One bright and sunny day, Thomas had been sent to work in Brazil for the week, but he wasn't sure why. It wasn't Carnival, it wasn't Independance Day, so why'd they need him? But as he pulled into Guanabara Bay, things started to make sense. Decorations sprawling all over the place. Tourists dressed up in jerseys. Even the engines were repainted to adorn sporty colors. It could only mean one thing.
"It's football season!" cried Raul.
"Thomas!" smiled Gabriela. "You made it just in time! Copa do Brasil is about to begin!"
"It is! Cool...what's Copa do Brasil?"
"Hah. What's Copa do Brasil, he says. Always a tourist." Raul smugly chuckled. "It's only the biggest football tournament in Brazil! Teams from all over the country come together to compete for the grand prize!"
"Really? What's the grand prize?"
"...eh, money, mostly. But this year...this year, it's something different."
"What is it?"
Cassia brought down a small crate as two workmen walked over with crowbars in their hands, revealling a magnificent golden trophy. "Presenting...the Rio Cup!"
"Wow..." Thomas gasped. "I wish I could win something like that."
"Pah. Thomas, you think you can win a game of football?"
"...no, I don't have feet. It's not called wheel-ball. But I can still probably do something."
"Well, you could always play keepy-uppy with me and Raul." suggested Gabriela. "You remember playing that, right?"
"Sure I do." Thomas smiled.
"Sad thing is, we have no ball. Marcia and Marcio bumped it into the sea. Cassia's still trying to find it."
"Oh." Thomas frowned. "Ah, well. What are you gonna do? Maybe if the right ball appears out of the blue, we can play a round. But for now, I gotta get to work."
And with that, he left the bay, content with simply observing the game.
Thomas carried on with his work around the city, taking in the sights of Copa do Brasil. But as he pulled into the station, he immediately gasped. Sitting in the middle of the station was a magnificent, spectacular, fantastic...football.
"Whoa..." Thomas stared at the ball in awe.
Raul pulled into the platform next to him. "Ola, Thomas!"
"Raul, look." Thomas gestured to the ball.
"Ooh." Raul smirked at the ball. "Not bad."
"I know, it's fantastic." Thomas smiled.
But as he was about to disembark, an idea popped in Raul's pistons. "Wait. Thomas. It just hit me."
"What?"
"Remember how we were talking about playing keepy-uppy? You said we needed the right ball. There it is right there!"
"Wait...you're right. We can play..." Thomas stopped for a second. "...wait, what if it's the game ball?"
"Thomas, if it were the game ball, why is it just sitting out in the open? Shouldn't it be at the stadium?"
"Touche."
"Go on, Thomas. Just one round?"
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. You talked me into it."
Raul's driver picked up the ball and stored it in his cab. "Alright, let's find the right spot to start the game. And we’ll be done by the time the first game begins."
The two left, unaware of the football team searching for something. What were they looking for? We'll get back to that, just remember I said that.
The two found a spot in the Amazon. A clear stretch of track ahead of them. Nothing but trees, grass and sweet, sweet glory.
“Alright. Winner takes all.” Raul declared. “Whoever wins this shall be known as the keepy-uppy champion!”
“Ready to lose?” Thomas taunted.
“Heh. Nah. I’m a professional.”
“Hm. We’ll see.”
“Shall we?”
Thomas and Raul blew their whistles and started their game. Raul started bouncing the ball around his smoke box with expert timing. He bounced it to Thomas, who tried to balance it on his dome.
“What is that?!” laughed Raul.
“Hold on, this is working…” Thomas concentrated as the ball bounced onto his running board. Thomas shimmied the ball back over to Raul, who rallied the ball atop his body in ways Thomas had never seen before.
“Don’t show off!” Thomas chuckled.
“Please.” Raul scoffed as he headbutted the ball back to Thomas. “Like you can do better.”
“Watch me.” Thomas said, smugly. Thomas bounced the ball on his smoke box, but accidentally got it lodged in his funnel.
“Was that planned?” Raul asked.
“I call this the blastoff.” Thomas announced, before clenching his eyes. Steam shot out of his funnel, lifting the ball into the air.
However…the ball didn’t come back down.
“…did you actually send the ball into space?” asked Raul.
“No, I think I lost it.” Thomas gasped, before seeing the ball flying down through the clouds. “No, wait! I found it!”
The ball bounced through the forest and into a lake.
“Lost it again.” Thomas winced.
Thomas and Raul’s drivers spent hours trying to fish the ball out of the lake as the two engines struck up a friendly conversation. But at last, they got the ball out of the water.
“At last!” sighed Thomas. “Ready for round two, Raul?”
“Best two out of three!” Raul smirked. But their plans were dashed when Thomas noticed the time on his drivers’ watch.
“Cinders and ashes!” gasped Thomas. “It’s half three!”
“WHAT?” shrieked Raul. “We missed half the football game!”
“Okay, our little match can wait.” Thomas declared as his driver stored the ball in his cab. “Let’s get to Copa do Brasil!”
Thomas and Raul raced over to the stadium, but something seemed off. The teams were just…outside. Gabriela was outside as well, keeping an eye on things.
“Those are the Remo and Santos teams.” Raul gasped, starstruck. “I’m not worthy!”
“What’s going on?”
Now, remember two paragraphs ago when I said to keep in mind that the team was looking for something? Well…
“Thomas, we can’t find the game ball.” Gabriela explained. “Last they saw it, it was at Luz Station.”
Thomas gulped. “Uh…Raul?”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t we find a ball at Luz Station?”
“…we stole the game ball!” Raul gasped.
“You what?!” Gabriela shouted. “Raul, what were you thinking?”
“I didn’t know it was the game ball!” Raul protested.
“We’re so sorry!” Thomas told the referee. “It was an honest mistake, we didn’t mean to ruin the game.”
The referee said nothing. He simply took back the game ball and flashed a yellow card. Thomas and Raul gasped.
“No!” Raul cried. “I’ve never gotten a yellow card before!”
“Actually, this is my second.” Thomas chuckled to himself. “There was this competition with my friend James, it was a whole thing. But maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from this.”
“Let me guess. We shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to us?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Wow. Tha was a guess."
The two chuckled to themselves as the game finally kicked off.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
