[PRP] Finding Purpose (Aka'ula & Sea)

[CaliWolfe]

Aka'ula was turned over on his back, lightly battering the bud of a flower growing from the branches of a tree. Or maybe it was wilting? Regardless the tree had grown sloped over, having been on a hill. This was important because underneath happened to be the boulder Aka was on. Because of the trees awkward position it's branches now prominently smacked the Cheeton in the face. "Mmph." He grunted. It wasn't a very nice feeling having a bunch of flowery plants shoved into your mouth and eyes. (Even though he was making an effort to keep them as far away as possible.)

Flipping over onto his belly, now tired with the tree; he curiously eyed the field in front of him. Some of the other players were now practicing their movements on the grassy arena. Maneuvering around teammates who tripped over their own feet, hopping over cubs and pups who blocked the path to the goal. Zipping around, avoiding being tackled. It was all very exciting to say in the least.  

[SilverLutz]

Something zipped over the cheeton's head with alarming speed and fell with a clunk to the ground before him after hitting the tree. It was an empty tortoise shell, the very object used in the game of Kikombe. A panting sound was heard soon after, and just a few moments later a young wild dog rounded the tree, chest heaving from running.

"Oh...oh my gosh are you okay?" she asked, ears flat against her head as she saw the shell. "I am so, so sorry! I didn't mean to sent it so far and it just...I didn't know you were here! I promise!" She had seen the cheeton around although she had never met him, and she was pretty sure she'd played with him when they were little as well. It was always so hard to remember who was batting the shell around when there were cubs and pups of all shapes and sizes running around the playing field.

Catching her breath finally, she reached out a delicate paw and pulled the shell closer to her, hoping it hadn't hit the cheeton. She had heard a thunk but hopefully that had just been the tree.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

"Oh, no worries!" He chimed in response. "Didn't hit me at all, perfectly fine!" He gave a reassuring laugh to rid the area of worry. That was a wicked hit though. He didn't even see or sense it coming! Turning his head to examine the tree there were clear marks of where the shell had skidded along the bark. That wasn't something any ol' rookie could accomplish Aka imagined.

He turned back to the girl. "You play offence?" he asked as a guess. Though he had been wrong with quite a few of his guesses as to who was positioned where. He was starting to become slightly famous for it even. Or at least, in Aka's mind he was.

Slinging down off the boulder he stretched his front legs enthusiastically. Maybe it was about time he finally go do something about his lack of physical exercise as of the late.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Sea let out a sigh of relief as the cheeton confirmed that he hadn't been hit. She pushed the shell under her body for the time being so she wouldn't be tempted to bat it back and forth. "Phew...thank the gods," she murmured, ears relaxing from their pressed back state.

The question caught her off guard and her apologetic appearance quickly turned to one of relaxation. "Ah...yeah, I do," she said with a little laugh. "Kind of weird for a wild dog to play offense, right?" she asked, grinning just a bit. Her natural agility made her more the type to play defense, while offense was usually left to the felines, but she loved scoring goals too much to let that stop her.

As the cheeton hopped down off his boulder and stretched Sea shook her head, Where were her manners? "Sorry...I'm Seamróige," she said with a tiny smile. "Sea for short. I've seen you around...I think we're about the same age," she added with a little nod. "Might've scrapped with you out on the field with the other squirts at some point. I'm afraid I don't know your name, though."

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

"Aka'ula." He reclined into a sitting position after finishing his stretch. "Aka for short. Ula also for short." Even though he said so, never could he recall anyone ever calling him Ula. Aka though, he had been called a handful of times. As far back as he could remember someone would call him that. Well it didn't really matter to him much. Was just a name after all. He had been always told it was how you play that made a name shine, not the other way around.

He glanced around for the tortoise shell before eyeing Sea again. "Actually, I play offence too." Or was it defence? He could never remember. Though he was around 90% sure he was on offence, so why not say so? Couldn't hurt him too badly. "Haven't played in a bit though... Mind helping me warm up?"

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

"Aka'ula," Sea repeated with a little nod, smiling at the nickname. "Aka works just fine, then," she added, wagging her tail slightly. As the male stretched and spoke she nodded eagerly, glad that she had someone to practice with that wasn't her siblings. Playing with them was great but they all had the same physical advantages and disadvantages. Hybrids were very special to have on a team, since they had the strengths of the two felines they were bred from.

"I'm not surprised," she said with a little laugh as she backed up, batting the shell as she went to bring it along. "You're built for offense...speed and strength," she said with a little nod. "The latter of which I lack," she added, shaking her head just a bit. She'd done some training lately to help bolster her weaknesses, but she was still behind even the most basic lion that had had no extra training.

"Have you picked a team yet?" she asked as she led the way to a training field that wasn't occupied. They could take turns shooting at the goal. "I know it's kind of dead right now since the championship just happened but..hey, that's when the recruiters are looking for new faces and paws for their teams."

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

"I'm sure your stronger than you think." Aka blurted out. Although who was he to say anything? He wasn't so bold as to say he had no weaknesses but his strength and speed were fairly evened out compare to some of the other players he had seen running around. On top of that it wasn't as if he had seen Sea in action before- he merely avoiding being smacked in the face by her practice shell...

"Nah, I'm not on a team yet." He said with a small amount of pride as they walked. It wasn't like it was anything to be proud of to not be on a team, but Aka felt a stride of confidence that he'd fine one. "Looking for one though." He chirped in to reassure himself. Yes, he was a player after all. It was his job to find a team wasn't it? Or the team to recruit him. Something along those lines. Either way he needed a team and he was feeling less and less doubtful that he'd get one soon enough.

As they approached the other field the Cheeton noted to himself the lack of players and most important, little pups and cubs. It was a nice little weight taken off his shoulders to not worry about accidently hitting one of them as they practiced.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Sea laughed softly and shrugged. "I don't know...maybe a little stronger than most wild dogs but next to you or a lion I'm probably a weakling. But I bet I can get around you even still," she said with a grin, wagging her tail as they reached the field. If there was one thing she knew she was good at, it was her agility. It helped quite a bit of offense even when she had the shell, dodging and weaving around players.

"Not yet? Really?" she said in surprise, looking at Aka with wide eyes. "I thought hybrids always got recruited right off the bat." They were a valuable addition to any team, after all, and she couldn't understand why no one had snatched him up. Some teams did have odd rules about coloring, and some were even lions-only, or hyenas-only, but for the most part all were welcoming.

Then again..the cheeton had been laying under a tree rather than practicing. Perhaps he was a bit lazy? There was nothing wrong with that, of course, but no one wanted a lazy player on their team. She batted the shell to him and motioned to the goal.

"I bet if you're out and about practicing on the fields a lot you'd get lots of offers. There's one wild dog I know of, at least, looking for a team. I think he goes by Aya? He's pretty big," she added with a nod. "I can't remember if he's defense or goalie, but he definitely would need an offensive player! And," she said with a grin, 'Then we could play each other and maybe even be rivals! That would be fun!"

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

It made Aka grin at the thought of him and Sea facing off in a real game. The crowd roaring at the two as they faced off, cheering for their favourite player before the game even began. All the while it simply be a friendly competition between Sea and him. Or would it be he wondered? At that point would it they still be friendly rivals or would the tables have turned in the heat of the moment.

He dragged his paw along the sides of the shell while eyeing the goal. His eyes stared it down, tail wagging slowly behind him as he pondered which motion would allow an easy victory. Finally he made a running start before thrusting the shell forward and watching as it skidded across the ground. After it hopped into the goal his ears perked up in delight.

"Aya huh? Think I've seen him around once or twice." Yeah that was right, he was a big dog. Strong looking. Or maybe not if Aka was thinking of the wrong person. Regardless he switched topics by saying "Definitely be fun to have a shoot-off against you." He went to retrieve the shell.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

The wild dog watched as Aka calculated his move. When he finally did hit the shell she wagged her tail happily. He didn't look to have used his full strength, but it went as fast as she could hit it. It struck the wooden stakes in the ground that made up the net and she gave a little yip of delight.

"Nice shot!" she said as she pawed the ground in front of her. "Ah, I wish I were that strong...it looked effortless when you did it!" That and felines had the advantage of their tails. They could get some tricky shots in by wrapping their slim, long tails around the shell and send it flying in. Granted those took a lot of skill and practice, but she could never hope to mimic them with her own fluffy one.

"Yup, that's him!" she said happily. "His sister is a trainer, I think, so I bet you guys could get into really good shape as a team." She gave a little laugh and a nod, jogging over to the shell with Aka. "It would be fun, wouldn't it? I bet you'd win, though," she said with a little smile. "You've got way more range than I do still. I need to work on that."

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

"Well, practice makes perfect." He replied to her. He might have been stronger than her at the moment but Aka truly believed another component was involved in success. "Honestly though I think over half of it is based on luck." Aka smiled as he passed the shell over to her. That, and determination. Without those two things it would have been impossible for anybody to won anything. "So you could still have a shot, no matter how much the odds are stacked against you."

Aka backed up a bit to give Sea more room. He knew how much he hated it when everyone was all up in your space. Even though it was essentially a major part of the game for bodies to be ramming against each other, it bothered him greatly. That's why the Cheeton was beginning to admire Sea, for he could tell she was a lot more agile than he was. In fact Aka was quite klutz. Mainly though noticed he had to work on his endurance. Already he was starting to feel a ping of slight exhaustion without having done much for that to occur. Or maybe he was just so lazy that his body was getting used to not doing much. His ears curved backwards, that was going to be a problem.

"So Aya, does he have any other players on his team?"

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

"That it does," Sea replied with a happy bark. "Which is why I practice whenever I can." The luck comment made her shrug: there was certainly an element of luck in the game, but she wouldn't go so far to say over half of it. Still, it was all from the perspective of the player.

The question that followed made her hum as she batted the shell around a bit, from front to back paws as she spun around, making her way past invisible defenders on her way to the goal. "I don't think so. Not yet, anyway. He's been trying to get on a team but everyone really seems to like leopards in the goalie position as of late. So he and his sister decided to start a team instead."

Once she got close enough, Sea planted her front paws and used to back ones to flip the shell into the goal after a quick spin move. It rattled off one post and in, making her grin just a bit. She'd been working on that shot for a while. It still wasn't very reliable but she was working on it.

"Well...I should probably get back to the den. My coach....heh, who is my mother," she said with a little eye roll. "Wants us all in to eat at a 'decent hour'. You can keep the shell if you want to keep practicing, though."

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

"Well its either that or starve, right?" Aka said in a witty tone. After retrieving the shell he batted it around as he pondered where to begin searching for Aya and his sister. Well, he could always return to his rock and look to see if he could find them, or... He knew of a certain mud pit some of the tougher players liked to hang around, likely a good place to start.

As the dog began to leave he quickly turned around and shouted over to her; "Hey Sea, next time we meet is for a practice game alright?!" After all by that time he would already be on a team. Then as Sea had suggested early, they could be actual rivals. The fun and irony of it all made him grin with optimistic joy. Now it was just a matter of finding Aya and hoping he hadn't formed at team already. Oh, and hoping Ayas sister didn't mind having him around. And also introductions, introductions were important. He nodded to himself.

The Cheeton wrapped his tail around the shell as he curled in preparation for a shot. Moving it closer to his body he furled his claws around the shell before spinning madly around and tossing it through the air. Would it go in? Would it not? Well, either way, it was turning out to be a great day for Aka.

SilverLutz

fin?

 

[SilverLutz]

Sea laughed softly and nodded before turning to go. "Right!" she called back as she trotted away. Great, she had a friendly rival now! They could practice together and get better together, and then in games see who was on top. It was great! She hoped he'd find Aya to be a good goalie...because he was going to need it with her on the opposite team!


[FIN]

CaliWolfe