Five
The Department of Scalpers
Araneta Coliseum
6:35 PM
“Lux in Domino” they all muttered and lights softly sparkled from their wands.
“The battle was a diversion” Harry said as they leaped over to the Lower Box and made the quick short jump to the Patron seats. “While you guys were busy fighting the clones, members of the League secretly enchanted the plants with a curse they designed and perfected over the years.”
“What does the curse do?” Miggy asked.
“The clones and the evil eagles should give you a clue.” Harry said “The League has been trying to destroy Ateneo for almost two centuries now and they failed each and every time. They couldn’t understand why. They burned the buildings, they had important Ateneans killed. Still, Ateneo endured. Now they found the perfect way to destroy us for good.”
“And what way is that?”
“C’mon guys. We don’t always like each other. Admit that. But somehow, we manage to restrain whatever dislike or even prejudice we have for each other. Psychologists call it repression, suppression or whatever. The green and yellow pollens you just saw awhile ago disable that function in our brains.”
“And so… Oh God!”
“That’s right. Unless we can find a way to reverse the effects, Ateneans will end up killing and destroying each other. Two years ago, we have proven to the League that not even our most powerful archrival could defeat us. Taking a leaf from a popular phrase: Walang makakapatay sa Atenista kundi kapwa Atenista.”
“So..” Gio said “Why are we here?”
“I’ve been gathering info from reliable sources for some time now. I learned from my spies that when the League was designing the curse, they accidentally discovered a cure. The formula for both the curse and cure is here. They handed it to one of their allies for safekeeping.”
“Who?” Rose asked
“The organization that has funded the League of Anti-Ateneans’ projects and experiments since the 1990’s” Harry replied.
They were now in the center of the basketball court.
“Stand back” Harry said as he pointed his wand downward “Alohamora”
The center circle split and opened, revealing a long dark spiraling staircase.
“We only have around two hours to recover the formula and concoct the antidote.” Harry said as they made their descent. “Or the effects will be permanent. There are three departments here…”
“Does the Araneta management know about this?”
“I don’t know.” Harry said “I don’t think so… Hey! I guess there’s a reason why it’s called an underground economy, right?”
Nervous chuckles echoed throughout secret as the group reached the bottom of the staircase. They quickly entered the one and only door in the floor. It was an elevator. Harry pressed the BL3 button.
“Basement Level 1” the recorded mechanical voice said after a few seconds of descent “Department of Bets and Odds. Kagawaran ng Pustahan”
The group remained silent.
“Basement Level 2: Department of Cooked Games. Kagawaran ng Mga Lutong Laro”
“Basement Level 3” the recorded voice said as the elevator doors slid open “Welcome to the Department of Scalpers. Maligayang Pagdating sa Kagawaran ng Iskalper.”
The place looked like an old office that was perpetually on a haphazard state. Papers were all over the place. On one desk were boxes marked “ADMU-DLSU Round 2 Tickets” “UAAP Cheerdance Tickets”
Written on the chalkboard on the wall were tables and figures like “Ticket Allocation for ADMU-DLSU, Round 2. Ateneo: 25%, DLSU: 25% Araneta Offices: 10% Agents: 40%” and “Agent Assignments: (1) Green Gate (2) Red Gate (3) McDonalds – Taft (4)….”
“C’mon guys. We don’t have time” Gio said “It’s gotta be around here somewhere…”
The Ateneans started opening and closing drawers and file cabinets, rifled through the paper stacks until Jauro shouted “Nahanap ko na!” waving a brown sealed envelope.
“Alright!” Rose said. “Let’s go quickly!”
A minute of quick sprinting to the elevator and a dash up the stairs passed and the group found themselves walking in the dark court again, illuminated only by their wands.
“Guys!” Gio said as the secret door closed behind them “I know we’re rushing. But. It’s just that. This is a difficult task for all of us. Can we just please offer a minute of prayer. So that God through St. Ignatius may guide us.”
“Good idea!” Miggy said
After a minute of silence, Gio said “St. Ignatius of Loyola…”
“Pray for us. Amen. ” the rest responded.
“Go LA SALLE!” somebody screamed
“Shhhh!”
“Idiot! You blew our cover”
“Lux in Domino Sesqui!” the Ateneans screamed, pointing their wands in different directions. A faint weak light illuminated the Coliseum, revealing the presence of the past and present Green Archers and a dozen of their loyal supporters.
“Very good, Ateneans.” Bader Malabes said “You found it. Now give it to us.”
Six
Overtime
Zen Garden
Ateneo de Manila University
7:00 PM
Members of the Dollhouse were celebrating not only because of the resounding victory but also because their group killed the most number of clones. Their celebration was put to a halt when somebody screamed “Taenang mga bakla! Go to heeeeeeelllll.” Insulted, the queen mother knocked the guy out with a Stunning spell saying “Che! Kala mo naman kung sinong maganda!” His friends who saw what happened started pulling their wands out, determined for a payback.
Shouts were likewise heard inside the Rizal Mini-Theatre as members of Tanghalang Ateneo, Entablado and Blue Rep started arguing over conflicting venue and equipment reservations in the past. The heated argument intensified when they started attacking each other’s aesthetics.
“Kayo naman!” Puro lang social consciousness ek-ek! Mga closet aktibista! Mag-UP na lang kayo!”
“At least nagsisikap kaming ipakita sa mga Atenista kung ano ang mga tanging isyu ngayon! Kayo? Kung anung-anong interpretation ang ginagawa! Hindi naman naiintidihan ng mga manonood! Kaya siguro mababa ang grade nila sa Lit at sa Fil!”
“HAHAHAH! You guys are so funny! People only watch your plays because their profs require them! People watch OUR shows even if they’re not asked to! Pathetic…”
Meanwhile, sophomore students in the House of Gokongwei started prowling the corridors of SOM and CTC, searching for the batchmate whose high score in the last Accounting exam affected the grading curve significantly…
Araneta Coliseum
7:00 PM
“I knew I couldn’t trust you” Harry whispered
“What do you mean, Harry?” Jauro asked
“We were Harry’s spies” Bader said “Harry asked us to contact the League and tell them that we still wanted to work for them. Earn the League’s trust so we can get more and more information from them. Well we did that, Harry. We gave you what you wanted.”
“So you really were part of the League?” Harry said
“No! But you don’t need to be part of the League to be Anti-Atenean. Right? You Ateneans think you can boss anyone around. Even your equals! Guess the League was right in that aspect. We gave you what you wanted, Harry. You wanted the information, you got it. We want the formula in exchange for our services. We betrayed the League. And now, surprise! We have backstabbed you as well…”
““Guys! Ano ba?” Gio said We have a truce and treaty, remember?”
“What Bro Armin does not know will not hurt him.” Maierhoffer said “Give us the formula…”
”Don’t you guys get it? Without this formula…”
“Oh! Don’t worry! We will make the antidote for you. We only want to keep the formula for the curse and the antidote as an insurance policy. Keep you arrogant Ateneans in check. You would not dare touch much less, beat us when you know we possess the very thing that could destroy you…”
“You plan to use the formula as blackmail?”
“Suddenly the Green Archers are not stupid eh?”
“No. You’re definitely not!” Harry said, motioning and signaling his companions to prepare to attack and run “Still. You really should not underestimate us and our fighting hearts.”
“WAHAHAHAHA!” a younger Archer broke the ranks and stood beside the veterans “He still thinks he can make bola. Itty, bitty, baby, Potty”
“Webb…” Nonoy said
“NONOOOOY” Webb taunted “How’s Bacon’s ribs?”
“Fine. And about to get payback” Nonoy said as whipped his wand out.
“ENOUGH!” Bader said. “Guys! Chill! Now Harry. All we want is that formula. We will kill you and take it from you anyway. Then we will watch your schoolmates tear themselves apart.”
“Over our dead bodies” Gio said
“HA!” Webb sneered “You dare challenge us? You FILTHY LITTLE BLUE BLOOD…”
“He’s right, you know” Harry said. Challenging you now would be suicide, I guess…”
“I know.” Bader said.
“Guess we’ll just have to risk it… NOW!”
“SUSPENDED!” Harry, Gio, Miggy, Jauro, Rose and Nonoy screamed sending all the Archers hanging mid-air.
“RUN! Get back to the Portkey!”
The enemies broke free from the spell quickly and started chasing the Ateneans in lightning speed
“Stupefy!”
“Split up!” Harry screamed.
“Suspended!”
“Animo La Salle!” The curse missed Nonoy, hitting and destroying an entire Lower Box row instead.
“Rose!” Jauro said as he passed the envelope to her. “Get back to the Portkey. We will distract them”
“No!” she said as she tucked the envelope underneath her shirt “I won’t leave you guys!”
Bursts of green light suddenly surrounded and trapped each one, dragging them back to the court before materializing into human form. Each one, except for Rose who stood at the center, was restrained and trapped by two or more Archers.
“Did you really think” Maierhoffer said as he marched towards Rose, “that Ateneans could stand a chance against us? I am going to make this simple, little girl. Hand me the envelope. Or watch your friends… die.”
Before Rose could bitterly give in, a blinding burst of blue light streaked from the locker room entrance and landed between Rose and Maierhoffer.
“Get away from my dormer” demanded dorm Director Timothy Gabuna who punched the Archer straight in the face.
A second wave of blue light broke through the dark General Admission entrances and spiraled like a cool and strong maelstrom around the dome ceiling before splitting into seven streaks and landing at either end of the court. Standing strong and resolute, Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, Vice President Assunta Cuyegkeng, Deans Marlu Vilches and Rudy Ang, Alumni director Jun Dalandan, Prof. Ricardo Abad and alumni Chris Tiu had arrived.
“You guys are not the only ones who can set a trap.” yelled Harry who managed to contact the administrators abroad and Chris Tiu a few hours before the attack.
The Archers deployed their spells and curses at the newly arrived combatants while some of their panic-stricken supporters started heading towards the exit. Ricky Abad who was situated near the exit, foiled their attempts to escape by uprooting the Patron and Lower Box chairs with his incantation “Disiplinus Actorus” and hitting his targets one by one.
Jun Dalandan on the other hand found himself surrounded by the Gang Green, the loyalist alumni faction.
“Helloooo!” Dalandan said.
“Mr. Dalandan” A GGG member said “I remember seeing you in that photo with the Suspended banner group. Think it was cute?”
“Think it was funny?”
“Think it was alright to pose with the other GAY Ateneans?”
“TAE-neans…”
“That’s right! Gay Tae-neans”
“Well…” Dalandan said “If you have a problem with the alumni… Maybe you should talk to them yourselves... Right now!”
He brandished his own wand and enunciated his signature spell as Alumni director “Expecto Alumnus!” spewing blue avatars of loyal Ateneo alumni: “Mother Goose,” “Legal Eagle,” “Kicking Eagle,” “Myopic Eagle,” Bluewing, “Posterized” and “Atenista Comm”… Each avatar dueled with one Gang Green member. Except for Atenista Comm’s shade who was surrounded by the leaders of the Gang Green.
“Mhon-Mhoooon! Kahit na illusion ka lang, we are going to enjoy this…”
Atenista Comm-Avatar started streaking around his opponents quickly, entrapping them like a tornado “HYUKHYUKHYUKHYUKHYUK” the apparition screamed, dizzying the Archer’s loyalists till they lost consciousness.
“Harry! Rose!” Fr Ben said. “Go now! Marlu and Rudy will cover you all the way. Fr. Joey and Toby will meet you in Ateneo. Prepare the potion.”
Harry and Rose ran as fast as they could. They quickly caught sight of Vice President Cuyegkeng who was ready to fight a four-on-one duel with Malabes, Bagatsing, Andrada and Maierhoffer. Cuyegkeng zapped each Archer with her incantation “BYOB!”
The Archers crumpled to the ground and started struggling as if invisible boxes were trapping them.
“You are all PHASED OUT!” Cuyegkeng screamed as she recited her next spell “CLAYGO” tossing the boxed Archers to the Gen Ad section.
“Now that’s what I call boxed out, Ma’am” Tiu said as he and Nonoy shot Stunning Spells at Joshua Webb who managed to dodge all the curses by jumping, gliding and flying around Upper A.
“The eeensy weensy Spider went up to Upper A!” he taunted while shooting counterspells at his adversaries “No one could stun him and take the Spider out…”
“Chris” someone called.
Tiu turned around and found himself face-to-face with his old nemesis, JV Casio.
“JV! You’re part of this too?”
Before Casio could respond, avatars of Boom Gonzales and TJ Manotoc appeared in the commentators box.
“Oh MYYYY!” Gonzales-avatar said “This is a great rematch! A great, great rematch! This. Is. Fantastic!”
“They are still my team, Chris” JV said. “Just like old times eh?”
“So. One more time?” Tiu said
“You know, TJ” Gonzales-avatar said “It was not too long ago that Tiu and Casio led their teams in the fight for the spheroid. Will Ateneo bounce back from this win? Will this do it? WILL. THIS. DO. IT?”
“Chris. Sandali lang ha?” JV said as he turned towards the commentators.
“Good idea” Tiu said as he did the same thing.
“Together?”
“Yeah!”
“One.. two… three… ANIMO LA SALLE!” the adversaries yelled as they zapped the mock commentators to dust.
“Now where were we?” JV asked. “Ah yes. Ready?”
“There can only be one. As always.”
Both spells connected immediately. Green against Blue. Trying to outpower each other. In the end however, Tiu managed to overpower Casio, disarming him and knocking him out in the process.
“Till next time, JV” Tiu said.
“CHRIS LOOK OUT!” Nonoy shouted
“ANIMO LA SALLE!”
The Killing Curse cast by Webb hit Tiu directly, forcefully and powerfully in the chest sending the former captain flying, gliding. Time seemed to have stopped as the horrified and shocked combatants watched Tiu arcing almost too gracefully in the air and falling with finality into the dark void of the Upper B section. There wasn’t even a thud.
Seven
Black the Blue
Nonoy saw Webb’s triumphant face as he turned and ran gleefully towards the corridor outside. Summoning all his anger and contempt, Nonoy Baclao ran after his new nemesis.
“I KILLED CHRIS TIU! I KILLED…”
They were now near the Green Gate exit.
“ANIMO LA SALLE!” Baclao blasted.
Webb was struck down before he reached the gates. The Killing Curse however was not potent enough. Nonoy ran towards his fallen enemy, determined to finish the job. A moment of hesitation, then mercy, then compassion…
“You have to mean it, Nonoy.” a cold chilling voice whispered out of nowhere. “He killed him. He deserves it. You know the spell, Nonoy….”
Standing in front of Nonoy Baclao now was Webb’s master himself.
“Run! Joshua! I’ll take care of this.”
“Run along too Nonoy!” a deep voice from behind bellowed.
“Black!” Pumaren screamed then sneered at his former San Miguel Head Coach
“It was foolish of you to come here tonight Franz. The Board members are on their way…”
“By then, I would have escaped. And you shall be dead.”
Pumaren started using his magic to hurl all the surrounding machines at Black who used his counterspells to disintegrate them one by one.
Black refused to retaliate.
“What? You do not want to kill me, coach? After the many times I embarrassed you in court?”
“We both know that there are other things worse than defeat, Franz. Killing you doesn’t satisfy me at all…”
“THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN LOSING, BLACK!”
Pumaren sent another curse and Black deflected it for the second time.
“You’re wrong, Franz. Indeed, your inability to accept that there are other things worse than losing has always been your greatest weakness.”
“I am not weak! I am never weak” Pumaren screamed, casting a long green rope that lassoed Black.
“Press” Pumaren hissed his incantation. “Yes, Black! The nightmare press. Squeeze him!”
“Oh Franz” Black said “I knew how to beat this a long time ago”
And summoning all his strength, Black broke free from the Press. The force was so powerful that it threw Pumaren a few meters backwards.
Frustrated, the fallen Pumaren sent several green arrows towards his former mentor. Black countered by casting small blue eagles that swallowed all arrows in whole.
“We shall meet again, Black. In the meantime, why don’t you go back and attend to your grieving friends. You may have won this round but guess what? My Sophomore did what nobody else has done. He killed Chris Tiu! Now that’s cheesssyyyyy…”
A blinding green light flashed around the area and when it receded, Franz Pumaren was nowhere in sight.
When Norman Black climbed up the Upper B section, he found Nonoy, Dr Cuyegkeng and the others. Nonoy was holding Tiu’s blue jacket.
They couldn’t find the body.
Finale:
The Dance of the ID Violators
College Covered Courts
Three Days After
The gathering at the covered courts was bittersweet. It was on the one hand, a celebration of Ateneo’s victory over the League and their attempts to corrupt the Atenean’s minds. Yet the event was also arranged to honor the memory of someone who fell while defending his schoolmates and teachers.
“And so to close this program…” Rene San Andres said, “We have a special performance by this semester’s three-time ID Violators. Can we please make some space in the center of the courts please… Thank you…”
Two dozens of students entered the square and started performing a slow, interpretative dance of a song entitled “Clean As You Go”:
There’s a place in the caf
And I know that it is far
And this place is just near the exit
And if you really try, you’ll find
that there is no line
And this place is really not kadiri
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the kuya’s
Make a little space, make a cleaner place.
CLEAN AS YOU GOOOOO
Make this a cleaner place
For you and for me
And the entire Gonzaga…
Then the song "Smocket" came next:
You and I must buy a pack
Then we'll smoke 'em in the baaaack
of this buildiiiing
Let's go theeere
(Let's go there)
Looks like we don't have lightersss
We will borrow from others
And if they don't have,
We can't smoooke...
(We can't smooke)
(WE CAN'T SMOOOKE!)
If they don't have lighters
We can't smoke.
Then they ended their performance with this song as a response to the League of Anti-Ateneans’ accusation that Ateneans are arrogant and selfish:
We are the world,
We are Ateneans,
We are the ones who’ll make a brighter day,
So let`s start givin`,
There`s a chance we`re takin`,
We`re takin all our lives,
It`s true we`re make it a brighter day just you and me.
After the dancers finished their performance and cleared the area, the Blue Eagles went up the stage to say a few words. Last to speak was Sophomore Ryan Buenafe.
“I just wanna say…” Buenafe said
“Taena, pare!” somebody from the audience said “Nag-English!”
“Shhh!” his companion hushed him
“Ever since I was a Freshman, Chris has been the best Captain you could ever imagine. And I just wanna say… I miss him so much!” then he broke down.
“We wanna thank you all for loving my brother.” someone who grabbed the mike from Buenafe said. “Thank you and good night.”
“Dude, sino yun?”
“Si Charles Tiu yan, pare. Kapatid niya.”
“Ulooool. Mas cute siya aaaahhh… What?”
Somewhere near the entrance of the covered courts, Little Ricky, a Prep student in the Ateneo Grade School, was looking for his parents among the crowd. He was starting to cry.
“Hey!” a tall Chinese young man, wearing cap and shades, called out to Little Ricky. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for my mom and dad. Can you help me mister?”
“Yeah sure!” the stranger said “I happen to have one of those Marauder Maps here with me. What are your parents’ names, son?”
“Romel and Margaret Santas.”
“Lemme scan my map first, okay?”
“Thank you, mister! By the way, you kinda remind me of him.”
“Who?”
“Chris Tiu! My parents really love him. But they say he’s gone forever.”
“Well. He had to go some time right?”
“But he was really one of a kind!”
“Not really! I’m sure that if you work hard, you’ll even be better than Chris Tiu.”
“Really mister? You think so?”
“Of course! Ah here they are! By the hotdog stand. Judging by the way they’re moving, they must be looking for you also. Hurry before they start walking away”
“Thank you, mister! Who are you by the way?”
“Just an alumnus, son. Just an ordinary alumnus.”
He looked on as Little Ricky ran towards the hotdog stand to find his parents. Then he lowered his eyes and looked at the map, at the names of the people he worked with moving around: Fr. Ben, Ma’am Achoot, Rabeh, Nonoy… Then his eyes eventually found his own name. Standing there, near the exit, where he knew for now he belonged.
The tip of his wand touched the paper.
“Goodjab” he whispered.
__________________________
