I got a call from Coach Stabinsky. I answered it. He told me that a continent-wide meet was staking place in Monacon City. It was smack dab right in the middle of the continent. He thought that I would be interested in signing up the kids for it. I was interested. This would be a good way to relax and move on from the Next Stage. Now that the mission chain for the event was over, we were free to do what we wanted. There were tons of mini missions that spawned at Location C. They ran out of the energy and health packs. There were interpersonal beefs to quash. One of them even befriended a human squatter that then got kidnapped by a local gang. Luckily for them, PBJ Clan, Volition Clan, and Clan Ghost were there to solve everything nearly instantly for them. That was probably why they were so keen on having an alliance with us afterwards. We certainly proved ourselves very useful to them. "Yes. Sign them up, Coach. When is it? I have to go tell them the news." I said on the phone. "It is a big meet. You don't just sign up for it. You have qualifiers. Those are running now!" he said.
That was certainly urgent. "When and where are the nearest qualifiers?" I asked him. "Neo-Rutten has some. We can go there." he said. I nodded to myself and said "I'll go get them ready and bring them to the gym." "I'll be here waiting with the others." he said. He hung up first. I hurried home. Once I got there, I looked around and gathered Ashton, Kendall, Riley and Corey. "Listen up. There is another gymnastics meet coming up. One is in the next city over. The next one is an even bigger event in a bit in Monacon City. Let's go for the gold in Monacon." They looked at each other and nodded. "Will you be coming with us?" Corey asked. "Yeah. You have to come." an adamant Ashton said. "Last time you left us for forever." Riley said trying to hold back sniffles. It was true that I was focused heavily on the Next Stage. I did not make any time for my kids since we got back from Volta City. I had been a bit neglectful to them. I had last hung out with my centaur kids before we left for Ghost Town. They probably felt very lonely too. I pulled them all in for a group hug. "Of course I'm coming too!"
With them ready to go, we went over to the gym. Coach Stabinsky was there waiting for us like he said he would be. Liam, Vince and the girls were also there. We got in his big van, and he drove us over to Neo-Rutten. The drive was as long as it had always been. We parked right outside of the venue. He turned around to talk to the kids in the back seats. "Remember, this is only the qualifiers. You want to do a good job here, but don't strain yourself. If you do the routines the way you were training, you will go on to Monacon City." he said with a confident smile. "Have fun out there and do your best. We know you can do it." I added. The kids were all smiling. We got out of the van and went inside the building. I signed up my kids and Coach signed up the rest to make registration go quicker. The time allotted for this side quest was winding down as it was. Once that was done, they got their registration numbers and nametags. We passed them out to the kids and they all got ready for their events. I told the kids I had what events they could do. Coach Stabinsky asked me to reconsider that.
Liam and Vince were not enough to form a team unless the boys joined them. "The more events that they are in, the more chance to medal they have." Coach tried reasoning with me. Liam and Vince were not terrible. Corey stood by them and asked as well. I sighed and looked over at Ashton and Kendall. "Do either of you want to join their team?" I asked. I wanted to make them famous, but them having fun was also something that I wanted to take into account. Kendall went over to them. I rolled my eyes and said "That's fine then. Have fun with your friends." Liam and Vince jumped and cheered for joy. They then went to the floor. The team event was first. Vince had a higher score than Liam, so it was added to the perfect performances of Kendall and Ashton. They had qualified for Monacon as a team. The girls' team qualified as well. I had the boys hold off on the all-round competition. I said "You don't want to tire out for your individual events." Coach nodded and said "Taking a break sometimes is very important. You've already done a whole lot here in the team competition. Go rest up!"
Liam and Vince
