Holiday (8 of 8)

The Scooteria Kids go on Holiday

The Scooteria Kids were back on board the ship which had first brought
them to England from Italy.

Harry Hexagon had been back to Italy since, and had met AleX9, NickyNRG
and the IceMan on the ship when he returned to England. They had been
transformed by the same magical red glow that had given the rest of the
Scooteria Kids their child-like life.

"I think it would be a good idea if we went on holiday before the
summer holidays are over and you've got to go back to school," Harry
had suggested.

"Will we be near the sea?" asked little Alice Zip.

"Don't be silly, Alice. We're always near the sea here at home!" said
Emma T4, Alice's big dark blue sister, while her other sisters, Rebecca
Runner and silver Lucy Liberty, laughed at her.

"We'll take the coast road to Dover," said Harry, "it's more
interesting than the motorway. The journey on holiday is just as
important as the place you are heading for."

"Are we there yet?" moaned Alice, only half an hour into their
journey.

Everyone laughed at that, apart from Alice, of course, who would have
gone red with embarrassment if she was not already red!

Through Hampshire and West Sussex they travelled, every now and again
catching a glimpse of the sea.

As they passed through Bexhill, Rebecca, who had been going too fast,
fell on some diesel spilt from a thoughtlessly over-filled lorry. They
all came to a stop to help, as did a small green car behind them. As
the kind man and lady from the car helped Rebecca up, a strange
sensation went through her body. Her sisters, felt something similar at
the same time.

"Thank you," said Rebecca, "we're going on holiday to Italy."

The old man, not at all surprised at this scooter talking to him,
replied, "Well, have a good time, then. By the way, our son has a
scooter just like you, and it's purple and yellow as well!"

They seemed to be on board the ship for ever. Eventually the doors
opened and they saw the sunlight again.
Another adventure was about to begin &;#8230;.

Harry and the Scooteria Kids headed off towards the town of Pisa, not
far from the factory at Pontadera, where they had all come from.

"Look out!" EmilyT2 screamed, as they passed the leaning tower, "that
tower is falling over!"

"No, it's not," comforted PX Peter, who had read about the building at
St. Michael's, their school back home, "it's been like that for years,
and it's not going to fall over now!"

They all laughed, and Emily felt very embarrassed.

The time had come to visit the factory. Everyone there had herd about
the Scooteria Kids' adventures - their chase with the big motor-bikes;
the game of ScootBall; and especially Tommy Typhoon's victory at the
Speed Trial. Tommy had beaten the unpopular Serge Speedfight who had
caused NickyNRG's big accident. The French team had since been banned
from ever competing again.

When the Scooteria Kids arrived a special welcome had been laid on for
them. There were balloons and flags everywhere, and the factory came to
a standstill when they arrived. Everyone there began cheering and
clapping.

The news of ScootBall had, of course, reached the factory some time
before and was now played all over Italy. The Italians know their
football and are crazy about it! Within a few minutes, someone in the
factory had challenged the Scooteria Kids to a ScootBall match while
they were there on holiday.

"We'll find some good players for your side," offered the challenger,
Nicoli.

"OK, you're on!" replied Nicky, "we'll be back next week before we go
home."

Some of the Scooteria Kids had a strange feeling inside when Nicky
mentioned home. They thought of their town near the sea in England, but
they also felt comfortable here &;#8230;

"Right," said Frederico, the factory manager, "we're ready now for your
inspection and service!"

Emma and her sisters, Lucy, Alice, and Rebecca, felt in safe hands
during their service, A drip landed on Emma. It was from Sophia, the
woman checking her wheels.

"Was she crying?" thought Emma.

Yes, she was crying. Crying with pride at Emma and her sisters who,
together with Carlo, she had helped build. Carlo also had a contented
look on his face.

"Stop it! You're tickling me!" laughed Alice, as Carlo began inspecting
her engine.

Rebecca started crying with laughter as Sophia rubber her tyres. Soon
everyone was laughing.

The Scooteria Kids were all given a thorough inspection and came out of
the factory feeling like new. Even Nicky, who had tried to hide the
pain he had felt after his accident, now really did feel fine. He
pulled a big wheelie through the car park to prove it!

After travelling around northern Italy it was nearly time to go home.
They had visited all sorts of places including Milan, where they had
been invited to meet the great Inter team. To help their preparations
for the ScootBall match against the factory team, the Inter players
spent some time showing the Scooteria Kids some tips.

"You must be one of our supporters," one of the players asked Emma,
"your blue is just like ours."

"Well, that blue is also from my team in England, Spurs, but I would
like to support you as well!" she replied.

Before they headed back to Pontadera, the players gave them loads of
shirts, flags, hats, and some very stylish Bertoni sunglasses.

"Good luck against the Red Devils next week!" shouted Sally
Skipper.

"Yes, good luck, you'll win the Champions Cup!" added red-bodied Tommy,
"my team play in red, but they are called the Cherries!"

"Come on, Tommy!" called out PX Peter, "we've got to go!"

Everyone from the factory had turned out to watch the big ScootBall
match. The factory team looked enormous on their scooters, all
cobalt-blue Typhoons.

"Look, guys," said PX Peter, "their players look big and skilful, but
their scooters are just scooters, aren't they? We're a bit more than
that, we also understand the game, even though we can't kick the ball
ourselves!"

"But look at them!" said Emily, shaking with nerves.

"Peter's right, Emily," said Sally, "I'm nervous as well, but we can
beat them. Not only do we know the game, we've faced bigger challenges
than this. Remember the Speed Trials!"

They roared on to the pitch, and by the end of the match, they had
given a classic demonstration, beating the factory team 5 - 0, with
Nicky scoring a popular hat-trick. Even the factory supporters were
cheering him!

Tomorrow they would leave for the ferry to return home. But where was
home? Some of them felt at home here, maybe all of them. Did they
really want to go back to England? &;#8230;&;#8230;