COLOSSUS VS IRON TANK

Maci Gian

Colossus and Iron Tank were already known for being equally sized, but to find out they’re equally skilled too?! After much anticipation, neither side is left satisfied as the two giants of the Super League ended on a tie, with both teams scoring 2 points!

However, these points were anything but easy for the teams to get, as most of the game consisted of these powerful players constantly rushing back and forth, ramming into each other full force, and having to plow through one another just to get closer to the goal! Anytime Iron Tank got into Colossus’ territory, the defenders were able to leap into action and sweep the ball away, and anytime Colossus got into Iron Tank’s territory, Grenade pushed himself to his limit to fend off the onslaught of shots, though he wasn’t entirely successful.

Perhaps Iron Tank’s goalie wouldn’t have been put through such a work out had his team actually kept their defenders in the positions they should’ve been, but for in baffling decision, Captain Johann Uber had placed nearly every player as close to the center of the pitch as possible! This proved to be a horrible decision, as whenever a Colossus player was able to bring the ball to their side, Iron Tank’s defenders had to break into a full on sprint just to catch up to them. Hermes, Achilles, and Perseus were able to get across the field with ease, and Achilles managed to trick Grenade with a false shot before sending the ball to Perseus so he could earn their team their first goal!

That isn’t to say Uber’s strategy of ’having everyone up front’ was a completely bad idea, as it had it’s moments of effectiveness. Having a wall of giant, German men storming towards you must have been quite the sight for Colossus to behold, as their formation wasn’t prepared to get brutally charged through, and—credit where credit is due—Iron Tank did manage to get deep into their territory multiple times. However, the Greek defenders made sure the enemies didn’t make it a foot past them.

Perseus especially showed a great amount of strength throughout the game. He stood strong whenever Iron Tank rushed towards him, and he took each push, hit, and shove that came his way with ease. No matter how much he was thrown about, he never took his eyes off the ball, and was able to consistently help his team reclaim in. At certain points, Perseus almost seemed to welcome the physical attacks that came his way, and even slammed himself against Uber’s side multiple times whenever the two were close. This was quickly put to a stop when Coach Nick Kickalopolous voiced his disapproval.

Speaking of disapproval, Coach Nick & Colonel Von Pushup—who was finally free of his suspension—both shared a moment of it when their players, Achilles and Thor, made the baffling decision to stop in the middle of the game to have a conversation!? It may have only lasted several seconds, but those were seconds that could have gone towards helping their teams!

When the second half commenced, Iron Tank made a noticeable change in their formation. They were finally spread apart, but extremely disorganized. One couldn’t help but wonder just how much of their plan revolved around being huddled together.

Despite his support being further away, that didn’t stop Uber from barreling through Colossus to claim the ball. He began intercepting any and every pass Colossus made, and he even intercepted his own team just so he could keep control of it. While he was able to get close to the net several times, he wasn’t able to score several times. Ares and Bemus were able to stop most of his kicks, and their goalkeeper did a fantastic job protecting the net, but eventually, Uber’s method of plowing through the opposition paid off, as he was able to run through and finally score a point for his team.

As the game continued, the two captains were at each other’s throats. Uber ordered his men to be as brutal as possible, and they obliged. They slammed themselves against their enemies, not holding an ounce of their strength back, and at one point, Von Eye grabbed the collar of Demetrius’ jersey and threw him to the ground, preventing him from making a pass to Ares, and earning himself a yellow card. This lead to Colossus getting a free kick, and Ares scored the second goal for his team.

The giants were so caught up in their battle that they completely overlooked the smallest player of them all: Ja Nein, the only Iron Tank player who was ordered to stay out of the action. He singlehandedly delivered the ball all the way to Colossus’ net and shot it right past Titan, giving his team their second goal at the very last minute.

Colossus seemed accepting of this, and one would assume Iron Tank would be a little happy they didn’t lose, and that their new striker was able to prove himself, but instead, Johann Uber was seen scolding Ja Nein as soon as the final whistle was blown!

What should’ve been a celebratory moment for the new player was instead turned to a moment colder than a winter storm, and he was left behind by his team.

I had the opportunity to speak with some of Colossus’ players about their thoughts on the game!

“I'm so ov'r the F'rtress! It's bitter cold, covered in frost, and I keepeth slipping ev'rywh're! Tis a miracle I didn't falleth and breaketh mine own leg!” Achilles told me while he was rubbing his arms frantically, “Who approved of a stadium being built’th upon a mountain?!”

It was absolutely freezing today, and the snowstorm throughout the first half certainly didn’t help! I wore two thick, black jackets, a scarf, some gloves, and I was still cold. All Colossus had was a long sleeved, beige shirt underneath their jerseys. Even if those shirts were thick, I doubt it did much in this weather.

Achilles was one of the players consistently targeted by Uber, right next to Perseus, and had narrowly avoided numerous tackles from him. I asked him for his thoughts on this reckless behavior Uber displayed today.

“I feareth the aggression I received was because I called’th that man a brute many moons ago. Hah!” He let out a pompous laugh as he blew a lock of his brown hair out of his face, “All he didst was proveth mine own pointeth!”

I asked why he and Thor had suddenly stopped playing during the middle of the game, and a proud smile spread across his face.

“Ah, Thor, the only man on that dreadful’th team with taste. He complimented mine own hair, rightfully so. V'ry thoughtful.”

“Were you being ’thoughtful’ when you completely threw off our formation while making small talk?!” We heard Demetrius ask as he approached us with their goalkeeper, Titan, by his side. While Titan’s uniform was partially scuffed due to all the diving he had done, the front of Demetrius’ was completely covered in dried dirt.

“We only spoke f'r a few seconds!” Achilles snapped back.

“A few very important seconds, Achilles!” Demetrius said, “We needed you to stick by Perseus so he could pass the ball to you!”

“I bethink someone is mad because they were proven’th wrong.” Achilles folded his arms and turned his head up, “Besides, Perseus hadst Uber to ent'rtain him. Those two w're hogging up the ball f'r most of the game!”

“Yeah, and guess what? We’re not happy with him either!”

Titan remained silent.

Before I could ask Demetrius to elaborate, he grabbed Achilles by his shoulders and spun him around.

“Look, Achilles, you’re a great player, but I need you to stop worrying about being beautiful for five seconds so we—“

“Can we not has't this conversation with thy nasty hands on me?”

Demetrius stopped.

Titan put a hand over his own mouth.

Achilles slipped out of his teammate’s grasp, brushed off his jersey, then clasped his hands together, waiting for him to continue.

“Are you serious.” Demetrius said.

“Demetrius thy playing style is filthy, thee somehow got mud all ov'r thy uniform in a snowy field!” Achilles shot his arms out and gestured across the snow covered pitch.

“Alright, that’s enough you two.” Titan spoke, his voice a low rumble, “We should discuss this back—“

“Oh, you wanna see filthy?” Demetrius hissed with a smirk on his face. He spat in his hands, rubbed them together, and took a step closer to Achilles.

“Demetrius, don’t thee dare.” Achilles pointed at him. He stepped back.

Demetrius stepped forward.

Titan held onto Demetrius, “You two, please, we ended this game on a tie. It could have been better, but it also could have been worse, we do not have to—“

Demetrius tore away from Titan and lunged at Achilles.

Achilles screamed and dodged him.

Demetrius hit the ground, but he got back up and chased after Achilles, chunks of snow falling off of him.

The two ran across the field, shouting at each other while getting confused glances from the Fortress’ staff.

I looked back at Titan, who pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

“I don’t know how Ares does it.” I heard him whisper.

“Is he the team’s peacekeeper or something?” I asked, half joking.

Titan perked up and looked down, the tip of his crooked, wide-ended nose pointed at me. I think he forgot I was there for a moment, not that I blamed him. A bickering team and a reporter that’s a few feet shorter than him? I’d forget about myself, too.

“He’s… Always able to get a good handle on these sort of situations, even when he doesn’t say much.” He tucked a strand of his short, light blond hair behind his ear. It stopped just below his neck; it’s ends cut straight and blunt.

“I see!” I said as I watched Achilles and Demetrius disappear into the stadium’s tunnel. My eyes went from them, to a lone net several feet away, then back to Titan, “You mind if I ask you a couple of questions while we’re here?”

Despite the exhaustion, he smiled, “Certainly.”

“Going off of what Achilles said earlier, and from what we’ve seen during the game, Perseus and Uber were hogging the ball a lot. I expected that from Uber, he’s the sorta guy that takes charge of everything, but would you say this behavior is normal for Perseus?”

“Ah.” Titan nodded once as he thought about his answer for a moment. He held his hands behind his back, and his legs slowly started to move. I slowly followed.

“Occasionally. He tends to be more restrained, but with certain players, he becomes more… Competitive.” He let out a huff, “Sometimes a little too much, I feel. He broke away from our coach’s strategies multiple times.”

“Oh no, is he going to get in trouble?”

“A light lecture at the worst.” He chuckled as he stroked his anchor beard, it was the same color as his hair and sorta blended in with his light peach skin.

“What other players does Perseus get competitive with?”

Despite how slow his pace was, Titan’s steps were so big I found myself having to speed up just to stay by his side.

“Liquido, Ninja, occasionally Dancing Rasta.”

“Occasionally?”

“Dancing Rasta doesn’t ‘take this seriously enough’, according to him… I think Perseus takes this too seriously at times.” He lowered his head, his eyes fixated on the ground, “I’d be wrong to say he doesn’t enjoy playing against them, however. He can get serious, and he has his moments of stubbornness, but don’t let him tell you he never ‘goofs off’. Frankly, I think he finds the competition itself more enjoyable than our games.”

He looked to me.

“He loves a good challenge, he’s able to withstand so much, it’s why he’s our captain, and it’s why he was smiling so brightly today.”

“There was a lotta pushing and shoving happening,” I said, “I’m so used to Iron Tank crashing into everyone that it almost felt weird watching Uber shove someone and they didn’t fall down.”

“Yes, it’s nice, admittedly. Usually we're ordered to hold back, but when we go against Iron Tank? We can truly display our power.” He curled a hand into a fist, but was quick to unfurl it and put it behind his back again, “Our coach isn’t fond when we do that, though, so we might get two light lectures tonight.”

I giggled, he smirked.

“Okay, okay, but enough about the captain!” I rushed in front of him and spun around so I could keep speaking with him while walking backwards, “How about you!” I pointed my voice recorder at him, “How did you feel throughout the game? There were a lotta close calls!”

He slowed himself down as to not pass me, “The Gods have blessed both me and Grenade today. While we were both giving it our all, I’m certain we would have had much more work had Uber and Perseus not been battling each other.”

We grew closer to the net. I kept glancing past my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t close to running into it.

I noticed a few snowflakes fluttering to the ground. Hopefully a second snowstorm wasn’t going to kick up.

“I am disappointed in myself for letting their newest player get past me.” His voice got deeper and he folded his arms.

“Ja Nein’s much smaller compared to the average Iron Tank player, I don’t think anyone blames you for losing sight of him.”

He stared past me and locked onto the goal.

“Still.” The firmness in his voice never wavered, “I should have kept my focus on all of Iron Tank. I let my guard down too soon.”

“So do you think Ja Nein got lucky then? He just happened to nab the ball at the right time and place?”

“I wouldn’t say that…”

I watched him approach the goal and rest his body against it’s pole, the back of his neck pressed against the undoubtably cold metal. He was careful when he leaned on it, but the post still creaked and groaned against his weight. The top of his head stopped mere inches below it’s height.

Besides his neck, the rest of his body was completely covered by his uniform. A thick, gray, long sleeved shirt with a green and yellow collar, long pants which were a darker shade of gray and had their ends tucked into his boots—which had straps the same colors as his shirt’s collar—and green gloves to tie the outfit all together. He was probably the warmest member in his entire team.

More flakes started to fall.

“To have an opponent not only take the ball away from my team, but from his own, without anyone noticing is impressive. Good for Iron Tank, but alarming for us, and if this is him starting out, who knows what he’ll turn into with the right guidance.” He said.

Whether Ja Nein focused more on his physical skills, or his strategic skills, Titan’s point still stood.

He’s the smallest of Iron Tank, so it was safe to assume his kicks were the weakest, and compared to the other players’ large, long legs, he was probably the slowest, but as we saw during today’s game, that didn’t mean he was useless. Maybe it’s because he saw an opportunity with all the massive players fighting, or maybe it was the pressure from both his captain and his Colonel, but Ja Nein still scored.

“If it’s alright, I was wondering if I could get some goalkeeper insight?”

He tilted his head down towards me again and gave a single nod.

“You said the Gods blessed both you and Iron Tank’s goalie, and I’m sure you’ve heard about Uber himself calling Grenade ’weak’; after today’s game, do you think it’s true? Do you think his performance is getting worse, and that it was just—hm…” I thought to myself for a moment, “I don’t want to call it ’luck’, but I dunno what else to say… But do you think it was just luck that he didn’t have to worry about the ball coming towards him too much?”

Titan brought his gaze back up and stared across the other side of the field where the opposition’s goal stood.

Surrounding it were a couple staff members, a few Iron Tank players, and a Colossus player speaking to them. They were too far for me to make out any defining features, but I didn’t see Grenade’s iconic, black attire, and none of the smaller figures were sporting an Iron Tank jersey, so Ja Nein definitely wasn’t with them.

“That’s hard to say.” Titan spoke as we kept his gaze on the goal, “There’s a lot to account for when it comes to these games, even more so with players and their—“ I watched him grip the part of him arm where a captain’s band would be, “Attitudes. Even when we ask for the blessings of our Gods, it doesn’t shift fate in our favor, nor do they clear our path of all problems. Hardships are what make us stronger, after all.”

His eyes locked onto the other Colossus player.

“Grenade might be a man of few words,” He said, “But he has always appeared hard working and determined, I don’t see any reason why this game would have been any different.”

“Johann Uber said Grenade isn’t pushing himself as hard as he should be, or, I guess in your words, not facing as many hardships. Almost sounds like his captain thinks he’s falling behind.” I said. Big snowflakes started to cling onto my jacket.

Though Titan kept his serious expression, I couldn’t help but notice a slight shift. For a moment he almost looked… Uncertain? Uneasy?

“I feel he performed the best he could, given everything, but I also feel my words don’t hold much weight considering we’re on opposing teams.”

“Oh no, that’s okay!” I swatted at the air, “Just wanted some insight from another goalkeeper, there’s no ’wrong’ way to answer.”

His face scrunched with confusion, “I ask this earnestly: But why aren’t you interviewing Iron Tank’s goalkeeper instead? Surely he’d provide better insight.”

My cheeks got hot and my eyes darted back to the group of Iron Tank players—as if I was expecting them to be looking right back at us when Titan dropped the question. Not like I’d be able to tell if they were looking.

“It’s cause they’re—you know, they’re super—“

He kept looking at me.

My eyes flickered to Titan, then back to the Iron Tank players, then back to him.

“Scary.” I whispered.

He lowered himself ever so slightly closer to me.

“And I’m not?” He raised his brows, his tone was playful.

“No! Nooo—I mean, unless you wanna be?”

He chuckled. It was deep and smooth.

I went on, “But I mean—I’ve spoken with Achilles, Ares, Demetrius, and Perseus—kinda—before, and they’re all really friendly!”

Well, Perseus ignored my existence for the most part, which I guess was better than getting yelled at.

“But Iron Tank’s mean to each other, and I’m talking mean-mean. I dunno how to approach them yet without freaking out.”

He hummed, “I suppose that’s fair, but as you’ve said, you approached us and learned we aren’t ’scary’. I’m sure in time, you’ll feel the same with Iron Tank—“

“Titan!” A familiar voice called out to him.

We both looked to the left and saw Achilles’ hurrying over, his cheeks red from the cold—or perhaps all that running he did from Demetrius—and his hair noticeably messier than before.

“Dear friend, we are all waiting f'r thee inside. Our coacheth hopes to depart this dreadful placeth soon.” He said as he slicked his hair back and readjusted his gold and green headband.

Titan blinked, “Ah, of course. Apologies.”

He pushed himself off the goal, the metal once again letting out a strained groan as it shifted back to it’s original place.

He stood tall—taller than Achilles. He must’ve been a good couple—possibly several— inches taller than him.

He then glanced around the field.

“Where’s Demetrius?”

“Hah, he hath lost sight of me!” Achilles struck a confident pose.

“And what are you planning on doing when we’re all on the bus together?”

Achilles stopped.

“I’ll… Figure the details out lat’r.” He said with a strained smile.

“Ooh, are you guys going anywhere cool? Going to treat yourself to something nice after today’s match?” I asked.

Titan gave Achilles a pat on the shoulder and followed it with a gentle shake as he quietly told him he’d meet him back inside. He glanced at me one last time and gave me a wave before heading off.

“The gents and I shall be visiting the hot spring near our stadium!” He clasped his hands together, “There's a spectacular waterfall, tis deep enough f'r us to soak in, and the temp'rature is always p’rfect!"

I perked up, “What, that sounds great! Awh, I wish you didn’t have to go so soon, I’d love to know more. I didn’t know Olympii even had a hot spring nearby!”

Achilles looked to the tunnel where Titan was heading.

He put a hand to his chin and pressed his lips together.

“Weellllll, I'm c'rtain one quick int'rview wouldn’t hurt—“

He turned around and froze.

The colors drained from his face.

“Ah, b-but it seems—it seems thee has't somebody else eag'r to speak with thee, and it'd be cruel of me to holdeth them backeth. I shall let thee two be!”

Before I could say anything, Achilles ran away.

I lowered my brows.

‘Somebody else’?

I wasn’t interviewing somebody else. Not yet, anyways.

I think I’d remember if I had another Colossus player to speak to.

I took a step back—

And I bumped into someone.

“You.”

A thick, German accent said said to me.

I looked up.

And Iron Tank’s Player 6 looked down at me.

“You vanted to speak to me.”