On their way to Burton to watch the match between the Indigo Warriors (Southern England) and the Crimson Crusaders (Northern England), the two friends were mad keen on laminium ball and huge supporters of the Warriors, having both been brought up in Southern England.
Each laminium ball player is easily as famous as any sporting figure from the human world above. All receive an amazing amount of daily fan mail, with offers of mating or bonding, endorsement opportunities, or dragons just wanting to be their friends and hang out. Each and every player features heavily in all the telepathic papers: their black and white pictures blazed all across the back pages, everyday, accompanied by rumours and gossip of new mates, new scale colouring, a new home or some exotic new training regime that would change the team's fortune, and the Indigo Warriors were no exception. Legends to their fans, even though they'd won nothing for the past fifty years, underachieving with their current squad for the last ten, the one thing you could be assured of was that there was always HOPE! Each time they played, they always gave everything they'd got. They might lack the talent of the other teams in places, but nearly always made up for it with blood, guts and thunder. Their fans could ask for nothing more.
The Warriors team consisted of Steel (Captain), Flamer, Cheese, Barf, Silverbonce (Mouth Guard) and Zip (Substitute). Their names were with them forever now, but that hadn't always been the case. Laminium ball players are given new names on turning professional and being picked to represent a team. Chosen by a panel of experienced judges, any number of reasons can be taken into account for a new name, once that player has reached the required standard. The judges will have watched the young players all trying to make the grade, so will be familiar with their personalities, traits and quirks. Once chosen by the judges, that name can never be taken back. Scary for some, a celebration for most, as it represents the culmination of many decades of work.
Both friends could recite every detail of the Indigo Warriors squad. Steel was aptly named because he had nerves of steel and had proved so many times, never ducking a challenge or tackle, sometimes winding up with the most horrendous injury because of it. Flamer was so called because of his highly powered breath which produced the most extraordinary amount of heat and flame extension... something many of his opponents could attest to. Cheese only ever seemed to eat cheese, and had often claimed that his diet was what gave him the incredible turn of speed whenever he needed it, although some fans of other teams claim he'd been named that because he smelt of cheese. Quirkily, he never seemed to appear in a photograph without a piece of cheese, unless it was during a laminium ball match. The ever so slightly eccentric one of the team, he was incredibly popular with the fans.
Barf had been named because of his sheer resilience. During the final match to choose which dragons were going to make it as professionals he'd become seriously ill, something incredibly rare for a dragon. A medical opinion suggested he shouldn't have even been at the game, let alone been playing. Against the expert's better judgement, they let him play. Performing poorly by his own high standards for most of the game, he could feel his chances of selection slipping away with every passing second. Determined to give it his all for the remaining few minutes, he produced the tackle of the game, which unfortunately for him took place during a steep power dive towards the lava. Approaching his opponent, the speed and angle of the descent caused his poorly stomach to react violently. Even though he was throwing up with the kind of power not even seen in most human babies, he carried on and made the incredible tackle, moving the ball onto one of his teammates, who went on to score. His team won the match, and he became a professional player. Hence the name... Barf.
Silverbonce, the Warriors oldest, and most famous player, and their 'mouth guard', had gained his name because of the colouring of his scales. Common for dragons to be named in this way, after either a specialised colouring or a particular pattern, in this case the silver that encircled his skull before flowing halfway down his back, merging seamlessly with the rest of his rather pale green body, was the reason for his given moniker. Having constantly seen off competition for his place, and more recently, calls for his retirement, more often than not he'd saved the team by pulling something from his substantial bag of tricks, gained from the years of experience that made him not only the oldest on the team, but the oldest professional Laminium ball player EVER! If fans of opposing teams across the world had to name and favour one Indigo Warrior, it most certainly would have been him, not just because of how long he'd been going, but because almost certainly he was the most cunning and craftiest dragon ever to have played the game.
Last but by no means least, was Zip, the squad substitute, whose name stemmed from the mottled cream and gold colouring that traversed the length of his belly, so much so that when he was flying, his underneath looked as though it were held together with a giant zip.
Having suffered a disastrous league season by their standards, the Global Cup represented the only chance for the Warriors to win a trophy. Qualifying would be an achievement of some sort, as they had not done so in their history, having never before reached this far (one round, one match away). They would not, however, underestimate their opponents, the Crimson Crusaders, who would be anything but a pushover, particularly given that they sat second in the league's top tier, and whose form would suggest they were on fire, sometimes quite literally. For the Warriors to get this far and fail to go through would be devastating, not only for Peter and Tank, but the rest of their devoted fans who'd turned out in their tens of thousands to offer their support.
Exiting the monorail at Burton, the two friends followed the crowd along the walkways that led to the underground stadium. All but carried along in the midst of a throng of other dragons, most of whom displayed something to show off their allegiance to one team or the other, Peter and Tank were bowled over by just how many spectators had turned up to take in the match.
Rounding a sharp bend, the merging paths began a shallow descent, eventually opening up into a colossal mall, leaving everything that little bit less packed. On either side of the mall, wide burrows had been excavated out of the rock faces, making space for traders to set up their shops, plying their stunning selection of goods to all plodding past. Originally opening up into more space, the further into the mall they got, the more crowded it seemed to get. Yes, there were thousands of dragons, many in their natural form, all heading in the same direction, but there didn't seem more than there had before. And then suddenly the friends spotted the reason why. Smack back down the middle of the mall, a long line of market stalls had been erected to provide even more vendors the opportunity to promote their material. That, combined with all the dragons slowing down on the outside to look at each of the merchant's products, had created a dam in the almost unstoppable river of dragons that wove its way forward towards the many different gates of the stadium. Staying close together and working on the theory that if you can't beat them, join them, the two friends started browsing some of the shops and stalls, ignoring all of those selling Crimson Crusader memorabilia.
Bustling their way to the front of the crowd, the first stall they came to appeared to be selling mantras. Dodging left and right, desperately trying to look over the shoulder of the gentleman shaped dragon in front of him, hoping to glance the demonstration that was going on, all Peter could really see was the vendor reading something aloud. Wondering just what all the fuss was about, a brilliant bright explosion followed by an ear splitting WHOOSH, abruptly caused him to jump, as a firework shaped like a dragon flew straight up into the air, before exploding with a loud BANG. Bits of bright, fiery exploding dragon rained down and then, completely unexpectedly, formed the words STEEL IS THE BEST in brilliant blue writing, hanging there for a few moments before burning itself out, from one end to the other.