Marigold and Gareth, vs Burgandy and Carl featuring Blue on the sidelines.
Current Match Score 2-0
Gareth POV chapter.
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Perhaps, in another world the final point would've been a long drawn out battle. Perhaps if Burgandy wasn't quite so mad, or Marigold so inspired things would've turned out better for the enemy team. As it was though? No sooner had the next round started then it was ending. Burgandy served the ball casually over the net, and Marigold used her paddle to smack it high in the air just over the net.
Carl, not thinking anything of this, jumped up to smash it down after it started falling. Marigold had other ideas. She waited, timing it perfectly and managed to jump just a moment before Carl. His eyes were locked on the ball above him as he prepared to smash it down, so he didn't notice Marigold's paddle. Not striking out at the ball, but at him.
Carl felt something smash into his side, then all of a sudden he was flying head over heals as he rolled through the sand. Burgandy dashed forward, trying to get the ball before it hit the ground, but she wasn't prepared for this any more than Carl was. She tried to get moving as fast as possible, but it just wasn't enough. She barely managed to hit the ball and it went flying under the net.
"Ooh, that's 3-0 for Marigold and Gareth, so they take the first point! Give it up for Marigold and Gareth everyone!" said Thyme as they clapped using both bodies. "Now, it's also worth noting that this first match took us a bit longer than I'd anticipated, if we keep this pace, I'll be sending off another body so that the log chopping event can happen at the same time as the final few matches so that we have enough time for the final event.
"Ah, look at me speaking about the future when I should be focused on the present! While this match was going on I did up the draw, and with Blue stepping in, it'll be Burgandy stepping out. The next match will be Marigold and Blue against Carl and Gareth so… shuffle around however you want,"
Gareth nodded and started to move to the other side of the net. It seemed like the easiest way to go about it. As he did, he stopped pumping mana into that sign of Marigold's. It didn't crack just yet, but it wasn't being sustained by his will any longer. *I wonder if Marigold will remember that. I suspect she will, but it could be a good surprise if not.*
While Gareth was making his way across, Burgandy was glaring daggers at Carl as she stepped off to the side and the man in question slowly walked back to his half of the court, now covered in sand. Carl was seemingly unbothered by both the gaze and the sand, just shrugging back at her. It was hardly his fault he wasn't prepared to be slammed out of the arena in what had seemed like a normal sporting match up until then. Sure, it wasn't against the rules, but it just seemed like common sense. Though, part of him did want to ask Thyme if holding the paddle together counted as a spell. He wasn't going to, because he'd had enough of Burgandy. But he did consider it.
Marigold walked up to Blue and pulled her into a big hug as she started whispering in the fae's ear. Blue went a bit red, but she was whispering back so it was likely planning of some sort. Gareth suppressed a shudder and decided to start some whispering of his own once Carl stepped back onto the field. "Look, I don't know what those two have planned, but it feels bad," whispered Gareth.
"Yeah, I feel it too. Like I'm about to be crushed without resistance… but surely they aren't that strong right?" Gareth gave Carl an odd look as he spoke, Carl just glared back. "What, they're supposed to be our age. I can't see them completely crushing us. Even the round we just had wasn't what I'd consider a crush. How could it possibly be worse?"
Gareth, couldn't think of any way it could be worse. In his mind, a 3-0 loss was pretty bad. Sadly, it seemed Gareth was lacking in imagination because as it turns out? It could get a LOT worse. At first, everything seemed normal. Blue was in front, which was a little strange but nothing too weird considering it was their turn to serve. Marigold was preparing… and then she shot the ball up as high as possible.
Carl looked back to Gareth, who nodded, and kept a watch in front of him while only glancing occasionally at the ball. Carl was doing the same. As they were watching ahead though… they saw something strange. Blue cast a spell… but nothing seemed to happen. Gareth was almost ready to write the whole thing off when the ball came down to him, and he smacked it back somewhat accidentally. He'd overshot Carl by a bit and the ball was going under the net.
Instead of Blue moving to get it, Marigold sprinted forward and nocked the ball back and into the air. Still confused about what was going on, Gareth finally saw it. A huge wave of water was travelling from the nearby ocean and managed to pool up above the net. Once there it started to spin rapidly. Gareth wasn't entirely sure what to do about so he just asked, "Carl… what do we do about that?"
Gareth managed to hit the ball as it came down. He smacked it upward carefully, trying not to send it over the net. *What can Carl and I do about… whatever the heck that is?* "I can try to burn it off… but honestly that's a lot of water and I'm not sure I've got the mana for it…" admitted Carl.
"Yeah well… I'm not too sure what we can do about this either… shit…" Gareth muttered as the ball made its way to Carl. Having no choice but to send it across the net, Carl batted the ball lightly across. It caught in the swirling water and it didn't take long for it to be spat back out towards the back left corner.
Gareth sprinted for the corner as soon as he saw the direction, legs pumping a bit too much as he smashed holes through the layer of sandstone Burgandy had created. It seemed she was maintaining it during the match, unlike Gareth's naturally thicker layer that Marigold and Blue were now making use of. The holes he was making were costing him too much time so Gareth kicked hard against the ground and jumped awkwardly for the ball.
His outstretched arms managed to knock it away even as he hit the ground. Gareth was a highly trained individual, so he quickly dropped into a roll and hopped back up, but already Carl was forced to act as well. He had no choice but to smack the ball upwards to buy Gareth some time.
Alas, it didn't help all that much. Gareth was on his feet, and the height was nice but it just meant it took a little longer for the ball to enter the water. Gareth had already made his start back to the centre when the ball was launched. *FUCK.* Gareth cursed mentally as he saw the ball heading for the other corner. *I haven't even made it back to the middle. Damn I'm going to have to hope this works out.*
Gareth knew he just had to hope Thyme wasn't lying about the enchantment on his shoes as her sprinted forward pouring mana into the enchantment but not letting it trigger. When he was as close as he could get, he twisted his ankle to a painful angle in order to, hopefully, get the angle right and then triggered the enchantment.
Mana rushed out of his body as a pillar of earth was summoned in mid-air and smacked the ball away, back towards the net… but slightly off to the side. Gareth cursed as he stumbled forward heavily cracking the ground enough for him to then fall forward onto the ground. It didn't matter though, because the ball was heading out of bounds. Blue and Marigold just had to let it fall there…
Yet even when Gareth had already given up. Carl was still ready to try. He could see where the ball was going, and he was charging towards that point. Just to the right of the net. He just needed to get their and smack the ball into the water torrent. It might still be their loss, but he'd just seen Gareth try, and he felt compelled to do the same. Perhaps it was seeing Gareth's determination… perhaps it was just seeing a nice set of abs glistening with sweat. Either way, Carl was inspired.
He managed the sprint. He hit the ball awkwardly backwards into the water, even as he slid on the sand and turned around. Sadly, while a good display of determination and a decent display of skill, it was ultimately futile. Blue just directed the ball to be spat out at the opposite side of the court to Carl. Neither men were capable of catching it. "1-0 to Blue and Marigold!" shouted Thyme.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦