"I can do this" Jaden exhales and overhand serves the ball. Sending it into the far right corner. His face lights up. Clenching his fist with a large grin.
Jaden takes a deep breath as the whistle blows. 'I still have so much to prove to stand side by side with Kurai… I've got this' Jaden exhales.
"Good serve" Kurai looks over as he tosses the ball high, slightly shocked. 'There's no way…' Jaden bolts forward, copying Kurai's movements almost to a T. jumping into the air and power serving the ball over the net, scoring the team another point. Landing and clenching his fist.
"HAAAAAAAAAAA!!" the score bumped up. OPU 7-3 MCTC. Eric grits his teeth with a smirk. Kurai walking over and fist bumping Jaden.
"Good serve" Jaden smiles brightly.
"Good serve!" the whistle blows again. Jaden tosses the ball again and does the runup the exact same way, but hits the ball incorrectly, sending it straight into the net. OPU 7-4 MCTC.
Eric tossed the ball up to serve once again. Jump serving the ball over the net with a sharp curve. Carlos licks his lips. 'To the left!' Carlos leans on his left knee and brings the ball up properly and easily. Kurai running forward. Jaden quickly follows suit along with Jazz. Jazz's eyes glowing 'give me the ball!' Kurai smirks and jumps up to spike the ball. All 3 blockers jump to block Kurai as he suddenly shifts his body mid-air. Setting the ball to the left where Jazz was able to spike with no blockers. Landing in a state of flow. OPU: technical timeout 8-4 MCTC.
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Kurai took several deep breaths. The whole gym was watching this match unfold between two monsters. It was nearing the end of the first set and Kurai was having fun. A grin plastered on his face as his eyes glow ominously. A whistle blows as he tosses the ball. Taking one step, then another, and one big leap before flying high into the air. Swinging his whole shoulder into the ball as it suddenly appears on the court. Dismorphing from the usual volleyball shape, before bouncing into the ceiling.
"Good serve" the score bumped up. OPU 23-22 MCTC. Jaden smirks as Kurai steps up to serve again. Flying high and slamming the ball onto the court yet again. OPU 24: set point-22 MCTC. The crowd that had gathered was in awe, they were in the presence of the 'Emperor of the Court', Kurai Vlast from the Monster Generation. The real deal.
"Good serve" Kurai tossed the ball again, the facility off the court was white and he was focusing solely on the game. Him, his team, the opponents, the court,the net, and the ball, all in the white void. He slammed the ball over the net again as MCTC's libero leaned forward and brought the ball up. Eric ran up to the net and prepared to set. Last second spiking the ball. Kurai instinctively reached up and one handed blocked the ball, sending it out of bounds, giving MCTC the point. OPU: set point 24-23 MCTC. Kurai exhaled and stepped back. Taking in all the information he possibly could. Instinctively driving forward and bringing the ball up. Coach Haruki was shocked. Kurai shouts.
"Jaden!" Jaden jumps up at the last second as a wall appears. Swinging his hand and tipping the ball over the block. Eric dives forward and pancakes the ball, but it hits the net and then the court. OPU 25-23 MCTC: OPU wins the first set.
Everyone makes their way to the bench. Kurai sitting down on the bench and gulping down water, then wi[ping his face with a towel. The game was intense, but everyone was calm. Coach Haruki exclaimed first.
"Good job on the first set. I'll start by saying this… Kurai, your serves were exceptional, they gave us a strong start and kept MCTC on their toes, but I saw you use your floater, try and use that more in the second set to throw them off" Kurai exhales after swallowing, looking up at her with a glow still pouring from his eyes.
"Thanks, but we need to focus on Eric more. He's changed since I last played him and he's using setter dumps way to oftden, let's switch to a shift block. We'll keep one blocker on Eric to keep him from setter dumping, and two on any potential spikes." Coach Haruki nods.
"That's right Kurai… we need to strengthen the blocks. So, Owen will be with the spikers, I say Jazz and Jaden can choose between-" Kurai stops her.
"Don't be an indecisive coach… Jazz, you help Owen block spikers, Jaden, I trust you to block Eric's setter dump attempts" Jaden nods along with Owen. Coach Haruki continues.
"Carlos, your receives were beautiful… keep up the good work… and Jaden" Jaden looks over.
"That last second tip was brilliant… but remember, they'll be expecting similar plays next set, so keep them on their toes with something new every rally" Jaden nods.
"Yes ma'am!" Haruki looks over at Jazz.
"Jazz, amazing spike during the first half of the set, I wanna see more of that" Jazz nods.
"I won't let you down." Kurai butts in.
"Other than me, you guys have already proven yourself capable of winning this match… prove those spectators right" a whistle blows signaling the end of the timeout. Kurai stands.
"Give it all we've got!" everyone shouts in agreement.