Oh, Sally is such a
fascinating mouse! Was
she really talking about
me? I guess there were no
other
captains around . . .
I knew only one thing for
sure — I absolutely couldn’t
let Sally down today!
As we approached the stadium, we
began to hear a buzzing. It grew LOUDER
and
LOUDER
and
LOUDER
,
until we finally arrived inside the giant
stadium. It was packed, and the fans were
cheering like crazy!
Seven rings of seats SURROUNDED
the field, and they were full of aliens of all
kinds.
Benjamin hugged me ENTHUSIASTICALLY.
“Wow!”
I swallowed— my throat suddenly felt
drier than the SAND on the lunar desert.
I hadn’t realized that thousands of eyes
(or even more than that, since some aliens
each had a dozen eyes on their heads) would
be watching us play! Walking out onto the
field, I tried to concentrate on the ONLY
eyes I cared about: Sally’s!
Today’s starting lineup included me, Sally,
Benjamin, Lionel, the Tailtwister twins, and
Whiskerkicks.
I was so deep in thought, I didn’t realize
that the game had begun and someone
had passed me the ball! Before I could blink,
an attacker for the GELATINIX team stole
it out from under my paws and ran toward
our goal, easily kicking it into the net.
I looked like such a
FOOL
— we hadn’t
even been playing for a minute!
Grandfather William yelled from the
sidelines, “
HEY, CHEESEBRAIN!
WAKE UP!
”
I knew I had to make up for my mistake. So
From the Encyclopedia Galactica
THE GELATINIX
These are the inhabitants of the
planet Blobbix. They are very good
at wriggling and swerving around
players. Opponents must be extra
careful of the slippery drool that
the gelatinix leave on the field!
Victory!
when the game started again, I sprinted up
to the ball. But three aliens surrounded
me immediately!
Panicked, I kicked the ball as hard as I
could. The
BALL
took a funny bounce,
but Sally headed it in the air and passed it
to Lionel, who scored a tying goal! It was
1-1!
For the rest of the game, we were able
to keep the score tied. During the last
minute of play, Lionel darted forward,
PLAYED the ball off an opponent’s
head, and used a super-turbo kick to score
a galactic goal. It was 2-1!
The referee whistled
to signal the end of the
game.
WE HAD WON!
ADVENTURES IN
RECREATRON
After the game, our team decided to take a
walk
around Recreatron, the capital city of
Athletica.
After a few minutes, we noticed that a
group of
ALIENS
in the main square was
pointing at us. One of them came up with
a STRANGE device in his hand
and spoke to me in an incomprehensible
language.
“Sdhf bfh sgxrd asaainf djf?”
“Um ... Robotix, can you translate?” I asked.
My ears felt like they were stuffed with cheese!
“Of course, Captain!” Robotix replied. “It
is Bobbonese, a spoken language —”
“Yes, yes, but what are they SAYING?”
I interrupted. (When Robotix begins
explaining something, he never stops!)
“The taller alien says that they are fans
of soccerix and would like to take a
photologram of —”
A photologram? That is a special
three-dimensional photograph that includes
an autograph! No one had ever asked to
take a photologram of me before!
I accepted enthusiastically. “Of course!
Tell them yes!”
“But, Captain, they don’t —”
I waved my paw. “Respond, Robotix! Let’s
not be rude!”
“GJTEVKF BJFJHK!” Robotix
exclaimed.
I began to pose, ready for the photologram,
but . . .
HUH?
Bjfjk,
Linnel!
*
*
“Thanks, Lionel!”
in Bobbones
Lionel
Ratessi
The alien who had spoken was headed
toward Lionel!
The alien pressed a button, and the device
let out a BLUE RAY OF LIGHT.
A moment later, a
three-dimensional
image of Lionel
appeared in the air,
with his autograph
just below it.
Seeing my confused
face, Robotix explained,
“Captain, if you had let
me FINISH translating, I
would have explained that the alien
wanted to take a photologram of Lionel
Ratessi — not of you!”
I had made a stellar fool of myself . ..
again!
I was about to say something when I
spotted two strange figures out of the
corner of my eye. I thought I had seen them
before! Were they
SPYING
on us from the
shadows?
A moment later, Benjamin called to me to
keep walking. When I turned to look back,
the figures had disappeared. Cheesy comets,
what a mystery!
FLYING RIVALS
The next day, we woke up full of
ENERGY
.
When we arrived on the field for our game,
we were ready to give it our all!
But then our opponents, the WINGOIDS,
entered. They were huge, tall aliens— with
WINGS!
“A-ARE W-WE SURE WE WANT
TO PLAY?” I muttered to Trap. My
whiskers were trembling with fright.
Trap rolled his eyes. “Geronimo, you’re
not scared of the wingoids, are
you?”
Before I could reply, the whistle blew,
and Trap
ran
toward the ball. The game
had begun — I couldn’t back out now!
Today’s starting lineup consisted of me,
From the
Encyclopedia
Galactica
THE WINGOIDS
These inhabitants of the
planet Featherflap are large,
muscular aliens. Even if the
rules of soccerix don’t
officially allow it, they
always try to dribble the
ball while flying!
Trap, Sally, Lionel, the Tailtwisters, and our
goalie, Whiskerkicks.
I ran to the
middle
of the field, where
Sally dribbled around a wingoid who was
trying to
STEAL
the ball from he
r.
I gathered my courage and squeaked,
“Sally, pass it to me!”
It's
all
yours!
I've
got
iiiiit!
swooosh
Sally heard me and passed the BALL
with an elegant move of her foot. I darted
forward and yelled, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!
I’ve got iiiiit . . .”
I must have MISCALCULATED,
though, because instead of kicking the ball,
I tripped on it ... and ended up
sprawled out flat on the field like a Parmesan
pancake.
While I was trying to get up, the largest
wingoid player got control of the ball. With
a quick flap of his wings, he took off,
flying just above the field while keeping the
ball on the ground. He ended up in front of
our goal and was about to kick the ball into
the net when the
ROBOT-REF
whistled.
“Flying is not allowed on the field!”
HOLEY CRATERS! WE LUCKED OUT
THAT TIME!
After that, Bugsy came into the game.
She was able to quickly slip past two
opponents, make her way toward their goal,
and pass the ball to Lionel. He wriggled
between the legs of a wingoid and scored!
It was 1-0!
The wingoids played hard, trying to tie
things up, but we managed to keep them
from scoring.
The game was almost over, and I was
SO
TIRED
. My legs felt like they were
filled with moon rocks. Stumbling on my
tired paws, I missed a pass. Oh no —a
WINGOID got the ball and moved toward
our goal!
When David Tailtwister got in his way, the
WINGOID tried to scare him by suddenly
opening his giant wings. But David wasn’t
intimidated. He blocked the shot!
A moment later, the robot-ref called
the end of the game.
The
spacemice
had won again!
“Tomorrow we’ll play against the
RUBBERLIANS. If we win, we’ll
be in the finals!” Lionel exclaimed.
The rubberlians were small, round, and
seemingly HARMLESS aliens. I figured
they wouldn’t be hard to beat!
But oh, I was wrong . . .
From the
Encyclopedia Galactica
THE RUBBERLIANS
These are the inhabitants of
the planet Boing. They are
soft, round aliens. On the
soccerix field, they roll quickly
from one corner to another,
disorienting their opponents.
WE’RE A TEAM!
When thinking about our next game, I hadn’t
accounted for the rubberlians’ special skill:
BOUNCING
!
As soon as the robot-ref blew the whistle
to start the game, some of the rubberlians
changed shape. They tucked in their arms
and legs and began to ROLL really fast down
the field, passing the ball as they went!
Crusty space cheese —before I knew it,
the rubberlians had scored two goals!
When our team gathered in the locker
room during half time, we were all feeling
dejected
.
“Uncle Geronimo, we’re going to lose this
time, aren’t we?” Benjamin asked sadly.
I LOOKED AROUND at my
teammates and thought about what to
say. After the first two games, soccerix
didn’t seem so bad. Actually, it was fun!
Of course, it involved a lot of running,
and facing frightening opponents,
but I had learned something important — I
could always count on my teammates to
protect my fur.
Maybe it was time for the TEAM
CAPTAIN to give a speech!
So I cleared my throat and said, “Yes,
Benjamin, maybe we will lose. But that’s not
what’s important! What’s
IMPORTANT
is giving your all in the game and not
forgetting that you aren’t alone on the field.
We can all count on one another,
because we’re a team!”
For once, Grandfather William nodded
with satisfaction.
When the second half of the game
began, we took the field like a different
team. We were united and full of
ENTHUSIASM!
And that’s how we managed to score
three goals: BUGSY made the first one by
bumping the ball with her head, LIONEL
made the second one with a kick over the
heads of the defenders, and Benjamin
slid the third goal around the goalie with
some fancy footwork. We won 3-2!
No one could stop the spacemice!
A QUEASY
ENCOUNTER
As we were celebrating our latest mouserific
victory, my wrist phone rang. Beep! Beeep!
Beeeep!
It was Thea calling from MouseStar 1 to
congratulate us and tell us that everyone on
the ship had been watching the game. They
were having an enormouse
party
in
our honor!
I was filled with pride. Now I couldn’t
As we
LEFT
the stadium, though,
my happiness vanished like a cosmic
cheese platter under Trap’s snout. The
zomborgs— who we’d be facing in the
SOCCERIX
FIELD
STADIUM ENTRANCE
final game— planted themselves in front of
us threateningly.
Even though deep, deep down those
creatures filled me with fright,
I gathered my courage and stood up
tall. “Hello, zomborgs,” I said. “I am the
captain of the spacemice, and —”
“I know who you are,” one of the zomborgs
interrupted me.
“Oh?” I asked, surprised. “Well, all
right—good luck in the final! MAY
THE BEST TEAM WIN!”
“You mean us, you mousey microbes,”
responded the biggest zomborg. Stellar
Swiss, he almost knocked me out with his
PUTRID BREATH! “It will be a horrible
final for you!” he concluded. His friends
burst out laughing as they all stormed off.
“What terrible creatures!” Sally
commented, wrinkling her snout.
And what
TERRIBLE
breath!
I sighed. “It won’t be an
easy game. Those aliens seem
like they’ll do whatever it takes
to win.”
“At least we have our secret
weapon —Lionel!” said Trap
with a grin.
Lionel
proudly
chimed in. “Those
ALIENS don’t scare me! They’re big, but
they’re slow. If we can keep the ball close
to the ground, I’m sure WE CAN BEAT
THEM!”
Then Trap suggested, “Let’s go into the
city and celebrate today’s victory!
I spotted
a place where they make excellent four-
cheese shakes and —”
Grandfather William’s voice stopped
Trap midsentence. “No one is going
anywhere, Grandson! Tomorrow morning
we have to be up bright and early to
TRAIN for the final game. So now it’s
time for all of you to get ready for bed!”
Oh, it was cosmically hard to be an athlete!
For a minute, I had forgotten that in order
to win, we needed to practice!
A MISSING
MOUSE
At eight o’clock the next morning, we
all had to be out on the field, ready for our
final day of practice.
The alarm clock blared in my ears.
Cosmic cheese rinds! I leaped out of bed, but
it was hard for me to stay on my paws —I
had a terrible headache!
“I don’t think that super-protein berry
puree that
Squizzy
made us last night is
agreeing with me,” I said to Trap as he yawned
and stretched. “My head is pounding!”
“I have a
galactic
headache
, too,”
he said with a groan. “It must be the stress
of the final game.”
We rushed to
put on our
soccerix
uniforms and
headed to the
breakfast room.
Squizzy, who
could hardly keep
his three eyes open, was waiting for
us with some algae. Yuck! What I wouldn’t
have given for a mozzarella milkshake!
A few minutes later, Benjamin arrived.
“Good morning, Uncle. Ugh—I have an
out-of-this-world headache this morning!”
He looked around the room. “Is Lionel with
you?”
I scratched my snout. “No . . . why?”
Benjamin FROWNED. “When I woke
up, he wasn’t in his bed.”
“He must be around here somewhere,” I
said. “I’ll call him!” I turned on my wrist
phone.
Beep! Beeep! Beeeep!
No answer.
“Hmmm, he’s not answering.
Maybe he went for a walk. I’m sure he’ll
be back soon,” I said, trying to reassure my
nephew.
Before long, the rest of the team had