reach but wait, what is that? It isn't a bird! It isn't a plain, it's Eudora who flew up reaching the ball and kicking it downwards in mid-air, at least a meter above head of the tallest and the most muscular player of White Tigers, Roger who was powerless to do anything.

The cheering became louder, few whistles coming from the crowd on the stadium.

Chou was the last one standing between the ball and the goal. He focused, pulling himself together, his hands burning with power of this young boy's spirit while his brown hair was dancing freely on the breeze and then suddenly, he punched the ball away far into the field with the power of twenty eastern elephants. The ball was sent flying through the air before the game got stopped by yet another whistle.

"Playing with hand, that'd be a penal--" The referee started but was stopped by Bruno whose nerves were cracking by now. "HE IS A GOALKEEPER FOR SAKE OF EVERYTHING HOLY IN THIS WORLD!!" He yelled across half of the field.

Harley then gazed at Vexana with slightly terrified expression... Her gaze was still intimidating as she was waiting on the other side of the football field but she just gently shook her head, showing a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

The referee then turned back to Bruno and walked towards him. "Fine. But no more yelling unless you want to be sent to chill out outside of the game." His voice was slightly threatening and loud but at least everything came out fairly well for the White Tigers.

The white tiger Leo, their mascot was dancing in front of their fans with its trainer Irithel. They were entertaining them while nothing special was happening on the field although at that point, it was already clear... something is wrong in that match.

The other blonde in Bruno's team, also a very handsome guy Alucard had the ball. While he was scouting the area looking for somebody to give them the ball, Miya was running closer, trying to give him more options for a more precise pass. When he saw her, he passed the ball to her offering her a small smile.

Miya then kept running forwards going in for the last attack of the first half of the match. Time is passing so quickly... She was looking pretty good, skillfully dodging the enemy team's players until she blacked out. A bird had flown into her head in a very high speed while on the other side, a blind girl was laughing devilishly. The bird then came back to her hand before she turned into mist that surrounded the bird and flew away, back to her position in the back.

Harley stopped the game as the medic team ran in to help the girl. The referee sighed. "Poor girl, she must've taken the heat too badly..." he said before walking away and letting the medics handle it.

Bruno was boiling from inside. That girl and her bird deserved to immediately get kicked out of the game but no, of course their dear referee would do nothing and if he tried to complain, he'd just get punished. What choice was even left to him?

The medic looked like he was really shook, he picked up the young elf bridal style and whispered something in her ear. If you looked closely enough, you could see the points of his ears rising above his long white hair. It was Estes. No wonders he took this so badly... He said: "She won't be able to continue the game. I have to take her back for a healing treatment... this could be serious!"

He was too shook with the sudden event that he didn't even tell referee he was clearly wrong about the cause of her falling unconscious but he just cared for his crush's well being.

Bruno sighed. "I'm done... This is crazy..." He mumbled gazing at the reserve players who were waiting to get in the field. The mystic magician was the one who started warming up to get in the game and take Miya's place. Of course, it'd take him some time to get ready and meanwhile, the Toxic team took the lead.

Sun split in three monkeys while, "surprisingly" Chou felt sudden weakness. Vexana put a spell on him and summoned a ghost copy of him that just started punching him and kicked him out of the way while the three monkeys pushed through weakened White Tigre's defence.

Within a moment, the crowd started yelling and shouting but not positively as usually, it was full of sorrow and disappointment, not for their favourite team but for referee who ignored everything that was happening on the field. It got so bad that the special S.A.B.E.R Squad who was there as security had to make few interventions.

Goal.

Nightmare.

Two words so different in meaning yet for Bruno, they were the same. It was happening again. One stupid coincidence pulling him away from the victory. But they had three players more... They were using magic... This isn't fair...
He sighed deeply watching it all unravel in front of his eyes for few more moments... Then a whistle came and he felt a hand in his hand. It was warm, just like the voice that followed.

"Don't give up just yet. We can still win. I know we can. And deep inside, I know you know it too! Come on. It's the halftime break now. Let's grab a refreshing drink and prepare new tactic."

Angela smiled at him with the ever positive vibe like the one she had when they were kids. He felt down just like that day. Everything was beautiful yet he felt gloomy and blue just like now.

"It's not over yet. Next year you'll succeed." Her voice rang in his ears. "I know you can become a professional footballer. Victory doesn't make a star. A star is the one who accepts defeats and rises again."

It was sunset. He was ten and has just failed his football audition. The sky was painted with mixture of peach colours and pinks but he saw none of it until the girl pulled him down on a bench where they sat for a moment watching the sun sliding down behind the sea in the distance.

"And not matter do you win or lose, I'll be here for you. Remember this moment. When everything is gloomy, colour the world with colours of these clouds."

He remembered it so clearly, her pink dress and the burning clouds. Her smile and the smile she set on his lips. "Thank you, Angela, for always being by my side." He whispered. "But I promised you victory for this one time and I will keep my promise. I'll be back soon."

***

Harley was having a drink in his room which was guarded by a red haired elite S.A.B.E.R Squad member. Her gun was leaned on the wall next to her. "Yo. Where do you think you're goin'?" She asked.

Bruno gazed at her and warmly said: "Hey. I just need to talk to the referee for a moment if that's alright?"

The girl frowned slightly. She sighed after seeing his captain line on the sleeve and let him in. "Just don't be too annoying, okay?" She asked, holding the door open for him and calling for the short guy who was referee.

Soon after, the two guys were standing eye to eye, alone in the room. "Look. I'm not looking for troubles here but it's obvious you're judging for them. I'm not here to attack you or anything I just want to know why."

Harley frowned. "Oh, please if this is all you've wanted to say, stop wasting time and go back t--"

His sentence was cut in half by Bruno who just said: "I made a promise to my friend. I promised I'd do anything to win, for her, and despite how much I want to hold the trophy, not keeping the promise would be the most painful part. Please... They already have an advantage. Just give us a chance..."

The short boy watched him, his eyes gleaming under the white lights lighting up every corner of the room. "I'm sorry... I can't..."

"Then just tell me why..." The captain of White Tigers spoke.

"She backed me up in the corner! If Vexana's team doesn't win she'll keep the curse she put on me. Everything I touch slowly dies. And everybody!" Harley said. "Okay!? I have to! You don't know how bad it is!"

He grabbed a flower and it started turning gray and brown until it was only the dust that fell to the ground.

"Please understand me..." The guy said. "And leave me alone..."

Bruno sighed. He said nothing more and left the room making his way back towards his team. He had an idea and although he wasn't sure would it work, he knew it was their only chance.

"Today is the day... The time to show who we are... To show how have we come this far... And to prove we deserve every last shout, every last clap we have gotten so far.
We've had our rises and our downfalls... But we now stand here today, on this field, because we have hearts burning with fire and tears of pride for our nation dropping down our cheeks."

"I know it..."

"We will win today."

"We deserve to win and won't let the last obstacle to defeat us!"

He then gazed at Angela and took her hand. "And you're the only one who can bring us victory. I have an idea. Angie, you're the Most Valuable Player in our team right now. I need you to lead us into victory."

Her eyes widened. She never thought he'd be saying that to her. "Yes. I will do it." She said, her face burning in bright red colour and her heart beating wildly. She always had faith in Bruno and she always knew he would become the champion but she could never imagine her role would be important in all of it.

"Then listen carefully..."

***

The second half of the game was about to begin when Angela took a deep breath. She gazed at the referee who was standing in the middle. This time, Bruno's team would get the ball first and Angela was the one go take it instead of Bruno. He was standing only several meters away yet she started feeling slight panic.

She remembered what Bruno said to her... "I believe in you like you believed in me that day... Remember to colour up the world in colours of the sunset every time you feel gloomy."

It gave her strength. She summoned her magical strings to pull the referee closer to her. The strings wrapped around him and she was slowly pulling him towards her, closing the distance between them.

"Love and hope are the two greatest inventions. Believe in love." She said before kissing him softly. Her kisses were magical, her touches and her love heals. With a kiss, the curse was broken and she proved it by touching his hand with the one of her own.

Everybody on the field stood there and watched in surprise, everybody except Bruno who knew exactly what's going on.

The curse was broken and the boy was free, free to judge as his heart says. He slowly pulled away from Angela, watching her like goddess who placed her heavenly hand on him. A small tear slid down his cheek as the girl smiled. "Love will heal, even the darkness keeps you in its grip."

"Y-you're my angel, my saviour... How can I make this up to you...?" He asked, not even caring for Vexana who was raging behind him and yelling, threatening because her words were muffled by the cheering of the fans in the stadium.

"I just want you to do what you think is right." She spoke softly.

Bruno was watching her, proud to be her friend while Chou was cheering from the goal frame as the heart-melting words continued.

"Remember my words..."

"When you think it's over..."

"Look for the light within your heart..."

"And never surrender to darkness."

The End (3,333 words xD)

Author's Note
***
I noticed I haven't updated this story in awhile now so here is a quick one-shot for you.

#MobileLegendsBangBang #Mlbb #WorldCup

One more question for you:
Has anybody of you who are reading this joined MGL Fanart Team?