COULD ACHILLES' INJURY COST COLLOSUS THEIR NEXT GAME?

Maci Gian

Colossus has recently finished a match against Hydra, and while the team got to keep their title as: "The Gods of Football", beating Hydra 2-0 at their home stadium, they didn't leave completely unscathed. During their intense game, their midfielder, Achilles, had a clash against Hydra's own midfielder, Liquido.

Literally.

The two of them ended up colliding into each other while going after the ball. Liquido took a nasty fall but managed to get back on his feet unscathed. The same couldn't be said about Achilles, who ended up severely twisting his ankle and had to sit out for the rest of the game. The Greek players are scheduled to play against Iron Tank in several weeks, will Achilles' leg be healed enough in time to play? I spoke with their coach, Nick Kickalopolous, at their home stadium, Olympii, for his insight.

"Achilles will be able to recover." He told me, his arms folded. He had stopped his practice with his men for a moment to answer my questions, which I was grateful for! The tips of his fingers were partially covered with dirt and grass stains, which stood out from his warm, ivory skin. His suit and the rest of his body, however, seemed completely spotless. If there were any grass stains on his suit, I'd have no idea, as it's color was just a bit darker than the field. His white hair was still combed back, still resting at his shoulders, and still had a radiant glow to it! It's almost as if it was completely unaffected by whatever running around he had just done, as did his thick, white, rounded beard & mustasche. "Like the rest of my men, the Gods have gifted him with their strength. No mere twisting nor tumbling could ever keep him down." His posture was strong and tall--a little too tall--as I found my neck starting to hurt from looking up at him after a few minutes.

When asked if he had any plans against Iron Tank, he fixed his yellow tie and told me, "While Iron Tank matches us in size, and occasionally in strength, what they lack is coordination and patience. It isn't hard to chase after a ball, nor is running head first into your enemies, but to truly control your strength, and to swiftly and delicately move between your enemies at such an imposing size are skills that Iron Tank often overlook."

Nick had to go back to training his players, but he was kind enough to give me the chance to ask them about their thoughts on the matter.

"Oh, he'll absolutely be fine." Demitrius, the team's defender, said between grunts (I was interviewing him while he was doing crunches), "He does this sorta stuff all the time when he thinks he's about to lose. Saves him the embarrassment, not that he'll ever admit to it."

"I'd rather he miss a shot than put on a show." Their Captain, Parseus, said as he approached us. Demitrius sat up, rested his head on his knees, and brushed the grass out of his short cut, light brown hair as he watched his captain grow closer.

I tried to ask Parseus for his thoughts on the matter, but he didn't even look at me and continued ranting.

"When he misses a shot, the goalie grabs the ball, throws it, and we keep playing." He stood over Demitrius and fixed his white sweatband, "But when Achilles gets 'injured', he has to fall to the ground, hold onto his leg, roll around in the grass--and he always has to roll around in the grass--then the referee has to walk over-"

"Art thou talking'th about me!?" A voice screamed at us from across the field, cutting Parseus off. Their old english didn't sound completely accurate.

We all looked over to see Achilles himself hobbling over, clinging onto the shoulder of Ares, the team's striker for support! He must have insanely good hearing! Or it was insanely obvious we were talking about him. Either way, very impressive observation skills!

"I wouldst expecteth mine own teammates to show'th supp'rt during mine own time of need!" Achilles said as he pointed an accusatory finger at… One of his teammates, I wasn't sure which one.

Parseus let out a scoff before flicking a lock of his light, blond hair off his shoulder, "And I would expect you to be on the bench where you belong."

Achilles gasped (and I couldn't help but gasp too).

"How dare thee! I've been hurt and now thy claimeth thee doesn't need'st me around!?" He jabbed that finger into Parseus' chest, who looked less than amused.

"Parseus." Ares said, at least I think. I saw his thick, long, dark brown beard move against his light taupe skin, so I'm assuming he's the one who spoke. It was really hard to tell where his hair ended and where his beard began.

"I didn't mean it like that and you two know it." Parseus pointed a finger right back at Achilles, who's tan face scrunched in response, "All I'm saying is that if he was as hurt as he said he was, he wouldn't be wasting his energy dragging himself over here just because we were talking about him!"

"Mine leg is feeling'th much bett'r than yest'rday!" Achilles snapped back, placing a hand on his chest and sticking his arched nose high into the air. There was a curled piece of his brown, leather-colored hair that stuck out from his yellow & green headband and dangled in front of his face. It kept swishing around anytime he moved his head.

"Right, just like how it was suddenly better the day after we went against Invincible United and you got that 'terrible' injury from Automatic, or when you stumbled and fell at the Ramba Stadium--you didn't even get touched by anyone that time! This is why no one else wants to interview us anymore, because you keep-"

"Enough." Ares put his hands between the two and gently pushed them back. The front of his thin, golden headband started to slip down his forehead. Achilles quickly pushed it back up and let Ares continue. "Achilles' injury wasn't horrible, but he still needs time to recover. That being said, he should be resting."

Achilles' stuck his tongue at Parseus, who turned away. I watched the captain put his hands together and pray to the gods. Most of his words were muffled, but I could hear him asking them to 'help him' and 'give him strength'.

Achilles then locked eyes with me and quickly slid his tongue back in. He smiled. Apparently, he hadn't been informed that I was visiting their stadium today. He was more than eager to answer any questions I had in regards to his team, his injury, or himself.

Sadly, as soon as I was about to ask him to share his side of the story, Coach Nick had noticed Achilles was off of the bench and assumed he was feeling 'well enough to practice with the others again', so he promptly got dragged away by Ares and out onto the field. Hopefully I'll be able to hear first hand experience of what happened soon! If not, I'll definitely try to make it to their next game at The Fortress to see how Achilles' leg is doing, and maybe try to get an interview with any of the Iron Tank members!