Serix moved to his position at the upward-center of his team’s side of the rectangle and watched the others do the same. The young human, Charlie, joined him in midfield along with Quincy. Wes and Ray stayed back by the goal box on defense, and Sarah and Monty stood at the center line as forwards. Jacob stayed at the far back to defend the goal. On the other side, Ryan and Hunter started at the center line as forwards; Cassie, Gunner, and Jerry were midfielders; Ron and Connor were defenders; and Sally was the goalie.

“Okay,” Quincy said, getting Serix’s attention one more time. “For this game, I’ll be the playmaker, Charlie will be the holding mid, and you’ll be the box-to-box.” He laughed when Serix just gave him a confused look. “There’re individual roles within defense, mid, and forward. You see, Wes is left back and Ray is right back in defense, meaning they each only cover half of the field on our side. For our forwards, Monty is the striker and Sarah is the withdrawn-striker, meaning that Monty takes most of the shots at the goal, while she acts as a decoy. They can also signal to each other to switch if Sarah has an opportunity to shoot, and Monty can act as the decoy instead. Midfield is a little more complicated. Charlie is the holding mid, which means that he mostly stays behind the center line to stop the ball before it gets to our defense. As the playmaker, I lead most of our tactical advances and formations. And as the box-to-box mid, you help keep the ball off of our side of the field and give the strikers opportunities to shoot.” He slapped Serix on the shoulder and grinned. “Don’t worry. If you ever get confused, just pass the ball to me and I’ll get it where it needs to go.”

“Don’t expect me to pass it to you every time,” Serix said, returning Quincy’s grin. “This game is actually pretty similar to a military exercise I did back on my people’s ship. I think I’ll pick it up quickly enough.”

“That’s some big talk for a noob,” Quincy whistled. “Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got.” He turned back to face the other team as Ryan kicked the ball to Hunter, starting the game. A flurry of movement ensued as everyone began repositioning themselves to play their parts in the game. Serix recalled what Quincy said about his role. He was to keep the ball off of his team’s side and give it to the strikers when he had the chance. So, when Hunter and Ryan started to pass the ball back and forth and carry it onto Jacob’s half, Serix and Charlie were there to counter them.

Charlie blocked Hunter off so Ryan couldn’t pass back, and Serix swept out a foot to steal the ball away from him. The plan was perfect in Serix’s mind, but he didn’t take into account the amount of force —or the lack thereof— he needed to use to actually take the ball. So when he kicked it out from under Ryan’s feet, it sailed right out of the boundaries. This amused Quincy to no end.

“Impressive power,” the human laughed. “But you need to work on control. Soccer’s not about how hard you can kick; it’s about how accurately you can play. Keep that in mind, okay newbie?”

“Uh, right,” Serix said, following the ball with his eyes as it bounced far outside of the painted rectangle.

Jerry went to fetch the ball and the players rearranged themselves yet again. The red-haired human threw the ball back in and the game continued. As it went on, Serix began to pick up techniques from the other, more skilled players. He went from making constant blunders to being able to steal the ball almost effortlessly whenever a member of the opposite team tried to slip past him. His rapid improvement seemed to frustrate Ryan above all the others on his team. Serix would slip the ball right out from under him every time he tried to get by until, finally, Ryan couldn’t stand it any longer.

The next time he had the ball, Ryan crossed onto Jacob’s half of the in-zone as usual, but this time when Serix moved to stop him, the human shoved him aside and kept going. Serix stumbled and stared after him, wide eyed. No one else seemed to notice— well, either that or they didn’t care.

Ryan managed to slip past the defenders and score a goal. On his way back to his own side, Serix stepped in front of him, “Hang on. That doesn’t count.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be a sore loser, alien.”

“You know what I mean,” Serix glared back at him. “I’m pretty sure there’s a rule against shoving people like that.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t shove a [i]person[/i], then,” Ryan spat.

“Wanna say that again?” Serix snarled, stepping closer to the human.

“Of course,” Ryan smiled coldly. “I didn’t shove a person, I just moved an obstacle.”

“You make it sound so easy. Why can’t you move the same obstacle when you’re trying to get to Cassie, huh? You seem to have a much harder time of doing that. I guess she’s not as important to you as a recreational game.”

“You little bastard,” Ryan grabbed Serix by the front of his shirt, pulling him so that they were nose-to-nose. Serix did the same, catching Ryan’s shirt in his hand so that they both had each other pinned. In the next instant, he felt a set of arms hook him beneath the shoulders and rip him away from the human. He craned his neck around to see Jacob dragging him back while Quincy was doing the same with Ryan.

“Break it up, you two,” Jacob growled, and then muttered more quietly in Serix’s ear: “That’s twice in two days. You’re walking on thin ice now, so I suggest you shape up.” Serix stopped thrashing at the unspoken threat in the human’s tone. If he messed up one more time, he would land himself in the hold. He swallowed his anger and forced himself to relax. Jacob let him go.

“Game’s over, anyways,” Quincy said, releasing Ryan from his grasp. He turned to the other humans, who were watching the scene. “Come on, guys, it’s getting late. Let’s go to bed.” He herded the reluctant group towards the tunnel and glanced back over his shoulder to nod at Jacob. The latter nodded back at him and turned to face Ryan and Serix, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you guys,” Jacob said angrily. “But you need to get it sorted out. Ryan, you’re supposed to be the leader here, for Christ’s sake! Get this mess fixed. I’ll see you both in the morning.” With that, he turned and followed the others out through the tunnel, leaving Serix, Ryan, and Cassie behind.